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THE TEMPTATION OF EA-BANI

From

the

Painting by E. Wallcousim

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

AND ASSYRIA
'

n
DONALD A. MACKENZIE

"J

& Qnnparafwe
lilustralLons in

'

rfaies.

Qjtour

Monocnrowe.

THE GRESHAM PUBLISHING COMPANY

34 SOUTHAMPTON ST. STRAND LONDON

PREFACE

vii

peoples in other cultural areas where they were similarlyoverlaid with local colour*
Modes of thought were the

products of modes of

life

development by human

and were influenced

experiences.

The

in

their

influence of

environment on the growth of culture has long been

recognized, but consideration must also be given to the
choice of environment by peoples who had adopted
Racial units migrated from
distinctive habits of life.
cultural areas to districts suitable for colonization and
carried with them a heritage of immemorial beliefs and
customs which were regarded as being quite as indispensable for their welfare as their implements and
domesticated animals.
'

When

consideration

is

given in this connection to the

conservative element in primitive religion, it is not surprising to find that the growth of religious myths was not
so spontaneous in early civilizations of the highest order
as has hitherto been assumed.
It seems clear that in each
great local mythology we have to deal, in the first place,
not with symbolized ideas so much as symbolized folk
beliefs

of remote antiquity and, to a certain degree, of

It may not be found possible to
inheritance.

common

most widespread,
and therefore the most ancient folk myths, such as, for
arrive at a conclusive solution of the

instance, the Dragon

hero.
Nor,^ perhaps,

Myth, or the myth of the culture

is it
necessary that we should con-

cern ourselves greatly regarding the origin of the idea

of the dragon, which in one country symbolized fiery

drought and

in another

overwhelming river

floods.

The

student will find footing on surer ground by

following the process which exalts the dragon of the folk

symbol of evil and primordial chaos. The

Creation
Babylonian
Myth, for instance, can be shown to
be a localized and glorified legend in which the hero and
tale into the

PREFACE

viii

displaced by the war god and his fellow

whose welfare depends on his prowess. Merodach

his tribe are

deities

the dragon, Tiamat, as the heroes of Eur-Asian folk

stories kill
grisly hags, by casting his weapon down her
kills

throat.

He severed her inward parts, he pierced her heart,

He overcame her and cut off her life;
He cast down her body and stood upon it ...
And with merciless club he smashed her skull.
He cut through the channels of her blood,
And he made the north wind to bear it away into

secret places.

Afterwards

He

divided the flesh of the Ku-pu and devised a cunning plan.

W.

Mr. L.
King, from whose scholarly Seven Tablets
Creation
these
lines are quoted, notes that "Ku-pu" is
of
a word of uncertain meaning.
Jensen suggests "trunk,
Apparently Merodach obtained special knowand perhaps eating, the "Ku-pu".
His "cunning plan" is set forth in detail: he cut up the

body".

ledge after dividing,

dragon's body:

He

split

her up like a

flat fish

into

two

halves.

He

formed the heavens with one half and the earth

His
with the other, and then set the universe in order.
derived
from
were
as
and
wisdom
the
Demiurge
power
the fierce and powerful Great Mother, Tiamat.
In other dragon stories the heroes devise their plans
According to Philoeating the dragon's heart.

after

Apollonius of Tyana was worthy of being rememhis bravery in travelling among

bered for two things
fierce robber tribes, not then subject to Rome, and his
1

stratus,

Life of Apollonius of Tyana,

i,

20.

PREFACE

ix

and other aniThis accomplishment the Arabs

of
acquired, Philostratus explains, by eating the hearts
The "animals" who utter magic words are, of
dragons.

wisdom

in learning the language of birds

mals as the Arabs do.

course, the Fates.

after
Siegfried of the Nibelungenlied,

slaying the Regin dragon, makes himself invulnerable by

He obtains wisdom by eating the
bathing in its blood.

soon as he tastes it he can understand the

of
birds, and the birds reveal to him that Mimer
language
to
is
waiting
Sigurd similarly makes his plans
slay him.
In Scottish
after eating the heart of the Fafner dragon.
heart

as

legend Finn-mac-Coul obtains the power to divine secrets

by partaking of a small portion of the seventh salmon
associated with the " well dragon ", and Michael Scott

and other folk heroes become great physicians after tasting

the juices of the middle part of the body of the white
snake. The hero of an Egyptian folk tale slays a "death"
less snake
by cutting it in two parts and putting sand
between the parts. He then obtains from the box, of
which it is the guardian, the book of spells ; when he
reads a page of the spells he knows what the birds of the
sky, the fish of the deep, and the beasts of the hill say;
the book gives him power to enchant "the heaven and
the earthj^the abyss, the mountains and the sea". 1
Magic and religion were never separated in Babylonia;
not only the priests but also the gods performed magical
ceremonies.
Ea, Merodach's father, overcame Apsu, the
husband of the dragon Tiamat, by means of spells he
:

was "the great magician of the gods". Merodach's

division of the "Ku-pu" was evidently an act of contagious magic
by eating or otherwise disposing of the
vital part of the fierce and wise mother
dfagon, he became
endowed with her attributes, and was able to proceed
;

Egyptian Tales (Second Scries),

W. M.

Flindcrt

Petrieyfcp.

98

et

st$.

PREFACE

with the work of creation.

day, like the

Primitive peoples in our

Abipones of Paraguay, eat the

and cunning animals so that

wisdom may be

The

of

own

fierce

their strength,
courage,

and

increased.

direct influence exercised

the other hand,

flesh

may

by

cultural contact,

on

be traced when myths with an alien

geographical setting are found among peoples whose exIn India,

periences could never have given them origin.

where the dragon symbolizes drought and the western

river deities are female, the Manu fish and flood legend
resembles closely the Babylonian, and seems to throw

upon it. Indeed, the Manu myth appears to have

been derived from the lost flood story in which Ea figured
prominently in fish form as the Preserver. The Babylonian Ea cult and the Indian Varuna cult had apparently
light

much

in

common,

Throughout

as is

this

shown.

volume

paid to the various peoples

tact with,

tion.

special attention has been

in immediate con-

who were

and were influenced by, Mesopotamia!!

The

histories are traced in outline

civiliza-

of the Kingdoms

of Elam, Urartu (Ancient Armenia), Mitanni, and the

Hittites, while the story of the rise and decline of the

Hebrew
to

in

civilization, as narrated in the Bible

Mesopotamia!! inscriptions,

is

and referred
from the

related

times until the captivity in the Neo-Babylonian

period and the restoration during the age of the Persian
Empire. The struggles waged between the great Powers
earliest

and the periodic migrations

of pastoral warrior folks who determined the fate of
empires, are also dealt with, so that light may be thrown
on the various processes and influences associated with
the developments of local religions and mythologies.
Special chapters, with comparative notes, are devoted to
the Ishtar-Tammuz myths, the Semiramis legends, Ashur
for the control of trade routes,

PREFACE

xi

and his symbols, and the origin and growth of astrology

and astronomy.
The ethnic disturbances which occurred at various
well-defined periods in the Tigro-Euphrates valley were
not always favourable to the advancement of knowledge
and the growth of culture. The invaders who absorbed
Sumerian civilization may have secured more settled conditions by welding together political units, but seem to
have exercised a retrogressive influence on the growth of
"
local culture.
Babylonian religion ", writes Dr. Langdon,
"
to have reached its
level in the Sumerian

appears
highest
From that
period, or at least not later than 2000 B.C.
period onward to the first century B.C. popular religion
maintained with great difficulty the sacred standards of
the past/'
terize

it

Although
Mesopotamian

has been customary to charac-

as
Semitic, modern
that the indigenous inhabitants,
Like the
non-Semitic, were its originators.

research tends to

who were

civilization

show

proto-Egyptians, the early Cretans, and the Pelasgians in

southern Europe and Asia Minor, they invariably achieved
the intellectual conquest of their conquerors, as in the
earliest

times they had

forces of

nature.

won

If the

victories over the antagonistic

modern view is accepted that

these ancient agriculturists of the goddess cult were of

common racial origin, it is to the most representative

communities of the widespread Mediterranean race that

the credit belongs of laying the foundations of the
brilliant civilizations of the ancient world in southern
Europe, and Egypt, and the valley of the Tigris and
Euphrates.

CONTENTS
CHAP.

INTRODUCTION

L
II.

THE RACES
THE LAND

.--_...

OF RIVERS AND THE

GOD

OF THE

DEEP-

RIVAL PANTHEONS AND REPRESENTATIVE DEITIES

IV.

DEMONS, FAIRIES, AND GHOSTS

VI.
VII.
VIII.
IX.

X.

MYTHS
WARS

TAMMUZ AND

ISHTAR

OF THE CITY STATES OF SUMER AND AKKAD

DEIFIED HEROES:

21

40
59
8

CREATION LEGEND: MERODACH THE DRAGON SLAYER

ETANA AND GILGAMESH

109
138
163

DELUGE LEGEND, THE ISLAND OF THE BLESSED, AND

HADES -190
BUILDINGS AND

XL THE
XII.

OF

xxi

AND EARLY CIVILIZATION OF BABYLONIA-

III.

V.

F age

LAWS AND CUSTOMS OF BABYLON

GOLDEN AGE OF BABYLONIA

THE HlTTITES,
HYKSOS, AND ASSYRIANS

RlSE

OF

217

240

----MlTANNlANS,

KASSITES,

260

XIII.

ASTROLOGY AND ASTRONOMY

XIV.

ASHUR THE NATIONAL GOD OF ASSYRIA-

CONFLICTS FOR TRADE AND SUPREMACY

356

376

X^V.

XVI.

RACE MOVEMENTS THAT SHATTERED EMPIRES

xiii

287

326

CONTENTS

xiv
CHAP.

XVII.

THE HEBREWS

ASSYRIAN HISTORY

IN

.....

Page

477

XVIII.

THE AGE

OF SEMIRAMIS

XIX.

ASSYRIA'S

AGE OF SPLENDOUR

XX.

THE LAST DAYS

INDEX

OF ASSYRIA AND BABYLONIA

-

'444
-

30,4

477
joi

PLATES IN COLOUR
Page

THE TEMPTATION OF EA-BANI

From

(p.

173)

the painting by

E. Jfallcousins

the painting by

E. ffallcousins

ISHTAR IN HADES

facing

From

MERODACH

SETS

FORTH TO ATTACK TIAMAT

From

the

From

the painting by

IN

From

176

,,192

the painting by E. ff'allcousitts

THE HANGING GARDENS

the painting by

Holloiuay College.

Edivin Long> R.^f. 9

By

224
in the

Royal

permission of' the Trustees

THE SHEPHERD FINDS THE BABE SEMIRAMIS

From

220

the painting by E. Pf^allcousins

THE BABYLONIAN MARRIAGE MARKET

From

144

E. Wallcousins

THE BABYLONIAN DELUGE

From

96

painting by E. Wallcounns

THE SLAYING OF THE BULL OF ISHTAR

NEBUCHADNEZZAR

frontispiece

the painting by

E. WaUcousins

424

PLATES IN

MONOCHROME
Page

EXAMPLES OF RACIAL TYPES

facing

From a draiving

by E* Pf^allcousins

STATUE OF A ROYAL PERSONAGE OR OFFICIAL OF

NON-SEMITIC ORIGIN

WORSHIP OF THE MOON GOD (CYLINDER-SEAL)

,,12
*o

WINGED MAN-HEADED LION

6z

From N.py. Palace of Nimroud

TWO

FIGURES OF DEMONS

,,

WINGED HUMAN-HEADED COW(?)

72

100

Front Kouyunjik (Nineveh}

CYLINDER-SEAL IMPRESSIONS SHOWING MYTHOLOGICAL FIGURES AND DEITIES -

106

PLAQUE OF UR-NINA

116

SILVER VASE DEDICATED TO THE GOD NIN-GIRSU

BY ENTEMENA
STELE OF

NARAM

--

,,120

SIN

128

GUDEA

,,130
From

the statue in the

xviS

Lou tvre> Parft

MONOCHROME

PLATES IN

xviii

Page

"THE SEVEN TABLETS OF CREATION"

From

the library

SLIPPER- SHAPED

facing 138

of Ashur-bani-pal at Kouyunjik (Nineveh)

MADE

COFFIN,

GLAZED

OF

EARTHENWARE

,,214

STELE OF HAMMURABI, WITH "CODE OF LAWS"

222

------

,,248

HAMMURABI RECEIVING THE "CODE OF LAWS"

FROM THE SUN GOD
THE HORSE

IN

WARFARE (ASHUR-NATSIR-PAL AND

ARMY ADVANCING)

,,270

Marble dab ft om N.fP. Palace of Nimroud

LETTER FROM TUSHRATTA, KING OF MITANNI,

TO AMENHOTEP III, KING OF EGYPT

280

THE GOD NINIP AND ANOTHER DEITY

302

SYMBOLS OF DEITIES AS ASTRONOMICAL SIGNS

Ft

om sculptured

stone in the British

ASHUR SYMBOLS

WINGED

306

Museum

,,334

DEITIES

KNEELING BESIDE A SACRED

TREE

Mar hie

slab from

NJf.

EAGLE-HEADED WINGED DEITY (ASHUR)

ASSYRIAN KING HUNTING LIONS

slab from Kouyunjik

344

384

TYRIAN GALLEY PUTTING OUT TO SEAMarble

340

Palace of Nimroud

388

(Nineveh)

STATUE OF ASHUR-NATSIR-PAL
from S.ff, Palace of NimrQitj

396

PLATES IN

MONOCHROME

xix
Page

DETAILS FROM SECOND SIDE OF BLACK. OBELISK

OF SHALMANESER III

STATUE OF NEBO, DEDICATED BY ADAD-NIRARI

IV AND THE QUEEN SAMMU-RAMMAT
TIGLATH-PILESER IV IN HIS CHARIOT

....

From doofway

in Palace of
Sargon at

slab from Kouyunjtk

PERSIANS

BRINGING

45 6

468

(Nineveh)

ASHUR-BANI-PAL RECLINING IN A BOWER

Marble

422

Khorsabad

ASSAULT ON THE CITY OF ...ALAMMU (FJERUSALEM) BY THE ASSYRIANS UNDER SENNACHERIB

Marble

,,

446

WINGED AND HUMAN-HEADED BULL

AND MYTHOLOGICAL BEING

COLOSSAL

facing 410

486

slab from Kouyunjtk (Nmc'vtJi)

CHARIOTS,

RINGS,

WREATHS

AND
,,494

Bas~rehef from Persepolis

MAP OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA

INTRODUCTION
Ancient Babylonia has made stronger appeal to the
imagination of Christendom than even Ancient Egypt,
because of its association with the captivity of the

Hebrews, whose sorrows

psalm

are

enshrined in the familiar

By

the rivers of Babylon, there

Yea,

We

we

sat

down;

we

wept, when we remembered Zion.

hanged our harps upon the willows.
.

In sacred literature proud Babylon became the city of

the anti-Christ, the symbol of wickedness and cruelty

And human vanity. Early Christians who suffered persecution compared their worldly state to that of the
oppressed and disconsolate Hebrews, and, like them,
the new Jerusalem.
When
they sighed for Jerusalem
St. John the Divine had visions of the ultimate
triumph
of Christianity, he referred to its enemies the unbelievers

and persecutors as the citizens of the earthly Babylon,

the doom of which he pronounced in stately and memorable phrases

Babylon the great

And
And
And

is

is

fallen,

is

fallen,

become the habitation of

devils,

the hold of every foul spirit,

a cage of every unclean and hateful bird

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

xxii

For her

sins

have reached unto heaven

And God hath remembered her iniquities

The merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn
For no man buyeth their merchandise any more.
.

over her,

"At

the noise of the taking of Babylon ", cried Jeremiah,

" the earth is
moved,
referring to the original Babylon,

and the cry is heard among the nations. ... It shall

be no more inhabited forever neither shall it be dwelt
in from
The Christian Saint
generation to generation."
;

rendered more profound the brooding silence of the desoby voicing memories of its beauty

lated city of his vision

and gaiety and bustling trade

The

voice of harpers, and musicians, and of pipers and trumpeters

shall be

heard no more at

all in thee;
of
craft he be, shall be found any
whatsoever
craftsman,
more in thee;
the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee;

And no
And
And

the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard

at all in thee:

no more

For thy merchants were the great men of the earth;

For by thy sorceries were all nations deceived.
And in her was found the blood of prophets^ and of saints^
And of all that were slain upon the earth. 1
nearly two thousand years has the haunting
memory of the once-powerful city pervaded Christian
literature, while its broken walls and ruined temples and

So for

The history of
palaces lay buried deep in desert sand.
the ancient land of which it was the capital survived in
but meagre and fragmentary form, mingled with accumumyths and legends. A slim volume contained all

lated

that could be derived

from references

ment and the compilations of

in the

Old Testa-

classical writers.

1
The Babylon of the Apocalypse
Revelation, xviii.
bolize or be a mystic designation of Rome,

is

generally believed to

sym-

INTRODUCTION
It is

xxiii

only within the past half-century that the wonderof early Eastern civilization has been gradually

ful story

pieced together by excavators and linguists, who have

thrust open the door of the past and probed the hidden

We

of long ages.
now know more about "the
"
than did not only the Greeks and Romans,
but even the Hebrew writers who foretold its destruction.
secrets

land of Babel

Glimpses are being afforded us of its life and manners

and customs for some thirty centuries before the captives
of Judah uttered lamentations on the banks of its reedy
canals.

lonia

The

sites

of

some of

and Assyria were

the ancient cities of Baby-

identified

by European

officials

and travellers in the East early 411 the nineteenth century,

and a few relics found their way to Europe. But before

H. Layard set to work

"forties**, "a case scarcely three
Sir

A.

as

an excavator in the

feet square", as he him" enclosed all that remained not

only of the
l
of
of
but
".
itself
Nineveh,
great city
Babylon
Layard, the distinguished pioneer Assyriologist, was
an Englishman of Huguenot descent, who was born in
self

wrote,

Paris.

Through

Spanish blood.

his

mother he inherited a

During

his early

strain

boyhood he resided

of
in

and his education, which began there, was continued

schools in France, Switzerland, and England.
He
was a man of scholarly habits and fearless and indeItaly,

in

pendent character, a charming writer, and an accomplished

fine-art critic ; withal he was a great traveller, a strenuous
In 1845, while sopolitician, and an able diplomatist.
journing in the East, he undertook the exploration of

He

ancient Assyrian cities.

first set to work at Kalkhi,
the Biblical Calah.
Three years previously M. P.
Botta, the French consul at Mosul, had begun to in-

vestigate the

Nineveh mounds
1

Nineveh and

Its

but these he abandoned

Remains, vol.

i,

p. 17.

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

xxiv
for a

mound

near Khorsabad which proved to be the site

c<
Sargon the Later'*, who is referred

of the city erected by

The

discovered by Botta and his successor, Victor Place, are preserved in the Louvre
At Kalkhi and Nineveh Layard uncovered the palaces

to

by

Isaiah.

relics

of some of the most famous Assyrian Emperors, including

the Biblical Shalmaneser and Esarhaddon, and obtained
the colossi, bas reliefs, and other treasures of antiquity
which formed the nucleus of the British Museum's unHe also conducted diggings
rivalled Assyrian collection.
at Babylon and Niffer (Nippur),
His work was continued by his assistant, Hormuzd Rassam, a native Christian of Mosul, near Nineveh,
Rassam studied for a time
at

Oxford.

The

discoveries

made by Layard and Botta stimulated

In the "fifties" Mr. W.

others to follow their example.
K. Loftus engaged in excavations at Larsa and Erech,

where important discoveries were made of ancient buildings, ornaments, tablets, sarcophagus graves, and pot
burials, while

of the

moon

Eridu, which

Mr.
cult
is

J. E. Taylor operated at Ur, the seat

and the birthplace of Abraham, and at

generally regarded as the cradle of early

Babylonian (Sumerian) civilization.

In 1854 Sir Henry Rawlinson superintended diggings
at Birs Nimrud (Borsippa, near Babylon), and excavated
relics of the Biblical Nebuchadrezzar.
This notable
archaeologist began his career in the East as an officer
in the Bombay army.
distinguished himself as a

He

While resident at Baghagent and diplomatist.

he
to cuneiform studies.
his
time
devoted
leisure
dad,
One of his remarkable feats was the copying of the
famous trilingual rock inscription of Darius the Great on
a mountain cliff at Behistun, in Persian Kurdistan.
This
work was carried out at great personal risk, for the cliff
political

INTRODUCTION

xxv

and the sculptures and inscriptions are

300 feet from the ground.
Darius was the first monarch of his line to make use
of the Persian cuneiform script, which in this case he
utilized in
conjunction with the older and more complicated Assyro-Babylonian alphabetic and syllabic characters
to record a portion of the history of his reign.
Rawlinson's translation of the famous inscription was an important contribution towards the decipherment of the
cuneiform writings of Assyria and Babylonia.
Twelve years of brilliant Mesopotamia!! discovery
concluded in 1854, and further excavations had to be
suspended until the "seventies" on account of the unsettled political conditions of the ancient land and the
difficulties experienced in dealing with Turkish officials.
During the interval, however, archaeologists and philologists were kept fully engaged studying the large amount
Sir Henry
of material which had been accumulated.
Rawlinson began the issue of his monumental work

is

1700

feet high

situated about

The Cuneiform
the British

Inscriptions of

Western Asia on behalf of

Museum.

Goodspeed

refers to the early archaeological

work

as

"
of research, and says that the
the " Heroic Period
u Modern Scientific Period "
began with Mr. George

Smith's expedition to Nineveh in

1873.

the pioneer
a
of
was
self-educated
culture,
investigator
pre-Hellenic
man of humble origin. He was born at Chelsea in 1840.
At fourteen he was apprenticed to an engraver. He

George Smith,

like

Henry Schliemann,

was a youth of studious habits and great

originality,

and

interested himself intensely in the discoveries which had

At the
been made by Layard and other explorers.

Museum, which he visited regularly to pore over

the Assyrian inscriptions, he attracted the attention of Sir

British

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

xxvi

Henry Rawlinson. So greatly impressed was Sir Henry

by the young man's enthusiasm and remarkable intelligence that he allowed him the use of his private room
and squeezes of inscriptions to assist
Smith made rapid progress. His
earliest discovery was the date of the payment of tribute
by Jehu, King of Israel, to the Assyrian Emperor ShalSir Henry availed himself of the young inmaneser.
and provided

him

in

his

casts

studies.

vestigator's assistance in

producing the third volume of

The Cuneiform Inscriptions.

In 1867 Smith received an appointment in the Assyriology Department of the British Museum, and a few
years later became famous throughout Christendom as
the translator of fragments of the Babylonian Deluge

Legend from

tablets sent

Edwin Arnold,

to

London by Rassam.

Sir

the poet and Orientalist, was at the time

editor of the T>aily Telegraph, and performed a memorable

service to modern scholarship by dispatching Smith, on
behalf of his paper, to Nineveh to search for other fragments of the Ancient Babylonian epic.
Rassam had

obtained the tablets from the great library of the cultured

"
"
Emperor Ashur-bani-pal, the great and noble Asnapper

of the Bible, 1

The wisdom

who took

delight, as he himself recorded, in

of Ea, 2 the art of song, the treasures of science.

This royal patron of learning included in his library

collection, copies and translations of tablets from Babylonia.
Some of these were then over 2000 years old.
The Babylonian literary relics were, indeed, of as great
antiquity to Ashur-bani-pal as that monarch's relics are
to us.

The Emperor invoked Nebo, god of wisdom and

learning, to bless his
l

xrat

"books", praying:

iv, 10.

The

culture god.

INTRODUCTION
Forever,

Look

gladly

xxvii

Nebo, King of all heaven and earth,

upon this Library

Of Ashur-bani-pal,

his (thy) shepherd, reverencer

Mr. George Smith's expedition

of thy divinity. 1

Nineveh

to

in

1873 was

More tablets were disexceedingly fruitful of results.

In the following year he recovered and translated.
ancient Assyrian city on behalf of the
Museum, and added further by his scholarly
achievements to his own reputation and the world's

turned to

the

British

His last expedition was made

antiquity.
on his homeward journey he was stricken

knowledge of
early in 1876

down with

fever,

and on

9th August he died

So was a

in his thirty-sixth
year.

at

brilliant career

Aleppo
brought

to an untimely end.

Rassam was engaged

and between

to continue Smith's great work,

1877 an d 1882 made many notable

dis-

coveries in Assyria and Babylonia, including the bronze

doors of a Shalmaneser temple, the sun temple at Sippar;
the palace of the Biblical Nebuchadrezzar, which was
1

a cylinder of Na~
"hanging gardens'
of
and
about
thousand
bonidus, King
fifty
Babylon

famous

for

its

tablets.

M.
in

de Sarzec, the French consul

1877

excavations

at

the

ancient

at Bassorah,

Sumerian

began

city

of

Lagash (Shirpula), and continued them until 1900. He

found thousands of tablets, many bas reliefs, votive
statuettes, which worshippers apparently pinned on sacred
shrines, the famous silver vase of King Entemena, statues
of King Gudea, and various other treasures which are
now in the Louvre.
The pioneer work achieved by British and French
excavators stimulated interest
1

all

Langdon's Sumerian and Babylonian

over the world.

Pia!>n$, p. 179.

An

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

xxviii

expedition was sent out from the United States by the

University of Pennsylvania, and began to operate at

Nippur in 1888. The Germans, who have displayed great
activity in the domain of philological research, are at present
represented by an exploring party which is conducting the
Even
systematic exploration of the ruins of Babylon.
the Turkish Government has encouraged research work,

and

excavators have accumulated a fine collection of

its

antiquities at Constantinople.
and linguists of various nationalities

Among

the archaeologists

who are devoting

themselves to the study of ancient Assyrian and Babylonian records and literature, and gradually unfolding the
story of ancient Eastern civilization, those of our own

One of the most

country occupy a prominent position.
of
recent
discoveries
years has been new
interesting
fragments of the Creation Legend by L.
British

W.

King of the

Museum, whose

of Creation,

The

is

scholarly work, The Seven Tablets

the standard work on the subject.

archaeological

work conducted

in

Persia, Asia

Minor, Palestine, Cyprus, Crete, the ./Egean, and Egypt

has thrown, and is throwing, much light on the relations
between the various civilizations of antiquity. In addition to the Hittite discoveries, with

which the name of

Professor Sayce will ever be associated as a pioneer, we

now hear much of the hitherto unknown civilizations of

Mitanni and Urartu (ancient Armenia), which contributed

The Biblical narratives
to the shaping of ancient history.
of the rise and decline of the Hebrew kingdoms have also
been greatly elucidated.
In this volume, which deals mainly with the intellectual life of the Mesopotamia!! peoples, a historical
narrative has been provided as an appropriate setting for
the myths and legends.

In this connection the reader

must be reminded

the

that

chronology of the early

INTRODUCTION
period

is

still

uncertain.

xxix

The approximate dates which

now generally adopted by

are given, however, are those

most European and American authorities. Early Babylonian history of the Sumertan period begins some time

3000 B.C.; Sargon of Akkad flourished about

2650 B.C., and Hammurabi not long before or after
2000 B.C. The inflated system of dating which places
Mena of Egypt as far back as 5500 B.C. and Sargon at
about 3800 B.C. has been abandoned by the majority of

prior to

archaeologists, the exceptions including Professor Flinders Petrie.

Recent discoveries appear to sup-

prominent

" There is a
chronological system.
growing
conviction", writes Mr. Hawes, "that Cretan evidence,
especially in the eastern part of the island, favours the

new

port the

minimum

(Berlin) system of Egyptian chronology, accorwhich

the Sixth (Egyptian) Dynasty began at
ding
1
c.
2540 B.C. and the Twelfth at c. 2000 B.C. Petrie dates
the beginning of the Twelfth Dynasty at c. 3400 B.C.
to

To

students of comparative folklore and mythology

myths and legends of Babylonia present many features

of engrossing interest. They are of great antiquity, yet
must not connot a few seem curiously familiar.
the

We

clude,

however, that because a European legend may

translated from a cuneiform

bear resemblances to one

Certain
of Babylonian origin.
beliefs, and the myths which were based upon them, are
older than even the civilization of the Tigro- Euphrates
valley.
They belong, it would appear, to a stock of
tablet

it

is

necessarily

common inheritance from an uncertain cultural centre

of immense antiquity. The problem involved has been
referred to by Professor Frazer in the Golden Bough.
Commenting on the similarities presented by certain
ancient festivals in various countries, he suggests that
1

Crete the Forerunner of Greece, p,

1 8.

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

xxx
they

may be due

"

a remarkable homogeneity of civiSouthern

Europe and Western Asia
throughout
a such homoHow
times.
he

lization

to

in prehistoric
geneity of civilization

geneity of race
In Chapter

is

modern

research

far",
adds,
be taken as evidence of homo-

a question for the ethnologist.*' 1

the reader is introduced to the ethno-

and

problem,

logical

may

it

tend

is

shown

to

that

establish

the

results

remote

of

racial

Sumerians of Babylonia, the

prehistoric Egyptians, and the Neolithic (Late Stone
Age) inhabitants of Europe, as well as the southern
Persians and the "Aryans" of India.

connection

between

the

Comparative notes are provided in dealing with the

customs, religious beliefs, and myths and legends of the
Mesopotamia!! peoples to assist the student towards the
elucidation and partial restoration of certain literary fragments from the cuneiform tablets. Of special interest
in this connection are the resemblances between some of
the Indian and Babylonian myths. The writer has drawn
"
"
of ancient legends, the
upon that
great storehouse
voluminous Indian epic, the Mahdbhdrata, and it is
shown that there are undoubted links between the Garuda
eagle myths and those of the Sumerian Zu bird and the
Etana eagle, while similar stories remain attached to the
memories of " Sargon of Akkad" and the Indian hero
Kama, and of Semiramis (who was Queen Sammu-ramat
of Assyria) and Shakuntala. The Indian god Varuna and
the Sumerian Ea are also found to have much in common,
and it seems undoubted that the Manu fish and flood
a direct Babylonian inheritance, like the Yuga
of
the Universe) doctrine and the system of cal(Ages
It is of interest to note, too,
culation associated with it.

myth

that a

is

of the Gilgamesh epic survives in the

portion
1

The Scapegoat

vol., p.

409 (3rd

edition).

INTRODUCTION
Rdmdyana

story of the

xxxi

monkey god Hanuman's

search

for the lost princess Sita; other relics of similar character

suggest that both the Gilgamesh and Hanuman narratives

are derived in part

from a very ancient myth. Gilgamesh

mythology as Yama, the first man,

also figures in Indian

" The Land

explored the way to the Paradise called
of Ancestors ", and over which he subsequently presided
Other Babylonian myths link with those found
as a god.

who

Egypt, Greece, Scandinavia, Iceland, and the British

The Sargon myth, for instance, reIsles and Ireland.
sembles closely the myth of Scyld (Sceaf), the patriarch,
in the Beowulf epic, and both appear to be variations of

in

the

one

Tammuz

Tammuz-Adonis

story.
of his phases the Celtic hero

also resembles in

Diarmid,

who was

slain

by the "green boar" of the Earth Mother, as was Adonis

by the boar form of Ares, the Greek war god.
In approaching the study of these linking myths it
would be as rash to conclude that all resemblances are
due to homogeneity of race as to assume that folklore
and mythology are devoid of ethnological elements. Due
consideration must be given to the widespread influence
We must recognize also
exercised by cultural contact.
that the human mind has ever shown a tendency to arrive
quite independently at similar conclusions, when confronted by similar problems, in various parts of the world.

But while many remarkable resemblances may be

detected between the beliefs and myths and customs of
widely separated peoples,

it

cannot be overlooked that

remain to be acpronounced and striking

counted for.
Human experiences varied in localities
because all sections of humanity were not confronted in
ancient times by the same problems in their everyday
Some peoples, for instance, experienced no great
lives.
difficulties regarding the food supply, which might be
differences

MYlJt-iS UJh

XXX11

15A15I1AJIN1A

provided for them by nature in lavish abundance; others

were compelled to wage a fierce and constant conflict
against hostile forces in inhospitable environments with

purpose to secure adequate sustenance and their meed of

Various habits of life had to be adopted in
enjoyment.
various parts of the world, and these produced various
habits of thought.
Consequently, we find that behind
all
of
primitive religion lies the formative backsystems
ground of natural phenomena. A mythology reflects the
geography, the fauna and flora, and the climatic conditions
of the area in which it took definite and permanent shape.
In Babylonia, as elsewhere, we expect, therefore, to
mythology which has strictly local characteristics

find a

one which mirrors river and valley scenery, the habits

of life of the people, and also the various stages of progress in the civilization from its earliest beginnings.
Traces of primitive thought
survivals from remotest
should also remain in evidence. As a matter
antiquity
of fact Babylonian mythology fulfils our expectations in
regard to the highest degree.

this

Herodotus

said that

Egypt was the

gift

of the Nile:

similarly Babylonia may be regarded as the gift of the

those great shifting and flooding
Tigris and Euphrates

had been carrying down from

vast quantities of mud to thrust
back the waters of the Persian Gulf and form a country

rivers

the

which

for long ages

Armenian Highlands

capable

most

of being utilized for

typical

human

habitation.

The

Babylonian deity was Ea, the god of the

and creative waters.

He was depicted clad in the skin of a fish, as gods in
other geographical areas were depicted wearing the skins
of animals which were regarded as ancestors, or hostile
demons that had to be propitiated. Originally Ea appears
the incarnation of the spirit of, or
to have been a fish
fertilizing

INTRODUCTION

xxxiii

principle in, the Euphrates River. His centre of worship was at Eridu, an ancient seaport, where apparently
the prehistoric Babylonians (the Sumerians) first began to

life

utilize the dried -up

the

One of

soil.

beds of shifting streams to irrigate

several creation myths is remi-

the

niscent of those early experiences which produced early

local beliefs:

thou River,

When
They

who

didst create all things,

the great gods

dug thee

out,

set

Within

prosperity upon thy banks,

thee Ea, the king of the Deep, created his dwelling. 1

The Sumerians

observed that the land was brought into

means of the obstructing reeds, which caused
accumulate.
When their minds began to be

existence by

mud

to

exercised regarding the origin of life, they conceived that

the first human beings were created by a similar process:

Marduk

He
He

(son of Ea) laid a reed upon the face of the waters,

formed dust and poured it out beside the reed
formed mankind. 2
.

Ea

acquired in time, as the divine artisan, various attributes which reflected the gradual growth of civilization:
he was reputed to have taught the people how to form

canals, control the rivers, cultivate the fields, build their

houses, and so on.

But although Ea became a beneficent deity, as a

growth of civilization, he had also a demoniac form, and had to be propitiated. The worshippers
of the fish god retained ancient modes of thought and
result of the

perpetuated ancient superstitious practices.

The

earliest settlers in the

like
agriculturists,
*

their

The Scvtn Tablets of Creation^

Tigro-Euphrates valley were

congeners, the proto-Egyptians

1*,

W.

King,

2
p.

129.

//W, pp. 133-4,

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

xxxiv

and the Neolithic Europeans. Before they broke away

from the parent stock in its area of characterization they
had acquired the elements of culture, and adopted habits
of thought which were based on the agricultural mode of
Like other agricultural communities they were worlife.
" World Mother
", the Creatrix, who was
shippers of the
the giver of all good things, the "Preserver" and also
the "Destroyer"
the goddess whose moods were reflected by natural phenomena, and whose lovers were the
spirits

of the seasons.

the alluvial valley which they rendered fit for

habitation the Sumerians came into contact with peoples
of different habits of life and different habits of thought.

In

These were the nomadic pastoralists from the northern

steppe lands, who had developed in isolation theories
regarding the origin of the Universe which reflected their
particular experiences and the natural phenomena of their
The most representative people
apea of characterization.
of this class were the " Hatti" of Asia Minor, who were
of Alpine or Armenoid stock. In early times the nomads
were broken up into small tribal units, like Abraham and
his followers, and depended for their food supply on the
Their chief deity was the sky and
prowess of the males.
mountain god, who was the "World Father", the creator,
and the wielder of the thunder hammer, who waged war
against the demons of storm or drought, and ensured
the food supply of his worshippers.
The fusion in Babylonia of the peoples of the god
and goddess cults was in progress before the dawn of
history, as

was the case

in

Egypt and

also in southern

Europe. In consequence independent Pantheons came

into existence in the various city States in the TigroEuphrates valley.
politics

These were mainly a

the deities of each influential

reflection

section

of city
had to

INTRODUCTION

xxxv

But among the great masses of the

receive recognition.
ancient
customs
associated with agriculture conpeople
tinued in practice, and, as Babylonia depended for its
prosperity on its harvests, the force of public opinion
tended, it would appear, to perpetuate the religious beliefs
settlers, despite the efforts made
to exalt the deities they introduced.
querors
Babylonian religion was of twofold character.

of the earliest

by conIt

em-

braced temple worship and private worship. The religion

of the temple was the religion of the ruling class, and

who was the guardian of the people.

was
Domestic religion
conducted in homes, in reed huts,
or in public places, and conserved the crudest superstitions
The great " burnsurviving from the earliest times.
ings*' and the human sacrifices in Babylonia, referred to
in the Bible, were, no doubt, connected with agricultural
religion of the private order, as was also the ceremony of
baking and offering cakes to the Queen of Heaven, condemned by Jeremiah, which obtained in the streets of
Domestic religion required
Jerusalem and other cities.
no temples. There were no temples in Crete the world
"
was the " house of the deity, who had seasonal haunts
on hilltops, in groves, in caves, &c. In Egypt Herodotus
witnessed festivals and processions which are not referred
{o in official inscriptions, although they were evidently
practised from the earliest times.
Agricultural religion in Egypt was concentrated in the
cult of Osiris and Isis, and influenced all local theologies,
In Babylonia these deities were represented by Tammux
and Ishtar. Ishtar, like Isis, absorbed many other local

especially of the king,

goddesses.

According to the

beliefs of the ancient agriculturists

She was the

the goddess was eternal and undecaying.
Great Mother of the Universe and the source of the food
(0642)

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

xxxvi
supply.

Her son, the

"Husband of

corn god, became, as the Egyptians

his Mother ".
Each year he was

put it,
born anew and rapidly attained to manhood; then he
was slain by a fierce rival who symbolized the season of
pestilence-bringing and parching sun heat, or the rainy

was

slain

by

by Indra.

The

his son, as

The new

Or

might be that he
Cronos was by Zeus and Dyaus

season, or wild beasts of prey.

it

year slew the old year.

customs of the people, which had a religious

formed
in accordance with the doings of the
were
basis,
deities ; they sorrowed or made glad in sympathy with
the spirits of nature.
Worshippers also suggested by
their ceremonies how the deities should act at various
seasons, and thus exercised, as they believed, a magical
control over them.
In

social

Babylonia

agricultural myth regarding the

the young god had many variations.

the

Mother goddess and

Adonis, was loved by two

the Queen of
phases of nature
goddesses
Heaven and the Queen of Hades. It was decreed that
Tammuz should spend part of the year with one goddess
In one form

Tammuz,

the

like

twin

and part of the year with the other.

Tammuz

who reigned for a long period over

and had human offspring. After death his spirit
a Patriarch,

was

also

the land

appeared
times and seasons as a planet, star, or conHe was the ghost of the elder god, and he
stellation.
was also the younger god who was born each year.
at certain

In the Gilgamesh epic

we appear

to have a

form of

the patriarch legend

the story of the "culture hero"
and teacher who discovered the path which led to the
The heroic Patriarch in Egypt
land of ancestral spirits.

was Apuatu, " the opener of the ways ", the earliest form
of Osiris ; in India he was Yama, the first man, " who
searched and found out the path for many".

INTRODUCTION
The King

as Patriarch

incarnation of the culture

xxxvii

was regarded during

god

life

as

an

death he merged in
posed as an incarnation

after

c<
the god.
Sargon of Akkad"
of the ancient agricultural Patriarch: he professed to be
a man of miraculous birth who was loved by the goddess

Ishtar,

and was supposed to have inaugurated a

New Age

of the Universe.

The myth regarding

son may account
by
his

city

the father

who was

superseded

for the existence in Babylonian

pantheons of elder and younger gods

who symbolized

the passive and active forces of nature.

Considering the persistent and cumulative influence
exercised by agricultural religion it is not surprising to
find, as has been indicated, that most of the Babylonian
a

gods had Tammuz traits, as most of the Egyptian gods

had Osirian traits. Although local or imported deities
were developed and conventionalized in rival Babylonian
cities,

they

still

existed

They
who displaced

in

retained traces of primitive conceptions.

all their forms
as the younger god

the elder god and became the elder god,

and as the elder god who conciliated the younger god
and made him his active agent and as the god who was
;

identified at various seasons with different heavenly bodies

and natural phenomena. Merodach, the god of Babylon,

who was exalted as chief of the National pantheon in the
Hammurabi Age, was, like Tammuz, a son, and therefore
a form of Ea, a demon slayer, a war god, a god of
fertility, a corn spirit, a Patriarch, and world ruler and
guardian, and, like Tammuz, he had solar, lunar, astral,
and atmospheric attributes. The complex characters of
Merodach and Tammuz were not due solely to the
monotheistic tendency: the oldest deities were of mystical
character, they represented the "Self Power" of Naturalism as well as the spirit groups of Animism.

xxxviii

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

theorizing priests, who speculated regarding the

mysteries of life and death and the origin of all things,
had to address the people through the medium of popular

The

They utilized floating myths for this purpose.

there were in early times various centres of culture
which had rival pantheons, the adapted myths varied

beliefs.

As

In the different forms in which they survive

greatly.
to us they reflect, not only aspects of local beliefs, but
also grades

of culture

at different periods.

We

must not

form of a myth
was the highest and most profound. The history of
Babylonian religion is divided into periods of growth and

expect, however, to find that the latest

periods of decadence.

The

influence of domestic religion

was invariably opposed to the new and high doctrines

which emanated from the priesthood, and in times of
political upheaval tended to submerge them in the debris
of immemorial beliefs and customs. The retrogressive
tendencies of the masses were invariably reinforced by
the periodic invasions of aliens who had no respect for
official deities and temple creeds.
We must avoid insisting too strongly on the application of the evolution theory to the religious phenomena
of a country like Babylonia.
The epochs in the intellectual life of an ancient people
not comparable to geological epochs, for instance,
because the forces at work were directed by human wills,

are

whether in the interests of progress or otherwise. The

It
battle of creeds has ever been a battle of minds.
human
element
should be recognized, therefore, that the
bulks as prominently in the drama of Babylon's religious
history as does the prince of Denmark in the play of
Hamlet. We are not concerned with the plot alone. The
Their aspirations
characters must also receive attention.
and triumphs, their prejudices and blunders, were the

INTRODUCTION

xxxix

billowy forces which shaped the shoreland of the story

and made

history.

Various aspects of Babylonian life and culture are

dealt with throughout this volume, and it is shown that
the growth of science and art was stimulated by un-

wholesome and crude

superstitions.

Many

rank weeds

flourished beside the brightest blossoms of the human

intellect that wooed the sun in that fertile valley of rivers.

As

in Egypt, civilization made progress when wealth was

accumulated in sufficient abundance to permit of a leisured
class devoting time to study and research.
The endowed
priests,

who performed temple

ceremonies,

were the

We

teachers of the people and the patrons of culture.

may think little of their religious beliefs, regarding which

we have only a superficial knowledge, for we

have yet discovered little more than the fragments of the
shell which held the pearl, the faded petals that were

after all

once a rose, but we must recognize that they provided

for the artists and sculptors whose achievements compel our wonder and admiration, moved statesmen to inaugurate and administer humanitarian laws, and
exalted Right above Might.
These civilizations of the old world, among which the
Mesopotamia!! and the Nilotic were the earliest, were
built on no unsound foundations.
They made possible
"the glory that was Greece and the grandeur that was
Rome", and it is only within recent years that we have
begun to realize how incalculable is the debt which the
modern world owes to them.

inspiration

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

AND

ASSYRIA

CHAPTER
The Races and

Early Civilization of

Babylonia
The Confederacies of Sumer and Akkad
Prehistoric Babylonia
Sumerian Racial Affinities Theories of Mongolian and Ural-Altaic Origins
Evidence of Russian Turkestan Beginnings of Agriculture Remarkable
Proofs from Prehistoric Egyptian Graves
Sumerians and the Mediterranean
Race Present-day Types in Western Asia -The Evidence of Crania Origin
of the Akkadians The Semitic Blend
Races in Ancient Palestine Southward Drift of Armenoid Peoples The Rephaims of the Bible Akkadians
attain Political Supremacy in Northern Babylonia
Influence of Sumerian
Culture
of

Beginnings of Civilization

Women

in

Early Communities

Progress in the Neolithic

Their Legal Status

Influence in Social and Religious Life

dess

who

Age

Position

Ancient Babylonia
Language'* God-

in

The "Woman's

inspired Poets.

BEFORE the dawn of the

was divided into

lonia

historical period

Ancient Baby-

number of independent

city

which existed in pre-Dynastic

were grouped into loose conthese
Egypt. Ultimately
The northern cities were embraced in the
federacies.
known
as Akkad, and the southern in the land
territory
This division had a racial as
of Sumer, or Shumer.
The Akkadians were
well as a geographical significance.

states

similar

to

those

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

who had achieved political ascendency in

when the area they occupied was called Uri,
and Sumer was known as Kengi. They were a

"late comers"
the north

or Kiuri,
people of Semitic speech with pronounced Semitic affinities.
From the earliest times the sculptors depicted them
with abundant locks, long full beards, and the prominent
distinctive noses

and

full lips,

which we usually

associate

with the characteristic Jewish type, and also attired in

long, flounced robes, suspended from their left shoulders,

and reaching down to their ankles. In contrast, the

Sumerians had clean-shaven faces and scalps, and noses
of Egyptian and Grecian rather than Semitic type, while
they wore short, pleated kilts, and went about with the
upper part of their bodies quite bare like the Egyptian
noblemen of the Old Kingdom period. They spoke a
non-Semitic language, and were the oldest inhabitants of
Sumerian
Babylonia of whom we have any knowledge.
civilization was rooted in the agricultural mode of life,
and appears to have been well developed before the
Semites became numerous and influential in the land.
Cities had been built chiefly of sun-dried and fire-baked
bricks; distinctive pottery was manufactured with much
skill; the people were governed by humanitarian laws,
which formed the nucleus of the Hammurabi code, and
had in use a system of cuneiform writing which was still
in process of development from earlier pictorial characters.
The distinctive feature of their agricultural methods was
the engineering skill which was displayed in extending
the cultivatable area by the construction of irrigating
ditches.
There are also indications that they
some
possessed
knowledge of navigation and traded on

canals

and

According to one of their own traditions Eridu, originally a seaport, was their racial cradle.
The Semitic Akkadians adopted the distinctive culture of
the Persian Gulf.

if"

jj^
-

EXAMPLES OF RACIAL TYPES

From a drawing

hy E. Ifallcousins

EARLY CIVILIZATION

these Sumerians after settlement, and exercised an

fluence on its subsequent growth.

Much
original

been waged regarding the

of the Sumerians and the particular racial

controversy

home

in-

has

One theory connects them

type which they represented.
with the lank-haired and beardless Mongolians, and it is
asserted on the evidence afforded by early sculptural
As they
reliefs that they were similarly
oblique-eyed.
also spoke an agglutinative language, it is suggested that
they were descended from the same parent stock as the
Chinese in an ancient Parthian homeland.
If, however,
the oblique eye was not the result of faulty and primitive
art,

it

is

evident

that

the

Mongolian

type, which

is

invariably found to be remarkably persistent in racial

blends, did not survive in the Tigris and Euphrates
valleys, for in the finer and more exact sculpture work

of the later Sumerian period the eyes of the ruling classes

are found to be similar to those of the Ancient Egyptians
and southern Europeans.
Other facial characteristics
suggest that a Mongolian racial connection is highly improbable; the prominent Sumerian nose, for instance, is
Nor
quite unlike the Chinese, which is diminutive.
can far-reaching conclusions be drawn from the scanty
linguistic

evidence at our disposal.

Although the

lan-

guages of the Sumerians and long-headed Chinese are

of the agglutinative variety, so are those also which are

spoken by the broad-headed Turks and Magyars of

Hungary, the broad-headed and long-headed, dark and
fair Finns, and the brunet and short-statured
Basques
with pear-shaped faces, who are regarded as a variation
of the Mediterranean race with distinctive characteristics

developed in isolation.
tion of racial origins or

Languages afford no sure

indica-

affinities.

Another theory connects

the

Sumerians with the

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

broad-headed peoples of the Western Asian plains and

plateaus, who are vaguely grouped as Ural-Altaic stock
and are represented by the present-day Turks and the
It is assumed that
dark variety of Finns.
they migrated

southward

remote

in

times

in

consequence ot

tribal

by changing climatic conditions, and

abandoned a purely pastoral for an agricultural life. The
late Sumerian sculpture work
again presents difficulties in
this connection, for the faces and bulging occiputs suggest rather a long-headed than a broad-headed type, and
the theory no longer obtains that new habits of life alter
skull forms which are usually associated with other distinctive traits in the structure of skeletons.
These broadheaded nomadic peoples of the Steppes are allied to
Tatar stock, and distinguished from the pure Mongols
by their abundance of wavy hair and beard. The fact
that the Sumerians shaved their scalps and faces is highly
pressure

caused

From the earliest times it

suggestive in this connection.
of
has been the habit
most peoples to emphasize their
racial characteristics so as to be able, one may suggest, to
distinguish readily a friend from a foeman.
this

fact

is

At any

generally recognized by ethnologists.

instance, shave their pointed chins

rate

The

and
sometimes grow short side whiskers to increase the distinctive pear-shape which is given to their faces by their
Basques,

for

In contrast, their neighbours, the

chin whiskers to broaden their already

prominent temples.
Andalusians, grow

and to distinguish them markedly from

Another example of similar character is
the Basques.
afforded in Asia Minor, where the skulls of the children
of long-headed Kurds are narrowed, and those of the
children of broad-headed Armenians made flatter behind
as a result of systematic pressure applied by using cradle

rounded

chins,
1

The Races of Europe,

W.

Z. Ripley,

p.

203.

EARLY CIVILIZATION

In this way these rival peoples accentuate their

contrasting head forms, which at times may, no doubt,
show a tendency towards variation as a result of the
boards.

crossment of types. When it is found, therefore, that the

Sumerians, like the Ancient Egyptians, were in the habit
of shaving, their ethnic affinities should be looked for
a

among

glabrous

naturally

rather

than

heavily-

bearded people.

Central Asiatic

also been

urged of

source for Sumerian culture has

late

with

much

circumstantial detail.

and interesting ground. Recent

scientific expeditions in Russian and Chinese Turkestan
have accumulated important archaeological data which
clearly establish that vast areas of desert country were at
a remote period most verdurous and fruitful, and thickly
populated by organized and apparently progressive comIt

breaks quite fresh

munities.

From

these

ancient

centres

of civilization

wholesale migrations must have been impelled from time

to time in consequence of the gradual encroachment of
wind -distributed sand and the increasing shortage of

At Anau in Russian Turkestan, where excawere conducted by the Pumpelly expedition,

abundant traces were found of an archaic and forgotten
The
civilization reaching back to the Late Stone Age.
and
resembles
is decorated with
pottery
geometric designs,
somewhat other Neolithic specimens found as far apart
as Susa, the capital of ancient Elam, on the borders of
Babylonia, Boghaz Kfti in Asia Minor, the seat of Hittite
administration, round the Black Sea to the north, and at
points in the southern regions of the Balkan Peninsula.
water.

vations

suggested that these various finds are scattered

evidences of early racial drifts from the Central Asian
areas which were gradually being rendered uninhabitable.
It

is

Among

the Copper

Age

artifacts at

Anau

are clay votive

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

statuettes resembling those which were used in Sumeria

for religious purposes.
These, however, cannot be held

to prove a racial connection, but they are important in so

far as they afford evidence of early trade relations in a
hitherto unsuspected direction, and the long distances

over which cultural influence extended before the dawn

of history. Further we cannot go. No inscriptions have
yet been discovered to render articulate this mysterious
Central Asian civilization, or to suggest the original source

of early Sumerian picture writing. Nor is it possible to

confirm Mr. Pumpelly's view that from the Anau district
the Sumerians and Egyptians first obtained barley and
wheat, and some of their domesticated animals.
If, as
Professor Elliot Smith believes, copper was first used by
the Ancient Egyptians,

it

may

be,

on the other hand, that

metal reached Anau through Sumeria,

knowledge of this
and that the elements of the earlier culture were derived
from the same quarter by an indirect route. The evi-

of interest in this connection.

Large quantities of food have been taken from the
stomachs and intestines of sun-dried bodies which have
lain in their pre-Dynastic graves for over sixty centuries.
This material has been carefully examined, and has yielded,
dence obtainable

in

Egypt

is

other things, husks of barley and millet, and fragments of mammalian bones, including those, no doubt,
of the domesticated sheep and goats and cattle painted
on the pottery. 1 It is therefore apparent that at an
extremely remote period a knowledge of agriculture extended throughout Egypt, and we have no reason for
supposing that it was not shared by the contemporary
inhabitants of Sumer.
The various theories which have been propounded
regarding the outside source of Sumerian culture are

among

The Ancient Egyptians, by Elliot Smith,

p.

41

ft

sey.

EARLY CIVILIZATION

based on the assumption that it commenced abruptly and

full grown.
Its rude
beginnings cannot be traced on
the banks of the Tigris and Euphrates, but although no
specimens of the earliest form of picture writing have

been recovered from the ruins of Sumerian and Akkadian

The poscities, neither have any been found elsewhere.
sibility

remains, therefore, that early Babylonian culture

was indigenous. "A great deal of ingenuity has been

displayed by many scholars ", says Professor Elliot Smith,
"with the object of bringing these Sumerians from somewhere else as immigrants into Sumer; but no reasons
have been advanced to show that they had not been
settled at the head of the Persian Gulf for long generations before they first appeared on the stage of history.
The argument that no early remains have been found
is futile, not
only because such a country as Sumer is no
more favourable to the preservation of such evidence than
is the Delta of the Nile, but also
upon the more general

grounds that negative statements of

this sort

cannot be
1

This
of
that
the
frankly
opinion
distinguished ethnologist
Sumerians were the congeners of the pre-Dynastic Egyptians of the Mediterranean or Brown race, the eastern
branch of which reaches to India and the western to the

assigned a positive evidence for an immigration."

is

and Ireland. In the same ancient family are

included the Arabs, whose physical characteristics distinguish them from the Semites of Jewish type.
Some light may be thrown on the Sumerian problem
by giving consideration to the present-day racial comThe importance of evidence
plexion of Western Asia.
British Isles

of

this

has been

character

emphasized elsewhere.

In

Egypt, for instance, Dr. C. S. Myers has ascertained that

modern peasants have skull forms which are identical

the

The Ancient Egyptians,

p.

40.

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

with those of their pre-Dynastic ancestors.

Mr. Hawcs
has also demonstrated that the ancient inhabitants of
represented on that famous island.
even more remarkable is the fact that the distinctive

Crete are

still

But
racial

type which occupied the Palaeolithic caves of the Dordogne

valley in France continues to survive in their vicinity after

an interval of over twenty thousand years. 1

It is notein
at the
to
find
Asia
that
south-western
worthy, therefore,
present day one particular racial type predominates over
all others.
Professor Ripley, who summarizes a considerable mass of data in this connection, refers to it as
the "Iranian", and says: c( It includes the Persians and

Kurds, possibly the Ossetes in the Caucasus, and farther

the east a large number of Asiatic tribes, from the

to

Hindus. These peoples are all primarily

long-headed and dark brunets.
They incline to slenderness of habit, although varying in stature according to
In them we recognize at once undoubted
circumstances.
The
congeners of our Mediterranean race in Europe.
area of their extension runs off into Africa, through the
Not only
Egyptians, who are clearly of the same race.
the modern peoples, but the Ancient Egyptians and the
Phoenicians also have been traced to the same source.
By far the largest portion of this part of Western Asia
is inhabited
by this eastern branch of the Mediterranean
race."
The broad -headed type "occurs sporadically
2
among a few ethnic remnants in Syria and Mesopotamia".
The exhaustive study of thousands of ancient crania in
London and Cambridge collections has shown that Mediterranean peoples, having alien traits, the result of early
admixture, were distributed between Egypt and the
8
Where blending took place, the early type,
Punjab.

Afghans

to the

Crete the Forerunner of Greece, C.

The Races of Europe,

W.

Z. Ripley,

p.

H. and H.

443

et

B.
*

seq.

Hawes, 1911, p. 23 et seq.

The Ancient Egyptians, pp. 144-5.

EARLY CIVILIZATION
apparently, continued to predominate

be reasserting

itself in

our

own time

and it appears to
Western Asia,

in

seems

doubtful, therefore, that the

ancient Sumerians differed racially from the pre-Dynastic
elsewhere.

as

inhabitants

It

of Egypt and the

Pelasgians and

Iberians

of Europe.
Indeed, the statuettes from Tello, the site
of the Sumerian city of Lagash, display distinctively
Some of the
Mediterranean skull forms and faces.
" the
the
later
of
period suggest, however,
plump figures
particular alien strain" which in Egypt and elsewhere
"is always associated with a tendency to the develop-

ment of

"the lean and sinewy ap1

pearance of most representatives of the Brown race".
This change may be accounted for by the presence of the
Semites

in

fat",

in

contrast

to

northern Babylonia.

Whence, then, came these invading Semitic AkkaIt is

dians of Jewish type?
generally agreed that they
were closely associated with one of the early outpourings
of nomadic peoples from Arabia, a country which is
favourable for the production of a larger population than
it

is

able

to

maintain permanently, especially

natural resources are restricted

by

a succession

when

its

of abnor-

In tracing the Akkadians from Arabia,

mally dry years.
confronted
at the outset with the diffiwe
are
however,
culty that its prehistoric, and many of its present-day,
inhabitants are not of the characteristic Semitic type.
On

the Ancient Egyptian pottery and

monuments

the Arabs

men who

depicted
closely resembled the representatives of the Mediterranean race in the Nile valley

are

as

and elsewhere.

They shaved

neither scalps nor faces as

did the historic Sumerians and Egyptians, but grew the

slight moustache and chin -tuft beard like the Libyans

on the north and the majority of the men whose bodies

1

The Ancient Egyptians^

p.

114.

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

io

have been preserved in pre-Dynastic graves in the Nile

"If", writes Professor Elliot Smith, "the genevalley.
rally accepted view is true, that Arabia was the original

home of

the Semites, the

Arab must have undergone

in his physical characters after

he

left

profound change
his homeland and before he reached Babylonia."
This
authority is of opinion that the Arabians first migrated into
Palestine and northern Syria, where they mingled with
the southward - migrating Armenoid peoples from Asia
Minor. " This blend of Arabs, kinsmen of the protoEgyptians and Armenoids, would then form the big-nosed,
long-bearded Semites, so familiar not only on the ancient
Babylonian and Egyptian monuments, but also in the
modern Jews/' 1 Such a view is in accord with Dr. Hugo
Winckler's contention that the flow of Arabian migrations
was northwards towards Syria ere it swept through MesoIt can scarcely be supposed that these invasions
of settled districts did not result in the fusion and crossment of racial types and the production of a sub-variety
with medium skull form and marked facial characteristics.

potamia.

Of

special interest in this connection

is

the evidence

The former country

afforded by Palestine and Egypt.
has ever been subject to periodic ethnic disturbances and
Its racial history has a remote beginning in the
changes.
Palaeolithic flints of Chellean and other
Pleistocene Age.

primitive types have been found in large numbers, and a

valuable collection of these is being preserved in a French

museum

In a northern cave fragments of

rude pottery, belonging to an early period in the Late
Stone Age, have been discovered in association with the
at

Jerusalem.

To a later period
bones of the woolly rhinoceros.
belong the series of Gezer cave dwellings, which, according to Professor Macalister, the well-known Palestinian
1

The Ancient Egyptians,

p.

136.

EARLY CIVILIZATION

11

"were occupied by a non-Semitic people of low

with
thick skulls and showing evidence of the
stature,
1
muscular
strength that is essential to savage life'*.
great
authority,

These people

are generally supposed to be representatives

race, which Sergi has found to have

of the Mediterranean

been widely distributed throughout Syria and a part of

Asia Minor. 2 An interesting problem, however, is raised

one of the caves, there are evidences

This was not a Mediterranean custom, nor does it appear to have prevailed
outside the Gezer area.
If, however, it does not indicate
that the kinsmen of the Ancient Egyptians came into
contact with the remnants of an earlier people, it may be
that the dead of a later people were burned there.
The
possibility that unidentified types may have contributed
to the Semitic blend, however, remains.
The Mediterraneans mingled in Northern Syria and Asia Minor
with the broad-headed Armenoid peoples who are represented in Europe by the Alpine race.
With them they
the
formed
Hittite
These
great
ultimately
confederacy.
Armenoids were moving southwards at the very dawn
of Egyptian history, and nothing is known of their conTheir pioneers, who were probquests and settlements.
to
have
ably traders, appear
begun to enter the Delta
of
before
the
close
the
Late Stone Age. 3 The
region
earliest
outpourings of migrating Arabians may have been
in progress about the same time.
This early southward
drift of Armenoids
for the presence in
account
might

by the
that

fact that, in

the dead were cremated.

southern Palestine, early in the Copper Age, of the tall

race referred to in the Bible as the Rephaim or Ana-

kim, "whose power was broken only by the

1

2
8

(0642)

Hebrew

A History of Palestine,

R, A. S. Macalister, pp. 8-1 6.

The Mediterranean Race (1901 trans.), G. Sergi, p. 146
The Ancient Egyptians, p. 130.

et

teq.

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

12
n

2
Joshua drove them out of Hebron, in the
neighbourhood of which Abraham had purchased a burial
cave from Ephron, the Hittite. 3
Apparently a system

invaders

of land laws prevailed in Palestine at this early period.

It is of special interest for us to note that in Abraham's

day and afterwards, the landed proprietors in the country

of the Rephaim were identified with the aliens from Asia

Minor

the

variety in the Hittite confederacy.

Little doubt need remain that the Arabians during
their sojourn in Palestine and Syria met with distinctive

and

tall

not with pure Armenoids, at any rate with

The consequent multipeoples having Armenoid traits.
of
and
the
tribes,
plication
gradual pressure exercised
types,

if

by the constant stream of immigrants from Arabia and

Asia Minor, must have kept this part of Western Asia
Fresh migrations of the
in a constant state of unrest.
stock
were
surplus
evidently propelled towards Egypt in

one direction, and the valleys of the Tigris and Euphrates

in another.
The Semites of Akkad were probably the
of
the more highly civilized Sumerians, who
conquerors
must have previously occupied that area. It is possible
that they owed their success to the possession of superior
weaponso Professor Elliot Smith suggests in this connection that the Arabians had become familiar with the
use of copper as a result of contact with the Egyptians
in Sinai.
There is no evidence, however, that the
Sumerians were attacked before they had begun to make
It is more probable that the invading
nomads had superior military organization and considerable experience in waging war against detached tribal
units.
They may have also found some of the northern

metal weapons.

Sumerian

city states at
1

war with one another and taken

History of Civilization in Palestine, p. 2O

8 Genesis xxm
xi. 21.
9

Joshua,

et

teq.

STATUE OF A ROYAL PERSONAGE OR OFFICIAL OF

NON-SEMITIC ORIGIN
(British

Museum)

EARLY CIVILIZATION

13

advantage of their unpreparedness to resist a common

enemy. The rough Dorians who overran Greece and
the fierce Goths who shattered the power of Rome were
similarly in a lower state of civilization than the peoples

whom

they subdued.

The

Sumerians, however, ultimately achieved an intellectual conquest of their conquerors.

Although the

may have formed military aristocracies

which they occupied, it was necessary for the
great majority of the nomads to engage their activities

leaders of invasion
in the cities

in

new

directions

after

The

settlement.

Semitic

Ak-

kadians, therefore, adopted Sumerian habits of life which

were best suited for the needs of the country, and they
consequently came under the spell of Sumerian modes of
This is shown by the fact that the native
thought.

speech of ancient Sumer continued long after the dawn

of history to be the language of Babylonian religion and
culture, like Latin in Europe during the Middle Ages.
For centuries the mingling peoples must have been bilingual, as are many of the inhabitants
and the Scottish Highlands in the

ultimately

the

language

of

the

of Ireland, Wales,
present age, but

Semites

became

the

This change
prevailing speech in Sumer and Akkad.
was the direct result of the conquests and the political
consupremacy achieved by the northern people.

siderable period elapsed, however, ere this consummation

was reached and Ancient Babylonia became completely
Semitized.
No doubt its brilliant historical civilization
owed much of its vigour and stability to the organizing
genius of the Semites, but the basis on which it was established had been laid by the ingenious and imaginative Sumerians who first made the desert to blossom like the rose.
The culture of Sumer was a product of the Late
Stone Age, which should not be regarded as necessarily

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

an age of barbarism. During its vast periods there were

great discoveries and great inventions in various parts

of Asia, Africa, and Europe. The Neoliths made pottery

and bricks ; we know that they invented the art of
spinning, for spindle-whorls are found even in the Gezer
caves to which

we have

referred, while in

Egypt the preDynastic dead were sometimes wrapped in finely woven

implements are eloquent

and mechanical skill, and undoubted mathematical ability must be credited to the makers of smoothly
polished stone hammers which are so perfectly balanced
that they revolve on a centre of gravity.
In Egypt and
was
soil
tilled
and
its
the
Babylonia
fertility increased
linen: their deftly chipped flint

of

artistic

Wherever man waged a struggle with

by irrigation.
Nature he made rapid progress, and consequently we
find that the earliest great civilizations were rooted in
Their mode
little fields of the Neolithic farmers.
of life necessitated a knowledge of Nature's laws; they
had to take note of the seasons and measure time. So
Egypt gave us the Calendar, and Babylonia the system
of dividing the week into seven days, and the day into
the

twelve double hours.

The

agricultural life permitted large communities to

live in river valleys, and these had to be governed

codes of laws; settled communities required peace

by
and

All great civilorder for their progress and prosperity.

izations have evolved from the habits and experiences
of settled communities. Law and religion were closely
associated,

and the evidence afforded by the remains of

stone circles and temples suggests that in the organization

and division of labour the influence of religious teachers

was pre-eminent.
kings

incarnations

Early rulers,
of the deity

and measured out the span

indeed,

were

who owned
of human life.

priest-

the land

EARLY CIVILIZATION

15

We

need not assume that Neolithic man led an idyllic

existence; his triumphs were achieved by slow and gradual
steps; his legal codes were, no doubt, written in blood
and his institutions welded in the fires of adversity.
But, disciplined by laws, which fostered humanitarian
ideals, Neolithic man, especially of the Mediterranean
race, had reached a comparatively high state of civilization long ages before the earliest traces of his activities
When this type of mankind is porcan be obtained.
trayed in Ancient Sumeria, Ancient Egypt, and Ancient
Crete we find that the faces are refined and intellectual

and often quite modern in aspect. The skulls show that

in the Late Stone Age the human brain was fully deIn every
veloped and that the racial types were fixed.
country in Europe we still find the direct descendants
of the ancient Mediterranean race, as well as the descendants of the less

highly cultured

conquerors

who

swept westward out of Asia at the dawn of the Bronze

Age; and everywhere there are evidences of crossment of
Even the influence of Neotypes in varying degrees.

The comparative
life still remains.
and
folk
beliefs
of
reveals that we
study
mythology
have inherited certain modes of thought from our remote ancestors, who were the congeners of the Ancient
Sumerians and the Ancient Egyptians. In this connecintellectual

lithic

is of interest, therefore, to refer to the social

of the early peoples who met and mingled on the
southern plains of the Tigris and Euphrates, and especially the position occupied by women, which is engaging

tion

it

ideals

so

much
It

attention at the present day.

that among the Semites

would appear

and other

nomadic peoples woman was regarded as the helpmate

companion and equal of man. The birth
of a son was hailed with joy; it was "miserable to have
rather than the

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

16
a

daughter

after

",

as

Hindu

reflected

sage

in

various

was the custom to expose female children

birth and leave them to die.
A wife had no rights

countries

it

other than those accorded to her by her husband, who

exercised over her the power of life and death.
Sons
inherited family possessions; the daughters had no share
to them, and could be sold by fathers and

allotted

brothers.

the

Among

peoples

who observed " male

life was reflected in the conception of conmale

deities,
accompanied by shadowy goddesses
trolling
who were often little else than figures of speech.
The Ancient Sumerians, on the other hand, like the
Mediterranean peoples of Egypt and Crete, reverenced
and exalted motherhood in social and religious life.
Women were accorded a legal status and marriage laws
were promulgated by the State. Wives could possess

right ", social

private property in their own right, as did the Babylonian

Sarah, wife of Abraham, who owned the Egyptian slave
1
woman received from her parents a marriage
Hagar.

dowry, and

in the

event of separation from her husband

Some spinsters, or wives,

full value.
to
enter
into
business
were accustomed
partnerships with
she could claim

its

men

or

members of

sued

in

courts of law.

heirs

of the

their

own

sex,

and could sue and be

sisters were
joint

Brothers and

family estate.
Daughters might possess
exercised no control:
over
fathers
which
their
property
into
could
also
enter
legal agreements with their
they

when they had attained to

Young women who took vows of
religious institutions could yet make

parents in business matters,

years of discretion.
celibacy and lived in

There
business investmbnts, as surviving records show.
is
only one instance of a Sumerian woman ascending the
throne, like

Queen Hatshepsut of Egypt. Women,

1

Genesis, xvi. 8, 9.

there-

EARLY CIVILIZATION

17

fore, were not rigidly excluded from official life. Dungi II,
an early Sumerian king, appointed two of his daughters
as rulers of
conquered cities in Syria and Elam. Simi-

Shishak, the Egyptian Pharaoh, handed over the

of
Gezer, which he had subdued, to his daughter,
city
Solomon's wife. 1 In the religious life of ancient Sumeria
the female population exercised an undoubted influence,
larly

temples there were priestesses. The oldest

hymns give indication of the respect shown to women
by making reference to mixed assemblies as "females and

and

in certain

males", just as present-day orators address themselves to

"ladies

and gentlemen".

In the

later

Semitic adapta-

tions of these productions, it is significant to note, this

conventional reference was altered to "male and female".

If influences, however, were at

tion of women they did not

when Hammurabi

because

work

to restrict the posi-

meet with much success,

codified

existing

laws,

the

women

received marked recognition.

There were two dialects in ancient Sumeria, and the

ancient rights of

hymns were composed in what was known as

"the women's language". It must not be inferred, however, that the ladies of Sumeria had established a speech
which differed from that used by men. The reference
would appear to be to a softer and homelier dialect, perhaps the oldest of the two, in which poetic emotion found
In these ancient
fullest and most beautiful expression.
of
was the
as
in
womanhood
our
the
ideal
own,
days,
chief
the
source of inspiration, and among
poet's
hymns
the highest reach of poetic art was attained in the invocation of Ishtar, the Babylonian Venus.
The'/ollowing
invocatory

hymn

is

addressed to that

deity

/ KingSy

xvi.

her

Valkyrie-like

but her more feminine

character as a goddess of war,

traits are not obscured
1

in

6.

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

Hymn
To

thee I cry,

to Ishtar

lady of the gods,

Lady of ladies, goddess without

Ishtar

peer,

who

shapes the lives of all mankind,

stately world queen, sovran of the sky,

Thou
And lady

Illustrious

Gleaming

ruler of the host of

heaven

thy name ...

is

light divine,
in lofty splendour o'er the earth

Heroic daughter of the moon, oh! hear;

dost control our weapons and award

Thou

In battles fierce the victory at will

crown'd majestic Fate.

Who

Ishtar

most high,

art exalted over all the gods,

Thou

bringest lamentation; thou dost urge

With

The
Thy
Thy

hostile hearts our brethren to the fray;

gift of strength is thine for thou art strong;

will

urgent, brooking no delay;

violent, thou queen of war

is

hand is
Girded with

battle

and enrobed with

fear

Thou sovran wielder of the wand of Doom,

The heavens and earth are under thy control.
Adored

art thou in every sacred place,

In temples, holy dwellings, and in shrines,
Where is thy name not lauded ? where thy will

Unheeded, and thine images not made

Where

are thy temples not upreared

Art thou not mighty,

peerless,

O, where

and supreme

Anu

and Bel and Ea have thee raised

rank supreme, in majesty and pow'r,
They have established thee above the gods
And all the host of heaven ...
stately queen,
At thought of thee the world is filled with fear,

To

The
All

gods in heaven quake, and on the earth

spirits pause,

With

and

all

reverence for thy

mankind bow down

name ... O Lady Judge,

EARLY CIVILIZATION

19

ways are just and holy; thou dost gaze

sinners with compassion, and each morn
Leadest the wayward to the rightful path.

Thy

On

Now

linger not, but

shepherdess of

With

feet

come!

goddess
thou drawest nigh

all,

unwearied

Thou

Of these thy handmaids

The dying with compassion,
.

And when

dost break the bonds

When

lo!

fair,

thou stoopest o'er

they

live;

the sick behold thee they are healed.

Hear me, thy servant hearken to my pray'r,

For I am full of sorrow and I sigh
In sore distress; weeping, on thee I wait.
!

Be

merciful,

How

long must
be ?

And
Be

lady, pity take

my

" 'T
answer,

And

my

filled

enough and be appeased

heart sorrow and

How

restless

is

long must

with mourning and

my

anger pity

May

make moan
dark home

my

soul with grief?

lioness of heaven, bring me peace

And rest and comfort. Hearken to
Is

".

my

thine eyes look

pray'r!

down

With

tenderness and blessings, and behold

Oh! have mercy; hear my cry
unbewitch me from the evil spells,

Thy
And

servant.

That

may

Shall these

see thy glory

my
And robbing me
Shall

of joy

Oh! how

me, working
.

long

ill,

Oh! how

long

demons compass me about and cause

Affliction without

The
The

foes pursue

gift

end

of strength

is

I thee

adore

thine and thou art strong

.
.
weakly are made strong, yet I am weak
hear me
I am glutted with my grief
This flood of grief by evil winds distressed;
My heart hath fled me like a bird on wings,
And like the dove I moan. Tears from mine eyes
Are falling as the rain from heaven falls,
And I am destitute and full of woe.

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

20

What
Have

And
And

have

done that thou hast turned from

neglected homage
thee my goddess ?

all

my

Thy
And may

How

my

watched over

long wilt thou be angry

share

in

Hear

my

Then

smite

my

foes,

work me ill,
power
away
to my pray'r!
them.
crush
Hearken
may

to

their

bless

May

laud thee and

me

I exalt

so that

all

who me

may magnify

thy power over

behold

thy name,

all

Ishtar is the queen

highest
Ishtar the peerless daughter of the moon!

Ishtar

cry,

prosper
my ways
be crumbled and withdrawn

And

While

may

all

crumbling stream.

take

That

me

thy fold;
thy fold be wide, thy pen secure.

And turn again to

O may thy wrath
As by

me

god

deliver

sins forgive, that I

love and be

And

to

is

CHAPTER
The Land

II

of Rivers and the

God

of the Deep
Rivers, Canals, Seasons, and Climate
Fertility of Ancient Babylonia
Early Trade and Foreign Influences Local Religious Cults Ea, God of the
Deep, identical with Cannes of Berosus Origin as a Sacred Fish Compared

with Brahma and Vishnu

Flood Legends in Babylonia and India Fish

Egypt Fish God as a Corn God The River as
Creator Ea an Artisan God, and links with Egypt and India Ea as the
Hebrew Jah Ea and Varuna are Water and Sky Gods The Babylonian
Dagan and Dagon of the Philistines Deities of Water and Harvest in
Ea's
Phoenicia, Greece, Rome, Scotland, Scandinavia, Ireland, and Egypt
Spouse Damkina Demons of Ocean in Babylonia and India Anu, God of
the Sky Enlil, Storm and War God of Nippur, like Adad, Odin, &c.
Early Gods of Babylonia and Egypt of common origin Ea's City as Cradle
of Sumerian Civilization.
Deities in Babylonia and

ANCIENT Babylonia was for over four thousand years the

In the days of Hezekiah and
garden of Western Asia.
it
had
come
the sway of the younger
when
under
Isaiah,
" a land of corn
civilization of Assyria on the north, it was
and wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of oil
1
olive and of honey".
Herodotus found it still flourish"This territory", he wrote,
ing and extremely fertile.
" is of all that we know the best
by far for producing
it is so
that
it returns as much as two
grain
good
hundredfold for the average, and, when it bears at its
;

The blades of the

best, it produces three hundredfold.
wheat and barley there grow to be full four fingers broad ;
1

2 Kings,
21

xviii, 32.

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

22

and from millet and sesame seed, how large a tree grows,
I know
myself, but shall not record, being well aware that
even what has already been said relating to the crops
produced has been enough to cause disbelief in those
who have not visited Babylonia." 1 To-day great tracts
of undulating moorland, which aforetime yielded two and
three crops a year, are in

summer

partly barren wastes

and partly jungle and reedy swamp.

Bedouins camp
beside sandy heaps which were once populous and thriving cities, and here and there the shrunken remnants of
a people once great and influential eke out precarious
livings under the oppression of Turkish tax-gatherers who
are scarcely less considerate than the plundering

nomads

of the desert.
This historic country is bounded on the east by Persia
and on the west by the Arabian desert. In shape somea fish, it lies between the two great
the
rivers,
Tigris and the Euphrates, 100 miles wide at
its broadest
part, and narrowing to 35 miles towards the
"tail'' in the latitude of Baghdad; the "head" converges

what resembling

above Basra, where the rivers meet and form

Shatt-el-Arab, which pours into the Persian Gulf
after meeting the Karun and drawing away the main
to a point

the

The distance
volume of that double-mouthed river.
from Baghdad to Basra is about 300 miles, and the area
traversed by the Shatt-el-Arab is slowly extending at the
of a mile every thirty years or so, as a result of the
steady accumulation of silt and mud carried down by the
When Sumeria was beginning to
Tigris and Euphrates.
had separate outlets, and Eridu,
these
rivers
two
flourish,
%
the seat of the cult of the sea god Ea, which now lies
125 miles inland, was a seaport at the head of the Persian
rate

Gulf.

day's journey separated the river

1

Herodotus^

i,

193.

mouths when

THE LAND OF RIVERS

23

Alexander the Great broke the power of the Persian

Empire.
In the days of Babylonia's prosperity the Euphrates
"
and the Tigris
was hailed as " the soul of the land
as "the bestower of blessings".
Skilful engineers had
solved the problem of water distribution by irrigating
sun-parched areas and preventing the excessive flooding
of those districts which are now rendered impassable
swamps when the rivers overflow. A network of canals
was constructed throughout the country, which restricted
the destructive tendencies of the Tigris and Euphrates

and developed

to

fertilizing agencies.

high degree their potentialities as

greatest of these canals appear

The

been anciently river beds. One, which is called

Shatt en Nil to the north, and Shatt el Kar to the south,

to have

curved eastward from Babylon, and sweeping past Nippur,

flowed like the letter S towards Larsa and then rejoined
the river.

It is

believed to

mark

the course followed in

the early Sumerian period by the Euphrates river, which

has moved steadily westward many miles beyond the sites

of ancient

cities that

were erected on

its

banks.

Another

important canal, the Shatt el Hai, crossed the plain from

the Tigris to its sister river, which lies lower at this point,

and does not run so fast. Where the artificial canals were
constructed on higher levels than the streams which fed
them, the water was raised by contrivances known as
" shaddufs "
the buckets or skin bags were roped to a
weighted beam, with the aid of which they were swung up
by workmen and emptied into the canals. It is possible
that this toilsome mode of irrigation was substituted in
favourable parts by the primitive water wheels which are
used in our own day by the inhabitants of the country
;

who

cultivate strips of land along the river banks.

the rainy and
are two seasons

In Babylonia there

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

24

Rain

the dry.
plain

is

falls

carpeted

verdure and

from November

in

brilliant

March, and the

spring by patches of vivid green

wild flowers.

till

Then

the period of

drought ensues; the sun rapidly burns up all vegetation,

and everywhere the eye is wearied by long stretches of
brown and yellow desert. Occasional sandstorms darken
the heavens, sweeping over sterile wastes and piling up
the shapeless mounds which mark the sites of ancient

Meanwhile the

cities.

being fed by

rivers are increasing in volume,

the melting snows at their mountain sources

The swift Tigris, which is 1146 miles

to
rise
early in March and reaches its highest
long, begins
level in May; before the end of June it again subsides.
far to the north.

More sluggish in movement, the Euphrates, which is 1780

miles long, shows signs of rising a fortnight later than
the Tigris, and is in flood for a more extended period;
it

does

not shrink to

September.
rivers,

By

its

lowest

controlling

level

until

the flow of these

early in

mighty

preventing disastrous floods, and storing and dis-

tributing surplus water, the ancient Babylonians developed

to the full the natural resources of their country, and
made it what it may once again become one of the
fairest

and most habitable areas

conferred

in

the world.

Nature

upon them bountiful rewards

trade and industries flourished, and

for their labour;

the cities increased in

Then as now the heat was great

the
but
summer,
remarkably dry and unvaryduring
long
the
air was ever wonderfully transparent under
while
ing,
splendour and strength.

The

nights were cool and

of great beauty, whether in brilliant moonlight or when
ponds and canals were jewelled by the lustrous displays
cloudless skies of vivid blue.

of clear and numerous stars which glorified that homeland

of the earliest astronomers.
Babylonia is a treeless country, and timber had to be

THE LAND OF RIVERS

imported from the

times.

earliest

The

25

date palm was

probably introduced by man, as were certainly the vine

and the

which were widely cultivated, especially

for building, was very
and
scarce,
limestone, alabaster, marble, and basalt had
to be taken from northern Mesopotamia, where the
mountains also yield copper and lead and iron. Except
Eridu, where ancient workers quarried sandstone from
its
sea-shaped ridge, all the cities were built of brick, an
excellent clay being found in abundance.
When brick
walls were cemented with bitumen they were given great
This resinous substance is found in the north
stability.
and south. It bubbles up through crevices of rocks on
river banks and forms small ponds.
Two famous springs
at modern Hit, on the Euphrates, have been drawn upon
from time immemorial. "From one", writes a traveller,
"flows hot water black with bitumen, while the other
in

fig tree,

the north.

Stone, suitable

discharges intermittently bitumen, or, after a rainstorm,

bitumen and cold water.

Where rocks crop out in
the plain above Hit, they are full of seams of bitumen." 1
"
Present-day Arabs call it kiyara", and export it for coating boats and roofs; they also use it as an antiseptic, and
apply it to cure the skin diseases from which camels suffer.
Sumeria had many surplus products, including corn
and figs, pottery, fine wool and woven garments, to offer
in exchange for what it most required from other counIt must, therefore, have had a brisk and flourishtries.
No
ing foreign trade at an exceedingly remote period.
doubt numerous alien merchants were attracted to its
cities, and it may be that they induced or encouraged
Semitic and other raiders to overthrow governments and
form military aristocracies, so that they themselves might
obtain necessary concessions and achieve a degree of
.

Peter's Nippur,

i,

p.

160.

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

26

It does not follow, however, that

ascendancy.
the peasant class was greatly affected by periodic revolu-

political

tions

of

this

kind, which brought

little

more

to

them

a change of rulers.
The needs of the country
necessitated the continuance of agricultural methods and
the rigid observance of existing land laws; indeed, these
constituted the basis of Sumerian prosperity. Conquerors

than

have ever sought reward not merely in spoil, but also the
In northern Babylonia the

services of the conquered.

invaders apparently found it necessary to conciliate and

secure the continued allegiance of the tillers of the soil.

Law and
adapt

religion being closely associated, they had to

their gods to suit the requirements of existing

A deity of pastoral
which would give him
an agricultural significance; one of rural character had to
be changed to respond to the various calls of city life.
Besides, local gods could not be ignored on account of
their popularity.
As a result, imported beliefs and religious customs must have been fused and absorbed
according to their bearing on modes of life in various
It is
localities.
probable that the complex character of
certain deities was due to the process of adjustment to
which they were subjected in new environments.
The petty kingdoms of Sumeria appear to have been
tribal in origin.
Each city was presided over by a deity
who was the nominal owner of the surrounding arable
land, farms were rented or purchased from the priesthood,
and pasture was held in common. As in Egypt, where
we find, for instance, the artisan god Ptah supreme at
Memphis, the sun god Ra at Heliopolis, and the cat
goddess Bast at Bubastis, the various local Sumerian and
Akkadian deities had distinctive characteristics, and similarly showed a tendency to absorb the attributes of their
social

and

political

nomads had

organizations.

to receive attributes

THE LAND OF RIVERS

27

The

chief deity of a state was the central figure

pantheon, which had its political aspect and influenced

rivals.

in a

the growth of local theology.

Cities, however, did not,
as a rule, bear the names of deities, which suggests that

when Sumerian religion was in its

animistic
stages, and gods and goddesses were not
early
from the various spirit groups.
defined
sharply
distinctive and characteristic Sumerian god was Ea,
several were founded

who was supreme

Eridu.

He

is

at

the ancient sea -deserted

port of

Cannes of Berosus, 1
creature endowed with

identified with the

referred to the deity as " a

reason, with a body like that of a fish, with feet below
This description
like those of a man, with a fish's tail".
recalls the familiar figures of Egyptian gods and priests

who

attired

in

the skins of the sacred

animals from

whom

powers were derived, and the fairy lore about swan

maids and men, and the seals and other animals who
"
could divest themselves of their " skin coverings
and
in
human
Ea
have
been
appear
shape.
Originally
may
a sacred fish.
The Indian creative gods Brahma and
In Sanskrit literature Manu,
Vishnu had fish forms.
their

the

eponymous

build

a ship in

instructed by the fish to

which to save himself when the world

"first

man",

is

would be purged by the rising waters. Ea befriended

in similar manner the Babylonian Noah, called Pir-napishtim, advising him to build a vessel so as to be preIndeed the Indian
pared for the approaching Deluge.
on
to
throw
the
legend appears
light
original Sumerian
the fish was
of
Ea.
It
that
when
relates
conception
small and in danger of being swallowed by other fish
in a stream it appealed to Manu for protection.
The
1

In the third century B.C. he composed in

Babylonian priest of Bel Merodach.
Extracts from it are given by
a history of his native land, which has perished.
Eusebius, Josephus, Apollodorus, and others.

Greek

(0642)

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

28

sage at once lifted up the fish and placed it in a jar of

water.
It gradually increased in bulk, and he transferred

next to a tank and then to the river Ganges.

In time
the fish complained to Manu that the river was too small
it

it to the sea.
For these services the
form
Manu
instructed
god
regarding the approaching flood, and afterwards piloted his ship through the
1
weltering waters until it rested on a mountain top.

for

it,

so he carried

in fish

If this Indian

probable,

it

may

of Babylonian origin, as appears

be that the spirit of the river Euphrates,
is

myth

" the soul of the land

", was identified with a migrating
fish.
The growth of the fish suggests the growth of the
In Celtic folk tales high tides and
river rising in flood.
valley floods are accounted for by the presence of a "great
"
in sea, loch, or river.
In a class of legends,
beast
with
the
connected
"specially
worship of Atargatis",

" the divine life of

Smith,
the waters resides in the sacred fish that inhabit them.

wrote Professor Robertson

her son, according to a legend common

to Hierapolis and Ascalon, plunged into the waters
in
the first case the Euphrates, in the second the sacred
Atargatis and

pool at the temple near the town

into fishes ".
is,

The

ceases to exist in

waters where he

is

idea

is

human

and were changed

that "where a god dies, that
form, his

buried; and

this

passes into the

again is merely a

life

theory to bring the divine water or the divine fish into

harmony with anthropomorphic ideas. The same thing was
sometimes effected in another way by saying that the anthro-

pomorphic deity was born from the water, as Aphrodite

sprang from sea foam, or as Atargatis, in another form of
was born of an egg which the
the Euphrates, legend,
2
sacred fishes found in the Euphrates and pushed ashore."
"
"
As Shar Apsi ", Ea was the King of the Watery
.

Indian

Myth and Legend,

pp. 140, 141.

The Religion of the Semites^ pp. 159, 160.

THE LAND OF RIVERS

The

Deep".
u

29

reference, however, according to Jastrow,

salt ocean, but the sweet waters flowing

the
earth
under
which feed the streams, and through

not to the

is

As Babylonia
streams and canals irrigate the fields*'.
was fertilized by its rivers, Ea, the fish god, was a ferti"
is
In Egypt the " Mother of Mendes
lizing deity.
depicted carrying a fish upon her head; she links with
Isis and Hathor; her husband is Ba-neb-Tettu, a form

of Ptah, Osiris, and Ra, and as a god of fertility he is

Another Egyptian fish deity
symbolized by the ram.

was the god Rem, whose name signifies "to weep"; he

wept fertilizing tears, and corn was sown and reaped
amidst lamentations.
He may be identical with Remi,
who was a phase of Sebek, the crocodile god, a developed
attribute of Nu, the vague primitive Egyptian deity who
symbolized the primordial deep. The connection between
a fish god and a corn god is not necessarily remote when
we consider that in Babylonia and Egypt the harvest was
the gift of the rivers.
The Euphrates, indeed, was hailed as a creator of
all

grew on its banks.

thou River who didst create

that

When

all

things,

the great gods dug thee out,

set prosperity upon thy banks,

Within thee Ea, the King of the Deep, created
Thou judgest the cause of mankind!

They

O
O

River, thou art mighty!

River, thou

art righteous!

his

dwelling

River, thou art supreme!

In serving Ea, the embodiment or the water spirit, by

leading him, as the Indian Manu led the Creator and
"Preserver" in fish form, from river to water pot, water
pot to

pond or
1

canal,

and then again to

river

and ocean,

M. Jastrow, p. 88.
Religion of Babylonia and Assyria,
The Seven Tablets of Creation, L. W. King, vol. i, p. 129.

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

30

the Babylonians became expert engineers and experienced

agriculturists, the makers of bricks, the builders of cities,
the framers of laws.

growth of

Ea

worship.

Indeed, their civilization was a

Ea was

their instructor.

Berosus

Oannes, he lived in the Persian Gulf, and

came
ashore to instruct the inhabitants of
every day
Eridu how to make canals, to grow crops, to work
metals, to make pottery and bricks, and to build temples;
states that, as

he was the artisan god

Nun-ura, "god of the potter";
the divine
Kuski-banda, "god of goldsmiths", &c.
"Ea
of
the
arts
and
crafts.
knoweth
everything",
patron
chanted the hymn maker.
He taught the people how to
form and use alphabetic signs and instructed them in
Like
mathematics
he gave them their code of laws.
:

the Egyptian artisan god Ptah, and the linking deity

"
Khnumu, Ea was the potter or moulder of gods and
man ". Ptah moulded the first man on his potter's

he also moulded the sun and moon; he shaped

hammered out the copper sky. Ea
" as an architect builds a house "- 1 Simibuilt the world

wheel:

the universe and

Vedic Indra, who wielded a hammer like Ptah,

fashioned the universe after the simple manner in which
2
the Aryans made their wooden dwellings.

larly the

Like Ptah, Ea

developed from an artisan god

into a sublime Creator in the highest sense, not merely
as a producer of crops.
His word became the creative
he
named
those
force;
things he desired to be, and they
came into existence. "Who but Ea creates things",
This change from artisan god
exclaimed a priestly poet.
to creator (Nudimmud) may have been due to the tendency of earlj religious cults to attach to their chief god
the attributes of rivals exalted at other centres.
also

and Assyria^ M. Jastrow, p. 88.

Myth and Legend^

Religious Belief in Babylonia

Cosmology of the Rtgveda, Wallis, and Indian

p. 10.

THE LAND OF RIVERS

31

Ea, whose name is also rendered Aa, was identified

with Ya, Ya'u, or Au, the Jah of the Hebrews.
"In
Ya-Daganu, 'Jah is Dagon'", writes Professor Pinches,

"we

have the elements reversed, showing a wish to

identify Jah with Dagon, rather than Dagon with Jah;
whilst another interesting name, Au-Aa, shows an identification of Jah with Aa, two names which have every
Jah's
appearance of being etymologically connected."
name "is one of the words for c god' in the Assyro1

Babylonian language".
Ea was "Enki", "lord of the world ", or "lord of
what is beneath"; Amma-ana-ki, "lord of heaven and
earth"; Sa-kalama, "ruler of the land", as well as

Engur, "god of the abyss", Naqbu, "the deep", and

As rain fell from "the
Lugal-ida, "king of the river".
waters above the firmament ", the god of waters was also
a sky and earth god.
The Indian Varuna was similarly a sky as well as
an ocean god before the theorizing and systematizing
Brahmanic teachers relegated him to a permanent abode
at the bottom of the sea.
It may be that Ea-Oannes and
Varuna were of common origin.
Another Babylonian deity, named Dagan, is believed
to be identical with Ea.
His worship was certainly of
great antiquity.

" Hammurabi

", writes

Professor Pinches,

"seems to speak of the Euphrates as being 'the boundary

of Dagan *, whom he calls his creator. In later inscriptions
the form Daguna, which approaches nearer to the West
Semitic form (Dagon of the Philistines), is found in a
few personal names. 2
It is possible that the Philistine deity Dagon was a
1

The Old Testament

in the

Light of

the Historical Records

and Legends

Babylonia, T. G. Pinches, pp. 59-61.

2

The Religion of Babylonia and Assyria, T. G. Pinches, pp. 91, 92.

oj Assyria

and

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

32

form of ancient Ea, who was either imported

from Babylonia or was a sea god of more than one branch
of the Mediterranean race. The authorities are at variance
Our knowregarding the form and attributes of Dagan.
him
is derived
from
the Bible.
ledge regarding
mainly
He was a national rather than a city god. There are
references to a Beth-dagon 1 , "house or city of Dagon";
he had also a temple at Gaza, and Samson destroyed it
by pulling down the two middle pillars which were its
main support. 2 A third temple was situated in Ashdod.
When the captured ark of the Israelites was placed in it
the image of Dagon " fell on his face ", with the result that
"the head of Dagon and both the palms of his hands were
cut off upon the threshold; only the stump of Dagon was
8
A further reference to "the threshold of Dagon"
left ".
Those
suggests that the god had feet like Ea-Oannes.
who hold that Dagon had a fish form derive his name
"
from the Semitic dag = a fish ", and suggest that after
the idol fell only the fishy part (dago) was left.
On the
other hand, it was argued that Dagon was a corn god,
and that the resemblance between the words Dagan and
Dagon are accidental. Professor Sayce makes reference
in this connection to a crystal seal from Phoenicia in the
Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, bearing an inscription which
he reads as Baal-dagon. Near the name is an ear of corn,
and other symbols, such as the winged solar disc, a gazelle,
and several stars, but there is no fish. It may be, of
specialized

course, that Baal-dagon represents a fusion of deities.

As we have seen in the case of Ea-Oannes and the deities

of Mendes, a fish god may also be a corn god, a land

The offeranimal god and a god of ocean and the sky.
"
ing of golden mice representing
your mice that mar the
1

Joshua, xv, 41; xix, 27.

8

/ Sam.,

v,

1-9.

Judges, xvi, 14.

THE LAND OF

RIVERS

33

land", made by the Philistines, suggests that Dagon was

the fertilizing harvest god, among other things, whose
usefulness had been impaired, as they believed, by the
mistake committed of placing the ark of Israel in the
temple at Ashdod. The Philistines came from Crete,
and if their Dagon was imported from that island, he may

have had some connection with Poseidon, whose worship

extended throughout Greece. This god of the sea, who

somewhat like the Roman Neptune, carried a lightning

and caused earthquakes. He was a brother of
the
Zeus,
sky and atmosphere deity, and had bull and
As a horse he pursued Demeter, the earth
horse forms.
and corn goddess, and, like Ea, he instructed mankind,
is

trident

but especially in the art of training horses.

In his train
were the Tritons, half men, half fishes, and the water
fairies,

Bulls, boars, and rams were offered

of
god
fertility.
Amphitrite was his spouse.
obscure god Shony, the Cannes of the Scottish

the Nereids.

to this sea

An

Hebrides, received oblations from those

who depended

for their agricultural prosperity on his

gifts of fertilizing
is referred to in
seaweed.
Martin's Western Isles,

He

and

not yet forgotten.

of Noatun was the father
is

The Eddie

sea

god Njord

of Frey, the harvest god.

corn god, had for wife Boann, the

Dagda, the Irish

goddess of the river Boyne. Osiris and Isis of Egypt
were associated with the Nile. The connection between
agriculture and the water supply was too obvious to
escape the early symbolists, and many other proofs of
than those referred to could be given.
"
was the goddess Damkina,
Ea's " faithful spouse
who was also called Nin-ki, "lady of the earth". "May
Ea make thee glad ", chanted the priests, " May Damkina, queen of the deep, illumine thee with her countenthis

/ Sam. t

vi, 5.

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

34

ance; may Merodach (Marduk), the mighty overseer of

the Igigi (heavenly spirits), exalt thy head/
Merodach
was their son: in time he became the Bel, or "Lord", of
1

the Babylonian pantheon.

Like the Indian Varuna, the sea god, Ea-Oannes had
control over the spirits and demons of the deep.
The
"ferryman" who kept watch over the river of death was
called

" servant of Ea

Arad-Ea,

There are

".

also refer-

ences to sea maidens, the Babylonian mermaids, or Nereids.

have a glimpse of sea giants, which resemble the

We

Indian Danavas and Daityas of ocean, in the chant:

Seven are they, seven are they,
In the ocean deep seven are they,
Battening in heaven seven are they,

Bred

in the depths of ocean.

Of these seven the first is the south wind,

The second a dragon with mouth agape.

l
.

A 'suggestion of the Vedic Vritra and his horde of monsters.

These seven demons were

also " the

messengers of

sky god in more

than one pantheon, appears to have been closely assoHis
ciated with Ea in the earliest Sumerian period.

Anu", who, although

specialized as a

name, signifying "the high one", is derived from "ana",

"heaven"; he was the city god of Erech (Uruk). It is
possible that he was developed as an atmospheric god with
The seven demons, who were
solar and lunar attributes.
his messengers, recall the

of Indra.

They

stormy Maruts, the followers

are referred to as

Forcing their

way with

baneful windstorms,

Mighty destroyers, the deluge of the storm god,

2
Stalling at the right hand of the storm god.
1

vol.

The Devfts and Evil

i,

Spirits of Btbylonia,

R. Campbell Thompson, London, 1903,

p. xlii.

The Devils and Evil

Spirits

of Babylonia, R. C. Thompson, vol.

i,

p. xliii.

THE LAND OF
When we

RIVERS

35

most archaic form

a demon.
Even
distinguish
the beneficent Ea is associated with monsters and furies.
" Evil
spirits ", according to a Babylonian chant, were
"the bitter venom of the gods". Those attached to a
it

is

deal with a deity in his

him from

difficult to

" attendants "

appear to represent the original
from
which he evolved. In each district
group
the character of the deity was shaped to accord with local
deity as
animistic

conditions.

At Nippur, which was

on the vague and

shifting boundary line between Sumer and Akkad, the
" lord of
chief god was Enlil, whose name is translated
mist", "lord of might", and "lord of demons" by
various authorities.
He was a storm god and a war
" lord of heaven and earth
and
", like Ea and Anu.
god,
situated

An

atmospheric deity, he shares the attributes of the

Indian Indra, the thunder and rain god, and Vayu, the

wind god; he also resembles the Semitic Adad or Rimman, who links with the Hittite Tarku. All these are
deities of tempest and the mountains
Wild Huntsmen

The name of Enlil's temple at

the Raging Host.
" mountain house
has
translated
as
been
", or
Nippur

in

" like a mountain

", and the theory obtained for a time

must
therefore have been imported by a
god
from
the
But as the ideogram for "mounhills.
people
tain" and "land" was used in the earliest times, as King
1
shows, with reference to foreign countries, it is more
probable that Enlil was exalted as a world god who had
dominion over not only Sumer and Akkad, but also the
territories occupied by the rivals and enemies of the early

that the

Babylonians.
Enlil is
tinguish

known

as the

"older Bel"

(lord), to

him from Bel Merodach of Babylon.

A History of Sumer and Akkad^ L. W. King, p. 54.
1

He

dis-

was

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

36

the chief figure in a triad in which he figured as earth

god, with Anu as god of the sky and Ea as god of the

deep.

This

Nippur had either

importance and dominated the cities of

classification suggests that

risen in political

Erech and Eridu, or that its priests were influential at

who was the overlord of several city

the court of a ruler

states.

Associated with Bel Enlil was Beltis, later known as

" Beltu
She appears to be identical with
the lady ".

other

the

great goddesses, Ishtar, Nana, Zer-panitu ,

" Great Mother
&c.j a
", or consort of an early god with
whom she was equal in power and dignity.

In the later systematized theology of the Babylonians

we seem to trace the fragments of a primitive mythology

which was vague in outline, for the deities were not
Enneads were
sharply defined, and existed in groups.
formed in Egypt by placing a local god at the head of
a group of eight elder deities.
The sun god Ra was the
chief figure of the earliest pantheon of this character at
Heliopolis, while at Hermopolis the leader was the lunar
"
god Thoth. Professor Budge is of opinion that both
the Sumerians and the early Egyptians derived their
primeval gods from some common but exceedingly
ancient source ", for he finds in the Babylonian and Nile
valleys that there is a resemblance between two early
" seems to be too close to be accidental". 1
groups which

The Egyptian group

comprises four pairs of vague

his consort Nut, Hehu and
Nu
and
and
goddesses
gods
his
and
consort Kekuit, and Kerh
his consort Hehut, Kekui
and his consort Kerhet. " Man always has fashioned ",
he says,

gods

in

"and probably always will fashion, his god or

his own image, and he has always, having reached

a certain stage in
1

development, given to his gods wives

The Gods of the Egyptians, E. Wallis Budge, vol.

i,

p.

290.

THE LAND OF

RIVERS

37

and offspring; but the nature of the position taken by

the wives of the gods depends upon the nature of the
position of women in the households of those who write
The gods
the legends and the traditions of the gods.
of the oldest company in Egypt were, the writer believes,
invented by people in whose households women held a
high position, and among whom they possessed more
1
power than is usually the case with Oriental peoples."
cannot say definitely what these various deities

We

Nu was the spirit of the primordial deep,

represent.
and Nut of the waters above the heavens, the mother
The others were phases
of moon and sun and the stars.
of light and darkness and the forces of nature in activity
and repose.
Nu

represented in Babylonian mythology by ApsuRishtu, and Nut by Mummu-Tiamat or Tiawath ; the

next pair is Lachmu and Lachamu, and the third, Anshar
is

and Kishar. The fourth pair is missing, but the names

of Anu and Ea (as Nudimmud) are mentioned in the
first tablet of the Creation series, and the name of a third
Professor

is lost.

Budge

thinks that the Assyrian editors

Anu, Ea, and Enlil for

substituted the ancient triad of

the pair which would correspond to those found in Egypt.

Originally the wives of Anu and Ea may have made up

the group of eight primitive deities.

There can be
to

us,

is

of

little

doubt but that Ea,

later characterization

as

than the

he survives
first

pair of

The attriprimitive deities who symbolized the deep.

butes of this beneficent god reflect the progress, and the
social

and moral

ideals

of a people well advanced

in

He

rewarded mankind for the services they

civilization.
rendered to him; he was their leader and instructor; he
achieved for them the victories over the destructive forces
1

The Gods of the Egyptians, vol.

i,

p.

287.

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

38

In brief, he was the dragon slayer, a distinction, by the way, which was attached in later times
to his son Merodach, the Babylonian god, although Ea

of nature.

was

still

credited

with

the victory

over

the

dragon's

husband.

When Ea

was one of the pre-Babylonian group the

triad of Bel-Enlil, Anu, and Ea
he resembled the Indian
the
while
Bel-Enlil
resembled Shiva,
Vishnu,
Preserver,
the Destroyer, and Anu, the father, supreme Brahma,
the Creator and Father of All, the difference in exact
adjustment being due, perhaps, to Sumerian political
conditions.

Ea, as we have seen, symbolized the beneficence of

the waters; their destructive force was represented by
Tiamat or Tiawath, the dragon, and Apsu, her husband,

We

the arch-enemy of the gods.

shall find these elder
in
the
Creation
figuring
Babylonian
myth, which

demons

receives treatment in a later chapter.

The ancient Sumerian city of Eridu, which

means "on

the seashore ", was invested with great sanctity from the
earliest times, and Ea, the "great magician of the gods",
was invoked by workers of spells, the priestly magicians

of historic Babylonia.
Excavations have shown that
Eridu was protected by a retaining wall of sandstone,
of which material many of its houses were made.
In its
temple tower, built of brick, was a marble stairway, and
evidences have been forthcoming that in the later SuIt is
merian period the structure was lavishly adorned.
referred to in the fragments of early literature which have
survived as "the splendid house, shady as the forest ",
exerthat " none
enter ".
The

may

mythological spell

by Eridu in later times suggests that the civilization

of Sumeria owed much to the worshippers of Ea. At
the sacred city the first man was created there the souls
cised

THE LAND OF RIVERS

39

of the dead passed towards the great Deep. Its proximity

Ea was Nin-bubu, " god of the sailor " may
to the sea
have brought it into contact with other peoples and other
Like the early Egyptians, the early
early civilizations.
Sumerians may have been in touch with Punt (Somaliland), which some regard as the cradle of the MediThe Egyptians obtained from that sacred
terranean race.
land incense-bearing trees which had magical potency. In
a fragmentary Babylonian
a sacred tree or bush at

suggested that it
Garden of Eden.

is

charm there

is

a reference to

Eridu.
Professor Sayce has
"
"
the Biblical
Tree of Life
in the

His

translations of certain vital words,

sharply questioned by Mr. R. Campbell

of the British Museum, who does not accept

is

however,

Thompson

1
It may be that Ea's sacred bush or tree
the theory.
a survival of tree and water worship.

is

"
Eridu was not the " cradle of the Sumerian race,
was possibly the cradle of Sumerian civilization. Here,

If

it

amidst the shifting rivers in early times, the agriculturists

may have learned to control and distribute the water
supply by utilizing dried-up beds of streams to irrigate
the land.

Whatever

successes they achieved were credited

to Ea, their instructor

"

god of everything
1

The Devils and Evil

and patron; he was Nadimmud,

".

Spirits of Babylonia^ vol.

i,

Intro.

of Ancient Egypt and Babylonia (Giffbrd Lectures, 1902),

Testamert in the Light of Historical Record*, &c., p. 71.

See also Sayce's The Religion

385, and Pinches' The Old

p.

CHAPTER

III

Rival Pantheons and Representative

Deities
Why

Different

Gods were Supreme

regarding Origin of Life

Vital Principle in

at

Different

Water

Theories

Centres

Creative Tears of

Weep-

Divine Water in
Significance of widespread Spitting Customs
Blood and Divine Blood in Water Liver as the Seat of Life Inspiration
Life Principle in Breath
derived by Drinking Mead, Blood, &c.
Babylonian
ing Deities

Ghosts as "Evil Wind Gusts" Fire Deities Fire and Water in Magical
Ceremonies Moon Gods of Ur and Harran Moon Goddess and Babylonian
"Jack and Jill" Antiquity of Sun Worship Tammuz and Ishtar Solar
Gods of War, Pestilence, and Death Shamash as the "Great Judge" His

Mitra Name Aryan Mitra or Mithra and linking Babylonian

The Female Origin
Varuna and Shamash Hymns compared
Goddesses of Maternity

The

Babylonian Thor

Deities of

Deities
of

Life

Good and

Evil.

IN dealing with the city cults of Sumer and Akkad,

consideration must be given to the problems involved

by the
varied

rival mythological systems.

Pantheons not only
in detail, but were presided over by different

One city's chief deity might be rea

as
secondary deity at another centre. Although

supreme gods.

garded
Ea, for instance, was given first place at Eridu, and was
so pronouncedly Sumerian in character, the moon god
Nannar remained supreme at Ur, while the sun god,
whose Semitic name was Shamash, presided at Larsa and
Sippar.

Other

deities

were similarly exalted

in

other

states.

As

has been indicated, a mythological system must

To hold
have been strongly influenced by city politics.
40

RIVAL PANTHEONS

41

in sway, it was necessary to recognize offithe

various
cially
gods worshipped by different sections,
so as to secure the constant allegiance of all classes to

community

Alien deities were therefore associated with

their rulers.
local

and

tribal deities,

those of the

nomads with those

of the agriculturists, those of the unlettered folks with

Reference has been made
those of the learned people.
to the introduction of strange deities by conquerors.

But these were not always imposed upon a community

by violent means. Indications are not awanting that the
worshippers of alien gods were sometimes welcomed and
encouraged to settle in certain states. When they came
as

military allies to

assist

city

folk against

fierce

enemy, they were naturally much admired and praised,

honoured by the women and the bards, and rewarded
by the rulers.
In the epic of Gilgamesh, the Babylonian Hercules,
we meet with Ea-bani, a Goliath of the wilds, who is
entreated to come to the aid of the besieged city of
Erech when it seemed that its deities were unable to help
the people against their enemies.

The

To

gods of walled-round Erech

had turned and buzzed in the streets;
winged bulls of walled-round Erech

flies

The
Were

turned to mice and departed through the holes.

Ea-bani was attracted to Erech by the gift of a fair

for wife.
The poet who lauded him no doubt

woman

We

can see the slim, shaven

mirrored public opinion.
Sumerians gazing with wonder and admiration on their

rough heroic

ally.

All his body was covered with hair,

His locks were like a woman's,

Thick

as corn

grew

his

abundant

hair.

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

42

He was a stranger to the people and in that land.

Clad in a garment like Gira, the god,
He had eaten grass with the gazelles,
He had drunk water with savage beasts.
His delight was to be among water dwellers.
Like the giant Alban, the eponymous ancestor of a
people who invaded prehistoric Britain, Ea-bani appears
to have represented in Babylonian folk legends a certain
No doubt the city
type of foreign settlers in the land.
dwellers, who were impressed by the prowess of the hairy
and powerful warriors, were also ready to acknowledge
the greatness of their war gods, and to admit them into
the pantheon.
The fusion of beliefs which followed
must have stimulated thought and been productive of
" Nowhere
", remarks Professor Jastrow,
speculative ideas.
" does a
form
of
culture arise without the comhigh
mingling of diverse ethnic elements/'
must also take into account the influence exercised
by leaders of thought like En-we-dur-an-ki, the famous
4

We

high priest of Sippar, whose piety did much to increase

The
the reputation of the cult of Shamesh, the sun god.
for
revoluof
and
Buddha,
instance,
example
teachings
tionized Brahmanic religion in India.
mythology was an attempt to solve the riddle of the

Universe, and to adjust the relations of mankind with

the various forces represented by the deities. The priests
systematized existing folk beliefs and established an
official religion.
it

was

To

considered

whom homage

secure the prosperity of the State,

necessary

was due

at

to

render

homage

unto

various seasons and under

various circumstances.

The

religious attitude of a particular

community, therefore, must have been largely dependent on its needs and
The food supply was a first consideration.
experiences.

RIVAL PANTHEONS
At Eridu,
to

we have

as

Ea and

was assured by devotion

it

seen,

obedience to his

43

commands

as an instructor.

might happen, however, that Ea's gifts were

the raging
restricted or withheld by an obstructing force
Elsewhere

it

storm god, or the parching, pestilence-bringing deity of

It was necessary, therefore, for the people to
the sun.
win the favour of the god or goddess who seemed most
powerful, and was accordingly considered to be the

greatest in a particular district.

over the destinies of one community,

rain

god presided
god of disease
and death over another; a third exalted the war god, no
doubt because raids were frequent and the city owed its
strength and prosperity to its battles and conquests. The
and

won by a particular god throughout Babywould

lonia
depend greatly on the achievements of his
worshippers and the progress of the city civilization over
Bel-Enlil's fame as a war deity
which he presided.
was probably due to the political supremacy of his city
reputation

and there was probably good reason for

the sun god a pronounced administraattributing
tive and legal character; he may have controlled the
destinies of exceedingly well organized communities in
which law and order and authority were held in high
of Nippur;

to

esteem.
In accounting
city

deities,

for the

we should

divergent conceptions
mingled communities.

rise

also

of distinctive and rival

consider the

regarding

the

influence of

origin

of

life

in

Each foreign element in a comhad

its
own
life and immemorial tribal
intellectual
munity
traditions, which reflected ancient habits of life and perpetuated the doctrines of eponymous ancestors.

Among

the agricultural classes, the folk religion which entered

so intimately into their customs and labours must have

remained essentially Babylonish

(0042)

in

character.

In

cities,
6

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

44

however, where official religions were formulated, foreign

were more apt to be imposed, especially when
embraced by influential teachers. It is not surprising,
ideas

therefore, to find that in Babylonia, as in Egypt, there

were differences of opinion regarding the origin of life
and the particular natural element which represented the
vital principle.

One section of the people, who were represented by

the worshippers of Ea, appear to have believed that the
essence of life was contained in water.
The god of

Eridu was the source of the " water

tilized parched and sunburnt wastes
irrigating canals, and conferred upon
" food of life ". When life came to

of

life ".

through

man

He

fer-

rivers

and

the sustaining

an end

Food of death will be offered thee

Water of death will be offered thee

Offerings of water and food were made to the dead

so that the ghosts might be nourished and prevented from

Even the gods required water and

immortal
because they had drunk
were
;
they
ambrosia and eaten from the plant of life. When the
goddess Ishtar was in the Underworld, the land of the
dead, the servant of Ea exclaimed
troubling the living.

food

" Hail

may
"

lady,

may

the well give

me

of

its

waters, so that I

commanded

her servant to

drink."

The goddess of

the dead

sprinkle the lady Ishtar with the water of life and bid
The sacred water might also be found at
her depart".

of rivers. Ea bade his son, Merodach, to

u on
" draw water from the mouth of two streams
", and
this water to put his pure spell ".
The worship of rivers and wells which prevailed in

a confluence

RIVAL PANTHEONS
many

45

countries was connected with the belief that the

principle of
vitalized by

In India, water was

intoxicating juice of the Soma plant,

was

life

the

in

moisture.

and filled their

Drinking customs had
religious
It was believed in
originally a religious significance.
India that the sap of plants was influenced by the moon,
the source of vitalizing moisture and the hiding-place of
The Teutonic gods also drank
the mead of the gods.
Similar beliefs
this mead, and poets were inspired by it.
Moon and water worobtained among various peoples.
ship were therefore closely associated; the blood of animals
and the sap of plants were vitalized by the water of life
and under control of the moon.
The body moisture of gods and demons had vitalizing

which inspired

priests to utter prophecies

hearts with

fervour.

When

properties.

the Indian creator, Prajapati, wept at

the beginning, " that (the tears) which fell into the water
became the air.
That which he wiped away, upwards,

became the sky/' 1 The ancient Egyptians believed that

all men were born from the
eyes of Horus except negroes,
who came from other parts of his body. 2 The creative
tears of Ra, the sun god, fell as shining rays upon the
earth.
When this god grew old saliva dripped from his
and
Isis mixed the
mouth,
vitalizing moisture with dust,
and thus made the serpent which bit and paralysed the
3
great solar deity.

Other Egyptian
creative tears.

gods

produced

animals.

Those

and various baneful

giant, sprang from the body
The weeping ceremonies in connec-

poisonous

Orion, the

moisture of

including Osiris and Isis, wept

which fell from the eyes of the evil

deities,,

deities.

Myth and Legend, p. 100.

Egyptian Myth and Legend, p.

Indian

injurious.

plants

Greek

et

Maspero's
seq.

The

Dawn

of Civilization, p. 156 et seq.

saliva of the frail and elderly was

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

46

tion with agricultural rites

of magical potency;

were no doubt believed to be

they encouraged the god to weep

creative tears.

"

Ea, the god of the deep, was also "lord of life" (Enti),
"
(Lugal-ida), and god of creation
king of the river

(Nudimmud). His aid was invoked by means or magical

"
As the "great magician of the gods
formulae.
he
uttered

charms

magicians.
I

am

To

was

and

himself,

One

the

of

patron

all

spell runs as follows:

the sorcerer priest of

revive the

sick

The great lord Ea hath

He hath added his pure
He hath added his pure
He hath added his pure

Ea

man
sent

me;

spell to

mine,

voice to mine,
spittle to

mine.

R. C. Thompson's

Translation.

had creative and therefore curative

and injured demons and brought
qualities;
luck.
ceremonies
are referred to in the
good
Spitting
When the Eye
religious literature of Ancient Egypt.
of Ra was blinded by Set, Thoth spat in it to restore
The sun god Turn, who was linked with Ra
vision.
as Ra-Tum, spat on the ground, and his saliva became
In the Underworld the devil
the gods Shu and Tefnut.
was
spat upon to curse it, as was also its
serpent Apep
waxen image which the priests fashioned. 1
Saliva, like tears,
it

also expelled

Several African tribes spit to

friendship, and

make compacts,

declare

to curse.

Park, the explorer, refers in his Travels to his carriers

spitting on a flat stone to ensure a good journey.

Arabian holy

men and

to cure diseases,

Ostris

and

the

Mohammed

Mohammed

grandson Hasen soon

1

descendants of

spit

spat in the mouth of his

after birth.
Theocritus, Sophocles,

Egyptian Resurrection, E. Walljs Budge, vol.

ii,

p.

203

et

seq.

RIVAL PANTHEONS

47

Grecian customs of
and
also to bless when
to
and
curse,
spitting
children were named.
has
expressed belief in the
Pliny
efficacy of the fasting spittle for curing disease, and reIn
ferred to the custom of spitting to avert witchcraft.
not
are
Ireland
and
customs
spitting
England, Scotland,
North of England boys used to talk of
yet obsolete.
"
"
When the Newcastle
(souls).
spitting their sauls

and Plutarch

testify to the ancient

to cure

held their earliest strikes they made compacts by

"
There are still " spitting stones
spitting on a stone.
in the north of Scotland.
When bargains are made in

colliers

rural districts, hands are spat

The

upon before they are shaken.

taken
each
money
day by fishwives and other
spat upon to ensure increased drawings. Brand,

first

dealers

is

who

refers to various spitting customs, quotes Scofs Discovery of Witchcraft regarding the saliva cure for king's

which is still, by the way, practised in the Hebrides.

Like Pliny, Scot recommended ceremonial spitting as a
charm against witchcraft. 1
In China spitting to expel
evil,

demons

is

The
was

common

"

person a

spitfire ",

We

practice.

still

and a calumniator

principle in trees, &c.,

believed to have been derived
life

a hasty

call

a " spit-poison ".

as we have seen,

from the

tears

of

In India sap was called the " blood of trees ",

and references to "bleeding trees" are still widespread
and common. "Among the ancients", wrote Professor

deities.

Robertson Smith, " blood is generally conceived as the

principle or vehicle of life, and so the account often given
of sacred waters is that the blood of the deity flows in
them.

Thus

as

Milton writes:

Smooth Adonis from

his native

rock

Ran

Of
1

purple to the sea, supposed with blood

Thammuz yearly wounded. Paradise Lost,

Brana's Popular Antiquities, vol.

iii,

pp.

259-263 (1889

ec

^*)'

i,

450.

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

48

The ruddy

colour which the swollen river derived from

the soil at a certain

season was ascribed to the blood

of the god, who received his death wound in Lebanon

at that time of the year, and lay buried beside the sacred
source/'

In Babylonia the river was regarded as the source

of the life blood and the seat of the soul.
No doubt

theory was based on the

this

fact that

the

human

liver

contains about a sixth of the blood in the body, the largest

proportion required by any single organ. Jeremiah makes

"
"Mother Jerusalem exclaim:
liver is poured upon

"My

daughter of my
spent with grief.
people ", meaning
was
derived
Inspiration
by drinking blood as well as
by drinking intoxicating liquors the mead of the gods.
the

of the

earth for the destruction

that her

life

is

Indian magicians who drink the blood of the goat sacrificed to the goddess Kali, are believed to be temporarily
2
possessed by her spirit, and thus enabled to prophesy.

Malayan exorcists still expel demons while they suck the

blood from a decapitated fowl. 3
Similar customs were prevalent in Ancient Greece.
A woman who drank the blood of a sacrificed lamb or
bull uttered prophetic sayings.

But while most Babylonians appear to have believed

that the life principle was in blood, some were apparently
man
of opinion that it was in breath the air of life.

died

when he ceased

to

breathe; his spirit, therefore,

with the atmosphere the
was
identical
it was
argued,
and was accordingly derived from the
moving wind

When, in the Gilgamesh

atmospheric or wind god.
the
dead
the
hero
invokes
Ea-bani, the ghost rises
epic,
1

2
3

The Religion of the Semites, pp. 158, 159.

Castes and Tribes of Southern India, E. Thurston, iv, 187.
Omens and Superstitions of Southern India, E. Thurston (1912), pp. 245, 246.
Pausanias,

ii,

24,

i.

-RIVAL
like

up

runs

" breath of

PANTHEONS
A Babylonian
wind ".

49

charm

The gods which seize on men

Came forth from the grave;
The evil wind gusts
Have come forth from the grave,
demand payment of rites and the pouring out of libations
They have come forth from the grave

To

All that

is

evil in their hosts, like

Hath come

forth

from the grave. 1

The Hebrew " nephesh

"

Arabic " ruh

to

"

a whirlwind,

"

and " neshamah (in

"
and " nefs ") pass from meaning " breath
"
In Egypt the god Khnumu was " Kneph
ruach

'

spirit "o
in his character as

The ascendancy
an atmospheric deity
of storm and wind gods in some Babylonian cities may
have been due to the belief that they were the source
of the "air of life".
It is possible that this conception
was popularized by the Semites. Inspiration was perhaps
derived from these deities by burning incense, which, if

we

follow evidence obtained elsewhere, induced a pro-

The gods were also invoked by incense.

phetic trance.
In the Flood legend the Babylonian Noah burned incense.
" The
gods smelled a sweet savour and gathered like flies
In Egypt devotees who inhaled the
over the sacrificer."
breath of the Apis bull were enabled to prophesy.
In addition to water and atmospheric deities Babylonia
had also its fire gods, Girru, Gish Bar, Gibil, and Nusku.
Their origin is obscure.
It is doubtful if their worof
like
those
the
Indian Agni, believed that
shippers,
the
"vital
was
the principle of life which
fire,
spark",
was manifested by bodily heat. The Aryan fire worshippers cremated their dead so that the spirits might be
1

Devils and Evil Spirits of Babylonia, R. C.

Animism, E. Clodd, p. 37.

Thompson,

vol.

ii,

tablet T.

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

50

transferred by fire to Paradise.

This practice, however,
fire worshippers of Persia, nor,
the
among

did not obtain

as

was once believed,

in

Sumer

or

Akkad

either.

Fire

was, however, used in Babylonia for magical purposes.

It
destroyed demons, and put to flight the spirits of

Possibly the fire -purification ceremonies resembled those which were practised by the Canaanites,
and are referred to in the Bible* Ahaz "made his son
disease.

through the fire, according to the abominations

of the heathen 'V Ezekiel declared that "when ye offer
your gifts, when ye make your sons to pass through the
2
In
fire, ye pollute yourselves with all your idols ",
Leviticus it is laid down: "Thou shalt not let any of thy
seed pass through the fire to Moloch ", 3
It may be that
to pass

in Babylonia the
fire-cleansing ceremony resembled that
which obtained at Beltane (May Day) in Scotland,
Germany, and other countries. Human sacrifices might
also have been offered up as burnt offerings.
Abraham,
who came from the Sumerian city of Ur, was prepared

to

sacrifice

Isaac,

The

Sarah's first-born.

fire

gods of

Babylonia never achieved the ascendancy of the Indian

Agni; they appear to have resembled him mainly in so
far as he was connected with the sun.
Nusku, like
"
messenger of the gods ". When
Agni, was also the
Merodach or Babylon was exalted as chief god of the

pantheon his messages were carried to Ea by Nusku.

He may have therefore symbolized the sun rays, for
Merodach had solar attributes. It is possible that the
belief obtained among even the water worshippers of
Eridu that the sun and moon, which rose from the
primordial deep, had their origin in the everlasting fire
in Ea's domain at the bottom of the sea.
In the Indian
"
"
god Varuna's ocean home an Asura fire (demon fire)
1

2 Kings,

xvi, 3.

Exekiel, xx, 31.

Lrviticus, xviii, 21.

C/J

rt'

^5

I I

RIVAL PANTHEONS
burned constantly;

51

was "bound and confined

it

but

",

Fed by water, this fire, it

could not be extinguished.
would
at the last day and conburst
forth
was believed,

sume

the universe.

similar belief can be traced

The Babylonian

Teutonic mythology.

in

incantation cult

" the most

important share
appealed to many gods, but
in the rites", says Jastrow, "are taken by fire and water
more
suggesting, therefore, that the god ot water
particularly
deities on

Ea

and the god of

which the

ritual

fire

itself

are the chief

In

hinges".

some

temples there was a bit rimki, a "house of washing",

and a bit nun, a "house of light". 2
It is possible, of course, that fire was regarded as the
vital principle by some city cults, which were influenced
by imported ideas. If so, the belief never became preva-

The most enduring influence in Babylonian religion

and as Sumerian modes of
was the early Sumerian
the
of habits of life necessitated
were
outcome
thought
by the character of the country, they were bound, sooner
or later, to leave a deep impress on the minds of foreign
It
peoples who settled in the Garden of Western Asia.

lent.

is

not surprising, therefore, to find that imported deities

assumed Babylonian
associated with

characteristics,

Babylonian gods

and were
in

the

identified or

later

imperial

pantheon.

Moon worship appears to have been as ancient as

water worship, with which, as we have seen, it was closely
associated.

The

lonia.

was widely prevalent throughout Babychief seat of the lunar deity, Nannar or Sin,

It

was the ancient city of Ur, from which Abraham migrated

"
to Harran, where the " Baal
(the lord) was also a moon
Ur was situated in Sumer, in the south, between
god.
1

Indian

Myth and Legend,

p. 65.

-Religious Belief in Babylonia

and Assyria, M. Jastrow,

pp. 312, 313.

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

52

the west bank of the Euphrates and the low hills bordering the Arabian desert, and not far distant from sea-

washed Eridu.

No

doubt, like that

city, it

had

its

origin

At any rate, the exan exceedingly remote period.

cavations conducted there have afforded proof that it

at

flourished in the prehistoric period.

As in Arabia,, Egypt, and throughout ancient Europe

and elsewhere 3 the moon god of Sumeria was regarded
as the " friend of man ".
He controlled nature as a
fertilizing agency; he caused grass, trees 5 and crops to
grow; he increased flocks and herds, and gave human
At Ur he was exalted above Ea as " the lord
offspring.
and prince of the gods, supreme in heaven, the Father of
39
all"; he was also called "great Anu 5 an indication that
Anu, the sky god, had at one time a lunar character. The
moon god was believed to be the father of the sun god:
he was the "great steer with mighty horns and perfect
limbs".

His name Sin

be a corruption of
", which signifies
knowledge lord'V Like the
lunar Osiris of Egypt, he was apparently an instructor of
mankind; the moon measured time and controlled the
seasons; seeds were sown at a certain phase of the moon,
" Zu-ena

is

believed

to

"

and crops were ripened by the harvest moon. The mountains of Sinai and the desert of Sin are called after this
deity.

As Nannar, which Jastrow considers to be a variation

of "Narnar", the "light producer", the moon god
His
scattered darkness and reduced the terrors of night.
so
moon
stone
inhabited
the
lunar
that
and
stone,
spirit
worship were closely associated; it also entered trees and
crops, so that moon worship linked with earth worship,
as both linked with water worship.
1

The Religion of Babylonia and Assyria^ T. G. Pinches,

p. 81.

RIVAL PANTHEONS
The

consort of Nannar was

53

Nin-Uruwa, "the lady

Ur ", who

was also called Nin-gala. She links with

Ishtar as Nin, as Isis of Egypt linked with other mother
deities.
The twin children of the moon were Mashu and
Mashtu, a brother and sister, like the lunar girl and boy
of Teutonic mythology immortalized in nursery rhymes
as Jack and Jill.
Sun worship was of great antiquity in Babylonia, but
No
appears to have been seasonal in its earliest phases.
doubt the sky god Anu had his solar as well as his lunar
The spring sun was
attributes, which he shared with Ea.
as
the
Tammuz,
personified
youthful shepherd, who was
loved by the earth goddess Ishtar and her rival Ereshki-gal, goddess of death, the Babylonian Persephone.
During the winter Tammuz dwelt in Hades, and at the
beginning of spring Ishtar descended to search for him
1
But the burning summer sun was
among the shades.
as
a
symbolized
destroyer, a slayer of men, and therefore
a war god. As Ninip or Nirig, the son of Enlil, who was
made in the likeness of Anu, he waged war against the
earth spirits, and was furiously hostile towards the deities
of alien peoples, as befitted a god of battle. Even his
father feared him, and when he was advancing towards
Nippur, sent out Nusku, messenger of the gods, to soothe
the raging deity with soft words.
Ninip was symbolized
as a wild bull, was connected with stone worship, like the
Indian destroying god Shiva, and was similarly a deity
of Fate. He had much in common with Nin-Girsu, a
god of Lagash, who was in turn regarded as a form of

of

Tammuz.
Nergalj another solar deity, brought disease and pestilence, and, according to Jensen, all misfortunes due to
He was the king of death, husband of
excessive heat.
1

In early times two goddesses searched

for

Tammuz

at different periods.

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

54

As a war
and
was
blood,
depicted as
He was the chief deity of the city of
Jastrow suggests, was situated beside a
Eresh-ki-gal, queen of Hades.

human

for

god he thirsted
a mighty lion.
Cuthah, which,
burial place of

great repute, like the Egyptian Abydos.

The two great cities of the sun in ancient Babylonia
were the Akkadian Sippar and the Sumerian Larsa. In

these the sun god, Shamash or Babbar, was the patron

He was a god of Destiny, the lord of the living
deity.

and the dead, and was exalted as the great Judge, the
he was the enemy of
lawgiver, who upheld justice
he
loved
and
hated sin, he inspired
wrong,
righteousness
his worshippers with rectitude and punished evildoers.
The sun god also illumined the world, and his rays
penetrated every quarter: he saw all things, and read
the thoughts of men; nothing could be concealed from
Shamash.
One of his names was Mitra, like the god
who was linked with Varuna in the Indian Rigveda.
These twin deities, Mitra and Varuna, measured out
the span of human life.
They were the source of all
heavenly gifts they regulated sun and moon, the winds
and waters, and the seasons. 1
;

These did the gods establish in royal power over themselves,

because they were wise and the children of wisdom, and because
they excelled in power.

Prof. Arnold's trans, of Rigvedic

Hymn.

Mitra and Varuna were protectors of hearth and home,

and they chastised sinners. " In a striking passage of
the MalMhdrata" says Professor Moulton, "one in
which Indian thought comes nearest to the conception of
conscience, a kingly wrongdoer is reminded that the sun
sees secret sin."

In Persian mythology Mitra, as Mithra,

1

Indian

Myth and

Legend, p. 30.

is

the patron

Early Religious Poetry of Persia,

p. 35.

RIVAL PANTHEONS

55

"

of Truth, and "the Mediator between heaven and earth. 1

This god was also worshipped by the military aristocracy
of Mitanni, which held sway for a period over Assyria.
In Roman times the worship of Mithra spread into

Europe from

Mithraic sculptures depict the

Persia.
a
corn
deity as
god slaying the harvest bull; on one of
the monuments "cornstalks instead of blood are seen

wound inflicted with the knife ". 2 The

As a sky god
word "metru" signifies rain.

issuing from the

Assyrian

Mitra may have been associated, like Varuna, with the

Rain would therefore be

waters above the firmament.

gifted

by him

as a fertilizing deity.

In the Babylonian-

Flood legend it is the sun god Shamash who " appointed

the time" when the heavens were to "rain destruction"
" Enter into
in the night, and commanded Pir-napishtim,
The solar
the midst of thy ship and shut thy door".
as
a
thus
form
of
of
the
Anu,
god
appears
sky and
deity
seasons
who
controls
and
the
the
various
upper atmosphere,
of
forces of nature.
chiefs
Other rival
city pantheons,
whether lunar, atmospheric, earth, or water deities, were

supreme deities who ruled the

and
decreed
when man should receive benefits
Universe,
or suffer from their acts of vengeance.
It is possible that the close resemblances between
Mithra and Mitra of the Aryan -speaking peoples of
India and the Iranian plateau, and the sun god of the
the Semitic Shamash, the Sumerian Utu
Babylonians
were due to early contact and cultural influence through
the medium of Elam.
As a solar and corn god, the
Persian Mithra links with Tammuz, as a sky and atmospheric deity with Anu, and as a god of truth, righteousWe seem to trace in the
ness,, and law with Shamash.
similarly regarded as the

Early Religious Poetry of Persia, p. 37.

The Golden Bough (Spirits of the Corn and Wild, vol.

ii,

edition.
p. 10), 3rd

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

56

sublime Vedic hymns addressed by the Indian Aryans

Mitra and Varuna the impress of Babylonian religious

to

thought:
Whate'er

exists

within this earth, and

all

within the sky,

beyond, King Varuna perceives.

Rigveda,
Varuna, whatever the offence may be

Yea,

all

that

That we

When

as

is

1
iv, I6.

men commit

against the heavenly folk,

we violate thy laws,
for
that
god,
iniquity.

through our want of thought

Chastise us not,

Rigveda,

Shamash was

vii,

8g.

similarly exalted in Babylonian

hymns:
The progeny of those who deal unjustly will not prosper.
What their mouth utters in thy presence
Thou wilt destroy, what issues from their mouth thou

wilt

dissipate.

Thou

knowest

their transgressions, the plan of the

wicked thou

'

rejectest.

whoever they be, are in thy care.

takes no bribe, who cares for the oppressed,
his life shall be prolonged. 3
favoured by Shamash,

All,

He who
Is

The worshippers of Varuna and Mitra in the Punjab

did not cremate their dead like those who exalted the
The grave was the " house of clay ",
Mitra, who was identical with Yama,
Babylonia.
"
over departed souls in the " Land of the Pitris

rival fire

as in

ruled

god Agni.

(Fathers), which was reached by crossing the mountains

and the rushing stream of death. 4 As we have seen, the

Babylonian solar god Nergal was also the lord of the dead.
As Ma-banda-anna, "the boat of the sky", Shamash
links with the Egyptian sun
1

Indian Wisdom? Sir

god Ra, whose barque

Monicr Monier-Williams.

A History of Sanskrit Literature,

Religious Belief and Practice in Babylonia

4 Indian

sailed

Myth and Legend,

Professor Macdoncll.

pp. xxxii,

and Assyna> M. Jastrow,

and 38

et

seq.

pp.

1 1

1,

112.

RIVAL PANTHEONS

57

over the heavens by day and through the underworld of

The consort of
darkness and death during the night.
Shamash was Aa, and his attendants were Kittu and
"
"
Mesharu, Truth and "Righteousness".
Like the Hittites, the Babylonians had also a sun

name was Nin-sun, which Jastrow renders

"the annihilating lady". At Erech she had a shrine in
the temple of the sky god Anu.

goddess: her

We

can trace in Babylonia, as in Egypt, the early

belief that life in the Universe had a female origin. Nin-

sun links with Ishtar, whose Sumerian name is Nana.

Ishtar appears to be identical with the Egyptian Hathor,
who, as Sekhet, slaughtered the enemies of the sun god

She was similarly the goddess of maternity, and is

depicted in this character, like I sis and other goddesses
of similar character, suckling a babe. Another Babylonian
"
lady of the gods was Ama, Mama, or Mami, the creatress
"
of the seed of mankind ", and was
probably so called
1
c
as the mother' of all
things".
A characteristic atmospheric deity was Ramman, the
Rimmon of the Bible, the Semitic Addu, Adad, Hadad,
or Dadu.
He was not a presiding deity in any panAs a
theon, but was identified with Enlil at Nippur.
hammer god, he was imported by the Semites from the
hills.
He was a wind and thunder deity, a rain bringer,
a corn
god, and a god of battle like Thor, Jupiter, Tarku,
and
Indra,
others, who were all sons of the sky.
In this brief review of the representative deities of
early Babylonia, it will be seen that most gods link with
Anu, Ea, and Enlil, whose attributes they symbolized
in various forms.
The prominence accorded to an individual deity depended on local conditions, experiences,
and influences.
Ceremonial practices no doubt varied
Ra.

The Religion of Babylonia and Assyria^ T. G. Pinches,

p. 94.

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

58

here and there, but although one section might exalt Ea

and another Shamash, the religious faith of the people as
a whole did not differ to any marked extent;
they served
the gods according to their lights, so that life
might be
and
made
for
the
land
of death
prosperous,
prolonged
"
and " no return was regarded as a place of gloom and

misery.

When

the Babylonians appear before us in the early

stages of the historical period they had reached that stage
of development set forth so vividly in the Orations of
the gods who are the source to us
of good things have the title of Olympians; those whose
department is that of calamities and punishments have
Isocrates:

"Those of

both private persons and

states erect altars and temples; the second is not worshipped either with prayers or burnt sacrifices, but in
harsher

titles:

their case

The

to the

first class

we perform ceremonies of riddance". 1

Sumerians, like the Ancient Egyptians, developed

who reflected the growth of culture, from

their deities,

vague spirit groups, which, like ghosts, were hostile to

mankind. Those spirits who could be propitiated were
exalted as benevolent deities

those

who

could not be

bargained with were regarded as evil gods and goddesses.

better understanding of the character of Babylonian
deities will therefore be obtained by passing the demons

and
1

evil spirits

under review.

The Religion of Ancient Greece, J. E. Harrison,

p.

46, and Isoc. Orat., v, 117

CHAPTER
Demons,

Fairies,

IV

and Ghosts

Everything and Everywhere The Bringers of Luck and MisEarly Gods indistinguishable from
Anticipated
Demons Repulsive form of Ea Spirit Groups as Attendants of Deities
Egyptian, Indian, Greek, and Germanic parallels Elder"Gods as Evil Gods "
"
Animal Demons The Babylonian " Will-o'-the-Wisp
Foreign Devils
Demon Lovers "Adam's first wife, Lilith" Children
Elves and Fairies
Charmed against Evil Spirits The Demon of Nightmare Ghosts as Enemies
of the Living The Vengeful Dead Mother in Babylonia, India, Europe, and
Mexico Burial Contrast Calling Back the Dead Fate of Childless Ghosts
Hags and Giants and Composite Monsters
Religious Need for Offspring
Tempest Fiends Legend of Adapa and the Storm Demon Wind Hags of
Spirits

fortune

in

Germ Theory

Zu Bird Legend and Indian

Tyrolese Storm Maidens
Legend of the Eagle and the Serpent The Snake Mother
Demons and the Moon God Plague Deities Classification of
Goddess
and Egyptian, Arabian, and Scottish parallels Traces of Progress from
Spirits,
Animism to Monotheism.
Ancient Britain

Garuda Myth

THE memorable sermon

preached by Paul to the

"
Athenians when he stood
in the midst of Mars' hill ",
could have been addressed with equal appropriateness
"I
to the ancient Sumerians and Akkadians.
perceive ",
he declared, "that in all things ye are too superstitious.
God that made the world and all things therein,
seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not
in
temples made with hands; neither is worshipped with
men's hands as though he needed any thing, seeing he
giveth to all life, and breath, and all things ... for in
him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain
also of your own poets have said, For we are also his
.

offspring.
(0642)

Forasmuch then
59

as

we

are

the offspring of
7

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

60

God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like

unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man's
device."

Babylonian temples were houses of the gods in the

sense; the gods were supposed to dwell in them,

literal

having entered into the graven images or

It is probable that like the Ancient
blocks of stone.
a god had as many
believed
Egyptians they
spirits as
he had attributes. The gods, as we have said, appear
their

spirits

from early spirit groups. All the world

which inhabited stones and trees,
spirits,
mountains and deserts, rivers and ocean, the air, the
The spirits consky, the stars, and the sun and moon.
trolled Nature: they brought light and darkness, sunshine and storm, summer and winter; they were manito have evolved

swarmed with

fested in the thunderstorm, the sandstorm, the glare of

sunset, and the wraiths of mist rising from the steaming

They controlled also the lives of men and

marshes.

The good

were the source of luck. The

bad spirits caused misfortunes, and were ever seeking
to work evil against the Babylonian.
Darkness was
and
of
the
demons
dead.
The spirits
ghosts
peopled by

women.

spirits

of disease were ever lying

in wait to clutch

him with

cruel invisible hands.

Some modern

writers,

who

are too prone to regard

ancient peoples from a twentieth-century point of view,

"
intelligent Babyexpress grave doubts as to whether
"
lonians
really believed that spirits came down in the
rain

and entered the soil to rise up before men's eyes

of barley or wheat. There is no reason for sup-

as stalks

The early folks

posing that they thought otherwise.
based their theories on the accumulated knowledge of
their

age.

They knew nothing

1

The Acts,

xvii,

22-31,

regarding

the

com-

DEMONS,

FAIRIES,

AND GHOSTS

61

of water or the atmosphere, of the cause of

thunder and lightning, or of the chemical changes effected
in soils by the action of bacteria.
They attributed all
natural phenomena to the operations of spirits or gods.
In believing that certain demons caused certain diseases,
they may be said to have achieved distinct progress, for
position

the

they anticipated

germ

theory.

They made

dis-

coveries, too, which have been approved and elaborated

times

in later

waters,

when they

and used

oils

lit

sacred

and herbs

to

fires,

bathed in sacred

charm away

spirits

of

Indeed, many folk cures, which were origipestilence.

associated
with magical ceremonies, are still pracnally
tised in

our own day.

They were found

to be effective

by early observers, although they were unable to explain

why and how cures were accomplished, like modern
scientific

investigators.

In peopling the Universe with spirits, the Babylonians,

like other ancient folks, betrayed that tendency to sym-

which has ever appealed to the human

mind. Our painters and poets and sculptors are greatest
when they symbolize their ideals and ideas and impressions, and by so doing make us respond to their moods.
Their " beauty and their terror are sublime ".
But what
seem
a
to
was
us,
may
poetic
invariably
grim reality to
the Babylonians.
The statue or picture was not merely
a work of art but a manifestation of the
god or demon.
As has been said, they believed that the spirit of the god
inhabited the idol; the frown of the brazen image was the
frown of the wicked demon. They entertained as much
dread of the winged and human-headed bulls guarding
the entrance to the royal palace as do some of the Arab
workmen who, in our own day, assist excavators to rescue
them from sandy mounds in which they have been hidden
bolize everything

for long centuries.

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

62

When

an idol was carried away from a city by an

invading army, it was believed that the god himself had
been taken prisoner, and was therefore unable any longer
to help his people.

In the early stages of Sumerian culture, the gods and

goddesses

demons.

who formed groups were indistinguishable from

They were vaguely define'd, and had changing

When attempts were made to depict them they

shapes.
were represented in many varying forms. Some were
winged bulls or lions with human heads; others had even
more remarkable composite forms.
The " dragon of
Babylon ", for instance, which was portrayed on walls
of temples, had a serpent's head, a body covered with
scales, the fore legs of a lion, hind legs of an eagle, and
a long wriggling serpentine tail.
Ea had several monster
forms.
The following description of one of these is
repulsive enough:

The

head

From

is

His mouth

The

the head of a serpent,

his nostrils

mucus

trickles,

beslavered with water;

ears are like those of a basilisk,
is

His horns are twisted into three curls,

He wears a veil in his head band,
The body is a siih-fish full of stars,

The
The

base of his feet are claws,

sole of his foot has

His name

A
Even

no

heel,

Sassu-wunnu,
sea monster, a form of Ea.
R. C. Thompson's Translation. 1
is

gods were given beneficent attributes

to reflect the growth of culture, and were humanized,
they still retained many of their savage characteristics.
Bel Enlil and his fierce son, Nergal, were destroyers
after the

Devils and E<vtl Spirits of Babylonia, vol.

ii,

p.

149 etsey.

Photo. Mansell

WINGED MAN-HEADED LION

In Marble.

From N.W. Palace

of

Nimroud ; now

in the British

Museum

DEMONS,

FAIRIES,

AND GHOSTS

63

of mankind; the storm god desolated the land; the sky

god deluged it with rain; the sea raged furiously, ever

hungering for human victims; the burning sun struck

down its victims; and the floods played havoc with the
In Egypt the sun
dykes and houses of human beings.
"
a
of
was
calamity ", the comsimilarly
producer
god Ra
was "the lord of fear". 1 Osiris
posite monster god Sokar
in prehistoric times had been "a dangerous god", and
some of the Pharaohs sought protection against him in
2
The Indian Shiva,
the charms inscribed in their tombs.

"the Destroyer",

in the old
religious poems has also
of
character.
attributes
like
primitive
The Sumerian gods never lost their connection with

These continued to be reprethe early spirit groups.

sented by their attendants, who executed a deity's stern
and vengeful decrees. In one of the Babylonian charms
"
the demons are referred to as u the spleen of the gods
the symbols of their wrathful emotions and vengeful
desires.

by the

Bel Enlil, the air and earth god, was served

" the beloved sons of Bel
disease,
",

demons of

which issued from the Underworld to attack mankind.

Nergal, the sulky and ill-tempered lord of death and
destruction, who never lost his demoniac character, swept
over the land, followed by the spirits of pestilence, sunstroke, weariness, and destruction.
Anu, the sky god,
"
had " spawned
at creation the demons of cold and rain
and darkness. Even Ea and his consort, Damkina, were
served by groups of devils and giants, which preyed upon
mankind in bleak and desolate places when night fell. In
"
the ocean home of Ea were bred the " seven evil
spirits
of tempest the gaping dragon, the leopard which
preyed

upon

children, the great Beast, the terrible serpent, &c.

Egyptian
*

Myth and Legend,

xxxix,

n.

Development of Religion and Thought

in

Ancient Egypt^

J.

H.

Breasted, pp. 38, 74,

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

64

In Indian mythology Indra was similarly followed by

the stormy Maruts, and fierce Rudra by the tempestuous
In Teutonic mythology Odin is the u Wild
Rudras.

Huntsman

in the

the ocean

furies

Raging Host
upon

In Greek mythology
Poseidon.
Other

".

attend

fickle

examples of this kind could be multiplied.

As we have seen (Chapter II) the earliest group of
Babylonian deities consisted probably of four pairs of
The first pair was
gods and goddesses as in Egypt.

Apsu-Rishtu and Tiamat, who personified the primordial

Now the elder deities in most mythologies the
deep.
"grandsires" and "grandmothers" and "fathers" and
" mothers "
are ever the most powerful and most
"

They appear to represent primitive layers

of savage thought. The Greek Cronos devours even
his own children, and, as the late Andrew
Lang has

vengeful.

there

are

many parallels to this myth among

in
various parts of the world.
primitive peoples
Lang regarded the Greek survival as an example of
shown,

"the conservatism of the religious instinct". 1 The grandmother of the Teutonic deity Tyr was a fierce giantess
with nine hundred heads ; his father was an enemy of
In Scotland the hag-mother of winter and
the gods.
storm and darkness is the enemy of growth and all life,
and she raises storms to stop the grass growing, to slay
young animals, and prevent the union of her son with
his

fair

bride.

Similarly

the

Babylonian chaos

spirits,

Apsu and Tiamat, the father and mother of the gods,

resolve to destroy their offspring, because they begin to
Universe in order. Tiamat, the female dragon,

set the
is

by

more powerful than her husband Apsu, who

his

evil,

son Ea.

and creates

is

slain

She summons to her aid the gods of

also a brood of monsters
serpents,
1

Custom and Myth,

p.

45

et

sey.

DEMONS,

FAIRIES,

AND GHOSTS

65

so as
men, raging hounds, &c.
and enduring confusion and
evil.
Not until she is destroyed can the beneficent gods
establish law and order and make the earth habitable and

dragons, vipers,

to

fish

bring about universal

beautiful.

But although Tiamat was slain, the everlasting battle

between the forces of good and evil was ever waged in
the Babylonian world.
Certain evil spirits were let loose
at certain periods, and they strove to accomplish the deThese invisible
struction of mankind and his works.
enemies were either charmed away by performing magical
ceremonies, or by invoking the gods to thwart them and
bind them.

Other

spirits inhabited the

bodies of animals and were

The

ever hovering
ghosts of the dead and male
and female demons were birds, like the birds of Fate
which sang to Siegfried.
When the owl raised its
near.

melancholy voice in the darkness the listener heard the

Ghosts
spirit of a departed mother crying for her child.
and evil spirits wandered through the streets in darkness;
they haunted empty houses; they fluttered through the
evening air as bats; they hastened, moaning dismally,
across barren wastes searching for food or lay in wait
for travellers ; they came as roaring lions and howl"
The " shedu
ing jackals, hungering for human flesh.
was a destructive bull which might slay man wantonly
or as a protector of temples.
Of like character was the
" lamassu
as
a
", depicted
winged bull with human head,

of palaces; the "alu" was a bull -like

tempest, and there were also many composite,
distorted, or formless monsters which were vaguely
"
or " overthrowers ", the Semitic
termed " seizers
"
"
"
" labashu
and
ach-chazu ", the Sumerian " dimmea
and " dimme-kur ". A dialectic form of "gallu" or devil
the protector

demon of

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

66

was "mulla".
that

Professor Pinches thinks

"mulla" may be connected with

meaning

"

and suggests that

star ",

o'-the-wisp 'V

In

these

not improbable
word " mula
",

referred to a " will-

it

islands,

it

the

according

to

an

old

rhyme.
Some

him Robin Good-fellow,

call

mad

Hob-goblin, or

Crisp,

And some
By

againe doe tearme him oft

name of Will the Wisp.

Other names are "Kitty", " Peg

" Poor Robin "
lantern ".
sang:
I should indeed as

and "Jack with a

",

soon expect

That Peg-a-lantern would direct

Me straightway home on misty night
As wand'ring stars, quite out of sight.

"
In Shakespeare's Tempest* a sailor exclaims
fairy, which, you say, is a harmless fairy, has done
:

Your
little

Dr. Johnson combetter than played the Jack with us".

was
to
that
the
mented
reference
"Jack with a lantern".

Milton wrote

Which

also of the
oft,

"wandering

they say, some

fire",

evil spirit attends,

Hovering and blazing with delusive light,

Misleads th' amaz'd night wand'rer from his way
To bogs and mires, and oft through pond or pool;
There swallowed up and lost from succour far. 3

"When we

"he doth
were also "fallen
and "fire drakes":

stick in the

mire", sang Drayton,

with laughter leave us."

"
stars

"death

fires",

These

fires

So have

I seen a fire drake glide along

Before a dying man, to point his grave,

And
1

in

it

stick

The Religion of Babylonia

* Paradise
Lost, book ix.

and

hide. 4

2
Act iv, scene
p. 108.
Chapman's Casar and Pomfey.

and Assyria^
4

i.

DEMONS,

AND GHOSTS

FAIRIES,

67

1
Pliny referred to the wandering lights as stars.
Sumerian "mulla" was undoubtedly an evil spirit.
"
some countries the " fire drake is a bird with

The
In

gleaming

assumed the form of

a bull, and
connection with the bull of Ishtar.

breast: in Babylonia

it

may have had some

"

"

and "Dasa", 2 Gallu

was
to human and
applied in the sense of "foreign devil
of
certain
monarchs.
Some of
adversaries
superhuman
our
resemble
and
fairies
elves
the supernatural beings
and the Indian Rakshasas. Occasionally they appear in
Like

Indian

the

Dasyu

"

comely human guise; at other times they are vaguely

monstrous. The best known of this class is Lilith, who,
according to

Hebrew

tradition, preserved in the

was the demon lover of Adam.

Talmud,

She has been immortalized

by Dante Gabriel Rossetti:

Of Adam's

first

wife Li lit h,

it

is

told

(The witch he loved before the gift of Eve)

That, ere the snake's, her sweet tongue could deceive,
And her enchanted hair was the first gold.

And

she

still

sits,

young while the earth

is

old,

subtly of herself contemplative,

Draws men to watch the bright web she can weave,
Till heart and body and life are in its hold.

And,

The

rose

and poppy are her flowers;

for

where

he not found,
Lilith, whom shed scent
And soft shed kisses and soft sleep shall snare
Is

Lo!

as that youth's eyes

Thy

spell

burned

at thine, so

went

through him, and left his straight neck bent

his heart one strangling golden hair.

And round
Lilith

is

the Babylonian Lilithu, a feminine form of

She resembles Surpanakha of

Lilu, the Sumerian Lila.
the Rdmdyana, who made love to Rama and Lakshmana,
and

the
*

sister

of the

Natural History, 2nd book.

demon Hidimva, who became

*

Indian

Myth and Legend,

70,

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

68

enamoured of Bhima, one of the heroes of the Mahdbh&rataf and the various fairy lovers of Europe who

men

imprisonment inside mountains, or

vanished for ever when they were completely under their
The elfin Lilu simiinfluence, leaving them demented.
wooed
like
the
Germanic Laurin of
larly
young women,
2
the "Wonderful Rose Garden ", who carried away the
fair
lady Kunhild to his underground dwelling amidst
lured

to eternal

the Tyrolese mountains, or

left

of their meetings, searching for

them haunting the

him in vain:

place

savage place as holy and enchanted

ere beneath the waning moon was haunted
By woman wailing for her demon lover
!

As

His flashing eyes, his floating hair

Weave a circle round him thrice,

And

close your eyes with holy dread,

For he on honey dew hath fed
And drunk the milk of Paradise.

Coleridge

Another materializing

spirit

Kubla Khan.

of this class

was Ardat

Lili, who appears to have wedded human beings like the

swan maidens, the mermaids, and Nereids of the European folk tales, and the goddess Ganga, who for a time
was the wife of King Shantanu of the Mahdbhdrata?
The Labartu, to whom we have referred, was a female
who haunted mountains and marshes like the fairies
and hags of Europe, she stole or afflicted children, who
accordingly had to wear charms round their necks for
Seven of these supernatural beings were
protection.
;

reputed to be daughters of Anu, the sky god.

The Alu, a storm deity, was also a spirit which caused
It endeavoured to smother sleepers like the
nightmare.
1

Teutonic

Myth and

Indian

Legend^

Myth and
p.

424

et

4>

4 OI
Legend^ pp. 202-5,
8
Indian Myth and Legend, p. 164

seq.

tt

scq.

DEMONS,

AND GHOSTS

FAIRIES,

69

Scandinavian hag Mara, and similarly deprived them of

power to move. In Babylonia this evil spirit might also
cause sleeplessness or death by hovering near a bed.
In
it
be
as
horrible
the
and
as
shape
might
Egyptian
repulsive

ghosts which caused children to die from fright or by

sucking out the breath of life.

As most representatives of the spirit world were

enemies of the living, so were the ghosts of dead men
and women. Death chilled all human affections; it turned
love to hate; the deeper the love had been, the deeper
became the enmity fostered by the ghost. Certain ghosts
might also be regarded as particularly virulent and hostile
if

they happened to have

the

left

body of one who was

in Baby-

The most terrible ghost

woman who had died in

ceremonially impure.

was that of a
She was pitied and dreaded
her; she was doomed to wail

lonia

childbed.

her grief had demented

her im-

in the darkness;

No

was more
spirit
and
her
work
prone
against mankind,
hostility
was accompanied by the most tragic sorrow. In Northern
India the Hindus, like the ancient Babylonians, regard
as a fearsome demon the
ghost of a woman who died

purity clung to
to

her like poison.

evil

while pregnant, or on the day of the child's birth. 1

similar belief prevailed, in Mexico.
In Europe there
are

many

folk

tales

themselves

avenge

of dead

on

the

mothers

cruel

who

fathers

return

to

of neglected

children.

presented by the Mongolian

Buriats, whose outlook on the spirit world is less gloomy
than was that of the ancient Babylonians.
According to
sharp

contrast

is

Curtin, this interesting people are wont

to perform a ceremony with purpose to entice the ghost
a proceeding which is
to return to the dead body

Mr. Jeremiah

Popular Religion and Folk Lore of Northern India,

W.

Crooke,

vol.

i,

p.

254.

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

70
dreaded

in the Scottish

"

Highlands.

The

Buriats address

You shall sleep well. Come back

the ghost, saying:
to your natural ashes.
Take pity on your friends. It
is

Do not wander along the

necessary to live a real life.
Do not be like bad spirits. Return to your

mountains.

peaceful home.
children.

How

can

Come

you

back and work for your

leave the

little

ones?"

If

it

a mother, these words have great effect; sometimes

the spirit moans and sobs, and the Buriats tell that
is

there have been instances of

it

returning to the body.

In his Arabia Deserta* Doughty relates that Arab women

and children mock the cries of the owl. One explained
to him: "It is a wailful woman seeking her lost child;
she has become this forlorn bird ".
So do immemorial
beliefs survive to our own day.
The Babylonian ghosts of unmarried men and women
and of those without offspring were also disconsolate
Others who suffered similar fates were
night wanderers.
the ghosts of men who died in battle far from home and
were left unburied, the ghosts of travellers who perished
in the desert and were not covered over, the
ghosts of
drowned men which rose from the water, the ghosts of
prisoners

starved

who died
The dead

people

to death or executed, the ghosts of

violent deaths before their appointed

required to be cared for, to have libations poured out, to be fed, so that they might not prowl

time.

When

a person,

young

or old,

is

dying, near relatives

must not

call

may come back from the spirit world. A similar

among women, in the Lowlands. The writer was once

in case the soul

out their names

belief

still

lingers,

present in a room
was supposed to be dying. Suddenly the mother called out the child's
name in agonized voice. It revived soon afterwards. Two old women who had at" the
calling" shook their heads and remarked: "She has done it!
tempted to prevent
especially
when a child

The

child will never do any good in this world after being called back/'
In England
and Ireland, as well as in Scotland, the belief also prevails in certain localities that if a
" called back" the soul will
dying person is
tarry for another twenty-four hours, during

which the individual

2

A Journey in

will suffer great agony.

Southern Siberia, Jeremiah Curtin, pp. 103, 104.

Vol.

i,

p.

305.

DEMONS,

FAIRIES,

AND GHOSTS

71

through the streets or enter houses searching for scraps

of food and pure water. The duty of giving offerings
to the dead was imposed apparently on near relatives.

As

in India, it would
appear that the eldest son performed the funeral ceremony: a dreadful fate therefore
awaited the spirit of the dead Babylonian man or woman

In Sanskrit literature there is a referwithout offspring.

ence to a priest who was not allowed to enter Paradise,

although he had performed rigid penances, because he had

no

children.

There were hags and giants of mountain and desert,

Demons might possess the pig, the
of river and ocean.
or the hawk.
goat, the horse, the lion, or the ibis, the raven,
The seven spirits of tempest, fire, and destruction rose
from the depths of ocean, and there were hosts of demons
which could not be overcome or baffled by man without

whom they were hostile.

no
were
sexless; having
offspring, they were devoid
Many
of mercy and compassion.
They penetrated everywhere:
the assistance of the gods to

The

high enclosures, the broad enclosures* like a flood

they pass through,

house to house they dash along.
door can shut them out ;

From

No
No

bolt

can turn them back.

Through
Through

the door, like a snake, they glide,

the hinge, like the wind, they storm,

Tearing the wife from the embrace of the man,

2
Driving the freedman from his family home.

These furies did not confine

to mankind alone:

their

unwelcomed

attentions

They hunt the doves from their cotes,

And drive the birds from their nests,
1

Adi Parva

Jastrow'8 Aspects of Religious Belief in Babylonia, &c., p. 312.

section of Mahabharata, Roy's trans., p. 635.

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

72

And

chase the marten from

Through

the

gloomy

its

street

hole.

by night they roam,

Smiting sheepfold and

Shutting up

cattle pen,
the land as with door and bolt.

R. C. Thompson

Translation.

The Babylonian
for the

poet, like Burns, was filled with pity

animals which suffered in the storm:
List'ning the doors an' winnocks rattle,
I thought me o' the ourie cattle,

Or

silly

sheep,

wha

bide this brattle

O' winter war.

Ilk happing bird, wee, helpless thing!

That

in the

Delighted

What

merry months

me

o'

spring

to hear thee sing,

conies o' thee

Wharc wilt thou cow'r

And close thy e'e?

thy chittering wing,

"
the great storms
According to Babylonian belief,
"
directed from heaven
were caused by demons.
Mankind heard them "loudly roaring above, gibbering below". 1
The south wind was raised by Shutu, a plumed storm
demon resembling Hraesvelgur of the Icelandic Eddas:
Corpse-swal lower

the end of heaven,

form;
wings, they say, comes the wind which fares
2
all the dwellers of earth.

Jotun

From

sits at

in eagle

his

Over

The northern story of Thor's fishing, when he hooked

and wounded the Midgard serpent, is recalled by the
Babylonian legend of Adapa, son of the god Ea. This
hero was engaged catching fish, when Shutu, the south
In his wrath Adapa immediately
wind, upset his boat.
attacked the storm demon and shattered her pinions.

Anu, the sky god, was moved

1

R. C. Thompson's trans,

to anger against Ea's son

The Elder or Poetic Edda, Olive Bray, part

i,

p. 53.

TWO
The

upper head

is

FIGURES OF DEMONS

that of Shutu, the

demon of

the south-west wind, whose

wings

were broken by Adapa, son of Ea

(British

Museum}

DEMONS,

FAIRIES,

and summoned him

AND GHOSTS

73

Adapa, howof
and
was
ever, appeared
garments
mourning
forgiven.
Anu offered him the water of life and the bread of life
which would have made him immortal, but Ea's son
to the Celestial Court.

in

refused

to

eat

warned him,

or

that

drink, believing, as
the sky god desired

his

him

father

had

to partake

of the bread of death and to drink of the water of

death.

atmospheric demon was the southwest wind, which caused destructive storms and floods,
and claimed many human victims like the Icelandic
"
She was depicted with lidless
corpse swallower ".
staring eyes, broad flat nose, mouth gaping horribly, and

Another

terrible

showing tusk-like teeth, and with high cheek bones, heavy

eyebrows, and low bulging forehead.
In Scotland the hag of the south-west wind is
She is
similarly a bloodthirsty and fearsome demon.
most virulent in the springtime. At Cromarty she is
" Gentle Annie "
quaintly called
by the fisher folks, who
repeat the saying: "When Gentle Annie is skyawlan
(yelling) roond the heel of Ness (a promontory) wi' a
white feather on her hat (the foam of big billows) they
"

be harrying (robbing) the crook

the
which
is,
pot
hangs from the crook is empty
the
during
spring storms, which prevent fishermen going
to sea.
In England the wind hag is Black Annis, who

(the
that

spirits)

will

dwells in a Leicestershire

hill

cave.

She may be

with the Irish hag Anu, associated with the

Anu ". According to Gaelic lore, this wind

identical

"Paps of

demon of
She
gives her name
spring
(old wife).
in the Highland calendar to the stormy period of late
spring; she raises gale after gale to prevent the coming of
summer. Angerboda, the Icelandic hag, is also a storm
is

the "Cailleach

"

demon, but represents the

east wind.

Tyrolese folk

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

74

magic maidens who dwelt on Jochgrimm

where
mountain,
they "brewed the winds". Their demon
were
lovers
Ecke, "he who causes fear"; Vasolt, "he
who causes dismay"; and the scornful Dietrich in his
tale tells of three

of Donar

mythical character
thunderer.

or

Thunor (Thor),

the

Another Sumerian storm demon was the Zu bird,

which is represented among the stars by Pegasus and
A legend relates that this " worker of evil,
Taurus.
who raised the head of evil", once aspired to rule the
" the lord " of
deities, the
gods, and stole from Bel,
Tablets of Destiny, which gave him his power over the
Universe as controller of the fates of all. The Zu bird
escaped with the Tablets and found shelter on its mounAnu called on Ramman, the thuntain top in Arabia.
derer, to attack the Zu bird, but he was afraid; other
gods appear to have shrunk from the conflict. How the
rebel was overcome is not certain, because the legend surThere is a reference, howvives in fragmentary form.
to
the
moon
ever,
god setting out towards the mountain
in Arabia with purpose to outwit the Zu bird and recover

How

the lost Tablets.

he fared

impossible to ascerthat of Etana

In another legend
the mother
the
sun
god, Shamash, says:
serpent, addressing
it is

tain.

Thy
Thy

net

is

snare

Who

like
is

unto the broad earth;

unto the distant heaven!

like

<

hath ever escaped from thy net?

the worker of evil, who raised the head

Even Zu,

of evil [did not escape]

L.

W.

King's Translation.

In Indian mythology, Garuda, half giant, half eagle,

robs the Amrita (ambrosia) of the gods which gives them
It had assumed
their power and renders them immortal.
a

golden body, bright as the sun.

Indra, the thunderer,

DEMONS,

FAIRIES,

flung his bolt in vain

and only displaced a

AND GHOSTS

he could

not

single feather.

75

wound Garuda,

Afterwards, how-

ever, he stole the moon goblet containing the Amrita,

which Garuda had delivered to his enemies, the serpents, to
This Indian eagle giant
free his mother from bondage.
became the vehicle of the god Vishnu, and, according to
the Mahdbhdrata " mocked the wind with his fleetness ".
y

It

that the Babylonian Zu bird symthe Arabian desert.

would appear

bolized the

summer sandstorms from

Thunder

is associated with the rainy season, and it

may
been
have
assumed, therefore, that the thunder god was
powerless against the sandstorm demon, who was chased,
however, by the moon, and finally overcome by the triumphant sun when it broke through the darkening sand drift
and brightened heaven and earth, " netting*' the rebellious
demon who desired to establish the rule of evil over gods
and mankind.
In the " Legend of Etana" the Eagle, another demon
which links with the Indian Garuda, slayer of serpents,
For this
devours the brood of the Mother Serpent.
offence against divine law, Shamash, the sun god, proHe instructs the Mother
nounces the Eagle's doom.
Serpent to slay a wild ox and conceal herself in its enThe Eagle comes to feed on the carcass, unheeding
trails.
the warning of one of his children, who says, "The
serpent lies in this wild ox":

He swooped down-and stood upon the wild ox,

examined the flesh;
The Eagle
He looked about carefully before and behind him;
He again examined the flesh;
He looked about carefully before and behind him,
.

Then, moving

When
The
(C642)

swiftly, he

made

for the

hidden

parts.

he entered into the midst,

serpent seized

him by

his

wing.
8

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

76

In vain the Eagle appealed for mercy to the Mother

Serpent, who was compelled to execute the decree of

Shamash; she tore off the Eagle's pinions, wings, and

claws, and threw him into a pit where he perished from
1
This myth may refer to the ravages
hunger and thirst.
of a winged demon of disease who was thwarted by the
sacrifice of an ox.
The Mother Serpent appears to be
identical with an ancient goddess of maternity resembling the Egyptian Bast, the serpent mother of Bubastis.
" a form of the
According to Sumerian belief, Nintu,

goddess Ma", was half a serpent. On her head there is

a horn; she is "girt about the loins"; her left arm holds
"a babe suckling her breast":

From her head to her loins

The body is that of a naked woman;
From the loins to the sole of the foot
Scales like those of a snake are visible.

R. C. Thompson's Translation.

The

close association of

gods and demons

is

illustrated

an obscure myth which may refer to an eclipse of the

moon or a night storm at the beginning of the rainy
in

The demons go to war against the high gods,

and are assisted by Adad (Ramman) the thunderer,
Shamash the sun, and Ishtar. They desire to wreck the
heavens, the home of Anu:
season.

They clustered
And won over

angrily round the crescent of the moon god,

to their aid Shamash, the mighty, and Adad, the

warrior,

who with Anu, the King,

a shining dwelling.
founded
Hath

And

Ishtar,

The moon god

" the seed of mankind

", was
darkened by the demons who raged, "rushing loose over
1

Sin,

Babylonian Religion, L.

W.

King, pp. 186-8.

DEMONS,
"

AND GHOSTS

FAIRIES,

77

Bel called upon his messenhe

sent
Ea
to
in the ocean depths, saying:
ger,
son Sin
hath been grievously bedimmed". Ea
lamented, and dispatched his son Merodach to net the
demons by magic, using " a two-coloured cord from the
hair of a virgin kid and from the wool of a virgin
the land

like to the wind,

whom

"My

lamb". 1

As

in

India,

where

smallpox, for instance,

disease she controls

Shitala, the Bengali

is

worshipped when

becomes epidemic, so in Babylonia

immunity from attack by

the people sought to secure

worshipping
a plague

spirits

goddess of
the dreaded

of disease.

demon, once resolved

tablet relates that

to destroy all

who

ultimately consented to spare those

life,

praised his

Ura,
but

name

and exalted him in recognition of his bravery and power.

This could be accomplished by reciting a formula. Indian
serpent worshippers believe that their devotions "destroy
2
danger proceeding from snakes'
1

all

Like the Ancient Egyptians, the Babylonians also had

their kindly spirits who brought luck and the various

good "labartu" might attend on

household fairy of India or Europe:
" shedu " could
a friendly
protect a household against the
Even the
attacks of fierce demons and human enemies.
of
of
served
the
Fate
who
Anu, god
sky, and that
spirits
"Norn" of the Underworld, Eresh-ki-gal, queen of
if the deities
Hades, might sometimes be propitious
were successfully invoked they could cause the Fates to
smite spirits of disease and bringers of ill luck.
Damu,
enjoyments of

human

life.

being like a

goddess, was well loved, because she

of the
inspired pleasant dreams, relieved the sufferings

friendly

et

fairy

ihe Devils and Evil Spirits of Babylonia, R. Campbell Thompson, vol.

seq,
3

Omens and

Superstitions of Southern lndia> E.

Thurston,

p. 124..

i,

p.

53

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

78
afflicted,

and restored

to

good health those

patients

whom

she selected to favour.

In the Egyptian Book of the Dead the kindly spirits
are overshadowed by the evil ones, because the various

magical spells which were put on record were directed

against those supernatural beings who were enemies of
mankind. Similarly in Babylonia the fragments of this
class of literature which survive deal mainly with wicked
and vengeful demons.
It appears probable, however,
that the highly emotional Sumerians and Akkadians were
on occasion quite as cheerful a people as the inhabitants
of ancient Egypt. Although they were surrounded by
bloodthirsty furies who desired to shorten their days, and
their nights were filled with vague lowering phantoms
which inspired fear, they no doubt shared, in their charmprotected houses, a comfortable feeling of security after
performing magical ceremonies, and were happy enough
when they gathered round flickering lights to listen to
ancient song and story and gossip about crops and traders,
the members of the royal house, and the family affairs of

their acquaintances.

The Babylonian
complex

character.

be seen, was of
inhabitants were numberless, but

spirit

Its

world,

it

will

often vaguely defined, and one class of demons linked

with another.
Like the European fairies of folk belief,

the Babylonian spirits were extremely hostile and irresistible at certain seasonal periods; and they were fickle
and perverse and difficult to please even when inclined
to be friendly. They were also similarly manifested
time to time in various forms.
Sometimes they

from
were

comely and beautiful; at other times they were apparitions of horror.

The Jinn of present-day Arabians are
of like character; these may be giants, cloudy shapes,
comely women, serpents or

cats,

goats or pigs.

DEMONS,
Some of

FAIRIES,

AND GHOSTS

the composite monsters of Babylonia

79

may

suggest the vague and exaggerated recollections of terrorstricken people who have had glimpses of unfamiliar wild
beasts in the dusk or amidst reedy marshes.
But they
cannot be wholly accounted for in this way.
While
animals were often identified with supernatural beings,

and foreigners were

called

cc

devils ",

it

would be mis-

leading to assert that the spirit world reflects confused

folk memories of human and bestial enemies.
Even

when

concrete human form it renon-human:

no ordinary weapon could
essentially
an injury, and it was never controlled by natural
The spirits of disease and tempest and darkness

demon was given

mained
inflict

laws.

were creations of fancy: they symbolized moods; they

were the causes which explained effects. A sculptor or
storyteller who desired to convey an impression of a
of storm or pestilence created monstrous forms to
spirit
Sudden and unexpected visits of fierce and
inspire terror.
devastating demons were accounted for by asserting that
they had wings like eagles, were nimble-footed as gazelles,
cunning and watchful as serpents; that they had claws to
clutch, horns to gore, and powerful fore legs like a lion
Withal they drank blood like
to smite down victims.

devoured corpses like hyaenas.

Monsters
more
when
were
all
repulsive
they
partly human.
The human-headed snake or the snake-headed man and
ravens and

were

the

man

with the horns of a wild bull and the legs of a

Evil spirits might
goat were horrible in the extreme.
the

sometimes achieve success by practising deception. They

might appear as beautiful girls or handsome men and
seize unsuspecting victims in deathly embrace or leave
them demented and full of grief, or come as birds and
suddenly assume awesome shapes.
Fairies and elves, and other half-human demons, are

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

8o

sometimes regarded as degenerate gods. It will be seen,

however, that while certain spirits developed into deities,
others remained something between these two classes of
supernatural beings: they might attend upon gods and
goddesses, or operate independently
kind and now against deities even.

now against manThe " namtaru ",

a spirit of fate, the son of Bel-Enlil and

"
Apparently ", writes
Eresh-ki-gal, queen of Hades.
"
Professor Pinches,
he executed the instructions given
for instance,

was

him concerning the fate of men, and could also have power
over certain of the gods." 1 To this middle class belong

who

the evil gods

According

rebelled against the beneficent deities.

belief, the fallen angels are

Hebridean folk

to

divided into three classes

the

fairies,

the "nimble men*'

(aurora borealis), and the "blue men of the Minch".

"
In Beowu/fthe "brood of Cain
includes "monsters and

and sea-devils giants also, who long time fought

with God, for which he gave them their reward". 2 Similarly the Babylonian spirit groups are liable to division
and subdivision. The various classes may be regarded
as relics of the various stages of development from crude
in the fragmentary
animism to sublime monotheism
legends we trace the floating material from which great
mythologies have been framed.
elves

1
-

The Religion of Babylonia and Assyria,

Beowulfr Clark Hall, p. 14.

p.

HO.

CHAPTER V
Myths of Tammuz and

Ishtar

Tammuz The Weeping Ceremony Tammuz the Patriarch

God Common Origin of Tammuz and other Deities from an
The Mediterranean Racial Myth Animal Forms of Gods of
Two Legends of the Death of Tammuz Attis, Adonis, and
Slain by a Boar
Laments for Tammuz His Soul in Underworld

Forms of
and the Dying
Archaic God
Fertility

Diarmid
and the Deep Myth of the Child God of Ocean Sargon Myth Version
The Germanic Scyld of the Sheaf -Tammuz Links with Frey, Heimdal, Agni,
Sec.
Assyrian Legend of "Descent of Ishtar "Sumerian Version The Sister
Belit-sheri and the Mother Ishtar
The Egyptian Isis and Nepthys Goddesses
as Mothers, Sisters, and Wives
Great Mothers of Babylonia Immortal GodThe Various Indras Celtic Goddess with Seven
desses and Dying Gods
Periods of Youth
Lovers of Germanic and Classic Goddesses The Lovers
of Ishtar
Racial Significance of Goddess Cult
The Great Fathers and their
Worshippers Process of Racial and Religious Fusion Ishtar and Tiarnat
Mother Worship in Palestine Women among Goddess Worshippers.

AMONG

the gods of Babylonia none achieved wider and

more enduring fame than Tammuz, who was loved by

the beautiful
Ishtar, the amorous Queen of Heaven
youth who died and was mourned for and came to life
He does not figure by his popular name in any
again.
of the city pantheons, but from the earliest times of which
we have knowledge until the passing of Babylonian
civilization, he played a prominent part in the religious
life of the
people.

Tammuz,
deity,

and

Osiris of Egypt, was an agricultural

Babylonian harvest was the gift of the

like

as the

probable that one of his several forms was

Dumu-zi-abzu, "Tammuz of the Abyss ". He was also

rivers,

it

is

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

82

"the child", "the heroic lord ", "the sentinel", "the

healer ", and the patriarch who reigned over the early
"Tammuz of the
Babylonians for a considerable period.
"
was one of the members of the family of Ea,
Abyss
of
the Deep, whose other sons, in addition to
god
Merodach, were Nira, an obscure deity; Ki-gulla, "world
" broad ear
", and Bara and
destroyer ", Burnunta-sa,
In addiBaragulla, probably "revealers" or "oracles'*.
tion there was a daughter, Khi-dimme-azaga, "child of
the renowned spirit ".
She may have been identical with

who is referred to
Tammuz. This

Sumerian hymns as
family group was probably
formed by symbolizing the attributes of Ea and his spouse
Damkina. Tammuz, in his character as a patriarch, may
have been regarded as a hostage from the gods: the
human form of Ea, who instructed mankind, like King
As
Osiris, how to grow corn and cultivate fruit trees.
the youth who perished annually, he was the corn
Belit-sheri,

in the

the sister of

spirit.

He

is

referred to in the Bible by his Babylonian

name.

When

Ezekiel detailed the various idolatrous pracof the Israelites, which included the worship of the
sun and " every form of creeping things and abominable
a suggestion of the composite monsters of Babybeasts"
he was brought " to the door of the gate of the
lonia
Lord's house, which was towards the north; and, behold,
tices

women weeping for Tammuz ".*

The weeping ceremony was connected

there sat

with agricul-

Corn

deities were weeping deities,

they shed
and
the
sowers
simulated
the
sorrow
fertilizing
of divine mourners when they cast seed in the soil " to
This ancient
die ", so that it might spring up as corn.

tural rites.

tears

custom,

like

many

others,

contributed

to

the

poetic

TAMMUZ AND
imagery of the Bible.
" shall
in
reap

sang,

"

They

that

He

joy.

ISHTAR
sow

that

83

David
and
goeth
doubtless come
in tears ",

forth

weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall

1
again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him/'

Egypt the priestesses who acted the parts of

Nepthys, mourned for the slain corn god Osiris.
In

Gods and men

and

Isis

before the face of the gods are weeping for

thee at the same time,

when

they behold me
and behind thy couch,
are prostrate upon
thou
yet
!

All thy sister goddesses are at thy side

Calling upon thee with weeping

thy bed
Live before us, desiring to behold thee. 2
!

It

was believed to be

essential

that

human

beings

should share the universal sorrow caused by the death

If they remained unsympathetic, the deities
of a god.
would punish them as enemies. Worshippers of nature
gods, therefore, based their ceremonial practices on natural
phenomena. "The dread of the worshippers that the
neglect of the usual ritual would be followed by disaster,
is

particularly intelligible ",

"

writes

Professor Robertson

Smith,
they regarded the necessary operations of agriculture as involving the violent extinction of a particle
if

of divine

life."

By

observing their

ritual,

the wor-

won

the sympathy and co-operation of deities,

shippers
or exercised a magical control over nature.

The Babylonian myth of Tammuz,

bears a close resemblance to the

the dying god,

Greek myth of Adonis.

with the myth of Osiris.

According to Professor Sayce, Tammuz is identical with "Daonus or Daos,
the shepherd of Pantibibla ", referred to
Berosus as
It also links

by

the ruler of one of the mythical

ages of Babylonia.
1

Psalms, cxxvi.

The Burden of his,

J.

T. Dennis (Wisdom of the East

Religion of the Semites^ pp. 412, 414.

scries), pp. Z1 9 22.

We

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

84

have therefore to deal with

Tammuz

character as a patriarch and a

The Adonis version of the

god of

in

his

twofold

fertility.

myth may be summarized

Ere the god was born, his mother, who was purbriefly.
sued by her angry sire, as the river goddesses of the folk
tales are pursued
by the well demons, transformed herself
into a tree.
Adonis sprang from the trunk of this tree,
and Aphrodite, having placed the child in a chest, committed him to the care of Persephone, queen of Hades,

who

resembles the Babylonian Eresh-ki-gal.

Persephone
and
Aphrodite (Ishtar)
young god,
appealed to Zeus (Anu), who decreed that Adonis should
spend part of the year with one goddess and part of the
desired to retain the

year with the other.

suggested that the myth of Adonis was derived

times by the Greeks indirectly from
-Homeric
post
Babylonia through the Western Semites, the Semitic title
It is

in

"Adbn", meaning "lord", having been mistaken

for a

This theory, however, cannot be accepted

proper name.
without qualifications.
It does not explain the existence
of either- the Phrygian myth of Attis, which was developed differently from the Tammuz myth, or the Celtic
"
story of

Diarmid and the boar

which belongs to the

Hunting Period ". There are traces in
archaeological
Greek mythology of pre-Hellenic myths about dying
harvest deities, like Hyakinthos and Erigone, for instance,
who appear to have been mourned for. There is every
possibility, therefore, that the Tammuz ritual may have
been attached to a harvest god of the pre-Hellenic Greeks,
who received at the same time the new name of Adonis.
Osiris of Egypt resembles Tammuz, but his Mesopotamian origin has not been proved.
It would appear
",

"

Attis, Osiris, and the deities

and
Adonis
Diarmid were all developed
represented by

probable

that

Tammuz,

TAMMUZ AND

ISHTAR

85

from an archaic god of fertility and vegetation, the central

a myth which was not only as ancient as the
figure of
knowledge and practice of agriculture, but had existence
even in the "Hunting Period ". Traces of the TammuzOsiris story in various forms are found all over the area
occupied by the Mediterranean or Brown race from
Sumeria to the British Isles. Apparently the original
myth was connected with tree and water worship and
the worship of animals.
Adonis sprang from a tree; the
body of Osiris was concealed in a tree which grew round
the sea-drifted chest in which he was concealed. Diarmid
concealed himself in a tree

blood of

Tammuz,

when pursued by Finn.

Osiris,

The

and Adonis reddened the

swollen rivers which fertilized the

Various animals
soil.
were associated with the harvest god, who appears to have
been manifested from time to time in different forms, for
his spirit pervaded all nature.
In Egypt the soul of
Osiris entered the Apis bull or the ram of Mendes.
Tammuz in the hymns is called " the pre-eminent
steer of heaven ", and a popular sacrifice was "a white
kid of the god Tammuz'', which, however, might be
substituted by a sucking pig.
Osiris had also associations with swine,

dotus,
full

and the Egyptians, according

to

Hero-

When Set at
a pig to him annually.
hunted the boar in the Delta marshes, he prob-

sacrificed

moon

ably hunted the boar form of Osiris, whose

had been recovered from the sacred tree by

human body
As the

I sis.

soul of Bata, the hero of the Egyptian folk tale, 1 migrated

from the blossom to the bull, and the bull to the tree, so

apparently did the soul of Osiris pass from incarnation to

incarnation.
Set, the demon slayer of the harvest god,

had

also a boar form; he

the waning

moon and

was the black pig who devoured

blinded the

Eye of Ra.

Myth and Legend) pp. 45

ft seq.

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

86

In his character as a long-lived patriarch, Tammuz,

King Daonus or Daos of Berosus, reigned in Babylonia for 36,000 years.
When he died, he departed to
the

Hades or the Abyss.

Osiris, after reigning over
became
Egyptians,
Judge of the Dead.

the

Tammuz

of the Sumerian hymns, however, is the

Adonis-like god who lived on earth for a part of the
year as the shepherd and agriculturist so dearly beloved
by the goddess Ishtar. Then he died so that he might

depart to the realm of Eresh-ki-gal (Persephone), queen of

Hades. According to one account, his death was caused

by the

When

fickle Ishtar.

wooed Gilgamesh,

that goddess

the Babylonian Hercules, he upbraided her, saying:

On Tammuz, the spouse of thy youth,

Thou didst lay affliction every year.
Translation.

Kings

References in the Sumerian

hymns suggest

that there

form of the legend which gave an account

of the slaying of the young god by someone else than
The slayer may have been a Set-like demon
Ishtar.
perhaps Nin-shach, who appears to have symbolized the
He was a war deity,
destroying influence of the sun.
and his name, Professor Pinches says, " is conjectured to
mean 'lord of the wild boar' ". There is no direct evi-

also existed a

dence, however, to connect Tammuz's slayer with the boar

which killed Adonis. Ishtar's innocence is emphasized by

mourned for her youthful

my lord, ah me I will say

the fact that she

Oh

hero,
I eat not

Food

water

lover, crying:

drink not

Because of the exalted one of the nether world, him of the

Of

radiant face, yea radiant,

the exalted one of the nether world, him of the dovelike voice,
1

1
yea dove-like.

Langdon's Sumerian and Babylonian Psalms^ pp. 319-3*1.

TAMMUZ AND

ISHTAR

87

The Phrygian
legend, by

Attis met his death, according to one

self-mutilation under a sacred tree.
Another

account sets forth, however, that he was

by a boar.
This
by
animal was a form of Ares (Mars), god of war and
The Celtic
tempest, who also loved Aphrodite (Ishtar).
Diarmid, in his character as a love god, with lunar attri" the
butes, was slain by
green boar ", which appears to
have been one of the animals of a ferocious Hag, an
"
earth and air " mother
with various names.
In one
of the many Fingalian stories the animal is

The Greek Adonis was

slain

a boar.

similarly killed

That venomous boar, and he so fierce,

That Grey Eyebrows had with her herd of swine. 1
.

Diarmid had eloped with the wife of Finn-mac-Coul

(Fingal), who, like Ares, plotted to bring about his rival's
death, and accordingly set the young hero to hunt the
As a thunder god Finn carried a hammer with
boar.
which he smote his shield; the blows were heard in
Lochlann (Scandinavia).
Diarmid, like Tammuz, the
and
the
tender
of
voice
shining eyes", had much
"god
Finn
cried:
When
he
expired,
beauty.

No maiden will raise her eye

Since the mould has gone over thy visage
Blue without rashness in thine eye

fair

Passion and beauty behind thy curls .

Oh, yesternight it was green the hillock,
!

Red

Tammuz
expired

purple

is it

this

2
day with Diarmid's blood.

died with the dying vegetation, and Diarmid

the hills apparently were assuming their

when

tints.

The month of Tammuz

Campbell's West Highland

Wat

Tales, vol.

iii,

p.

wailings was from

74.

Highland Tales, vol. iii, pp. 85, 86.

* If
Finn and his band were really militiamen the original Fenians as is believed
in Ireland, they may have had attached to their memories the legends of archaic Iberian

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

88

2oth June

till

when the heat and dryness

demons of pestilence. The mourners

2oth July,

brought forth the

chanted:

He has gone, he has gone to the bosom

And the dead are numerous in the land

Men

of the earth,
.

are filled with sorrow: they stagger

In the

month of thy year which

Thou

hast

The

gone

by day

in

gloom

brings not peace hast thou gone.

on a journey that makes an end of thy people.

following

extract

contains

reference

to

the

slaying of the god:

The

holy one of Ishtar,

guish

The

in the

middle of the year the

shepherd, the wise one, the

slain

fields lan-

...
.

man

of sorrows,

why

have they

In his temple, in his inhabited domain,

child, lord of knowledge, abides no more

The

In the meadows, verily, verily, the soul of

life

perishes.

There is wailing for Tammuz " at the sacred cedar,

where the mother bore thee ", a reference which connects
the god, like Adonis and Osiris, with tree worship:

The

wailing

produced

is

for the herbs

the

first

lament

"
is,

they are not

".

The
The

wailing is for the grain, ears are not produced.

wailing is for the habitations, for the flocks which bring forth
no more.

The

wailing is for the perishing wedded ones; for the perishing

children; the dark-headed people create no more.

The

wailing is also for the shrunken river, the parched

meadows, the fishpools, the cane brakes, the forests, the

Theodoric the Goth, as Dietrich

deities who differed from the Celtic Danann deities.
von Bern, was identified, for instance, with Donar or Thunor (Thor), the thunder god
Diarmid is the patriarch of the
In Scotland Finn and his followers are all giants.
"
Campbell clan, the MacDiarmids being sons of Diarmid ".
c

TAMMUZ AND

ISHTAR

89

the gardens, and the palace, which all suffer because

god of fertility has departed. The mourner cries

plains,

the

How
How

long shall the springing of verdure be restrained ?

long shall the putting forth of leaves be held back?

Whither went

Tammuz ? His

destination has already

been referred to as "the bosom of the earth", and in the

Assyrian version of the "Descent of Ishtar" he dwells in
"

"the house of darkness among the dead, "where dust

their food mud", and "the
is their nourishment and
is never seen"
the
light
gloomy Babylonian Hades. In
one of the Sumerian hymns, however, it is stated that
Tammuz "upon the flood was cast out". The reference

submarine " house of Ea ", or the Blessed

In
Island to which the Babylonian Noah was carried.
this Hades bloomed the nether "garden of Adonis".
The following extract refers to the garden of Damu

may be

to the

(Tammuz)
Damu his youth therein slumbers
Among the garden flowers he slumbers; among
:

he

is

Among

cast

away

the garden flowers

the tamarisks he slumbers, with

woe he

causes us to be

satiated.

Tammuz

Although

of the hymns was

slain,

he re-

turned again from Hades.

Apparently he came back as
a child.
He is wailed for as " child, Lord Gishzida ",
as well as

hero

"my

Damu".

In his lunar character the

" the child surEgyptian Osiris appeared each month as

"
passingly beautiful ; the Osiris bull was also a child of

"

was begotten ", says Plutarch, " by a ray

of generative light falling from the moon".
When the
bull of Attis was sacrificed his
worshippers were drenched

the

moon

Isaiah

it

condemns

garden, Isaiah, xvii, 9,

magical custom connected with the worship of Tammuz in the

This "Garden of Adonis " is dealt with in the next chapter.

n.

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

90
with
milk,

blood, and were afterwards ceremonially fed with

its

" renewed
they were supposed to have

as

their

youth" and become children. The ancient Greek god

Eros (Cupid) was represented as a wanton boy or handsome youth. Another god of fertility, the Irish Angus,
who resembles Eros, is called "the ever young"; he
slumbers like Tammuz and awakes in the Spring.
Apparently it was believed that the child god, Tammuz,
returned from the earlier Sumerian Paradise of the Deep,
and grew into full manhood in a comparatively brief period,
A
like Vyasa and other super-men of Indian mythology.
from
a
Tammuz
couplet
hymn says tersely
:

In his infancy in a sunken boat he

In his

manhood

The "boat" may

in the

lay.

submerged grain he

lay.

be the "chest" in which Adonis

was concealed by Aphrodite when she confided him to

the care of Persephone, queen of Hades, who desired
to retain the young god, but was compelled by Zeus to
send him back to the goddess of love and vegetation.
The fact that Ishtar descended to Hades in quest of

Tammuz may

perhaps explain the symbolic references

in

mother goddesses being in sunken boats also

hymns
when their powers were in abeyance, as were those of the
god for part of each year. It is possible, too, that the boat
had a lunar and a solar significance. Khonsu, the Egyptian moon god, for instance, was associated with the Spring
sun, being a deity of fertility and therefore a corn spirit ;
he was a form of Osiris, the Patriarch, who sojourned on
earth to teach mankind how to grow corn and cultivate
to

fruit trees.

In the Egyptian legend Osiris received the

Isis, which suggests that among Great-

corn seeds from

1
Quotations are from Sumerian and Babylonian Psalms, translated
Langdon, Ph.D. (Paris and London, 1909), pp. 299-341.

by Stephen

TAMMUZ AND

ISHTAR

91

Mother-worshipping peoples, it was believed that agrihad a female origin. The same myths
attached
to corn gods and corn goddesses,
been
have
may
associated with water, sun, moon, and stars.

cultural civilization

That there existed in Babylonia at an extremely remote period an agricultural myth regarding a Patriarch of
divine origin who was rescued from a boat in his childhood, is suggested by the legend which was attached to
It
the memory of the usurper King Sargon of Akkad.
runs as follows:
" I

am

mother was a
Sargon, the mighty King of Akkad.
whose
inhabited the
father
an
brother
alien,
my

My

vestal (priestess),

When my mother had conceived me, she bare

mountain.
me in a hidden place. She laid me in a vessel of rushes, stopped
the door thereof with pitch, and cast me adrift on the river.
The river floated me to Akki, the water drawer, who, in drawing
.

water,

drew me

his son,

Akki, the water drawer, educated

forth.

and made

me

his gardener.

As

a gardener, I

me

as

was beloved

by the goddess Ishtar."

It is unlikely that this story was invented by Sargon.
Like the many variants of it found in other countries,
it
was probably founded on a form of the TammuzAdonis myth. Indeed, a new myth would not have suited
Sargon's purpose so well as the adaptation of an old one,
which was more likely to make popular appeal when con-

nected with his name.

Ishtar,

The

and Sargon's early

life

to the goddess
as a gardener,
suggest that

references

be remembered as an agricultural
not of divine, at any rate of semi-divine

the king desired to

Patriarch,

if

origin.

What

appears to be an early form of the widespread

is
the Teutonic
legend regarding the
child
who
came
over
the
sea to inaugurate
mysterious
a new era of civilization and instruct the
people how to

Tammuz myth
(C642)

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

92

grow corn and become great

peoples, as archaeological

warriors.

The Northern

evidence suggests, derived their

knowledge of agriculture, and therefore their agricultural

myths, from the Neolithic representatives of the Mediterranean race with whom they came into contact. There can
be no doubt but that the Teutonic legend refers to the
introduction of agriculture.
The child is called "Scef"
"
or "Sceaf", which signifies
Sheaf ", or "Scyld, the son
of Sceaf".

Scyld

is

Danes, a people of

the patriarch of the Scyldings, the

In the Anglo-Saxon
origin.

mixed

"
Beowulf poem, the reference is to
Scyld ", but Ethelweard, William of Malmesbury, and others adhered to
" Sceaf " as the name of the Patriarch of the Western
Saxons.

The

legend

runs

that

one day a

boat

was

seen

approaching the shore; it was not propelled by oars or

In it lay a child fast asleep, his head pillowed upon
sail.

of grain. He was surrounded by armour, treasure,

and various implements, including the fire- borer. The
child was reared by the people who found him, and he
became a great instructor and warrior and ruled over the

a sheaf

tribe as king.

In Beowulf Scyld

is

Beowulf, whose grandson Hrothgar

The poem opens

the father of the elder

built the

famous Hall.

with a reference to the patriarch " Scyld

When he died, his body, according to

of the Sheaf '\

the request he had made, was

laid in a ship

which was

set adrift:

many treasures which were to travel with

power of the flood. Certainly they (the mourners)
furnished him with no less of gifts, of tribal treasures, than those
had done who, in his early days, started him over the sea alone,

Upon

him

his breast lay

into the

child as he was.

Moreover, they set besides a gold-embroidered

standard high above his head, and let the flood bear him
gave
him to the sea. Their soul was sad, their spirit sorrowful.

Who

TAMMUZ AND
received that load,
cannot for certain

men,
tell.

ISHTAR

93

chiefs of council, heroes

under heaven,

Sceaf or Scyld is identical with Yngve, the patriarch

of the Ynglings; with Frey, the harvest and boar god,

son of Njord,

the sea god; and with

to as follows in the Eddie

To

"Lay

Hermod,

referred

of Hyndla":

some grants he wealth, to his children war fame,

skill to many and wisdom to men,

Word

Fair winds to sea-farers, song craft to skalds,

of manhood to many a warrior.

And might

Tammuz

is

the " wise one

"the heroic lord of the land",

"
the
lord of knowledge ", and cc the

similarly
",

sovereign, lord of invocation ".

Heimdal, watchman of the Teutonic gods, also dwelt
for a time

among men

as

"

Rig

",

and had human

off-

son Thrall being the ancestor of the Thralls,

son Churl of churls, and Jarl of noblemen.

spring, his
his

Tammuz, like Heimdal, is also a guardian. He

watches the flocks and herds, whom he apparently guards
against the Gallu demons as Heimdal guards the world
and the heavens against attacks by giants and monsters.
The
call

flocks of

Professor Pinches suggests, "reGreek sun god Helios. These were

Tammuz,

the flocks of the

the clouds illuminated

by the sun, which were likened to
one
of
the early Sumerian expressions for
indeed,
sheep
c

was
Sumerian

fleece*

in

sheep of the sky'.

is

Dumu-zi, or
<

zida,

true or faithful

meaning
some legend attached
unknown." 3

ably

The name of Tammuz

in its rare fullest

form,

Dumu-

There is probwhich is at present

son \

to this

Beowulf, translated by J. R. Clark Hall (London, 1911), pp. 9-11.

For Prey's connection with the
Ynglings see Morris and Magnmson's Htimiknngla
(Saga Library, vol. iii), pp. 23-71.
3
The Religion of
Babylonia and Assyna, p. 72.
2

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

94

So the Sumerian hymn-chanters lamented:

Like an

herdsman the sentinel place of sheep and

has forsaken

(Tammuz)
From his home, from

The

he

cattle

his inhabited

domain, the son, he of wisdom,

pre-eminent steer of heaven,

hero unto the nether herding place has taken

his

way.

Agni, the Aryo-Indian god, who, as the sky sentinel,

has points of resemblance to Heimdal, also links with

Tammuz,

especially in his

Agni has been

established

Mitra character:

among

the tribes of

the waters, Mitra acting in the right way.

men, the son

Rigveda,

iii,

of

5^.3.

Agni, who has been looked and longed for in Heaven, who has
he who has been looked for has entered
been looked for on earth
all

herbs.

Rigveda y

2
i,

g8.

Egyptian lunar and solar god

Khonsu, is "the healer ", and Agni "drives away all disTammuz is the god "of sonorous voice "; Agni
ease".
" roars like a
bull"; and Heimdal blows a horn when the
giants and demons threaten to attack the citadel of the
As the spring sun god, Tammuz is " a youthful
gods.
"
warrior ", says Jastrow,
triumphing over the storms of
3
of
The
",
winter
course, were symbolized as
storms,
"
the heroic lord ", was therefore
demons.
Tammuz,
Each of these
a demon slayer like Heimdal and Agni.
in
isolation
from an
been
to
have
developed
gods appear
archaic spring god of fertility and corn whose attributes
were symbolized. In Teutonic mythology, for instance,
Heimdal was the warrior form of the patriarch Scef, while

Tammuz,

like

Frey was the

deep as a child.
1

the

who came

over the

In Saxo's mythical history of

Denmark,

deified

agriculturist

Langdon's Sumerian and Babylonian Psalms, pp. 325, 3392

Professor Oldenberg's translation.
3
Osiris is also invoked to "remove storms and rain and give fecundity in the nighttime". As a spring sun god he slays demons; as A lunar god he brings fertility.

TAMMUZ AND

ISHTAR

95

Frey as Frode is taken prisoner by a storm giant, Beli,

" the howler
", and is loved by his hag sister in the
Teutonic Hades, as Tammuz is loved by Eresh-ki-gal,
spouse of the storm god Nergal, in the Babylonian Hades.

Frode returns
It is

to earth, like

Tammuz myth
Ishtar visited

Tammuz,

in

due season.

evident that there were various versions of the

in

In one the goddess

Ancient Babylonia.

Hades

to search for the lover of her youth.

form of the legend survives in the famous

It
Assyrian hymn known as "The Descent of Ishtar ".
was first translated by the late Mr. George Smith, of the
A box containing inscribed tablets had
British Museum.
been sent from Assyria to London, and Mr. Smith, with
characteristic patience and skill, arranged and deciphered
them, giving to the world a fragment of ancient literature
infused with much sublimity and imaginative power.
Ishtar is depicted descending to dismal Hades, where the
souls of the dead exist in bird forms:
part of

this

hands.

spread like a bird

descend, I descend to the house of darkness, the dwelling of the

my

god Irkalla:

To
To
To

the house out of which there

the road from which there
the house from

The

is no exit,
no return

whose entrance the

place where dust

Its chiefs also

The

is

is

light

is

are like birds

never seen, in darkness they dwell.

Over the door and bolts is scattered dust.
light

When

taken,

nourishment and their food mud.

covered with feathers;

their

is

the goddess reaches the gate of

gate,

thy gate that I may enter.

If thou openest not the gate that I

Open

may

Hades

to the
porter:

Keeper of the waters, open thy

enter

I will strike the door, the bolts I will shatter,

she cries

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

96

I will strike the threshold

and

will pass

through the doors;

up the dead to devour the living,

the living the dead shall exceed in numbers.

I will raise

Above

The

porter answers that he must first consult the Queen

of Hades, here called Allatu, to whom he accordingly
announces the arrival of the Queen of Heaven. Allatu's
heart

filled with anger, and

Ishtar caused to perish:

is

whom
Let
Let

me weep
me weep

makes reference

to those

over the strong who have left their wives,

over the handmaidens who have lost the embraces of

their husbands,

Over

the only son

taken away.

Then

let

me mourn, who

ere his days are

she issues abruptly the stern decree

is,

is

Go, keeper, open the gate to her,

Bewitch her according to the ancient
that

come

rules;

" Deal with her as

you deal with others

who come

here".

As

through the various gates she is

ornaments
and clothing. At the first gate
of
her
stripped
her crown was taken off, at the second her ear-rings, at
the third her necklace of precious stones, at the fourth the
Ishtar enters

ornaments of her
1

breast, at the fifth her

gemmed

waist-

at the sixth the bracelets of her hands

girdle,
and at the seventh the covering robe

asks at each gate

why

" Such
porter answers,

she
is

is

the

and feet,
of her body. Ishtar

thus dealt with, and the

command of Allatu."

After descending for a prolonged period the Queen

of Heaven at length stands naked before the Queen
of Hades.
Ishtar is proud and arrogant, and Allatu,
desiring to punish her rival whom she cannot humble,
1

Like the love-compelling girdle of Aphrodite,

TAMMUZ AND ISHTAR

commands
disease in
fate

97

the plague demon, Namtar, to strike her with

The effect of Ishtar's
parts of her body.

all

was disastrous upon earth: growth and

fertility

came

to an end.

Meanwhile Pap-sukal, messenger of the gods, hastened

Shamash, the sun deity, to relate what had occurred.
The sun god immediately consulted his lunar father, Sin,
and Ea, god of the deep. Ea then created a man lion,
named Nadushu-namir, to rescue Ishtar, giving him power
When this
to pass through the seven gates of Hades.
to

being delivered his message

Allatu

struck her breast

She turned again

In

she bit her thumb,

a request she asked not.

her anger she cursed the rescuer of the

Queen of

Heaven.

May
May
May
May
May
May

imprison thee in the great prison,

the garbage of the foundations of the city be thy food,
the drains of the city be thy drink,
I

the darkness of the

dungeon be thy dwelling,

the stake be thy seat,

hunger and

thirst strike

thy offspring.

She was compelled, however, to obey the high gods,

and addressed Namtar, saying:
Unto Lhtar give the waters of life and bring her before me.
Thereafter the

Queen of Heaven was conducted through

the various gates, and at each she received her robe and
the ornaments which were taken from her on entering.

Namtar

says

Since thou hast not paid a ransom for

thy deliverance to her
(Allatu), so to her again turn back,

For

The

Tammuz

the husband of thy

youth.
glistening waters (of life) pour over

him

In splendid clothing dress him, with a ring of crystal adorn him.

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

98

Ishtar mourns for "the wound of Tammuz", smiting

her breast, and she did not ask for " the precious eyestones, her amulets ", which were apparently to ransom

Tammuz.

The poem

concludes with Ishtar's wail

my only brother (Tammuz) thou dost not lament for me.

In the day that Tammuz adorned me, with a ring of crystal,
With a bracelet of emeralds, together with himself, he adorned me, 1
With himself he adorned me; may men mourners and women
mourners

On

a bier place him, and assemble the wake. 2

Tammuz

throws light on this

It sets forth that Ishtar descended to Hades
narrative.
to entreat him to be glad and to resume care of his flocks,
but Tammuz refused or was unable to return.

Sumerian hymn to

His spouse unto her abode he sent back.

She then instituted the wailing ceremony:

The amorous Queen

Mr. Langdon

of

Heaven

sits as

also translates a

one

in darkness. 3

hymn (Tammuz

III)

which appears to contain the narrative on which the

The goddess who deAssyrian version was founded.
scends to Hades, however, is not Ishtar, but the "sister'*,
She is accompanied by various demons
Belit-sheri.
"
the
gallu-demon ", the "slayer", &c. and holds a conversation with

Tammuz

and badly broken".

which, however,

is

"unintelligible

Apparently, however, he promises to

return to earth.

...
...

I will

go up,

I will return,

as for

me

I will depart

unto

my

mother

let

with thee

us go back.

1
A wedding bracelet of crystal is worn by Hindu women; they break it when the
husband dies.
2
Quotations from the translation in The Chaldean Account of Genesis, by George

Smith.
8

Langdon' a Sumenan and Babylonian Psalms^

p.

329

et seq.

TAMMUZ AND

ISHTAR

99

Probably two goddesses originally lamented for Tarnmuz, as the Egyptian sisters, Isis and Nepthys, lamented
"
Ishtar is referred to as
for
their

my

brother.

Osiris,

mother'*.

in the Egyptian chants

figures alternately

Isis

She
mother, wife, sister, and daughter of Osiris.
" Come thou to
her
in
heart
wife
cries,
peace
thy
u I am
fluttereth for thy love", ...
thy wife, made
as thou art, the elder sister, soul of her brother*'.
"
" Come thou to us as a babe ".
Lo, thou art
come thou, child
as the Bull of the two goddesses
as

growing

in

peace,

our lord!"

...

"Lo!

the

Bull,

begotten of the two cows, Isis and Nepthys".

" Come thou to the two widowed
goddesses ".

"Oh

child, lord, first

Osiris."

As
Isis

maker of the body".

"Father

and Belit-sheri weep

and Nepthys weep for Osiris.
Ishtar

for

Tammuz,

do

so

Calling upon thee with weeping

bed!

yet thou art prostrate upon thy

Gods and men

for thee at the

Lo

Isis

arc

weeping

same time, when

they behold me (Isis).

I invoke thee with wailing that reacheth high as heaven.
is

Hathor (Ishtar) the

for thee with her voice." 2

also identified with

"The cow

Cow.

weepeth
There is another phase, however, to the character of
the mother goddess which explains the references to the
desertion and slaying of Tammuz by Ishtar.
"She is",
says Jastrow,

" the
goddess of the

human

instinct,

or

passion which accompanies human love.

Gilgamesh
the
her
with
reproaches
abandoning
objects of her passion
.

after a brief
period

of union."

At

Ishtar's

temple "public
maidens accepted temporary partners, assigned to them by
1

The Burden of his, translated by J. T. Dennis (Wisdom of

2 The Burden
of Lis, pp. 22, 46.

32, 39, 45, 46, 49.

the

East series), pp. 24,

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

ioo
Ishtar".

The worship of all mother goddesses

in ancient

times was accompanied by revolting unmoral rites which

are referred to in condemnatory terms in various passages
in the

Old Testament,

worship of Ashtoreth,
the Egyptian Hathor.

especially in connection with the

identical with Ishtar and

who was

Ishtar in the process of time overshadowed all the

other female deities of Babylonia, as did Isis in Egypt.
Her name, indeed, which is Semitic, became in the plural,
Ishtarate,

although

But
a designation for goddesses in general.
she was referred to as the daughter of the

sky, Anu, or the daughter of the moon, Sin or Nannar,

she still retained traces of her ancient character.
Origin-

she was a great mother goddess, who was worshipped

those
who believed that life and the universe had a
by
female origin in contrast to those who believed in the

ally

theory of male origin.

Ishtar

is

identical

with Nina,

the fish goddess, a creature who gave her name to the

Sumerian city of Nina and the Assyrian city of Nineveh.

Other forms of the Creatrix included Mama, or Mami,

m
Ama, "mother", Aruru, Bau, Gula, and Zer-panitu
These were all "Preservers'" and healers. At the same
time they were " Destroyers ", like Nin-sun and the Queen
of Hades, Eresh-ki-gal or Allatu.
They were accomforms
male
ere
they became wives of
panied by shadowy
or

strongly individualized gods, or by child gods, their sons,

"
who might be regarded as " brothers or "husbands of

mothers", to use the paradoxical Egyptian term.

Similarly Great Father deities had vaguely defined wives.
"
The " Semitic Baal, " the lord ", was accompanied by
of himself
a female reflection
Beltu, "the lady".
Shamash, the sun god, had for wife the shadowy Aa.
their

book

in Babylonia and
Assyria^
Aspects of Religious Belief and Practice
i,

199.

p.

137, and Herodotus,

TftV,

r-iioto.

WINGED HUMAN-HEADED COW

From Kouyunjik (Nineveh): noiv

in the British

(?)

Museum

ivianseu

TAMMUZ AND ISHTAR

has been shown, Ishtar is referred to in a Tammuz

mother of the child god of fertility. In an

As

hymn

101

as the

Egyptian
is

Osiris,

hymn
stated

"

"the mother of
up life from her own

the sky goddess Nut,

to

have a built

Lakshmi, the Indian goddess, who became the wife of Vishnu, as the mother goddess Saraswati, a tribal deity,, became the wife of Brahma, was,
" the mother of the
according to a Purana commentator,
2
world
eternal and undecaying".
The gods, on the other hand, might die annually
Indra was supposed
the goddesses alone were immortal.
to perish of old age, but his wife, Indrani, remained ever
"
day of
young. There were fourteen Indras in every
1

Sri or

body".

Brahma ",

a reference apparently to the ancient conception

of Indra among the Great-Mother-worshipping sections of

In the Mahdbhdmta the god Shiva,
the Aryo-Indians. 3
as Mahadeva, commands Indra on "one of the peaks of
Himavat", where they met, to lift up a stone and join
"And Indra on
the Indras who had been before him.
removing that stone beheld a cave on the breast of that
king of mountains in which were four others resembling
himself."
Indra exclaimed in his grief, " Shall I be even
" Seven
like the
like these ?" These five
Indras,

awaited the time

Sleepers ",

when they would be

called forth.

They

Pandava warriors. 4
The ferocious, black-faced Scottish mother goddess,
Cailleach Bheur, who appears to be identical with Mala
"
"
of Fingalian story, and the
Lith,
Grey Eyebrows
English "Black Annis", figures in Irish song and legend
as "The Old Woman of Beare".
This "old woman"
Kuno
Professor
(Cailleach) "had", says
Meyer, "seven
were ultimately reborn

as the five

The Burden of /m,

p. 47.
Original Sanskrit Texts, J. Muir, London, 1890, vol.
8
44.
Original Sanskrit Texts, vol. i,

i,

p.

67.

p.

Adi Parva

section of

Mahabharata (Roy's

translation), pp. 553, 555.

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

102

periods of youth one after another, so that every man

lived with her came to die of old age, and her

who had

grandsons and great-grandsons were tribes and races ".

When
her

old

at

age

came

length

"swan song", from which

extracted

her

upon

she

sang

the following lines are

Ebb

tide to

Old age
It

us of the sea!

me

reproach

riches

is

Ye

me

causes

not men
when we lived
It was men we loved
My arms when they are seen
love,

it

is

In the time

Are bony and

thin

Once they would fondle,

They would be round glorious
I

must take

The

time

is

my
at

garment even

hand that

kings
in the

shall

sun

renew me. 1

Germanic mother goddess, whose car was

drawn by cats, had similarly many lovers. In the Icelandic poem " Lokasenna ", Loki taunts her, saying:
Freyja, the

Full well

Silence, Freyja!

And

Of the

faultless art

know

thou not found

thee,

gods and elves who here are gathered

hast thou made thy mate.

Each one

Idun, the keeper of the apples of immortal youth,

which

prevent
addressed

the

gods

growing

old,

is

similarly

Silence,

Thou

Who

Idun

the most

swear, of

wanton

all

art

women

couldst fling those fair- washed arms of thine

brother's slayer.

About thy
1

Ancient Irish Poetry^

Kuno Meyer

(London, 1911), pp. 88-90.

TAMMUZ AND
Frigg, wife of Odin,

is

ISHTAR

satirized as well

103

Earth's spouse for a husband,

Silence, Frigg
And hast ever yearned after men l
!

The goddesses of

mythology had similar

reputations.
Aphrodite (Venus) had many divine and
She links closely with Astarte and Ashtomortal lovers.
reth (Ishtar), and reference has already been made to her
These love deities
relations with Adonis (Tammuz).
were all as cruel as they were wayward. When Ishtar
classic

wooed

the Babylonian hero, Gilgamesh, he spurned her

advances, as has been indicated, saying:

On Tammuz,
Thou
Thou

But thou

He

the spouse of thy youth,

didst lay affliction every year.

didst love the brilliant Allalu bird

him and break his wing;

woods and cries "O my wing".

didst smite

stands in the

He

likewise charged her with deceiving the lion and the

horse, making reference to obscure myths:

Thou

Who
And

didst also love a

shepherd of the

flock,

continually poured out for thee the libation,

daily slaughtered kids for thee ;

But thou

didst smite

him and

didst

change him into a leopard,

own sheep boy hunted him,

own hounds tore him to pieces. 2

So that his

And

his

These goddesses were ever prone to afflict human

beings who might offend them or of whom they wearied.
Demeter (Ceres) changed Ascalaphus into an owl and
Stellio into a lizard.

Rhea (Ops) resembled

The tow'red Cybele,

Mother of
1

a hundred gods,

Translations from The Elder Edda, by O. Bray (part

Babylonian Reltgion, L. W. King, pp. 160, 161.

i),

London, 1908.

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

io 4

who loved Attis (Adonis). Artemis (Diana)

slew her lover Orion, changed Actaeon into a stag, which
was torn to pieces by his own dogs, and caused numerous
the wanton

deaths by sending a boar to ravage the fields of Qineus,

Human sacrifices were frequently
king of Calydon.
offered to the bloodthirsty "mothers".
The most

famous victim of Artemis was the daughter of Aga"

memnon,
divinely tall and most divinely fair ".*
Agamemnon had slain a sacred stag, and the goddess
punished him by sending a calm when the war fleet was
about to

Troy, with the result that his daughter

Artemis thus sold breezes like the
northern wind hags and witches.
It used to be
customary to account for the similarities
manifested by the various mother goddesses by assuming
that there was constant cultural contact between separate

had

sail

for

to be sacrificed.

nationalities, and, as a result, a not inconsiderable

amount

Greece was supposed to have

of " religious borrowing ".
received its great goddesses from the western Semites,
who had come under the spell of Babylonian religion.
Archaeological evidence, however, tends to disprove this
" The most recent researches into
Mesopotamia!!
theory.

" establish with

certainty
history ", writes Dr. Farnell,
the conclusion that there was no direct political contact

in the valley of the Euphrates

possible between the powers
and the western shores of the -#Lgean in the second
In fact, between the nascent Hellas
millennium B.C.

and the great world of Mesopotamia there were powerful

and possibly independent strata of cultures interposing/' 2

The

Among

appears to be the racial one.

the Mediterranean Neolithic tribes of Sumeria,
real

connection

Arabia, and Europe,

1

the goddess cult appears to have

Dream of Fair Women*

Tennyson*8
Greece and Babylon, L. R. Farnell (Edinburgh, I9ii)>

P* 35'

TAMMUZ AND
been

ISHTAR

105

Mother worship was the predominant

of their religious systems, so that the Greek
were probably of pre- Hellenic origin, the

influential.

characteristic

goddesses
Celtic of Iberian, the Egyptian of proto-Egyptian, and
the Babylonian of Sumerian.
The northern hillmen,

on the other hand, who may be identified with the

"
"
of the philologists, were father worshippers.
Aryans
The Vedic Aryo-lndians worshipped father gods, 1 as did
also the Germanic peoples and certain tribes in the
" Hittite
Earth spirits were males, like
confederacy ".
the Teutonic elves, the Aryo-Indian Ribhus, and the
" masters
a Monof the
Burkans,

",
present-day Buriats,
When the father-worshipping peoples
people.
invaded the dominions of the mother-worshipping peoples,
they introduced their strongly individualized gods, but

golian

" The
mother goddesses.
"
Aryan Hellenes ", says Dr. Farnell, were able to plant
their Zeus and Poseidon on the high hill of Athens,
but not to overthrow the supremacy of Athena in the
central shrine and in the aboriginal soul of the Athenian
2
As in Egypt, the beliefs of the father worpeople/'
shippers, represented by the self-created Ptah, were fused
with the beliefs of the mother worshippers, who adored
In Babylonia this process
Isis, Mut, Neith, and others.
of racial and religious fusion v/as well advanced before the
dawn of history. Ea, who had already assumed manifold

they

did

not

displace

the

may have originally been the son or child lover of

Damkina, "Lady of the Deep", as was Tammnz of Ishtar.
As the fish, Ea was the offspring of the mother river.
The mother worshippers recognized male as well as
forms,

female deities, but regarded the great goddess as the First

Cause.
Although the primeval spirits were grouped in
1

The

goddesses did not become prominent until the "late invasion" of the postJ Greece and
Babylon, p. 96.

Vedic Aryans.

io6

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

four pairs in Egypt, and apparently in Babylonia also,

the female in the first pair was more strongly indiThe Egyptian Nu is vaguer
vidualized than the male.

than his consort Nut, and the Babylonian Apsu than his
consort Tiamat.
Indeed, in the narrative of the Creation
Tablets of Babylon, which will receive full treatment
in a later
chapter, Tiamat, the great mother, is the conShe is more powerful and ferocious than
trolling spirit.

Apsu, and lives longer. After Apsu's death she elevates

one of her brood, named Kingu, to be her consort, a fact
which suggests that in the Ishtar-Tammuz myth survives
the influence of exceedingly ancient

modes of thought.

Like Tiamat, Ishtar is also a great battle heroine, and in

was addressed as "the lady of majestic rank
This was no idle flattery on the
exalted over all gods".
part of worshippers, but a memory of her ancient supremacy.
Reference has been made to the introduction of
Tammuz worship into Jerusalem. Ishtar, as Queen of
Heaven, was also adored by the backsliding Israelites
as a deity of battle and harvest.
When Jeremiah censured the people for burning incense and serving gods
" neither
" whom
he
knew not
nor
this capacity she

said,
",
they, ye,
they
made
answer:
"Since
we
left off to
fathers",
they
your
burn incense to the queen of heaven, and to pour out

drink offerings unto her, we have wanted all things, and

have been consumed by the sword and the famine ".

The women took

a leading part in these practices, but

the blame, saying, " When we burned

refused to accept
incense to the queen of heaven, and poured out drink
offerings unto her, did we make our cakes and pour out
all

drink offerings unto her without our men?" 1 That the

husbands, and the children even, assisted at the ceremony
is made evident in another reference to
goddess worship:
1

Jeremiah^ xliv.

Female

The winged

figure in ;uiorati*on before a goddess

Xshtar above

rising

mm

"

Gilgamesh

the river god, ami other deities

got!,

JM

in conflict

with bulls

(see page 176)

CYLINDER-SEAL IMPRESSIONS
{British

Museum]

TAMMUZ AND
"The
fire,

1SHTAR

107

children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the

women knead the dough, to make cakes

and the

to the

queen of heaven

".

women

Jastrow suggests that the

Tammuz,

offered

because " in

all

cakes

to

of Israel wept for

mother goddess, &c.,

the

religious bodies

among them

women

represent

customs
continue in practice after they have been abandoned by
men ". 2 The evidence of Jeremiah, however, shows that
the conservative element

the

men

religious

certainly co-operated at the archaic ceremonials.

with the "vital spark", they apThe

parently acted in imitation of the god of fertility.
women, on the other hand, represented the reproductive
In lighting the

fires

In reharvest goddess in providing the food supply.

of
her
the
rewarded
goddess by
cognition
gift, they
offering her the cakes prepared from the newly ground
wheat and barley the " first fruits of the harvest ". As

god came as a child, the children began the

ceremony by gathering the wood for the sacred fire.
When the women mourned for Tammuz, they did so
evidently because the death of the god was lamented
by the goddess Ishtar. It would appear, therefore, that
the corn

" conservative element "

suggestion regarding the
should really apply to the immemorial practices of folk
the

These

from the refined ceremonies of

where there were suitable
temples and organized bands of priests and priestesses.
But the official cult received no recognition in Palestine;
the cakes intended for a goddess were not offered up in
the temple of Abraham's God, but " in the streets of
"
and those of other cities. 3
Jerusalem

religion.

differed

the official cult in Babylonia,

Jeremiah^

vii,

Jeremiah,
(

18.

Aspects of Religious Belief ana Practice in Babylonia and Assyria^ pp. 348, 349.
c 642

^>

vii,

17.

10

io8

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

The obvious deduction seems to be that in ancient

women everywhere played a prominent part in the
ceremonial folk worship of the Great Mother goddess,
while the men took the lesser part of the god whom
times

she had brought into being and afterwards received as

cc
husband of his mother ". This may account for the

high social status of

women among goddess

worshippers,

race, whose
was
to
not
confined
early religion
temples, but closely
associated with the acts of everyday life.

like the representatives

of the Mediterranean

CHAPTER
Wars of the City

VI

States of

Sumer and

Akkad
The Patesi Prominent City States SurCivilization well advanced
roundings of Babylonia The Elamites Biblical References to Susa The
Sumerian Temperament Fragmentary Records City States of Kish and Opis
Shopkeeper who became a Queen Goddess Worship Tammuz as NinUr-Nina and his Descendants
Girsu Great Dynasty of Lagash
Napoleonic

Conqueror Golden Age of Sumenan Art The First Reformer in History

His Rise and Fall The Dynasty of Erech Sargon of Akkad The Royal
Gardener Sargon Myth in India A Great Empire The King who Pur-

Naram Sin the Conqueror Disastrous Foreign Raid Lagash

chased Land
Gudea the Temple Builder
again Prominent
Dynasty of Ur
Dynasty
of Isin
Another Gardener becomes King Rise of Babylon Humanized
Deities

Why

Sumerian Gods wore Beards.

WHEN

the curtain rises to reveal the drama of Babylonian

civilization we find that we have missed the first act and
its

many

Sumerians and Akkadians

fascinating scenes.

come and go, but it is not always possible to distinguish

between them. Although most Semites are recognizable
prominent noses, and long robes,
so closely imitated the Sumerians as to suffer
almost complete loss of identity.
It is noticeable that in

by

their flowing beards,

some have

the north the Akkadians are

more Semitic than

but

their con-

times to say
whether a city is controlled by the descendants of the indigenous people or those of later settlers. Dynasties rise
and fall, and, as in Egypt at times, the progress of the

temporaries in the south,

fragmentary narrative

is

it is

difficult at

interrupted by a sudden change

109

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

no

of scene ere we have properly grasped a situation and

realized

its

significance.
for certain is that civilization

What we know

is

well

Both in the north and the south there are

many organized and independent city states, and not unfrequently these wage war one against another. Occasionadvanced.

ally

ambitious rulers tower

also'

be a pious Patesi,

their fellows, conduct

and
become overlords of
vigorous military campaigns,
wide districts. As a rule, a subjugated monarch who has
perforce to acknowledge the suzerainty of a powerful king
is allowed to remain in a state of
semi-independence on
condition that he pays a heavy annual tribute of grain.
His own laws continue in force, and the city deities
remain supreme, although recognition may also be given
He styles himself a
to the deities of his conqueror.
a cc priest king ", or more literally, " servant of
Patesi
But as an independent monarch may
the chief deity ".

ruler

referred

is

to

it

by

among

does not always follow when a

title he is
necessarily less

that

powerful than his neighbours.

When the historical narrative begins Akkad included

the cities of Babylon, Cutha, Kish, Akkad, and Sippar,
and north of Babylonia proper is Semitic Opis. Among
of Sumer were Eridu, Ur, Lagash, Larsa, Erech,
Shuruppak, and probably Nippur, which was situated on
" in the
On the north
was
the " border
the

cities

".

Assyria

yet

and shrouded in obscurity. A vague but vast

making
area above Hit on the Euphrates, and extending to the
Syrian coast, was known as the "land of the Amorites".
The fish -shaped Babylonian valley lying between the
rivers, where walled towns were surrounded by green
fields and numerous canals flashed in the sunshine, was
bounded on the west by the bleak wastes of the Arabian
" the rocks branded
desert where during the dry season
",

WARS OF CITY STATES

the

"

in

and occasional sandstorms swept

body

in

blinding

folds towards the "plain of Shinar" (Sumer) like demon

To the east the
hosts who sought to destroy the world.

skyline was fretted by the Persian Highlands, and amidst

the southern mountains dwelt the fierce Elamites, the
hereditary enemies of the Sumerians, although a people
Like the Nubians and
apparently of the same origin.

Libyans, who kept watchful eyes on Egypt, the

Elamites seemed ever to be hovering on the eastern
frontier of Sumeria, longing for an opportunity to raid
the

and plunder.

The

of the Elamites was the

capital

city

of Susa,

where excavations have revealed traces of an independent

civilization which reaches back to an early period in the

Old Testament "The

... was in Shushan
An Assyrian plan of the city shows it
the palace ".*
a
strategic position at a bend of the Shawur
occupying
afforded
which
river,
protection against Sumerian attacks
from the west, while a canal curved round its northern
and eastern sides, so that Susa was completely surrounded
by water. Fortifications had been erected on the river
and canal banks, and between these and the high city
walls were thick clumps of trees.
That the kings of
Susa

Late Stone Age.

is

referred to in the

words of Nehemiah

Elam

splendours of Babylonian courts in

the later days of Esther and Haman and Mordecai, is
made evident by the Biblical references to the gorgeous
"
white, green, and blue hangings,
palace, which had
fastened with cords of fine linen and purple to silver
rings
silver,

imitated

and

the

of marble; the beds were of gold and

pavement of red, and blue, and white, and

pillars

upon

black marble ", 2

Beyond Elam were the plains, plateaus,

and grassy steppes occupied by the Medes and other
1

Nchemtah,

i,

i.

Esther,

i,

6.

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

ii2

peoples of Aryan speech.

went

like spring

Cultural influences came and

winds between the various ancient com-

munities.

For ten long centuries Sumer and Akkad flourished

and prospered ere we meet with the great Hammurabi,
whose name has now become almost as familiar as that
of Julius Caesar.
But our knowledge of the leading historical events of this vast period is exceedingly fragmenThe Sumerians were not like the later Assyrians
tary.
or their Egyptian contemporaries

a people with a passion

When

inscriptions were composed and cut

on stone, or impressed upon clay tablets and bricks, the
kings selected as a general rule to record pious deeds
rather than to celebrate their victories and conquests.
Indeed, the average monarch had a temperament resemfor history.

bling that of Keats,

who

declared:

The

Of Hero's

tears,

the

silver flow

swoon of Imogen,

Fair Pastorella in the bandits' den,

Are

things to brood on with more ardency

the death day of empires.

Than

The Sumerian king was

emotionally religious as the

The tears
great English poet was emotionally poetical.
of Ishtar for Tammuz, and the afflictions endured by the
goddess imprisoned in Hades, to which she had descended
for love of her slain husband, seemed to have concerned
the royal recorder to a greater degree than the memories
of political upheavals and the social changes which passed
over the land, like the seasons which alternately brought
greenness and gold, barrenness and flood.
City chronicles, as a rule, are but indices of obscure

meagre references were sometimes also

heads, vases, tablets, stelae, and sculptured

events, to which

made on mace

WARS OF CITY STATES

113

Consequently, present-day excavators and

students have often reason to be grateful that the habit

monoliths.

likewise obtained of inscribing

the stone sockets of doors the

on bricks in buildings and

names of kings and others.

These records render obscure periods faintly articulate,

Hisand are indispensable for comparative purposes.
torical clues are also obtained from lists of year names.
Each city king named a year in celebration of a great
event

own

the throne, the erection

temple or of a city wall, or, mayhap, the defeat

his

succession

to

of a new
of an invading army from a rival state.
Sometimes, too,
a monarch gave the name of his father in an official
Aninscription, or happily mentioned several ancestors.
other may be found to have made an illuminating statea predecessor, who centuries previously
erected the particular temple that he himself has piously

ment regarding

reckoning of this kind, however, cannot

be
It must be
always
regarded as absolutely correct.
and
with
tested
in these
other
for
records,
compared
by
restored.

ancient days

calculations

were

not

unfrequently based

on doubtful

Nor

inscriptions, or mere oral traditions, perhaps.

can implicit trust be placed on every reference to

historical events, for the memoried deeds of

great rulers
were not always unassociated with persistent and cumulative myths.
It must be
recognized, therefore, that even
portions of the data which had of late been sifted and

systematized by Oriental scholars in Europe, may yet

have to be subjected to revision.
Many interesting and

important discoveries, which will throw fresh light on

this fascinating early period, remain to be made in that
ancient

and deserted

land,

which

still

lies

under the

curse of the Hebrew prophet, who exclaimed: "Babylon,

the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees' excellency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and

ii 4

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

Gomorrah.

It

shall

never be inhabited

the Arabian pitch tent there ;

herds make their fold there.

neither shall

neither shall

But wild

the

beasts

shepof the

lie there; and their houses shall be full of

doleful creatures; and owls shall dwell there, and satyrs
shall dance there.
And the wild beasts of the islands

desert shall

shall

cry in their desolate houses and dragons

ill

their

pleasant palaces."
The curtain rises, as has been indicated, after civilization had been well advanced. To begin with, our interests

abide with Akkad, and during a period dated approxi-

and 2800 B.C., when Egypt was

already a united kingdom, and the Cretans were at the
dawn of the first early Minoan period, and beginning to
In Kish Sumerian and Akkadian elements
use bronze.
had apparently blended, and the city was the centre of a
powerful and independent government. After years have
fluttered past dimly, and with them the shadow-shapes of
vigorous rulers, it is found that Kish came under the
sway of the pronouncedly "Semitic city of Opis, which was
" farthest north
and on the western bank of
situated
A century elapsed ere Kish again threw
the river Tigris.
off the oppressor's yoke and renewed the strength of its
mately between 3000

B.C.

youth.

The

city

of Kish was one of the

many

ancient centres

of goddess worship. The Great Mother appears to have

been the Sumerian Bau, whose chief seat was at Lagash.
If tradition is to be relied upon, Kish owed its existence
to that notable lady,

Queen Azag-Bau.

Although floatround
her
memory as they have
ing legends gathered
the
memories
round
of famous men, like
often gathered
Sargon of Akkad, Alexander the Great, and Theodoric
the Goth, who became Emperor of Rome, it is probable
1

Isaiah, xiii,

19-22.

WARS OF CITY STATES

115

queen was a prominent historical personage. She

was reputed to have been of humble origin, and to have
first achieved
popularity and influence as the keeper of a
wine shop. Although no reference survives to indicate
that she was believed to be of miraculous birth, the
Chronicle of Kish gravely credits her with a prolonged
and apparently prosperous reign of a hundred years. Her
son, who succeeded her, sat on the throne for a quarter
of a century. These calculations are certainly remarkable.
If the Queen Azag-Bau founded Kish when she was only
twenty, and gave birth to the future ruler in her fiftieth
year, he must have been an elderly gentleman of seventy
when he began to reign. When it is found, further, that
the dynasty in which mother and son flourished was supposed to have lasted for 586 years, divided between eight
rulers, one of whom reigned for only three years, two for
six, and two for eleven, it becomes evident that the
historian of Kish cannot be absolutely relied upon in
It seems evident that the memory of this lady of
detail.
forceful character, who flourished about thirteen hundred
years before the rise of Queen Hatshepsut of Egypt, has
overshadowed the doubtful annals of ancient Kish at a
period when Sumerian and Semite were striving in the
that the

various states to achieve political ascendancy.

Meanwhile the purely Sumerian city of Lagash had
similarly

grown powerful and

aggressive.

For

a time

it

acknowledged the suzerainty of Kish, but ultimately it

threw off the oppressor's yoke and asserted its independence. The cumulative efforts of a succession of energetic
rulers elevated
Lagash to the position of a metropolis in
Ancient Babylonia.
The goddess Bau, "the mother of Lagash", was
worshipped in conjunction with other deities, including
god Nin-Girsu, an agricultural deity, and therefore

the

n6

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

of war, who had solar attributes.

One of the
of Nin-Girsu was En-Mersi, which, according to
Assyrian evidence, was another name of Tammuz, the
spring god who slew the storm and winter demons, and
made the land fertile so that man might have food. NinGirsu was, it would seem, a developed form of Tammuz,
a deity
titles

like the Scandinavian Frey,

the celestial warrior.

Bau

god of

harvest, or Heimdal,
was one of the several god-

desses whose attributes

were absorbed by the Semitic

She was a " Great Mother ", a creatrix, the
source of all human and bestial life, and, of course, a
harvest goddess.
She was identified with Gula, " the
Evigreat one", who cured diseases and prolonged life.
dently the religion of Lagash was based on the popular
worship of the "Queen of Heaven", and her son, the
" husband of his mother ".
dying god who became
The first great and outstanding ruler of Lagash was
Ur-Nina, who appears to have owed his power to the
successful military operations of his predecessors.
It is
uncertain whether or not he himself engaged in any great
Ishtar.

His records are silent in that connection, but,

judging from what we know of him, it may be taken
for granted that he was able and fully prepared to give
war.

He

good account of himself

in battle.
certainly took
his
for
secure
he
caused
a strong
to
make
position,
steps
His inscriptions are
wall to be erected round Lagash.
eloquent of his piety, which took practical shape, for

he repaired and

built

temples,

dedicated

offerings

to

deities, and increased the wealth of religious bodies and

the prosperity of the State by cutting canals and develop-

In addition to serving local deities, he

also gave practical recognition to Ea at Eridu and Enlil

ing agriculture.
at

Nippur.

He, however, overlooked Anu

a fact which suggests that he held

at Erech,
over
Eridu
and
sway

W
Z>

-H

WARS OF CITY STATES

Nippur, but had to recognize Ercch

as

117

an independent

city state.

Among

the deities of Lagash,

the goddess
a water deity,

of "

Ur-Nina favoured most

As she was
Nina, whose name he bore.
and perhaps identical with Belit-sheri, sister

Tammuz

"

and daughter of Ea, one of

She was also honoured
the canals was dedicated to her.
with a new temple, in which was probably placed her
of the Abyss

of her royal
great statue, constructed by special order
Like the Egyptian goddess, the " Mother
worshipper.
of

Mendes

as

Nina received

offerings of fish, not only

of
fishermen, but also as a corn spirit
patroness
and a goddess of maternity. She was in time identified
",

with Ishtar.

famous limestone plaque, which is preserved in the

Louvre, Paris, depicts on its upper half the pious King
Ur-Nina engaged in the ceremony of laying the foundations of a temple dedicated either to the goddess Nina
or to the god Nin-Girsu.
His face and scalp are clean
shaven, and he has a prominent nose and firm mouth,
The folds of neck and jaw suggest
eloquent of decision.
Bismarckian traits.
He is bare to the waist, and wears
a pleated kilt, with three flounces, which reaches almost
to his ankles.

On

his

long head he has poised deftly

woven basket containing the clay with which he is to

make the first brick. In front of him stand five figures.

The foremost

is honoured
by being sculptured larger than
the others, except the prominent monarch.
Apparently
this is a royal princess, for her head is unshaven, and her

shoulder dress or long hair drops over one of her arms.

is Lida, and the
conspicuous part she took in
the ceremony suggests that she was the representative

Her name

of the goddess Nina. She is accompanied by her brothers,

and at least one official, Anita, the cup-bearer, or high

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

n8
The

priest.

concluding part of

this
ceremony, or another
on
the
lower part of the
act,
his
Ur-Nina is seated on
throne, not, as would
first
the
wine
cup to his lips and
sight, raising

ceremonial
plaque.

seem

at

is

illustrated

toasting to the success of the work, but pouring out a

upon the ground. The princess is not present;
the place of honour next to the king is taken by the

libation

crown prince.

who

Possibly in this case

it

is

the

god Nin-

Three male figures, perthe

accompany
prominent crown prince.
The cup-bearer is in attendance behind the throne.
The inscription on this plaque, which is pierced in the
Girsu

is

being honoured.

haps royal sons,

centre so as to be nailed to a sacred shrine, refers to the

temples erected by Ur-Nina, including those of Nina and

Nin-Girsu.
his

After Ur-Nina's prosperous reign came to a close,

He had trouble
son Akurgal ascended the throne.

Umma, a powerful city, which lay to the north-west

of Lagash, between the Shatt-el-Kai and Shatt-el-Hai
An army of raiders invaded his territory and had
canals.

with

to be driven back.

whose name was Eannatum, had

He was a military genius
Napoleonic
and
successful in establishing
was
with great ambitions,
by conquest a small but brilliant empire. Like his grand-

The

next

king,

characteristics.

father, he strengthened the fortifications of Lagash; then

he engaged in a series of successful campaigns.
had been
anxiety in Lagash, but Eannatum

Umma

causing

stormed and captured that rival city, appropriated one

of its fertile plains, and imposed an annual tribute to
An army of Elamites swept down from
be paid in kind.
the hills, but Ur-Nina's grandson inflicted upon these
bold foreigners a crushing defeat and pursued them over
the frontier.
Several cities were afterwards forced to

WARS OF CITY STATES

119

come under

the sway of triumphant Lagash, including

Erech and Ur, and as his suzerainty was already acknowledged at Eridu, Eannatum's power in Sumeria became
as supreme as it was firmly established.

Evidently Zuzu, king of the northern city of Opis,

considered that the occasion was opportune to overcome
the powerful Sumerian conqueror, and at the same time
establish Semitic rule over the subdued and war-wasted

He

marched south with

a large army, but the

tireless and ever-watchful Eannatum hastened to the fray,
scattered the forces of Opis, and captured the foolhardy

cities.

Zuzu.
Eannatum's activities, however, were not confined to
At Lagash he carried out great improvebattlefields.
ments in the interests of agriculture he constructed a
He also
large reservoir and developed the canal system.
;

extended and repaired existing temples in his native city

and at Erech. Being a patron of the arts, he encouraged
sculpture work, and the finest Sumerian examples belong
to his reign.

Eannatum was succeeded by his brother, Enannatum I.

Apparently the new monarch did not share the military
of his royal predecessor, for there were signs of
unrest in the loose confederacy of states.
Indeed,

qualities

Umma

From

city an army marched forth and

took forcible possession of the plain which Eannatum had

revolted.

that

appropriated, removing and breaking the landmarks, and

otherwise challenging the supremacy of the sovran state.

Lagash force defeated the men of Umma, but appears

done little more than hold in check their aggressive

to have

tendencies.

No sooner had Entemena, the next king, ascended the

throne than the flame of revolt burst forth again.
The
was evidently determined to free, once
Patesi of

Umma

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA
and for all, his native state from the yoke of Lagash.
But he had gravely miscalculated the strength of the
Entemena inflicted upon the
vigorous young ruler.
rebels a crushing defeat, and following up his success,
entered the walled city and captured and slew the patesi.
Then he took steps to stamp out the embers of revolt
in Umma by appointing as its governor one of his own
officials, named Hi, who was duly installed with great
Other military successes followed, including
ceremony.
the sacking of Opis and Kish, which assured the supremEntemena, with characacy of Lagash for many years.
teristic

vigour, engaged himself during periods of peace

in strengthening his city fortifications

the

and

work of improving and developing

system.

and to

He

lived

in the

in

the

continuing
irrigation

golden age of Sutnerian

art,

belongs the exquisite silver vase of

Lagash, which was taken from the Tello mound, and is
now in the Louvre. This votive offering was placed by
his

reign

It is
the king in the temple of Nin-Girsu.
exquisitely
The
of
copper.
symbolic decorashaped, and has a base

was probably
form of the spring god of war and fertility, the lion,
beloved by the Mother goddess, and deer and ibexes,
In the
which recall the mountain herds of Astarte.
tions include the lion-headed eagle, which

dedicatory inscription the king is referred to as a patesi,

fact that the name of the high priest, Dudu, is
given may be taken as an indication of the growing power

and the

of an aggressive priesthood. After a brilliant reign of

twenty-nine years the king died, and was succeeded by
his son, Enannatum II, who was the last ruler of UrAn obscure period ensued. Apparently
Nina's line.
a city revolt, which may have given the
had
been
there
enemies of Lagash the desired opportunity to gather
strength for the coming conflict.

There

is

a reference to

SILVER VASE DEDICATED TO THE

GOD NIN-GIRSU

BY ENTEMENA
The

finest

example extant of Sumerian metal work.

Reproduced by permission from

" Decoicvertes en Chaldee"

(See page 120)

(JL,

Letoux, Paris}

WARS OF CITY STATES

an Elamite raid which, although repulsed,
as proof of disturbed political conditions.

One

121

may be regarded

or two priests sat

on the throne of Lagash in

brief succession, and then arose to power the famous
He began to
Urukagina, the first reformer in history.

What
rule as patesi, but afterwards styled himself king.
appears certain is that he was the leader of a great social
upheaval, which received the support of a section of the
priesthood, for he recorded that his elevation was due to
Other deities,
the intercession of the god Nin-Girsu.

who were

sons and daughters of Nin-Girsu and Nina,

had been given recognition by his predecessors, and it
is
possible that the orthodox section of Lagash, and
especially the agricultural classes, supported the new
ruler in sweeping away innovations to which they were
hostile.

Like Khufu and his descendants, the Pyramid kings

of Egypt's fourth dynasty, the vigorous and efficient
monarchs of the Ur-Nina dynasty of Lagash were apparently remembered and execrated as tyrants and oppresTo maintain many endowed temples
sors of the people.

and a standing army the traders and agriculturists had

been heavily taxed. Each successive monarch who undertook public works on a large scale for the purpose of
extending and developing the area under cultivation,
appears to have done so mainly to increase the revenue
of the exchequer, so as to conserve the strength of the
A
city and secure its pre-eminence as a metropolis.
leisured class had come into existence, with the result
that culture was fostered and civilization advanced.
Lagash seems to have been intensely modern in character
prior to 2800 B.C., but with the passing of the old order
of things there arose grave social problems which never
All indications
appear to have been seriously dealt with.

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

122

it would
appear, severely repressed
of Ur-Nina's dynasty.
monarchs
the
iron-gloved
by

of

social unrest were,

The

whole groaned under an everSumeria was overrun by

increasing burden of taxation.
an army of officials who were notoriously corrupt; they
people

as

do not appear to have been held in check, as in Egypt,

" In the domain of Nin-Girsu
", one
by royal auditors.
of Urukagina's tablets sets forth, " there were tax

They not only attended

gatherers down to the sea."
to the needs of the exchequer, but enriched themselves
by sheer robbery, while the priests followed their example
by doubling their fees and appropriating temple offerings
to their own use.
The splendid organization of Lagash
was crippled by the dishonesty of those who should have
been its main support.
Reforms were necessary and perhaps overdue, but,
unfortunately for Lagash, Urukagina's zeal for the people's
cause amounted to fanaticism.
Instead of gradually readjusting the machinery of government so as to secure
equality of treatment without impairing its efficiency as
a defensive force in these perilous times, he inaugurated

sweeping and revolutionary social changes of far-reaching

character regardless of consequences.
Taxes and temple
fees were cut down, and the number of officials reduced

minimum.

Society was thoroughly disorganized.

The army, which was recruited mainly from the leisured
and official classes, went practically out of existence, so
to

that traders

and

agriculturists obtained relief

from taxation

at the expense of their material security.

Urukagina's motives were undoubtedly above reproach, and he showed an example to all who occupied
positions of trust
himself luxuries.

by living an upright life and denying

He was disinterestedly pious, and built
and restored temples, and acted as the steward of his god

WARS OF CITY STATES

123

with desire to promote the welfare and comfort of all true

His Jaws were similar to those which over
worshippers.

two centuries afterwards were codified by Hammurabi,

and like that monarch he was professedly the guardian
of the weak and the helper of the needy; he sought to
establish justice and liberty in the kingdom.
But his
social Arcadia vanished like a dream because he failed
Right must be supported by Might.
In bringing about his sudden social revolution,
Urukagina had at the same time unwittingly let loose
Discontented and unemployed
the forces of disorder.
to recognize that

and many representatives of the despoiled leisured

and military classes of Lagash, no doubt sought refuge
elsewhere, and fostered the spirit of revolt which ever
smouldered in subject states. At any rate, Umma, remembering the oppressions of other days, was not slow
to recognize that the iron hand of Lagash had become
The zealous and iconoclastic reformer had
unnerved.
seven years when he was called upon to debut
reigned
He appears to have
fend his people against the invader.
been utterly unprepared to do so. The victorious forces
of Umma swept against the stately city of Lagash and
Echoes of the great
shattered its power in a single day.
disaster which ensued rise from a pious tablet inscription
left by a priest, who was convinced that the
conquerors
would be called to account for the sins they had committed against the great god Nin-Girsu.
He lamented
the butchery and robbery which had taken place.
We
from
his
that
blood
was
shed
gather
composition
by the
raiders of Umma even in the sacred precincts of
temples,
that statues were shattered, that silver and precious stones
were carried away, that granaries were plundered and standing crops destroyed, and that many buildings were set on
fire.
Amidst these horrors of savagery and vengeance,
officials,

(0642)

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

i2 4

now

tragic figure of the great reformer suddenly

from before our eyes.
Perhaps he perished
in a burning temple; perhaps he found a nameless grave
with the thousands of his subjects whose bodies had lain
scattered about the blood-stained streets.
With Uruka-

the

vanishes

gina the glory of Lagash departed.

Although the city

and was even made more stately than
before, it never again became the metropolis of Sumeria.
The vengeful destroyer of Lagash was Lugal-zaggisi,
Patesi of Umma, a masterful figure in early Sumerian
We gather from the tablet of the unknown
history.

was

rebuilt in time,

who

regarded him as a sinner against the god

that
his city goddess was named Nidaba.
Nin-Girsu,
also
to have been a worshipper of Enlil of
appears
to
whose
influence he credited his military sucNippur,
scribe,

He

But Enlil was not

highest god, he was the

the prayers of Lugal-zaggisi to
the beloved father, Anu, god of the sky. No doubt NinGirsu represented a school of theology which was asso-

cesses.

interceder

who

his

carried

ciated with unpleasant

memories

in

Umma.

The

sacking

and burning of the temples of Lagash suggests as much.

Having broken the power of Lagash, Lugal-zaggisi
directed his attention to the rival city of Kish, where
Semitic influence was predominating.
When Nanizak,
the last monarch of the line of the famous Queen AzagBau, had

upon the throne for but three years, he

perished by the sword of the Umma conqueror.
Nippur
likewise came under his sway, and he also subdued the
southern

sat

cities.

Lugal-zaggisi chose for his capital ancient Erech, the

city of Anu, and of his daughter, the goddess Nana, who
afterwards was identified with Ishtar.
Ami's spouse was
Anatu, and the pair subsequently became abstract deities,
like

Anshar and Kishar,

their parents,

who

figure in the

WARS OF CITY STATES

125

Babylonian Creation story. Nana was worshipped as the

goddess of vegetation, and her relation to Anu was similar
Anu and Ea were
to that of Belit-sheri to Ea at Eridu.
originally identical, but it would appear that the one was
differentiated as the god of the waters above the heaven

god of the waters beneath the earth, both

Elsewhere the chief god of the
being forms of Anshar.
spring sun or the moon, the lover of the goddess, became
pre-eminent, displacing the elder god, like Nin-Girsu at
At Sippar the sun god, Babbar, whose Semitic
Lagash.
name was Shamash, was exalted as the chief deity, while
the moon god remained supreme at Ur. This specializing
process, which was due to local theorizing and the influence of alien settlers, has been dealt with in a previous

and the other

as

chapter.
In referring to himself as the favoured ruler of various
city deities, Lugal-zaggisi appears as a ruler of all Sumeria.
far his
empire extended it is impossible to determine

How

He

appears to have overrun Akkad, and

even penetrated to the Syrian coast, for in one inscription
" made
it is stated that he
straight his path from the
Lower Sea (the Persian Gulf) over the Euphrates and

with certainty.

Upper Sea (the Mediterranean) ". The

of
certain
states, however, depended on the
allegiance
of
the
One of his successors
central
power.
strength
found it necessary to attack Kish, which was ever waiting
for an
opportunity to regain its independence.

Tigris to the

According to the Chronicle of Kish, the next ruler of

after Lugal-zaggisi was the famous
It would appear that he was an adventurer
Sargon I.
or usurper, and that he owed his throne indirectly to
Lugal-zaggisi, who had dethroned the ruler of Akkad.
Later traditions, which have been partly confirmed by con-

Sumer and Akkad

temporary inscriptions, agree that Sargon was of humble

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

126
birth.

In the previous chapter reference was

Tammuz-like myth attached

to his

memory.

made

to the

His mother

was a vestal virgin dedicated to the sun god, Shamash,

and his father an unknown stranger from the mountains
a suggestion of immediate Semitic affinities.
Perhaps
Sargon owed his rise to power to the assistance received
by bands of settlers from the land of the Amorites, which
Lugal-zaggisi had invaded.
According to the legend, Sargon's birth was concealed.
He was placed in a vessel which was committed to the
river.
Brought up by a commoner, he lived in obscurity
until the Semitic goddess, Ishtar, gave him her aid.
similar myth was attached in India to the memory

of Kama, the Hector of that great Sanskrit epic the

Mahdbhdrata. Kama's mother, the Princess Pritha, who
afterwards became a queen, was loved by the sun god,
When in secret she gave birth to her son she
Surya.
him
in an ark of wickerwork, which was set adrift
placed
on a stream. Ultimately it reached the Ganges, and it
was borne by that river to the country of Anga, where
the child was rescued by a woman and afterwards reared
by her and her husband, a charioteer. In time Kama
became a great warrior, and was crowned King of Anga
1
by the Kaurava warriors.
Before he became king, Sargon of Akkad, the
of the texts, was, according to tradition, a
gardener and watchman attached to the temple of the
war god Zamama of Kish. This deity was subsequently
identified with Merodach, son of Ea; Ninip, son of Enlil;
and Nin-Girsu of Lagash. He was therefore one of the
many developed forms of Tarn muz a solar, corn, and
Sharrukin

The godmilitary deity, and an interceder for mankind.

dess of Kish appears to have been a form of Bau, as is
1

Indian

Myth and

Legend, pp. 173-175 and 192-194.

WARS OF CITY STATES

testified

127

by the name of Queen Azag-Bau, the legendary

founder of the

city.

Unfortunately our knowledge of Sargon's reign is

It is undoubted that he was a
of meagre character.
He built up an
able ruler.
and
distinguished general

empire which included Sumer and Akkad, and also

"
Amurru, "the western land ", or land of the Amorites ".
The Elamites gave him an opportunity to extend his conThey appear to have attacked Opis,
quests eastward.
but he drove them back, and on more than one occasion
penetrated their country, over the western part of which,

known

as Anshan, he ultimately imposed his rule.

Thither went many Semitic settlers who had absorbed the
culture of Sumeria.

Durinp Sargon's reign Akkad attained to a splendour

In an omen text the
which surpassed that of Babylon.
"
monarch is lauded as the
highly exalted one without
a peer ".
Tradition relates that when he was an old man
all the
Babylonian states rose in revolt against him and
But the old warrior led forth his army
besieged Akkad.
against the combined forces and achieved a shattering
victory.

Manishtusu, who succeeded Sargon I, had similarly

to subdue a great
confederacy of thirty-two city states,
and must therefore have been a distinguished general.
But he is best known as the monarch who purchased
several

large

estates

adjoining

subject

cities,

his

aim

having been probably to settle on these Semitic allies

who would be less liable to rebel against him than the
workers they displaced.
For the latter, however, he
found employment elsewhere. These transactions, which
were recorded on a monument subsequently carried off
with other spoils by the Elamites and discovered at Susa,

show

that at this early period (about

2600

B.C.)

even a

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

128

conquering monarch considered

existing

land

laws.

achieved successes

in

Urumush,
Elam and

it
1

advisable to observe

the

next

ruler,

elsewhere, but his

also
life

was cut short by a palace revolution.

The prominent figure of Naram Sin, a later king of
Akkad, bulks largely in history and tradition. According to the Chronicle of Kish, he was a son of Sargon.
Whether he was or not, it is certain that he inherited
the military and administrative genius of that famous

The arts flourished during his reign. One

ex-gardener.
of the memorable products of the period was an exquisitely sculptured monument celebrating one of Naram
which was discovered at Susa.
It is one
of the most wonderful examples of Babylonian stone
work which has come to light.
A successful campaign had been waged against a
mountain people.
The stele shows the warrior king
his
army up a steep incline and round the base
leading
of a great peak surmounted by stars.
His enemies flee
in confusion before him.
One lies on the ground clutchhas
a
which
ing
penetrated his throat, two are
spear
Sin's victories,

while others apparently sue for mercy.

Trees have been depicted to show that part of the cona
falling over

cliff,

quered territory is wooded. Naram Sin is armed with

battleaxe and bow, and his helmet is decorated with horns.
The whole composition is spirited and finely grouped;
and the military bearing of the disciplined troops contrasts
sharply with the despairing attitudes of the fleeing
remnants of the defending army.
During this period the Semitized mountaineers to the
north-east of Babylonia became the most aggressive opThe two most prominent
ponents of the city states.
or
men
of
the
were
Gutium,
Kutu, and the Lulubu.
1

Or Rimush.

PUoto. Mansell

STELE OF

NARAM

(Loui'rc, Paris)

SIN

WARS OF CITY STATES

Naram

Sin's

great

129

empire included the whole of

Palestine, and

Sumer and Akkad, Amurru and northern

part of

Elam, and the

district

to the north.

He

also

penetrated Arabia, probably by way of the Persian Gulf,

and caused diorite to be quarried there.
One of his
the Imperial Ottoman Museum
at
Constantinople, depicts him as a fully bearded man
with Semitic characteristics.
During his lifetime he was
steles,

which

is

now

in

a clear indication of the introduction of foreign

ideas, for the Sumerians were not worshippers of kings
and ancestors.
deified

Naram

Sin was the last great king of his

after his death the

power of Akkad went

Soon

line.

to pieces,

and

the Sumerian city of Erech again became the centre of

Its
After
empire.
triumph, however, was shortlived.

Akkad and Sumer

were overswept by the fierce Gutium from the northeastern mountains.
They sacked and burned many cities,
where
the memory of the horrors perincluding Babylon,
petrated by these invaders endured until the Grecian Age.
a quarter

An

of a century had elapsed,

obscure

ensued, but

When

the

more came

to

withstood the

recovered the
brilliant

like the Egyptian Hyksos Age,

was of comparatively brief duration.
mists cleared away, the city Lagash once
the front, having evidently successfully
onslaughts of the Gutium, but it never
place of eminence it occupied under the

period,
it

Ur-Nina dynasty.

It

is

manifest that

it

must

have enjoyed under the various overlords, during the

interval, a considerable degree of independence, for its
Of all its energetic
individuality remained unimpaired.
and capable patesis, the most celebrated was Gudea, who
In contrast to the
reigned sometime before 2400 B.C.
Semitic Naram Sin, he was beardless and pronouncedly
Sumerian in aspect. His favoured deity, the city god

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

30

Nin-Girsu, again became prominent, having triumphed

over his jealous rivals after remaining in obscurity for

Trade flourished, and the arts

Gudea had himself depicted, in one of

three or four centuries.

were fostered.
the most characteristic sculptures of

his age, as an archiwith

folded
hands
with a temple
seated
tect,
reverently

lying on his knees, and his head uplifted as if

watching the builders engaged in materializing the dream

plan

of his

The temple

life.

in

which

his interests

were centred

was erected in honour of Nin-Girsu. Its ruins suggest

Like
that it was of elaborate structure and great beauty.

Solomon

in later days,

Gudea procured

material for his

temple from many distant parts cedar from Lebanon,

marble from Amurru, diorite from Arabia, copper from
Elam, and so forth. Apparently the King of Lagash was
strong enough or wealthy enough to
over a wide area.

command

respect

which also rose into prominence, amidst

the shattered Sumerian states, was Ur, the centre of moon
After Gudea's death, its kings exercised sway
worship.
over Lagash and Nippur, and, farther south, over Erech
and Larsa as well. This dynasty endured for nearly a
hundred and twenty years, during which Ur flourished
like Thebes in Egypt.
Its monarchs
styled themselves
"
of
as
the
Four
".
The worship of
Kings
Regions
Nannar (Sin) became officially recognized at Nippur, the
seat of Enlil, during the reign of King Dungi of Ur;
while at Erech, the high priest of Anu, the sky god,
became the high priest of the moon god. Apparently

Another

matriarchal

came

into

city

ideas,

associated with

prominence,

for

lunar worship, again

the king appointed two of

his daughters to be rulers of

conquered states in Elam
and Syria. In the latter half of his reign, Dungi, the

conqueror, was

installed

as

high priest

at

Eridu.

It

STATUE OF GUDEA
(Louvre, Paris]

WARS OF CITY STATES

would thus appear
Sumerian religious

131

was a renascence of early

Ea, the god of the deep, had
a few years before Dungi's
been
but
overshadowed,
long
death a temple was erected to him at Nippur, where he
was worshipped as Dagan. Until the very close of his
reign, which lasted for fifty-eight years, this great
monarch of tireless activity waged wars of conquest, built
temples and palaces, and developed the natural resources
of Sumer and Akkad.
Among his many reforms was the
introduction of standards of weights, which received divine
sanction from the moon god, who, as in Egypt, was the
measurer and regulator of human transactions and human
that there

ideas.

life.

To

this

also

age

of the

many

belongs

Sumerian

business and legal records, which were ultimately carried

off to Susa, where they have been recovered by French
excavators.

About
of

half a century after Dungi's death the Dynasty

to an end, its last king having been captured

Ur came

by an Elamite

force.

to this period, Abraham

to the northern city of Harran, where
also the chief city deity
the Baal, or

At some time subsequent

migrated from
the

Ur

moon god was

" lord

".

It

is

believed by certain

Abraham sojourned

in

Egypt during

Egyptologists that

Twelfth Dynasty,

its

minimum dating,
The Hebrew
1780

which, according to the Berlin system of

extended from about 2000

patriarch

may

B.C. till

therefore have

been

B.C.

contemporary of

Hammurabi's, who is identified with Amraphel, king of

Shinar (Sumer) in the Bible. 1
But after the decline of Ur's ascendancy, and long
before Babylon's great monarch came to the throne, the
centre of power in Sumeria was shifted to Isin, where
1

Genesis, xiv.

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

32

sixteen kings flourished for two and a quarter centuries.

Among the royal names, recognition was given to Ea

and Dagan,
religion

and

Sin, Enlil,

Sumerian

Ishtar, indicating that

Semitized form was receiving general reThe sun god was identical with Ninip and

in its

cognition.

and war, but now

more fully developed and resembling Babbar, "the shining
one ", the solar deity of Akkadian Sippar, whose Semitic
name was Shamash.
As Shamash was ultimately developed as the god of justice and righteousness, it would
Nin-Girsu, a god of

fertility,

harvest,

appear that his ascendancy occurred during the period

when

well - governed

communities

systematized

religious beliefs to reflect social conditions.

The first great monarch of the Isin dynasty

their

was Ishbi-

who

Like his sucUrra,

reigned for thirty-two years.
"
and Akkad ",
he
himself
Sumer
called
of
cessors,
King
and it appears that his sway extended to the city of Sippar,
where solar worship prevailed. Traces of him have also
been found at Eridu, Ur, Erech, and Nippur, so that he
must have given recognition to Ea, Sin, Anu, and Enlil.
In this period the early national pantheon may have taken
Enlil was aftershape, Bel Enlil being the chief deity.
wards displaced by Merodach of Babylon.
Before 2200

premacy of

Isin.

B.C.

there occurred a break in the su-

Gungunu, King of Ur, combined with

Larsa, whose sun temple he restored, and declared him-

But Isin again gathered

of Sumer and Akkad.
who
not related to his
was
under
Ur-Ninip,
strength
Perhaps he came from Nippur, where the
predecessor.
was
worshipped as the son of Bel Enlil.
god Ninip
self ruler

According to a Babylonian document, a royal grandson of Ur-Ninip's, having no direct heir, selected as his
He placed the crown
successor his gardener, Enlil-bani.

on the head of

this

obscure individual, abdicated in his

WARS OF CITY STATES

favour, and

then died

mysterious

death within

133
his

palace.

Enlil-bani, whose name

signifies "Enlil is my creator ", was a usurper like Sargon
of Akkad, and he may have similarly circulated a myth
It

is

highly probable that

regarding his miraculous origin to justify his sudden rise

to power.
The truth appears to be that he came to the

throne as the leader of a palace revolution at a time of

But he was not allowed to remain in ungreat unrest.

disputed possession.

rival

named

Sin-ikisha, evidently

moon

worshipper and perhaps connected with Ur, disthe

After
placed
usurper, and proclaimed himself king.
a brief reign of six months he was overthrown, however,

by Enlil-bani, who piously credited his triumph over his

enemy to the chief god of Nippur, whose name he bore.
Although he took steps to secure his position by strengthening the fortifications of Isin, and reigned for about a
quarter of a century, he was not succeeded by his heir, if
he had one. King Zambia, who was no relation, followed
him, but his reign lasted for only three years. The
names of the next two kings are unknown. Then came
Sin-magir,

King of

who was

succeeded by Damik-ilishu, the

last

Isin.

Towards the close of Damik-ilishu's reign of twentyfour years he came under the suzerainty of Larsa, whose

Rim

Sin.
Then Isin was captured by Sinof
muballit, King
Babylon, the father of the great Hammurabi.
Rim Sin was an Elamite.
Afterwards the old order of things passed away. Babylon became the metropolis, the names of Sumer and Akkad
dropped out of use, and the whole country between the

ruler was

rivers
1

That

was
ia,

Karduniash.

called

Babylonia.

the equivalent of Babylonia.

The

various systems of

During the Kassite period the name was

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

134

law which obtained

fied

in the different states

were then codi-

by Hammurabi, who appointed governors

cities

which came under

in all the

to displace the patesis

his

sway
and kings.
A new national pantheon of representative
character was also formed, over which Merodach (MarHow this
duk), the city god of Babylon, presided.
younger deity was supposed to rise to power is related
in the Babylonian
legend of Creation, which is dealt with
in the next chapter. 1
In framing this myth from the fragments of older myths, divine sanction was given to the
supremacy achieved by Merodach's city. The allegiance
of future generations was thus secured, not only by the
strong arm of the law, but also by the combined influence
of the reorganized priesthoods

at

the various centres of

administration.

An

interesting problem,

which should be referred to

here, arises in connection with the sculptured representations of deities before and after the rise of Akkad as
a

great Power.

It

is

found, although the Sumerians

shaved their scalps and faces at the dawn of the historical

age, that they worshipped gods who had long hair and
also beards, which were sometimes square and sometimes
pointed.

At what period
shape

it

is

the Sumerian deities were given

As has been
impossible to determine.

human
shown

(Chapters II and III) all the chief gods and goddesses

had animal forms and composite monster forms before

Ea had evidently
they became anthropomorphic deities.
a fish shape ere he was clad in the skin of a fish, as an
Egyptian god was simply a bull before he was depicted
in human
shape wearing a bull's skin. The archaic Sumerian animal and composite monster gods of animistic
1

The

narrative follows The Seven Tablets of Creation and other fragments, while the

account given by Berosua

is

also

drawn upon.

WARS OF CITY STATES

135

and totemic origin survived after the anthropomorphic

period as mythical figures, which were used for decorative
A form of divine
or magical purposes and as symbols.
headdress was a cap enclosed in horns, between which
appeared the soaring lion-headed eagle, which symbolized
This god had also lion and antelope forms,
Nin-Girsu.
which probably figured in lost myths perhaps they were
like the animals loved by Ishtar and referred to in the
Gilgamesh epic. Similarly the winged bull was associated
with the moon god Nannar, or Sin, of Ur, who was " a
horned steer ". On various cylinder seals appear groups
of composite monsters and rearing wild beasts, which were
evidently representations of gods and demons in conflict.
Suggestive data for comparative study is afforded in
connection by ancient Egypt.
Sokar, the primitive
the
until
end his animal and
retained
Memphite deity,

this

Other gods were depicted

composite monster forms.
with human bodies and the heads of birds, serpents,
and crocodiles, thus forming links between the archaic
demoniac and the later anthropomorphic deities.
A
Sumerian example is the deified Ea-bani, who, like
Pan, has the legs and hoofs of a goat.
The earliest representations of Sumerian humanized
deities appear on reliefs from Tello, the site of Lagash.
These examples of archaic gods, however, are not bearded
in Semitic fashion.
On the contrary, their lips and
cheeks are shaved, while an exaggerated chin tuft is retained.
The explanation suggested is that the Sumerians
gave their deities human shape before they themselves
were clean shaven, and that the retention of the characteristic facial hair
growth of the Mediterranean Race is
of
another example
the conservatism of the religious
instinct.

In Egypt the clean-shaven Pharaohs,

presented gods, wore

false chin-tuft

who

re-

beards; even Queen

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

36

Hatshepsut considered it necessary to assume a beard

on state occasions. Ptah-Osiris retained his archaic beard
until the Ptolemaic period.

seems highly probable that in similarly depicting

gods with beards, the early Sumerians were not
influenced by the practices of any alien people or peoples.
Not until the period of Gudea, the Patesi of Lagash, did
It

their

they give their gods heavy moustaches, side whiskers,

and flowing beards of Semitic type.
It may be, howthat
had
then
ever,
by
they
completely forgotten the

of an ancient custom.
Possibly, too, the
of
the influence
were
under
sculptors
Lagash
working
of the Akkadian school of art, which had produced the
significance

exquisite stele of victory for Naram-Sin, and consequently

adopted the conventional Semitic treatment of bearded

At any rate, they were more likely to study

figures.
and follow the artistic triumphs of Akkad than the crude
Besides, they lived
productions of the archaic period.
in an age when Semitic kings were deified and the
Semitic overlords had attained to great distinction and
influence.

The Semitic folks were not so highly thought of in

It is not likely that the
the early Sumerian period.
agricultural people regarded as models of gods the plunderers

who descended from the hills, and, after achieving sucMore probably
cesses, returned home with their spoils.
"
Other Semites,
they regarded them as
foreign devils ".
as
who
came
traders, bringing wood, stone, and
however,

and formed communities in cities, may

The
well have influenced Sumerian religious thought.
for
was
who
instance,
god Ramman,
given recognition
all
through Babylonia, was a god of hill folks as far
He may
north as Asia Minor and throughout Syria.
have been introduced by settlers who adopted Sumerian
especially copper,

WARS OF CITY STATES

habits

of

the old

life

cities

137

and shaved scalp and face. But although

could never have existed in a complete state

of isolation from the outer world, it is unlikely that their

inhabitants modelled their deities on those worshipped by
A severe strain is imposed on our
groups of aliens.
credulity if we are expected to believe that it was due
to the teachings and example of uncultured nomads that

the highly civilized Sumerians developed their gods from

Such
composite monsters to anthropomorphic deities.
a

supposition, at any rate,

evidence of Ancient Egypt

is

not

supported

by the

CHAPTER
Creation Legend:

VII

Merodach the

Dragon Slayer
Elder Spirits of the Primordial Deep

Apsu and

the

Tiamat Dragon

Mummu

Ea overcomes Apsu and

Plot to Destroy the Beneficent Gods
The Vengeful Preparations of the Dragon Anshar's Appeal to Merodach
The Festival of the High Gods Merodach exalted as Ruler of the Universe
Dragon slain and Host taken captive Merodach rearranges the PantheonMerodach as Asari The Babylonian Osiris The Chief
Creation of Man
Purpose of Mankind Tiamat as Source of Good and Evil The Dragon as
the Serpent or

Worm

Folk Tale aspect of Creation Myth

British Neolithic

German and Egyptian Contracts Biblical references to Dragons

The Father and Son theme Merodach and Tarn muz Monotheistic TenLegends

dency

Bi-sexual Deities.

IN the beginning the whole universe was a sea.

Heaven
on high had not been named, nor the earth beneath.
Their begetter was Apsu, the father of the primordial Deep, and their mother was Tiamat, the spirit of
No plain was yet formed, no marsh could be
Chaos.
the
seen;
gods had no existence, nor had their fates been
Then there was a movement in the waters,
determined.
and the deities issued forth. The first who had being
were the god Lachmu and the goddess Lachamu. Long
Then were created the god Anshar and
ages went past.
When the days of these deities had
the goddess Kishar.
increased and extended, they were followed by Anu, god
of the sky, whose consort was Anatu; and Ea, most wise
and all-powerful, who was without an equal. Now Ea,
" lord of earth
", and
god of the deep, was also Enki,
138

w
E
H

^
C

CREATION LEGEND
eternal

his

in

spouse, Damkina, was Gashan-ki, "lady of

son of Ea and Damkina was Bel, the lord,

The

earth ".

who

139

time created mankind. 1

Thus were

the high gods

power and in glory.

and Tiamat remained amidst confusion in
the deeps of chaos.
They were troubled because their
established in

Now Apsu

offspring, the high gods, aspired to control the universe

and set it in order. 2 Apsu was still powerful and fierce,

and Tiamat snarled and raised tempests, smiting herself.

Their purpose was to work evil amidst eternal confusion.

Then Apsu called upon Mummu, his counsellor, the

"O
son who shared his desires, and said,
Mummu, thou
who art pleasing unto me, let us go forth together unto
Tiamat and speak with her."
So the two went forth and prostrated themselves
before the Chaos Mother to consult with her as to what
should be done to prevent the accomplishment of the
purpose of the high gods.
his

"

mouth and

Tiamat,
spake, saying,
thou gleaming one, the purpose of the gods troubles me.
I cannot rest
by day nor can I repose by night. I will

Apsu opened

thwart them and destroy their purpose.

will

bring

sorrow and mourning so that we may lie down undisturbed by them."

Tiamat heard these words and snarled. She raised
in her furious grief she
angry and roaring tempests
uttered a curse, and then spake to Apsu, saying, "What
shall we do so that their purpose may be thwarted and
we may lie down undisturbed again?"
;

Mummu,
answer, and
1

the

said,

"

counsellor, addressing Apsu, made

Although the gods are powerful, thou

The

elder Bel was Enlil of Nippur and the younger Merodach of Babylon. AccordDamascius the eldei Bel came into existence before Ea, who as Enki shared his
2 This is the inference drawn from
attributes.
fragmentary texts*

ing to

(C642)

12

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

40

canst

overcome them

thou canst thwart

it.

although their purpose is strong,

shalt have rest by day

Then thou

and peace by night to lie down."

The face of Apsu grew bright when he heard these
words spoken by Mummu, yet he trembled to think of
the purpose of the high gods, to whom he was hostile.
With Tiamat he lamented because the gods had changed
all
the plans of the gods filled their hearts with
things
dread they sorrowed and spake with Mummu, plotting
;

evil.

Then Ea, who knoweth

all,

drew near

he beheld the

ones conspiring and muttering together. He uttered

a pure incantation and accomplished the downfall of Apsu
and Mummu, who were taken captive. 1
evil

Kingu, who shared the desires of Tiamat, spake unto

her words of counsel, saying, " Apsu and
have
Thou shalt be
been overcome and we cannot repose.

Mummu

Avenger, O Tempestuous One."

Tiamat heard the words of this bright and evil god,
and made answer, saying, " On my strength thou canst
So let war be waged."
trust.
Then were the hosts of chaos and the deep gathered
By day and by night they plotted against the
together.

their

furiously, making ready for battle,

and
storming and taking no rest.
fuming
Mother Chuber, 2 the creator of all, provided irresistible
She also brought into being eleven kinds of
weapons.
monsters
fierce
giant serpents, sharp of tooth with unsparing fangs, whose bodies were filled with poison instead
of blood snarling dragons, clad with terror, and of such
lofty stature that whoever saw them was overwhelmed

high

gods, raging

with

fear,

nor could any escape their attack when they

1

A
A

large portion of the narrative

title

is

awanting here.

of Tiamat; pron. ch guttural.

CREATION LEGEND

141

themselves up; vipers and pythons, and the Lachamu,

hurricane monsters, raging hounds, scorpion men, temThese she
pest furies, fish men, and mountain rams.

lifted

armed with

weapons and they had no

fierce

fear

of war.

Then Tiamat, whose commands are unchangeable and

mighty, exalted Kingu, who had come to her aid, above
all the evil
gods she made him the leader to direct the
;

in battle, to

army
ing Kingu
saying

"

Thou

go

in front, to

in splendour, she seated

open the attack. Robhim on high and spoke,

have established thy

them.

command

shalt rule over

over

thy name be exalted over

"

husband, and let

of heaven and spirits of earth.

Unto Kingu

all

Be mighty, thou
all

the gods.

my

chosen

the spirits

did Tiamat deliver the tablets of fate

bosom, and said, "Thy commands

cannot be changed; thy words shall remain firm."
Thus was Kingu exalted he was vested with the
she laid them

in

his

divine power of

Anu

the fate of the gods,

" Let
thy mouth open to thwart the fire god ;
saying,
be mighty in battle nor brook resistance."
to decree

Then had Ea knowledge of Tiamat's doings, how she

had gathered her forces together, and how she had prepared to work evil against the high gods with purpose to
The wise god was stricken with grief,
avenge Apsu.

and he moaned

for

many

days.

Thereafter he went and

" Our
and

stood before his father, Anshar,

spake, saying,
mother, Tiamat, hath turned against us in her wrath.

She hath gathered the gods about

her,

and those thou

didst create are with her also."

When Anshar heard all that Ea revealed regarding

the preparations made by Tiamat, he smote his loins and
In sorrow and
clenched his teeth, and was ill at ease.
anger he spoke and said,

"Thou

didst

go

forth afore-

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

42

time to battle; thou didst bind

Now

is

Kingu

Tiamat."

Mummu

exalted, and there

is

and smite Apsu.

none who can oppose

Anshar

Ami, before him, and spoke,

one
without
fear, whose attack is
mighty
saying:
Tiamat
and
before
now
irresistible, go
speak so that her
But
anger may subside and her heart be made merciful.
if she will not hearken unto thee, speak thou for me, so
called his son,

"O

that she

be reconciled.'*

may

Anu was

obedient to the

commands of Anshar.

He

departed, and descended by the path of Tiamat until he

beheld her fuming and snarling, but he feared to approach
her, and turned back.
Then Ea was sent forth, but he was stricken with
2
terror and turned back also.
Anshar then called upon Merodach, son of Ea, and

addressed him, saying, "

thou

shalt

go

My

forth to battle

son,

who

and none

softeneth

my heart,

shall stand against

thee."

The

heart of Merodach was made glad at these words.

stood before Anshar, who kissed him, because that he
Merodach spake, saying " O lord of the
banished fear.

He

gods, withdraw not thy words; let me go forth to do as

is
thy desire. What man hath challenged thee to battle?"

Anshar

made answer and

said:

"No man

hath

It is Tiamat, the woman, who hath

challenged me.
But fear not and make
resolved to wage war against us.
the
of Tiamat.
shalt
bruise
head
wise
merry, for thou

god, thou shalt overcome her with thy pure incantation.

Tarry not but hasten forth; she cannot wound thee; thou
shalt

come back

again."

There is another gap here which interrupts the narrative.

This may refer to Ea's first visit when he overcame Kingu, but did not attack

Tiamat.

CREATION LEGEND
The words of Anshar
who spake, saying: "O
if I,

143

delighted the heart of Merodach,

lord of the gods,
fate of the

the avenger,

am

subdue Tiamat and

to

high gods,
save all, then proclaim my greatness among the gods.
Let all the high gods gather together joyfully in Upshukinaku (the Council Hall), so that my words like thine

may remain unchanged, and what

altered.

Instead of thee

do may never be

will decree

the fates of the

gods.'*

Then Anshar

unto his counsellor, Gaga, and

"
thou who dost share my deaddressing him, said:
the purpose of my heart,
dost
understand
thou
who
sires,
called

go unto Lachmu and Lachamu and summon all the high

gods to come before me to eat bread and drink wine.
Repeat to them all I tell you of Tiamat's preparations
for war, of my commands to Anu and Ea, who turned
back, fearing the dragon, of my choice of Merodach to
be our avenger, and his desire to be equipped with my

power to decree fate, so that he may be made strong to

combat against our enemy."
As Anshar commanded so did Gaga do. Fie went
unto Lachmu and Lachamu and prostrated himself humbly
Then he rose and delivered the message
before them.
of Anshar, their son, adding: "Hasten and speedily decide
for Merodach your fate.
Permit him to depart to meet
your powerful foe."

When Lachmu
revealed unto
Igigi

and Lachamu heard all that Gaga

them they uttered lamentations, while the

(heavenly

spirits)

sorrowed

bitterly,

and

said:

"What

change hath happened that Tiamat hath become

hostile to her own offspring?
cannot understand

We

her deeds."
All the high gods then arose and went unto Anshar.
They filled his council chamber and kissed one another.

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

44

Then they sat down to eat bread and drink sesame wine.
And when they were made drunk and were merry and at
their ease, they decreed the fate for

Merodach.

In the chamber of Anshar they honoured the Avenger.

was exalted as a prince over them all, and they said:

He
"Among
mand

the high gods thou art the highest; thy comthe command of Anu.
Henceforth thou wilt

is

have power to raise up and to cast down. None of the

O Merodach, our
gods will dispute thy authority.
avenger, we give thee sovereignty over the entire Universe.
Thy weapon will ever be irresistible. Smite
down the gods who have raised revolt, but spare the
lives of those who repose their trust in thee/'

Then

down a garment before Merodach,

mouth
and speak words of command,
"Open thy
the gods laid

saying:
so that the
it

garment may be destroyed; speak again and

be brought back."
Merodach spake with his mouth and the garment

will

vanished

he spake again and the garment was repro-

duced.
All the gods rejoiced, and they prostrated themselves
"
"

Merodach is King
Thereafter they gave him the sceptre and the throne
and the insignia of royalty, and also an irresistible weapon x
with which to overcome his enemies, saying: "Now, O
and cried out,

Merodach, hasten and

slay Tiamat.

Let the winds carry

her blood to hidden places."

So was the fate of Merodach decreed by the gods so

was a path of prosperity and peace prepared for him. He
made ready for battle ; he strung his bow and hung his
quiver; he slung a dart over his shoulder, and he grasped
a club in his right hand; before him he set lightning, and
Anu gave unco him
with flaming fire he filled his body.
;

The

lightning trident or thunderstone.

MERODACH

SETS

From

FORTH TO ATTACK TIAMAT

the Painting by

E. WaHcousins

CREATION LEGEND

145

a great net with which to snare his enemies and prevent

their escape.
Then Merodach created seven winds the
the uncontrollable wind, the sandstorm, and
the whirlwind, the fourfold wind, the sevenfold wind, and

wind of

evil,

and they went after him.

the wind that has no equal
he
Next
seized his mighty weapon, the thunderstone, and
leapt into his storm chariot, to which were yoked four
rushing and destructive steeds of rapid flight, with foamflecked mouths and teeth full of venom, trained for battle,

overthrow enemies and trample them underfoot. A

of Merodach, and he was clad
light burned on the head
He drove forth, and the gods, his
in a robe of terror.
to

the high gods clustered

followed after him
around and followed him, hastening to battle.
Merodach drove on, and at length he drew nigh to
the secret lair of Tiamat, and he beheld her muttering
For a moment he faltered, and
with Kingu, her consort.
when the gods who followed him beheld this, their eyes
were troubled.
Tiamat snarled nor turned her head. She uttered
curses, and said: "O Merodach, I fear not thy advance
as chief of the gods.
My allies are assembled here, and
are more powerful than thou art."
Merodach uplifted his arm, grasping the dreaded
thunderstone, and spake unto Tiamat, the rebellious one,
saying: "Thou hast exalted thyself, and with wrathful
heart hath prepared for war against the high gods and
their fathers, whom thou dost hate in thy heart of evil.
Unto Kingu thou hast given the power of Anu to decree
fate, because thou art hostile to what is good and loveth
what is sinful.
Gather thy forces together, and arm
thyself and come forth to battle."
When Tiamat heard these mighty words she raved
and cried aloud like one who is possessed all her limbs
fathers,

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

146

shook, and she muttered a

The gods

spell.

seized their

weapons.

Tiamat and Merodach advanced

one another.

They made ready

to

combat against

for battle.

The

lord of

the high gods spread out the net which Anu had given
him.
He snared the dragon and she could not escape.

Tiamat opened her mouth which was seven miles wide,

and Merodach called upon the evil wind to smite her
he caused the wind to keep her mouth agape so that she
could not close it.
All the tempests and the hurricanes
entered in, filling her body, and her heart grew weak
;

she gasped, overpowered.

Then

the lord of the

high
gods seized his dart and cast it through the lower part of
her body; it tore her inward parts and severed her heart.

So was Tiamat

slain.

Merodach overturned the body of the dead dragon

and stood upon it. All the evil gods who had followed
her were stricken with terror and broke into flight.
But
were
unable
to
in
Merodach
them
escape.
they
caught
his great net, and they stumbled and fell uttering cries of
distress, and the whole world resounded with their wailing
and lamentations. The lord of the high gods broke the
weapons of the evil gods and put them in bondage.
Then he fell upon the monsters which Tiamat had created;
he subdued them, divested them of their powers, and
Kingu he seized with the
trampled them under his feet.

From this god great Merodach took the tablets

and
fate,
impressing upon them his own seal, placed
them in his bosom.
So were the enemies of the high gods overthrown by
Ansar's commands were fulfilled and the
the Avenger.
others.

of

desires of

Ea

fully accomplished.

Merodach strengthened the bonds which he had

upon the evil gods and then returned to Tiamat.

laid

He

CREATION LEGEND

147

upon the dragon's body he clove her skull with

he opened the channels of her blood
great club
which streamed forth, and caused the north to carry her
leapt

his

hidden places. The high gods, his fathers,

they raised shouts of triumph and
made merry. Then they brought gifts and offerings to
the great Avenger.
Merodach rested a while, gazing upon the dead body
of the dragon.
He divided the flesh of Ku-pu, 1 and
blood

to

clustered around

devised a cunning plan.

Then the lord of the high gods

split

the

body of

the dragon like that of a mashde fish into two halves.

With one half he enveloped the firmament; he fixed
it

there and set a

down. 2

With

watchman

he made the abode of

Anu

of
the

in

to prevent the waters falling

made the earth. 3 Then

the other half he

Ea

high heaven.

the deep, and the abode

Enlil was in

in

The abode of

air.

Merodach

He

set

all

the

great

gods

in

their

several

of
images,
He measured the year
the Zodiac, and fixed them all.
and divided it into months; for twelve months he made
stations.

also

three stars each.

created

the

their

stars

After he had given starry images of

the gods separate control of each day of the year, he

founded the station of Nibiru (Jupiter), his own star,
to determine the limits of

all

stars,

so that none might

He

go astray.
placed beside his own the stations
of Enlil and Ea, and on each side he opened mighty
err or

The

"

meaning of Ku-pu ". Jensen suggests

In European dragon stories the heroes of the Siegfried order roast and
eat the dragon's heart.
Then they are inspired with the dragon's wisdom and cunning.
Sigurd and Siegfried immediately acquire the language of birds. The birds are the
"Fates", and direct the heroes what next they should do. Apparently Mcrodach's
authorities are not agreed as to the

"trunk, body".

"cunning plan" was

8

The

inspired after he had eaten a part of the body of

waters above the firmament.

According to Berosus.

Tiamat.

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

148

gates, fixing bolts on the left

the zenith in the centre.

Merodach decreed

and on the

right.

He

set

moon god should rule

measure the days, and each month he
was given a crown. Its various phases the
great lord
and
he
commanded
that
on
the
determined,
evening of
the

its

the

that

night and

1
brilliancy it should stand opposite the sun.
placed his bow in heaven (as a constellation) and

fullest

He

his net also.

We

have now reached the sixth tablet, which begins

with a reference to words
spoken to Merodach by the
gods.

Apparently

Ea had

conceived in his heart that

mankind should be

created.
The lord of the gods read
and
said:
"I
will
shed my blood and fashion
thoughts
bone ... I will create man to dwell on the earth so
that the gods may be
worshipped and shrines erected
his

for

them.

The
are

rest

missing.

will change the

pathways of the gods
of the text is fragmentary, and many

Berosus

Merodach) severed
first

.".

lines

however, that Belus (Bel

head from his shoulders.
His

states,

his

blood flowed forth, and the gods mixed

formed the

man and

it

with earth and

various animals.

In another version of the creation of man, it is related

that Merodach "laid a reed
upon the face of the waters;
he formed dust, and poured it out beside the reed.
.

That he might cause the gods to dwell in the habitation

of their heart's desire, he formed mankind/' The
goddess Aruru, a deity of Sippar, and one of the forms of
" the
lady of the gods ", is associated with Merodach as
the creatrix of the seed of mankind.
"The beasts of
the field and living creatures in the field he formed."
1

This portion is fragmentary and seems to indicate that the

Babylonians had made
considerable progress in the science of
It is suggested that
astronomy.
they knew that
the moon derived its light from the sun.

CREATION LEGEND
He

also created the Tigris

149

and Euphrates

rivers, grass,

reeds, herbs and trees, lands, marshes and swamps, cows,

goats, &C.

In the seventh tablet

gods
all

Merodach

the Igigi (spirits of heaven).

their attributes, he

henceforth each deity

is
is

is

praised by the
has absorbed

As he

addressed by his fifty-one names;

Bel Enlil,
a form of Merodach.

Merodach of lordship and domination;

moon
the
Sin,
god, is Merodach as ruler of night;
Shamash is Merodach as god of law and holiness; Nergal
The tendency to monois Merodach of war; and so on.
theism appears to have been most marked among the
for instance,

is

priestly theorists of Babylon.

Merodach is hailed to begin with as Asari, the intro-

ducer of agriculture and horticulture, the creator of grain

and plants. He also directs the decrees of Anu, Bel,
and Ea; but having rescued the gods from destruction
at the hands of Kingu and Tiamat, he was greater than
his " fathers ", the elder gods.
He set the Universe
in order, and created all things anew.
He is therefore
a
merciful
"the
and
beneficent god.
Tutu,
creator",
The following are renderings of lines 25 to 32:

Tutu

Aga-azaga (the glorious crown) may he make the crowns

glorious
The lord of the glorious incantation bringing the dead to life
He who had mercy on the gods who had been overpowered ;

Made

heavy the yoke which he had

laid

on the gods who were

his

enemies,

(And) to redeem (?) them created mankind.

" The merciful one
u he with whom is salvation
",

",

word be established, and not forgotten,

In the mouth of the black-headed ones whom his hands have made,

May

his

Pinches' Translation. 2
'

The Seven Tablets of Creation, L. W. King, pp. 134, 135.

The Religion of Babylonia and Assyria, T. G. Pinches, p. 43.

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

150
Tutu
"

as

Aga-azag may mankind fourthly magnify!

of the Pure Incantation ", " the Quickener of the

The Lord
Dead

",

" Who had

mercy upon the captive gods ",
"
" Who removed the
yoke from upon the gods his enemies r
" For their
forgiveness did he create mankind ",
"The Merciful One, with whom it is to bestow life!"

May his deeds endure, may they never be forgotten

In the mouth of mankind whom his hands have made.
1
Kings Translation.

Apparently the Babylonian doctrine set forth that

to worship the gods, but
also to bring about the redemption of the fallen gods
who followed Tiamat.

mankind was created not only

Those

rebel angels (/'//', gods) He prohibited return;

service ; He removed them unto the gods

He stopped their
who were His

(ill)

enemies.

In their room he created mankind. 2

Tiamat, the chaos dragon,

has a dual character.

is

the Great Mother.

She

As

the origin of good she is the

Her beneficent form survived as

creatrix of the gods.

the Sumerian goddess Bau, who was obviously identical
Anwith the Phoenician Baau, mother of the first man.
"
a form of the
other name of Bau was Ma, and Nintu,

and
goddess Ma ", was half a woman and half a serpent,
"
was depicted with " a babe suckling her breast (Chapter
The Egyptian goddesses Neheb-kau and Uazit
IV).
were serpents, and the goddesses Isis and Nepthys had
also serpent forms. The serpent was a symbol of fertility,
and as a mother was a protector. Vishnu, the Preserver
of the

Hindu

Trinity, sleeps on the world-serpent's body.

charms
are protective and fertility charms.
Serpent
W.

The Seven Tablets of Creation, L.

Trans. Soc. Bib. Arch.) iv, 251-2.

King, vol.

i,

pp. 98, 99.

CREATION LEGEND

151

As

the origin of evil Tiamat personified the deep and

In this character she was the enemy of order
tempests.

and good, and strove

to destroy the world.

I

have seen

The

To

ambitious ocean swell and rage and foam

be exalted with the threatening clouds. 1

Tiamat was the dragon of the

sea,

and therefore the

The word "dragon" is derived

serpent or leviathan.
from the Greek "drakon", the serpent known as "the
"
or " looking one ", whose glance was the
seeing one
The Anglo-Saxon "fire drake" ("draca",
Latin " draco ") is identical with the "flying dragon**.
In various countries the serpent or worm is a destroyer
which swallows the dead. "The worm shall eat them
lightning.

2
It
exclaimed Isaiah in symbolic language.
in the ocean which surrounds the world in Egyptian,

wool

like
lies

",

Babylonian, Greek, Teutonic, Indian, and other mytholo" moriiach

", and give it a mermaid
gies. The Irish call it

form

like the

poem Tiamat
is

slain

Babylonian Nintu.
figures as

In a Scottish Gaelic

"The Yellow Muilear teach", who

by Finn-mac-Coul,

assisted

by

his warrior band.

There was seen coming on the

Her

top of the waves

crooked, clamouring, shivering brave
face was blue black of the lustre of coal,

And

her bone-tufted tooth was like rusted bone. 3

The

The

When

Alexander
the Great, according to Ethiopic legend, was lowered
in a glass
cage to the depths of the ocean, he saw a
great monster going past, and sat for two days "watchAn
ing for its tail and hinder parts to appear ".*
serpent figures in folk

Shakespeare's Julius C*sar9

Campbell's West Highland

i,

tales.

3, 8.

Isaiah,

Tales, pp.

The Life and Exploits of Alexander

136

et

li,

8.

seq.

the Great,

E. A. Wallis Budge, pp. 284, 285.

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

152

Highlander had a similar experience. He

one morning on a rock. " He was not long
there when he saw the head of an eel pass.
He continued fishing for an hour and the eel was still passing.
He went home, worked in the field all day, and having
Argyllshire

went to

fish

returned to the same rock in the evening, the eel was

still
passing, and about dusk he saw her tail disappearl

Tiamat's sea-brood is referred to in the AngloSaxon epic Beowulf as " nickers ". The hero " slew by
(line 422).
night sea monsters on the waves
The well dragon the French "draco" also recalls
the Babylonian water monsters.
There was a "dragon
"
2
well
near Jerusalem.
From China to Ireland rivers
are dragons, or goddesses who flee from the well dragons.
The demon of the Rhone is called the "drac". Floods
are also referred to as dragons, and the Hydra, or water
ing."

by Hercules, belongs to this category.

the source of evil as well as good.
To the
was
the
abode
of
the
ocean
monsters.
Sumerians,
especially
it as did
looked
Ferdinand,
They
upon
Shakespeare's
serpent,

slain

Water was

" Hell is
when, leaping into the sea, he cried
empty
3
and all the devils are here".
There can be little doubt but that in this Babylonian
story of Creation we have a glorified variation of the wideUnfortunately, however, no trace
spread Dragon myth.
can be obtained of the pre-existing Sumerian oral version
which the theorizing priests infused with such sublime
No doubt it enjoyed as great popularity as
symbolism.
the immemorial legend of Perseus and Andromeda, which
the sages of Greece attempted to rationalize, and parts of
which the poets made use of and developed as these
:

appealed to their imaginations.

1

2
Nehemiah,
Campbell's West Highland Tales.
9 The
Tempest^ i, 2, 212.

ii,

13.

CREATION LEGEND

153

The lost Sumerian story may be summarized as follows:

There existed in the savage wilds, or the ocean, a family of
monsters antagonistic to a group of warriors represented
in the Creation legend by the gods.
Ea, the heroic
forth
to
combat
the
of man, and
sets
with
enemies
king,
the monster father, Apsu, and his son, Mummu.
But the most powerful demon remains to be dealt with.

slays

This

the mother Tiamat,

is

deaths of her kindred.

who burns

To wage war

to

avenge the

against

her the

hero makes elaborate preparations, and equips himself

The queen of monsters cannot be

with special weapons.

overcome by ordinary means, for she has great cunning,

and is less vulnerable than were her husband and son.
Although Ea may work spells against her, she is able to
thwart him by working counter spells. Only a hand-to-hand
combat can decide the fray. Being strongly protected by
her scaly hide, she must be wounded either on the under
part of her

which
noted

body or through her mouth by

weapon

It will be
will pierce her liver, the seat of life.
in this connection that Merodach achieved success

by causing the winds which followed him to distend the

monster's jaws, so that he might be able to inflict the
fatal blow and
prevent her at the same time from uttering
spells to

weaken him.

This type of story, in which the mother monster

greater and more powerful than her husband or son,

common

is
is

In the legend
exceedingly
which relates the adventures of " Finn in the Kingdom

of Big

in Scottish folklore.

the hero goes forth at night to protect his

the
attacks of devastating sea monsters.
against
" he saw the sea
on
the
beach,
advancing in
Standing

Men",

allies

A huge
kilns and as a darting serpent. ...
monster came up, and looking down below where he
(Finn) was, exclaimed, What little speck do I see here ?'"

fiery

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

154

Finn, aided by his fairy dog, slew the water monster. On

the following night a bigger monster, " the father ", came
But the most powerful
ashore, and he also was slain.
" The next
enemy had yet to be dealt with.
night a Big
in
came
the
front
and
the
tooth
of
her mouth
ashore,
Hag

would make

You

husband and son/

she said." Finn acknowledged that he did, and they began
to fight.
After a prolonged struggle, in which Finn was
almost overcome, the Hag fell and her head was cut off. 1
"
The story of " Finlay the Changeling has similar
features.
The hero slew first a giant and then the giant's
Thereafter the Hag came against him and exfather.
claimed, "Although with cunning and deceitfulness you
killed my husband last night and my son on the night
before

last, I

a distaff.

killed

shall certainly kill

my

you to-night."

fierce

The Hag was

wrestling match ensued on the bare rock.
She then offered various
ultimately thrown down.
treasures to ransom her life, including "a gold sword in
<c
my cave", regarding which she says, never was it drawn
In
to man or to beast whom it did not overcome ". 2
other Scottish stories of like character the hero climbs a
tree, and says something to induce the hag to open her
mouth, so that he may plunge his weapon down her throat.
The Grendel story in Beowulf? the Anglo-Saxon epic,
A male water monster preys nightly
is of like character.

upon the warriors who sleep in the great

Hrothgar. Beowulf comes over the sea,
to the

"

Kingdom of Big Men

", to slay

hall

as

of King
Finn

did

Grendel.

He

wrestles with this man-eater and mortally wounds him.

Great rejoicings ensue, but they have to be brought to

an abrupt conclusion, because the mother of Grendel has

1

Waifs and Strays of Celtic Tradition^

176

et

From unpublished

Beowulf^ translated by Clark Hall, London, 1911,

p.

vol. iv, p.

scy.

folk tale.

18 et seq.

CREATION LEGEND
meanwhile resolved "
the death of her son

The

to

go

a sorry

155

journey and avenge

".

narrative sets forth that she enters the Hall in

"
the darkness of night.
Quickly she grasped one of
the nobles tight, and then she went towards the fen",

towards her submarine cave.

Beowulf follows

in

due

course, and, fully armoured, dives through the waters

and ultimately enters the monster's lair. In the combat

more terrible opponent

Beowulf
was unable to slay
Indeed,

the "water wife" proves to be a

than was her son.

possessed himself of a gigantic sword,

"adorned with treasure", which was hanging in the
With this magic weapon he slays the mother
cave.
her

until

he

monster, whose poisonous blood afterwards melts the

" damasked blade ".
Like Finn, he subsequently returns
with the head of one of the monsters.

An interesting point about this story is that it does

not appear in any form in the North German cycle of
Romance. Indeed, the poet who included in his epic
the fiery dragon story, which links the hero Beowulf with
Sigurd and Siegfried, appears to be doubtful about the
mother monster's greatness, as if dealing with unfamiliar
material, for he says: "The terror (caused by GrendeFs

mother) was

less

by just so much

as

woman's

strength,
1

(measured) by fighting men".

in
the
narrative which follows the Amazon is proved
Yet,
to be the
Traces of the
stronger monster of the two.

woman's war

terror,

is

mother monster survive

in

the

traditions

in

about the

English folklore, especially

mythical "Long Meg of

Westminster ", referred to by Ben Jonson

"
of the " Fortunate Isles

in his

masque

Westminster Meg,

With
1

her long leg,

Beowulf, translated by Clark Hall, London, 1911,

(0642)

p.

69, lines

izSo-nS/.
13

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

56

As

long as a crane;

And

feet like a plane,

With a pair of heels

As broad as two wheels.

Meg
by

has various graves.

One is supposed to be marked
south side of the cloisters
in
the
stone
huge

of Westminster Abbey; it probably marks the trench

in which some plague victims
regarded, perhaps, as
victims of Meg
were interred. Meg was also reputed
to have been petrified, like certain Greek and Irish giants
and giantesses. At Little Salkeld, near Penrith, a stone
"
circle is referred to as
Long Meg and her Daughters ".
Like "Long Tom", the famous giant, " Mons Meg"
gave her name to big guns in early times, all hags and
giants having been famous in floating folk tales as throwers
of granite boulders, balls of hard clay, quoits, and other
gigantic missiles.

The
ar-e

stories

about Grendel's mother and

similar to those

lands.

still

These contrast

Long Meg

repeated in the Scottish Highsharply with characteristic Ger-

manic legends, in which the giant is greater than the

giantess, and the dragon is a male, like Fafner, who is
slain by Sigurd, and Regin whom Siegfried overcomes.
It is probable, therefore, that the British stories of female
monsters who were more powerful than their husbands
and sons, are of Neolithic and Iberian origin immemorial
relics of the intellectual life of the western branch of the
Mediterranean

race.

In

Egypt the dragon survives in the highly developed

mythology of the sun cult of Heliopolis, and, as sun worship is believed to have been imported, and the sun deity
is

a male,

it is

not surprising to find that the night demon,

Apep, was a personification of Set. This god, who is

identical with Sutekh, a Syrian and Asia Minor deity, was

CREATION LEGEND

157

apparently worshipped by a tribe which was overcome in

the course of early tribal struggles in pre-dynastic times.

Being an old and discredited god, he became by a familiar

process the demon of the conquerors. ^In the eighteenth
dynasty, however, his ancient glory was revived, for the
Sutekh of Rameses II figures as the " dragon slayer 'V
It is in accordance with Mediterranean modes of thought,

Egypt there is a great celestial

the goddess Hathor-Sekhet, the
Similarly in India, the post-Vedic god-

however, to find that

This

battle heroine.

"Eye

of Ra". 2

dess Kali

is

in

is

a destroyer, while as

Durga she

is

a guardian

of heroes. 3

Kali, Durga, and Hathor-Sekhet link with

the classical goddesses of war, and also with the Babylonian Ishtar, who, as has been shown, retained the
outstanding characteristics of Tiamat, the fierce old
" Great Mother " of
primitive Sumerian folk religion.
It is possible that in

original hero was Ea.

the Babylonian dragon myth the

inferred from

As much may be

the symbolic references in the Bible to Jah's victory over

the monster of the deep: "Art thou not it that hath cut

Rahab and wounded

the

dragon?"

"Thou

brakest the

heads of the dragons in the waters ; thou brakest the

heads of leviathan in pieces, and gavest him to be meat

"He

to the people inhabiting the wilderness" ; 5

divideth
the sea with his power, and by his understanding he

smiteth through the proud (Rahab).

By his spirit he
hath garnished the heavens: his hand hath formed (or

Rahab

crooked serpent"; 6 "Thou hast broken

pieces as one that is slain: thou hast scattered

the

pierced)
in

thine enemies with thy strong

arm";
2

Myth and Legend, pp. 260, 261.

Myth and Legend, pp. xli, 14.9, 150.
n

Indian

Psalms, Ixxiv, 13, 14.

is

male,

"In

that

day the

Egyptian Myth and Legend, pp.

4

8, 9.

haiah, li, 9.
It will be noted that the Semitic dragon, like the Egyptian,
7

Job, xxvi, 12, 13.

Psalms, Ixxxix, 10.

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

158

Lord with
punish

sore and great and strong sword shall

the piercing (or stiff) serpent, even
that crooked serpent; and he shall slay the
his

leviathan

leviathan

1
dragon that is in the sea ",
In the Babylonian Creation legend Ea is supplanted
as dragon slayer
by his son Merodach. Similarly Ninip
took the place of his father, Enlil, as the champion of
the gods. "In other words," writes Dr. Langdon, "later
theology evolved the notion of the son of the earth god,
who acquires the attributes of the father, and becomes the
god of war. It is he who stood forth against the rebellious monsters of darkness, who would wrest the dominion
of the world from the gods who held their conclave on the
The gods offer him the Tablets of Fate; the
mountain.
to
utter
decrees is given unto him/'
This developright
ment is " of extreme importance for studying the growth
of the idea of father and son, as creative and active principles

of the world

In Indian mythology Indra similarly

takes the place of his bolt-throwing father Dyaus, the sky
Andrew Lang has
god, who so closely resembles Zeus.

shown

".

that this

myth

is

of widespread character. 8

Were

the Babylonian theorists guided by the folk-lore clue ?

Now Merodach, as the son of Ea whom he consulted

"
from, was a brother of

Tammuz of
in the great god of Babylon
that
seems
Abyss
we should recognize one of the many forms of the primethe shepherd youth who
val corn spirit and patriarch
was beloved by Ishtar. As the deity of the spring sun,
Tammuz slew the winter demons of rain and tempest, so
and received
the

".

spells
It

he was an appropriate spouse for the goddess of

Merodach may have been a development of Tammuz in his character as a demon slayer.

that

harvest and war.

Isaiah, xxvii, I.
3

Sumerian and Babylonian Psalms,

Custom and Myth^ pp. 45 ft seq.

p.

204-

CREATION LEGEND
When

159

he was raised to the position of Bel, "the

Lord", by the Babylonian conquerors, Merodach sup-

Now Enlil,
Enlil of Nippur.
planted the older Bel
who had absorbed all the attributes of rival deities, and
become a world god, was the
Lord of the harvest lands

lord of the grain fields,

As
being "lord of the anunnaki ", or "earth spirits".
in early times went to war so as to secure
agriculturists
prisoners who could be sacrificed to feed the corn spirit,
Enlil was a god of war and was adored as such:

The
With

haughty, the hostile land thou dost humiliate

thee who ventureth to make war ?

was also " the bull of goring horns

the bull ", the god of fertility as well as of

He

Asari,

one of Merodach's

links

names,

Enlil

battle.

him with

Osiris, the Egyptian Tammuz, who was supplanted by

his son Horus.
As the dragon slayer, he recalls, among
others, Perseus, the Grecian hero, of whom it was pro-

Perseus,
phesied that he would slay his grandfather.
like Tammuz and Osiris, was enclosed in a chest which

was

be rescued, however, by a fisherthe island of Seriphos.

This hero afterwards
slew Medusa, one of the three terrible sisters, the Gorcast into the sea, to

man on

gons

demon group which

links with Tiamat.

In

time, Perseus returned home, and while an athletic contest was in

progress, he killed his grandfather with a

There

is no
evidence, however, to show that the
of
Enlil
displacement
by Merodach had any legendary
sanction of like character.
The god of Babylon absorbed

quoit.

other deities, apparently for political purposes, and in

accordance with the tendency of the thought of the times,
all

Translation by Dr. Langdon, pp. 199

et

seq.

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

160

when

raised to supreme rank in the national pantheon;

and he was depicted fighting the winged dragon, flapping
his own storm
wings, and carrying the thunder weapon

associated with

Ramman.
m

was significantly
spouse Zer-panitu
?
title
a
of
which connects
the Abyss ,
lady
her with Damkina, the mother, and Belit-sheri, the sister

Merodach's
called " the
of

Tammuz.

'

Damkina was

also

like

sky goddess

Ishtar.

m was no
Zer-panitu
pale reflection of her Celestial
husband, but a goddess of sharply defined character with
independent powers. Apparently she was identical with
creatrix

Aruru,

ciated with

Merodach when the

woman were brought

of the mothers
identical

with

who was assoman and the first

of the seed of mankind,

in

first

into being.
Originally she
the primitive spirit group,

Ishtar

and

the

other

was one
and so

prominent

god-

desses.

As

all
goddesses became forms of Ishtar, so did all
Sin was " Meroforms of Merodach.
become
gods
dach as illuminator of night ", Nergal was " Merodach
of war ", Addu (Ramman) was " Merodach of rain ", and

colophon which contains a text in which these

"a
identifications are detailed, appears to be
copy ", says
"
of an old inscription ", which, he
Professor Pinches,
"
thinks,
may go back as far as 2000 B.C. This is the
so on.

m
period at which the name Tau -ilu y jah is god', is found,
together with references to ilu as the name for the one
c

roughly, the date of Abraham,

be noted, was a Babylonian of Ur of the

great god, and

who,

may

it

is

also,

Chaldees." 1

one of the

In
follows
1

hymns Merodach

is

addressed

Tht Religion of Babylonia and Atsyria^ T. G. Pinches, pp. 118, 119.

as

CREATION LEGEND
Who

shall escape

161

from before thy power ?

Thy will is an eternal mystery!

Thou makest it plain in heaven
And in the earth.
Command the sea
And the sea obeyeth thee.
Command the tempest
And the tempest becometh a calm.
Command the winding course

Of the
And

Euphrates,

the will of

Merodach

Shall arrest the floods.

Lord, thou

Who

is

like

art holy!

unto thee ?
art honoured

Merodach thou

Among

The

the gods that bear a name.

which was a
feature of Merodach worship, had previously
pronounced in the worship of Bel Enlil of
Although it did not affect the religion of the
it

monotheistic

serves to

show

that

tendency,

among

marked
become
Nippur.

masses,
the ancient scholars and

thinkers of Babylonia religious thought had, at an early

period, risen far above the crude polytheism of those

who

bargained with their deities and propitiated them

with offerings and extravagant flattery, or exercised over
them a magical influence by the performance of seasonal
ceremonies, like the backsliders in Jerusalem, censured
so severely by Jeremiah, who baked cakes to reward the

Queen of Heaven

for an

with her for the slain

abundant harvest, and wept

Tammuz when

he departed to

Hades.
was due to the monotheistic tendency, if
not to the fusion of father-worshipping and mother-worshipping peoples, that bi-sexual deities were conceived
of.
Nannar, the moon god, was sometimes addressed as
Perhaps

it

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

62

father

and mother

goddess.

in one,

In Egypt

and Ishtar

as a

god

as well as a

referred to in a temple chant

was made a male by her father

Isis is

"the woman who

Osiris", and the Nile god Hapi was depicted

as

with female breasts.

as a

man

CHAPTER
Deified Heroes
God and Heroes and the
The Plant of
Hercules, &c.
Parallel

as a

VIII

Etana and Gilgamesh

"
" Seven
Quests of Etana, Gilgamesh,
Sleepers
Birth
carries
Etana to Heaven Indian
Eagle

Flights of Nimrod, Alexander the Great, and a Gaelic Hero

Eagle
Indian Eagle identified with Gods of Creation, Fire, Fertility, and
Eagle carries Roman Emperor's Soul to Heaven Fire and Agricultural

God

Death
Ceremonies
Eagle

Nimrod of the Koran and John Barleycorn Gilgamesh and the

Sargon-Tammuz Garden Myth Ea-bani compared to Pan, Bast, and

Ishtar's Vengeance
Exploits of Gilgamesh and Ea-bani
Gilgamesh journeys to Otherworld Song of Sea Maiden and "Lay of the
Harper" Babylonian Noah and the Plant of Life Teutonic Parallels
Alexander the Great as Gilgamesh Water of Life in the Koran The Indian
Gilgamesh and Hercules The Mountain Tunnel in various Mythologies

Nebuchadnezzar

Widespread Cultural Influences.

ONE of

the oldest forms of folk stones relates to the

He may set
wanderings of a hero in distant regions.
forth in search of a fair lady who has been taken captive,
or to obtain a magic herb or stone to relieve a sufferer, to
cure diseases, and to prolong life.
Invariably he is a
of
and
other
monsters.
slayer
dragons
friendly spirit,

or a group of spirits, may assist the hero, who acts according to the advice given him by a "wise woman ", a
The spirits are usually wild beasts
magician, or a god.
or birds
the " fates'* of immemorial folk belief and

they

may

him from

either carry the hero on their backs, instruct

time to time, or come to his aid when called

upon.

When

a great national hero appealed

achievements to the imagination of a
163

by reason of
people,

all

his

the

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

64

floating legends of antiquity were attached to his memory,

and he became identified with gods and giants and knightIn Scotland, for instance, the
errants "old in story".
boulder-throwing giant of Eildon hills bears the name of
Wallace, the Edinburgh giant of Arthur's Seat is called
1
after an ancient Celtic king, and Thomas the Rhymer

takes the place, in an Inverness fairy mound called Tom" Seven

na-hurich, of Finn (Fingal) as chief of the

Napoleon sleeps in France and

SkobeleflF in Russia, as do also other heroes elsewhere.
In Germany the myths of Thunor (Thor) were mingled
with hazy traditions of Theodoric the Goth (Dietrich),
while in Greece, Egypt, and Arabia, Alexander the Great
absorbed a mass of legendary matter of great antiquity,
and displaced in the memories of the people the heroes
of other Ages, as those heroes had previously displaced
the humanized spirits of fertility and growth who alterSleepers

".

Similarly

nately battled fiercely against the

spring, made
to sleep
the

demons of

gorged and drank deep and went

of
Certain folk tales, and the folk beliefs
winter.
sleep
on which they were based, seem to have been of hoary

love,

antiquity before the close of the Late Stone Age.

There are two great heroes of Babylonian fame

who

and Hercules, Sigurd and Siegfried,

Dietrich and Finn-mac-Coul.
These are Etana and Gilwho
two
resemble Tammuz the
legendary kings
gamesh,
Patriarch referred to by Berosus, a form of Tammuz
the Sleeper of the Sumerian psalms.
One journeys to
the Nether World to obtain the Plant of Birth and
link with Perseus

the other to obtain

the Plant of Life.

The

floating

legends with which they were associated were utilized

1

It is

bear

may

" bear ". If

so, the
suggested that Arthur is derived from the Celtic word for
"
have been the " totem of the Arthur tribe represented by the Scottish clan

of MacArthurs.

DEIFIED HEROES

165

and developed by the priests, when engaged in the process

of systematizing and symbolizing religious beliefs, with
purpose to unfold the secrets of creation and the Otherworld.

Etana secures the assistance of a giant eagle who is an

enemy of serpents like the Indian Garuda, half giant, half
As Vishnu, the Indian god, rides on the back of
eagle.
Garuda, so does Etana ride on the back of the Babylonian
Eagle. In one fragmentary legend which was preserved in
the tablet-library of Ashur-banipal, the Assyrian monarch,
Etana obtained the assistance of the Eagle to go in quest

of the Plant of Birth.

His wife was about

become

to

A
mother, and was accordingly in need of magical aid.
similar belief caused birth girdles of straw or serpent
skins, and eagle stones found in eagles' nests, to be used
ancient

in

and elsewhere throughout

Britain

apparently from the

On

this or

earliest times.

Europe

another occasion Etana desired to ascend

to highest heaven.

He asked

the Eagle to assist him, and

the bird assented, saying: "Be glad, my friend.

Let me
bear thee to the highest heaven.
on
breast
mine
Lay thy

and thine arms on my wings, and let my body be as thy

Etana did as the great bird requested him, and
body."
After a
together they ascended towards the firmament.
flight which extended over two hours, the Eagle asked
Etana to gaze downwards. He did so, and beheld the

ocean surrounding the earth, and the earth seemed like a

mountainous

island.

The Eagle resumed

when another two hours had

to look downwards.
Then

its

flight,

and

again asked Etana

elapsed,
the hero saw that the sea
it

resembled a girdle which clasped the land. Two hours

later Etana found that he had been raised to a height
1

"
beliefs in Brand's Popular Antiquities, vol.
Sec " Lady in the Straw

(1899

ed.).

ii,

66

et $c$.

66

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

from which the sea appeared to be no larger than a pond.

By this time he had reached the heaven of Arm, Bel, and
Ea, and found there rest and shelter.
Here the text becomes fragmentary. Further on it is
gathered from the narrative that Etana is being carried
still
higher by the Eagle towards the heaven of Ishtar,
"Queen of Heaven ", the supreme mother goddess.
Three times, at intervals of two hours, the Eagle asks
Etana to look downwards towards the shrinking earth.
Then some disaster happens, for further onwards the
broken tablet narrates that the Eagle is falling. Down
and down eagle and man fall together until they strike
the earth, and the Eagle's body is shattered.
The Indian Garuda eagle 1 never met with such a fate,
but on one occasion Vishnu overpowered it with his right
arm, which was heavier than the whole universe, and
In the story of Rama's
caused many feathers to fall off.
in
the
as
told
RdmAyana and the
wanderings, however,
Mahdbhdrata, there are interesting references in this connection to Garuda's two "sons".
One was mortally
wounded by Ravana, the demon king of Ceylon. The
other bird related to Rama, who found it disabled: "Once
upon a time we two (brothers), with the desire of out-

My

stripping each other, flew towards the sun.

were burnt, but those of my brother were not.

wings

...

fell down on the

top of this great mountain, where I still
am." 2
Another version of the Etana story survives among
the Arabian Moslems.
In the "Al Fatihat" chapter of
the Koran it is related that a Babylonian king held a
Comdispute with Abraham "concerning his Lord".
Like the Etana " mother eagle " Garuda was a slayer of serpents (Chapter III).
Vana Parva section of the Mahabharata (Roy's trans.), p. 818 et seq. y and Indian
Myth and Legend^ p. 413.
1

DEIFIED HEROES

167

mentators identify the monarch with Nimrod, who afterwards caused the Hebrew patriarch to be cast into a fire
from which he had miraculous deliverance. Nimrod then
built a tower so as to ascend to heaven "to see Abraham's
god", and make war against Him, but the tower was

overthrown.

He, however,

persisted in his design.

The

" carried to heaven in a chest

narrative states that he was
borne by four monstrous birds; but after wandering for
some time through the air, he fell down on a mountain
with such a force that he made
the Koran to " contrivances
.

it
.

shake".

reference in

which make mountains

"

1
believed to allude to Nimrod's vain attempt.
Alexander the Great was also reputed to have ascended

tremble

is

on the back of an

the myths attached to

"
history is one which explains
and comprehended the length and breadth

eagle.
in the Ethiopic

his

memory
how " he knew

Among
"

of the earth", and how he obtained knowledge regarding

" He
the seas and mountains he would have to cross.

made himself

small and flew through the air on an eagle,

he arrived in the heights of the heavens and he

arid

Another Alexandrian version of the

them."
Etana myth resembles the Arabic legend of Nimrod.
"In the Country of Darkness" Alexander fed and tamed
Then he
great birds which were larger than eagles.
ordered four of his soldiers to mount them.
The men
were carried to the "Country of the Living", and when
they returned they told Alexander "all that had happened
and all that they had seen". 2
In a Gaelic story a hero is carried off by a Cro-

explored

He tells that
mhineach, "avast bird like an eagle".
"
I
with
to
the
clouds
and
was
a while that
me,
sprang
1

p.

The Koran (with

246,

*The
pp.

notes

from approved commentators),

trans,

it

by George Sale,

n.

Life and Exploits of Alexander the Great, E. Waliis

277-8, 474-5.

Budge (London, 1896),

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

68

know which was heaven

did not

or earth for

me".

The

hero died, but, curiously enough, remained conscious of

what was happening.
Apparently exhausted, the eagle
flew to an island in the midst of the ocean.

hero on the

It laid

the

The

hero proceeds: "Sleep

sunny
came upon herself (the eagle) and she slept. The sun
was enlivening me pretty well though I was dead."
side.

Afterwards the eagle bathed

splashed in the water,
to

"

life.

"than

drops

and as it
on the hero and he came

in a healing well,
fell

grew stronger and more

had ever been before.

1 '

active ", he adds,

The

eagle figures in various mythologies, and appears

to have been at one time worshipped as the god or god-

dess of fertility, and storm and lightning, as the bringer of

It
children, and the deity who carried souls to Hades.
was also the symbol of royalty, because the earthly ruler
Nin-Girsu, the god of
represented the controlling deity.

Lagash,

who was

identified with

as a lion-headed eagle.

Zeus, the

Tammuz, was

depicted

Greek sky and

air god,
an
and
at
one time, have been
was attended by
eagle,
may,
In
of
an
the
the eagle is taken
place
simply
Egypt
eagle.

whom the Greeks iden"

the
she was
tified with
Eileithyia,
goddess of birth
2
usually represented as a vulture hovering over the king".
The double-headed eagle of the Hittites, which figures

by Nekhebit, the vulture goddess

arms of Germany and Russia, appears to have

symbolized the deity of whom the king was an incarnaIn Indian mythology Garuda, the eagle
tion or son.
like the Babylonian Etana
giant, which destroyed serpents
its
a flame of fire; its eyes
from
like
issued
egg
eagle,
flashed the lightning and its voice was the thunder. This
bird is identified in a hymn with Agni, god of fire, who
in the royal

Campbell's West Highland Tales,

Religion of the Ancient Egyptians, A.

vol.

iii, pp. 251-4 (1892

Wicdcmann, p. 141.

ed.).

DEIFIED HEROES
has the attributes of

Tammuz

169

and Mithra, with Brahma,

the creator, with Indra, god of thunder and fertility, and

with Yama, god of the dead, who carries off souls to

Hades. It is also called "the steed-necked incarnation

of Vishnu", the "Preserver" of the Hindu trinity who
rode on its back. The hymn referred to lauds Garuda
" the bird of
as
life, the presiding spirit of the animate
and inanimate universe
destroyer of all, creator of
It burns all "as the sun in his anger burneth all
all".
.

creatures". 1

Birds were not only fates, from whose

flight

omens were drawn, but

also

movements

spirits

of

in

fertility.

When

the childless Indian sage Mandapala of the fMahdibhdrata was refused admittance to heaven until a son was

born to him, he "pondered deeply" and "came to know

that of all creatures birds alone were blest with fecundity ";
so he became a bird.
It

is

of interest, therefore, to find the Etana eagle

symbol of royalty at Rome. The deified

figuring as a

Roman Emperor's waxen image was burned on

after his death,

and an eagle was

let

pyre

loose from the great

heaven. 2

This custom was probably a relic of seasonal fire worship, which may have
been introduced into Northern and Western Syria and
Asia Minor by the mysterious Mitanni rulers, if it was
not an archaic Babylonian custom 3 associated with firepile to carry his soul to

and-water magical ceremonies, represented

in the British

by May-Day and Midsummer fire-and-water festivals.

Sandan, the mythical founder of Tarsus, was honoured
Isles

that

Adi Pariia
Herodian,

section of the

Mahabharata

(Hymn

to Garuda), Roy's trans., p. 88, 89.

iv, 2.

The image made by Nebuchadnezzar is of interest in this connection. He decreed

"whoso falleth not down and worshippeth" should be burned in the "fiery furnace".

The Hebrews, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, were

but were delivered by God,

Daniel^

iii,

1-30,

accordingly thrown into the

fire,

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

70

each year at that city by burning a great bonfire, and he

identified with Hercules.
Probably he was a form

was

Melkarth. 1

Moloch and

of

Doves were

burned

to

The burning of straw figures, representing gods

bonfires may have been a ferfertility, on May-Day

Adonis,

of

tility

rite,

and perhaps explains the use of straw

birth-

girdles.

According to the commentators of the Koran^ Nimrod,

the Babylonian king, who cast victims in his annual bonfires at Cuthah, died on the
eighth day of the Tammuz
to the Syrian calendar, fell on
that gnats entered Nimrod's

month, which, according

2
1

3th July.

It

is

related

He

suffered
brain, causing the membrane to grow larger.
great pain, and to relieve it had his head beaten with a
mallet.
Although he lived for several hundred years,
like other agricultural patriarchs, including the
of Berosus, it is possible that he was ultimately sacrificed

Tammuz

The

beating of Nimrod recalls the beating

the agricultural legend utilized by
of
spirit
his
in
ballad of "John Barleycorn'*, which gives a
Burns

and burned.
of the corn

jocular account of widespread ancient customs that are

3
not yet quite extinct even in Scotland:

They laid him down upon his

And cudgelled him full sore

back
;

They hung him up before a storm

And turned him o'er and o'er.

They filled up
With water
They heaved
There
1

The

let

darksome

pit

to the brim,

in

John Barleycorn

him

sink or swim.

Assyrian and Phoenician Hercules

is

discussed by Raoul Rochcttc in M.tmoirt\

dt I* Academic des Inscription* tt Belles Lettres (Paris,

1848), pp.
2
G. Sale's Koran, p. 246, .
3

In the Eddie

poem "Lokasenna"

"Silence, BaJcycorn!"

178

et

seq.

the god Byggvir (Barley) is addressed by Loki,

The Elder Edda, translation by Olive Bray, pp. 262, 263.

DEIFIED HEROES
They

171

wasted o'er a scorching flame

The marrow

of his bones,

But the miller used him worst of all,

For he crushed him between two stones.

Hercules, after performing many mythical exploits,

had himself burned alive on the pyre which he built upon
Mount CEta, and was borne to Olympus amidst peals of
thunder.

Gilgamesh, the Babylonian Hercules, who links with

Etana, Nimrod, and Sandan, is associated with the eagle,
which in India, as has been shown, was identified with
the gods of fertility, fire, and death.
According to a
1 "
the citadel of
the
of
related
^Elian,
guards
by
legend
who
a
child
to
had been
the
down
threw
ground
Babylon
and
in
who
afterwards
conceived and brought forth
secret,
became known as Gilgamos". This appears to be another
version of the

Sargon-Tammuz myth, and may

also refer

of children to Melkarth and Moloch, who

were burned or slain "in the valleys under the clifts of
"2
to ensure fertility and feed the corn god.
the rocks
"A keen -eyed
Gilgamesh, however, did not perish.
and
saw
child
before
it
the
touched the
eagle
falling,
ground the bird flew under it and received it on its back,
and carried it away to a garden and laid it down gently."
to the sacrifice

Here we have,

it

would appear,

Tammuz among

the

flowers, and Sargon, the gardener, in the "Garden of

Adonis".
Mimic Adonis gardens were cultivated by
women. Corn, &c., was forced in pots and baskets, and
"
thrown, with an image of the god, into streams.
Ignorant people", writes Professor Frazer, "suppose that by
mimicking the effect which they desire to produce they
actually help to produce it thus by sprinkling water they
:

Dt Nat. Animal.,
xploit* of
(

042

xii,

Alexander

21, ed. Didot, p. 210, quoted by Professor

the

Greaty

p.

278,

2
.

Isaiah, Ivii,

Budge in The Life

4 and 5.
14

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA
by lighting a fire they make sunshine, and so
Evidently Gilgamesh was a heroic form of the
god Tammuz, the slayer of the demons of winter and
storm, who passed one part of the year in the world and

make

on.

1 *

rain,

another in Hades (Chapter VI).

Like Hercules, Gilgamesh figured chiefly in legendary
narrative as a mighty hero.
He wa apparently of great
it is
impossible to identify him with any
forerunner of Sargon of Akkad, or Alexander the Great.
His exploits were depicted on cylinder seals of the

antiquity, so that

Sumerian period, and he is shown wrestling with a lion

Hercules wrestled with the monstrous lion in the valley
of Nemea. The story of his adventures was narrated on
twelve clay tablets, which were preserved in the library of
as

In the

Ashur-banipal, the Assyrian emperor.

which

is

man who

is

first tablet,

referred to as the

badly mutilated, Gilgamesh

beheld the world, and had great wisdom because

He travelled to distant
he peered into the mysteries.
was
informed
and
regarding the flood and the
places,
primitive race which the gods destroyed; he also obtained
the plant of life, which his enemy, the earth-lion, in the

form of a serpent or well demon, afterwards carried

away.

Gilgamesh was associated with Erech, where he reigned

There Ishtar had a great temple, but her
The fortifications of the
worldly wealth had decreased.
and
for
three
were
years the Elamites
crumbling,
city
had
turned
flies and the
to
The
it.
gods
winged
besieged
Men wailed like wild beasts
bulls had become like mice.
and maidens moaned like doves. Ultimately the people
" the lord".
as

prayed to the goddess Aruru to create a liberator.

Shamash, and Ishtar

1

also

came

The Golden Bough (Adonis, Attn, Ostn*

et seq. (3rd ed.).

Bel,

to their aid.

vol.),

"The Gardens

of Adonis", pp. 194

DEIFIED HEROES

173

Arum heard the cries of her worshippers. She dipped

her hands in water and then formed a warrior with clay.

He

named Ea-bani, which

was

creator".

signifies

It is
possible, therefore, that

of Eridu forms the basis of the narrative.

Ea-bani is depicted on the cylinder
man-monster resembling the god Pan.

"Ea

is

my

an ancient myth
seals as a hairy

He

ate

grass

with the gazelles and drank water with wild beasts, and
he is compared to the corn god, which suggests that he
was an early form of Tammuz, and of character somewhat

resembling the Egyptian Bast, the half- bestial god of

hunter was sent out from Erech to search
fertility.

for the

man-monster, and found him beside a stream

savage

animals.

in

place drinking with his associates, the wild

The description of Ea-bani recalls that of

Nebuchadnezzar when he was stricken with madness.

" He was driven from
men, and did eat grass as oxen,
and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, till his
hairs were grown like eagles' feathers, and his nails like
birds' claws/'

The hunter had no

combat with Ea-bani, so

he had him lured from the wilds by a beautiful woman.
Love broke the spell which kept Ea-bani in his savage
Then the
state, and the wild beasts fled from him.
temptress pleaded with him to go with her to Erech,
where Anu and Ishtar had their temples, and the mighty
Gilgamesh lived
bestial

desire to

Ea-bani, deserted by his

lonely and desired human friend-

in his palace.

companions, felt
So he consented to accompany his bride. Having
ship.
heard of Gilgamesh from the hunter, he proposed to test
his
strength in single combat, but Shamash, god of the sun,
warned Ea-bani that he was the protector of Gilgamesh,
1
It is possible that Nebuchadnezzar, as the human representative of
Daniel, iv, 33.
the god of corn and fertility, imitated the god by living a time in the wilds like Ea-bani.

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

174

who had been endowed

Anu and

Ea.

with great knowledge by Bel and

Gilgamesh was also counselled in a vision

of night to receive Ea-bani as an ally.

Ea-bani was not attracted by city life and desired to
return to the wilds, but Shamash prevailed upon him to
remain as the friend of Gilgamesh, promising that he
would be greatly honoured and exalted to high rank.
The two heroes became close friends, and when the
narrative becomes clear again, they are found to be setting
1
forth to wage war against Chumbaba, the King of Elam.
Their journey was long and perilous. In time they
entered a thick forest, and wondered greatly at the
numerous and lofty cedars.
They saw the great road
which the king had caused to be made, the high mountain,
and the temple of the god. Beautiful were the trees
about the mountain, and there were many shady retreats
that were fragrant and alluring.

At

this point the narrative

mutilated.

When

is

it

breaks

resumed

off, for

a reference

the tablet
is

made

is

to

" the

head of Chumbaba ", who has apparently been

Erech was thus freed from the
by the heroes.
of
its fierce
oppression
enemy.
Gilgamesh and Ea-bani appear to have become prosperous and happy. But in the hour of triumph a shadow
slain

falls.

Gilgamesh

is

his dazzling crown.

robed in royal splendour and wears

He is admired by all men, but sud-

becomes known that the goddess Ishtar has been

She "loved him with that
Those who are loved by
love which was his doom ".
denly

it

stricken with love for him.

or demons become, in folk tales, melancholy

wanderers and "night wailers". The "wretched wight"
in Keats "La Belle Dame Sans Merci" is a typical

celestials

example.
1

Pronounce ch guttural.

DEIFIED HEROES

175

what can ail thee, knight-at-arms,

Alone and palely loitering?
The sedge is withered from the lake
And no birds sing.
1

met a lady

in the

meads,

a faery's child ;
Her hair was long, her foot was light,
And her eyes were wild.
Full beautiful

me roots of relish sweet,

And honey wild and manna dew
And sure in language strange she said,

She found

"

Having
vanished.

I love

thee true ".

kissed her lover to sleep, the fairy woman

The "knight" then saw in a dream the ghosts

of knights and warriors, her previous victims,

him of his fate.
I

saw

their starved lips in the gloam,

With

And

On
The goddess
Merci
saying

"
:

who warned

horrid

warning gaped wide

awoke and found me here

the cold

hill's side.

Ishtar appeared as

"La

Belle

Dame

Sans

before Gilgamesh and addressed him tenderly,

"
Come,
Gilgamesh, and be my consort. Gift

Be thou my husband and I will

thy strength unto me.
be thy bride.
Thou shalt have a chariot of gold and
lazuli
with
lapis
golden wheels and gem-adorned. Thy
steeds shall be fair and white and powerful.
Into my
dwelling thou shalt come amidst the fragrant cedars.

Every king and every prince

will

to kiss thy feet,

Gilgamesh,
subject unto thee."

Gilgamesh feared the

fate

and

bow down
all

before thee,

people will become

which would attend him as

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

176

the lover of Ishtar, and made answer saying:

husband hast thou ever remained faithful ?

"To

what

Each year
Tammuz, the lover of thy youth, is caused by thee to
weep. Thou didst love the Allala bird and then broke
his wings, and he moans in the woods crying, <O my

Thou

and then snared him.

Thou didst love the horse, and then laid harness on him
and made him gallop half a hundred miles so that he
suffered great distress, and thou didst oppress his mother
wings!'

didst love the lion

Thou didst love a shepherd who sacrificed kids

unto thee, and then thou didst smite him so that he
became a jackal (or leopard) ; his own herd boy drove
him away and his dogs rent him in pieces. Thou didst
love Ishullanu, the gardener of Anu, who made offerings
unto thee, and then smote him so that he was unable to
if thou wouldst love me,
move. Alas
my fate would
be like unto the fates of those on whom thou hast laid
Silili.

affliction."

Ishtar's heart

was

filled

with wrath

when

she heard

the words which Gilgamesh had spoken, and she prevailed

upon her father Anu to create a fierce bull which she sent
against the lord of Erech.

This monster, however, was slain by Gilgamesh 1 and

Ishtar cursed
Ea-bani, but their triumph was shortlived.
then
her
Ea-bani
defied
and threatened to
Gilgamesh.
deal with her as he had dealt with the bull, with the
result that he was cursed by the goddess also.
Gilgamesh dedicated the horns of the bull to Shamash
and returned with his friend to Erech, where they were
A festival was held, and
received with great rejoicings.
heroes
to
the
down
afterwards
Then Ea-bani
lay
sleep.
dreamt a dream of ill omen. He met his death soon
afterwards, apparently in a battle, and Gilgamesh lamented
1

On

a cylinder seal the heroes each wrestle

with a

bull.

H
a

a
-

I
8

1
W
X

DEIFIED HEROES
over him.
it

From

would appear

177

the surviving fragments of the narrative

Gilgamesh resolved to undertake a

that

He wept
journey, for he had been stricken by disease.
and cried out, "Oh! let me not die like Ea-bani, for
death

is

fearful.

"

Pir-napishtim

seek the aid of mine ancestor,

the Babylonian Noah, who was believed
I

will

to be dwelling on an island which corresponds to the

Greek u Island of the Blessed ". The Babylonian island
lay in the ocean of the Nether World.
It seems that
Gilgamesh not only hoped to obtain the
Water of Life and the Plant of Life to cure his own
disease, but also to restore to life his

whom

dead friend, Ea-bani,

he loved.

Gilgamesh set out on his journey and in time reached

mountain chasm. Gazing on the rugged heights, he
beheld fierce lions and his heart trembled.
Then he
cried upon the moon god, who took pity upon him, and
under divine protection the hero pressed onward. He
crossed the rocky range and then found himself con" Sunset
fronted by the tremendous mountain of Mashi
hill ", which divided the land of the
living from the
western land of the dead.
The mountain peak rose to
heaven, and its foundations were in Aralu, the UnderA dark tunnel pierced it and could be entered
world. 1
through a door, but the door was shut and on either side
were two monsters of horrible aspect
the gigantic
"
"
his
man
and
whose
heads
reached to
wife,
scorpion
When Gilgamesh beheld them he swooned
the clouds.
But they did him no harm, perceiving that
with terror.
he was a son of a god and had a body like a god.

When
1

Gilgamesh revived, he realized that the mon-

Alexander the Great in the course of his mythical travels reached a mountain at
**
Its peak reached to the first heaven and its base to the seventh

the world-end.
earth.'*

Budge,

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

78

sters regarded him with eyes of

sympathy. Addressing
the scorpion giant, he told that he desired to visit his
ancestor, Pir-napishtim, who sat in the council of the

gods and had divine attributes. The giant warned him

of the dangers which he would encounter, saying that the
mountain passage was twelve miles long and beamless
and black.
Gilgamesh, however, resolved to encounter
for
he was no longer afraid, and he was allowed
any peril,
to go forward.
So he entered through the monsterguarded mountain door and plunged into thick unbroken
darkness.
For twice twelve hours he groped blindly
until
he saw a ray of light.
onward,
Quickening his
he
then escaped from the dreadful tunnel and once
steps,
more rejoiced in the rays of the sun. He found himself
in an enchanted garden, and in the midst of it he saw a
divine and beautiful tree towards which he hastened. On
its
gleaming branches hung clusters of precious stones
and its leaves were of lapis lazuli. His eyes were dazzled,
but he did not linger there. Passing many other wonderful trees, he came to a shoreland, and he knew that he was
drawing nigh to the Sea of Death. The country which he
entered was ruled over by the sea lady whose name was
When she saw the pilgrim drawing nigh, she
Sabitu.
entered her palace and shut the door.
Gilgamesh called out requesting that he should be
allowed to enter, and mingled his entreaties with threats
In the end Sabitu appeared and
to break open the door.
spoke, saying:
Gilgamesh, whither hurriest thou ?
life that thou seekest thou wilt not

The

When
They

Life they took in their

Thou,

find.

the gods created man

fixed death for mankind.

Gilgamesh,

own

let

hand.

thy belly be

filled

DEIFIED HEROES
Day and

179

night be merry,

Daily celebrate a feast,

Day and night dance and make merry!
Clean be thy clothes,
Thy head be washed, bathe in water
!

Look joyfully on the child

Be happy with the wife in

This

is

Harper

that grasps thy hand,

thine arms l
!

the philosophy of the Egyptian " Lay of the

".
The following quotations are from two sepa-

rate versions:

How
The
The

rests this just prince

goodly destiny
bodies pass

befalls,

away

Since the time of the god,

And

generations

(Make)

it

come

into their places.

pleasant for thee to follow thy desire

While thou

livest.

Put myrrh upon thy head,

And garments on thee of fine
Celebrate the glad day,
Be not weary therein.

Thy

sister (wife)

who

linen.

dwells in thy heart.

She sits at thy side.

Put song and music before thee,
Behind thee all evil things,
And remember thou (only) joy. 2

Jastrow contrasts

the

Babylonian

following quotation from Ecclesiastes

poem

with

the

Go thy way, eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with
a merry heart.
Let thy garments be always white ; and
.
.

Jaitrow's trans., Aspects of Religious Belief and Practice in Babylonia and Assyria^

P- 3741

pp.

Development of Religion and Thought

183*5.

in

Ancient Egypt (1912), J. H. Breasted,

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

180

Live joyfully with the wife whom

of thy vanity, which he [God]
hath given thee under the sun, all the days of thy vanity for that
is
thy portion in this life, and in thy labour which thou takest
thy head lack no ointment.
thou lovest all the days of the
let

life

under the sun. 1

"

The

pious

Hebrew mind

corrective to this

view of

",

" found the

the conception of a stern

Jastrow adds,

life in

but just God, acting according to self-imposed standards

of right and wrong, whose rule extends beyond the
The final words of the Preacher are, " Fear God
grave."

and keep his commandments ", 2

Gilgamesh did not accept the counsel of the
sea lady.

He

how

asked her

fatalistic

he could reach Pir-napish-

he was prepared to cross the

he could not cross it he would die of

tim, his ancestor, saying

Sea of Death:

if

grief.

"O Gilgamesh, no mortal

Who can pass over save

Sabitu answered him, saying:

is

ferried over this great sea.

Shamash alone

The way

is

it

full

of

peril.

Gilgamesh,

how

canst thou battle against the billows of death?"

At length, however, the sea lady revealed to the

pilgrim that he might obtain the aid of the sailor,

Ea, who served his ancestor Pir-napishtim.

Gilgamesh soon found where Arad Ea dwelt, and

Arad
after

a time prevailed upon him to act as ferryman.

Arad Ea
a
helm
for
his
to
and
hastened
boat,
required
Gilgamesh

fashion one from a tree.

When it was fixed on, the boat
was launched and the voyage began. Terrible experiences
were passed through as they crossed the Sea of Death,
but at length they drew nigh to the " Island of the
Blessed" on which dwelt Pir-napishtim and his wife.
Wearied by his exertions and wasted by disease, Gilgamesh
sat

resting in the boat.

He

Ecctestastes, ix,

7-9.

did not go ashore.

2
//</., xii, 13.

DEIFIED HEROES

181

Pir-napishtim had perceived the vessel crossing the

Sea of Death and marvelled greatly.

The

it
story is unfortunately interrupted again, but
his
appears that Gilgamesh poured into the ears of
ancestor the tale of his sufferings, adding that he feared

death and desired to escape his fate.

Pir-napishtim made answer, reminding the pilgrim
Men built houses, sealed conthat all men must die.
one
with
another, and sowed seeds in the
tracts, disputed

but as long as they did so and the rivers rose in

Nor could any
flood, so long would their fate endure.
man tell when his hour would come. The god of destiny

earth,

measured out the span of

life:

he fixed the day of death,

but never revealed his secrets.

Gilgamesh then asked Pir-napishtim how it chanced

was still alive. "Thou hast suffered no change/'
Harden not thy heart
he said, u thou art even as I am.
but
hast
reveal
how
thou
obtained divine life
against me,

that he

in the

company of

the gods."

Pir-napishtim thereupon related to his descendant the

story of the deluge, which is dealt with fully in the next
chapter.

Ea

and

The gods had

in a

resolved to destroy the world,

dream revealed unto Pir-napishtim how he

He built a ship which was tossed about

on the waters, and when the world had been destroyed,
Bel discovered him and transported him to that island in
the midst of the Sea of Death.
Gilgamesh sat in the boat listening to the words of
his ancestor.
When the narrative was ended, Pir-napishtim spoke sympathetically and said: "Who among the

could escape.

O Gilgamesh ? Thou
of
my life, and thou shalt be given the
knowledge
thou dost strive after. Take heed, therefore, to what

gods
hast
life

will restore thee to health,

say unto thee.

For

six

days and seven nights thou

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

82

shalt

not

lie

down, but remain

like to a black

like

one

in the

and sleep enveloped him

sat in the ship,

Gilgamesh

sitting

midst of grief."

storm cloud.

Pir-napishtim spoke to his wife and said: "Behold the

hero who desireth to have life.
Sleep envelops him like
to a black storm cloud/'

To

that lone

man

hand upon him so

his wife

made answer: "Lay

thine

may have perfect health and be

enabled to return to his own land.
Give him power to
that he

pass through the mighty door by which he entered/'

Then

Pir-napishtim addressed his wife, saying: "His

sufferings make me sad.
Prepare thou for him the magic
it
his
and
near
head."
food,
place

On

when Gilgamesh

down, the food was

prepared by seven magic processes, and the woman adthe day

ministered

it

while yet

he

lay

Then

slept.

Pir-napishtim

touched him, and he awoke full of life.

" I was
Gilgamesh spake unto Pir-napishtim and said:
But thou didst awaken
suddenly overcome by sleep.
me by touching me, even thou.
Lo! I am bewitched.
What hast thou done unto thy servant?"
Then Pir-napishtim told Gilgamesh that he had been
given to eat of the magic food. Afterwards he caused
Arad Ea to carry Gilgamesh to a fountain of healing,
The
where his disease -stricken body was cleansed.
blemished skin fell from him, and he was made whole.
.

Thereafter Gilgamesh prepared to return to his own

land.
Ere he bade farewell, however, Pir-napishtim revealed unto him the secret of a magic plant which had

renew
those who were

power
1

to

life

and give youth and strength unto

old.

Perhaps brooding and undergoing penance like an Indian Rishi with purpose to

obtain spiritual power.

DEIFIED HEROES

183

Arad Ea conducted the hero to the island where the

plant grew, and when Gilgamesh found it he rejoiced, and
said that he would carry it to Erech, his own city, where
he would partake of it and restore his youth.
So Gilgamesh and Arad Ea went on their way together, nor paused until they came to a well of pure
The hero stooped down to draw water. 1 But
water.
while he was thus engaged that demon, the Earth Lion,
crept forth as a serpent, and, seizing the magic plant of
Stricken with terror, Gilgamesh
life, carried it away.
uttered a curse.

and the

"Why

spake, saying:

Why

should

Then he

sat

streamed over

tears

has

down and wept

his

face.

my health

bitterly,

To Arad Ea

he

been restored to me?

I live ?
rejoice because that
should have derived for myself has

The

benefit

now fallen to
which I
the Earth Lion/'
The two travellers then resumed their journey, performing religious acts from time to time; chanting dirges
and holding feasts for the dead, and at length Gilgamesh
He found that the city walls were
returned to Erech.
he
and
spake regarding the ceremonies which
crumbling,
had been performed while yet he was in a far-distant
country.
for

During the days which followed Gilgamesh sorrowed

his lost friend Ea-bani, whose spirit was in the

Underworld, the captive of the spirits of death.

canst not draw thy bow now," he cried, "nor
battle

hast

shout.

loved

loved, nor
hated."

Thou

canst

not

kiss

the

"

Thou

raise the

woman thou

thou canst not kiss the child thou hast

thou smite those whom thou hast

canst

In vain Gilgamesh appealed to his mother goddess to

Then he turned to the gods, and

restore Ea-bani to him.

1

Probably to perform the ceremony of pouring out

a libation.

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

84

Ea heard him. Thereafter Nergal, god of death, caused

the grave to yawn, and the spirit of Ea-bani arose like a
wind gust.
Gilgamesh,

still

dreading death, spoke to the ghost of

saying: "Tell me, my friend,

land in which thou dost dwell/'
the
regarding
his

tell

friend,

Ea-bani made answer sorrowfully: "Alas!

If I were to tell thee
thee, my friend.

wouldst

sit

tell

me

cannot

all,

thou

down and weep."

" Let me sit down and

Said Gilgamesh
weep, but
me regarding the land of spirits."
:

tell

The text is mutilated here, but it can be gathered that

Ea-bani described the land where ill-doers were punished,
where the young were like the old, where the worm
devoured, and dust covered all. But the state of the
warrior who had been given burial was better than that
of the man who had not been buried, and had no one to
lament or care for him. " He who hath been slain in
battle," the ghost said, "reposeth on a couch drinking
pure water one slain in battle as thou hast seen and I
have seen. His head is supported by his parents: beside
him sits his wife. His spirit doth not haunt the earth.
But the spirit of that man whose corpse has been left
unburied and uncared for, rests not, but prowls through
the streets eating scraps of food, the leavings of the feast,
and drinking the dregs of vessels."
So ends the story of Gilgamesh in the form which
survives to us.

The journey of Gilgamesh

to the Island of the Blessed

the journeys made by Odin, Hermod, Svipdag,

Hotherus and others to the Germanic Hela.
When
Hermod went to search for Balder, as the Prose Edda
relates, he rode through thick darkness for nine days and
recalls

nine nights ere he crossed the mountains.

As Gilgamesh

DEIFIED HEROES

185

"

the maiden who

Sabitu, Hermod met Modgudur,
"
the
river
over
the
kept
Gjsll.
Svipdag, accordbridge
like
the Babylonian
a
to
Norse poem, was guided
ing

met

hero by the moon god, Gevar,

way he should take to find the

Hother, who

is

instructed

who

instructed

irresistible

him what

sword.

by "King Gewar",

Saxo's
crosses
1

extraordinary cold".
Thorkill crosses a stormy ocean to the region of perpetual darkness, where the ghosts of the dead are confined

"beset

mountains

dismal

with

At the main entrance

in loathsome and dusty caves.
" the door
the soot of ages ".*
with
were
posts
begrimed
In the Elder Edda Svipdag is charmed against the
"o'er seas
perils he will be confronted by as he fares
mightier than men do know ", or is overtaken by night
8
"
".
When Odin " downwandering on the misty way
"
ward rode into Misty Hel he sang spells at a " witch's
grave ", and the ghost rose up to answer his questions
regarding Balder. "Tell me tidings of Hel", he addressed
Gilgamesh addressed the ghost of Ea-bani.
In the mythical histories of Alexander the Great, the
hero searches for the Water of Life, and is confronted
by a great mountain called Musas (Mashti). A demon
stops him and says; "O king, thou art not able to march
her, as

mountain, for in it dwelleth a mighty god

unto a monster serpent, and he preventeth
In another part
everyone who would go unto him."
of the narrative Alexander and his army arrive at a
" where the blackness is not like the
place of darkness
darkness of night, but is like unto the mists and clouds
which descend at the break of day ". A servant uses
a
shining jewel stone, which Adam had brought from
He drank
Paradise, to guide him, and found the well.
this

through

who

is

like

Saxot

The Elder Edda^ O. Bray, pp. 157

iii,

71.

Ibid.) viii,

291.

et

seq.

Sec also Teutonic

Myth and Legend.

86

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA
"

of the "waters of life and bathed in them, with the result

that he was strengthened and felt neither hunger nor
thirst.
When he came out of the well " all the flesh of
his body became bluish-green and his garments likewise
Apparently he assumed the colour of
bluish-green ".
supernatural beings. Rama of India was blue, and certain
of his monkey allies were green, like the fairies of EngThis fortunate man kept his secret.
land and Scotland.
His name was Matun, but he was afterwards nicknamed
" <El-Khidr that is to
What explanation
',
say, Green' ".
he offered for his sudden change of appearance has not
It is related that when Matun reached
been recorded. 1
the Well of Life a dried fish which he dipped in the
In the Koran
water was restored to life and swam away.
a similar story is told regarding Moses and Joshua, who
"
" for a
to a place where
travelled
long space of time
"
two seas met.
They forgot their fish which they had
taken with them, and the fish took its way freely to the
The Arabian commentators explain that Moses
sea."
once agreed to the suggestion that he was the wisest of
men. In a dream he was directed to visit Al Khedr,
who was " more knowing than he ", and to take a fish
c

with him in a basket.

On

the seashore

Moses

fell

asleep,

fish, which had been roasted, leapt out of the

Another version sets forth that
basket into the sea.
"
the ablution at the fountain of life

and the

making
some of the water happened

Joshua,

",

to be sprinkled on the fish,

which immediately leapt up. 2

The Well of Life is found in Fingalian legends.
When Diarmid was mortally wounded by the boar, he
called upon Finn to carry water to him from the well:
1

et

The Life and Exploit of Alexander the Great, E. Wallis Budge, pp. xl

seq.
'*

The Koran, trans, by G. Sale, pp. 222, 223 (chap,

xviii).

et

seq.,

167

DEIFIED HEROES
Give me a draught from thy palms,
Son of my king for my succour,
For my life and my dwelling.
Campbell's West Highland

187

Finn,

Tales, vol.

iii,

80.

The

of life is
quest of the plant, flower, or fruit
In
the
tales.
referred to in many folk
Mahdbhdrata,

Bhima, the Indian Gilgamesh or Hercules, journeys to

north-eastern Celestial regions to find the lake of the
"
god Kuvera (Kubera), on which grow the most beautiful and unearthly lotuses ", which restore health and give
As Gilgamesh meets with Pirstrength to the weary.
who
the
relates
story of the Deluge which
napishtim,
Bhima
meets with Hanuman,
the
"elder
race",
destroyed
who informs him regarding the Ages of the Universe
and the races which were periodically destroyed by

When Bhima
To heal

deluges.

with demons.

reaches the lotus lake he fights

wounds and recover strength

his

unto

nectar,
l
fully restored.'

his

"As

he drank of the waters,

and
strength were again
energy

he plunges into the lake.

like

Hercules similarly
apples which grow in

sets

out to search for the golden

those Hesperian gardens famed of old,

Fortunate

fields,

and groves and flowery

vales.

As Bhima slew Yakshas which guarded

the lotuses, Herslew Ladon, the guardian of the apples.

Other
heroes kill treasure-protecting dragons of various kinds.

cules

There

is

a remarkable resemblance between the

Baby-

lonian account of Gilgamesh's journey through the mountain tunnel to the

garden and seashore, and the Indian
story of the

demigod Hanuman passing through the long

1
Vana Parva section of the Mahdbharata (Roy's
Myth and Legend, pp. 105-9.

(0642)

trans.),

pp.

435-60, and Indian

16

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

88

cavern to the shoreland palace of the female ascetic, when he

was engaged searching for Sita, the wife of Rama, who had

been carried away by Ravana, the demon king of Ceylon.

In the version of the latter narrative which is given in the

Hanuman says: "I bring thee good news,

for Janaka's daughter hath been seen by me.

MahAbhdrata,

Rama;
Having searched

it,

all

its

hills,

time, we became very weary.

And having beheld
we
beheld
a
length
great cavern.
we entered that cavern which extended over many

and mines

forests,

At

the southern region with

for

some

It was dark and

yojanas.
deep,
and infested by worms. And

and overgrown with trees

having gone a great way
and beheld a beautiful
we
came
sunshine
upon
through it,
It was the abode of the Daitya (sea demon)
palace.

And

Maya.

there

we beheld

female ascetic

named

And she gave

ParbhAvati engaged in ascetic austerities.
kinds.
And having refreshed
us food and drink of various
ourselves therewith and regained our strength, we proAt last we came
ceeded along the way shown by her.
out of the cavern and beheld the briny sea, and on its
shores, the Sahya, the Malaya^ and the great Dardura
And ascending the mountains of Malaya,
mountains.

we beheld
Varuna
mind.
.

before us the vast ocean (or, "the abode of

And

").
.

We

it, we felt sorely grieved in

of
despaired
returning with our lives.
then sat together, resolved to die there of

We

beholding

starvation."

Hanuman and his friends, having had, so far, experiences similar to those of Gilgamesh, next discovered the
eagle giant which had burned its wings when endeavouring
to soar to the sun.
This great bird, which resembles the
eagle, expressed the opinion that Sita was in Lanka
(Ceylon), whither she must have been carried by Ravana.

Etana

But no one dared

to cross the dangerous ocean.

Hanuman

DEIFIED HEROES
at length,

wind god,
monsters

189

however, obtained the assistance of Vayu, the

and leapt over the sea, slaying

his divine father,

as

He

he went.

discovered where the

fair

lady

was concealed by the king of demons. 1

The dark tunnel is met with in many British stories
of daring heroes who set out to explore it, but never
return.

In the

Scottish

versions

the adventurers

are

The

invariably pipers who are accompanied by dogs.

sound of the pipes is heard for a time; then the music

ceases suddenly, and shortly afterwards the dog returns

It has evidently been in
without a hair upon its body.
conflict

The
from

with demons.
tunnel

a cave

may run from

a castle to the seashore,

side of a hill to a cave on the other,

on one

or from a seashore cave to a distant island.

It is possible that

these widespread tunnel stories had

origin among the cave dwellers of the Palaeolithic Age,

who believed that deep caverns were the doors of the
retreats of dragons and giants and other
of mankind.
enemies
supernatural

underground

In Babylonia, as elsewhere, the priests utilized the

floating material from which all mythologies were framed,
and impressed upon it the stamp of their doctrines. The

symbolized

stories

were afterwards distributed

far

and

wide, as were those attached to the memory of Alexander

the Great at a later period.
Thus in many countries may
be found at the present day different versions of im-

memorial folk tales, which represent various stages of

culture, and direct and indirect contact at different periods
with civilizations that have stirred the ocean of human
thought, and sent their ideas rippling in widening circles
to far-distant shores.
1

Vana Parva section of the Mahabharata (Roy's

translation), pp. 832, 833.

CHAPTER

IX

Deluge Legend, the Island of the

Blessed, and Hades
Babylonian Story of the Flood The Two Immortals on the Island of the
Deluge Legends in the Old and New Worlds How Babylonian
Culture reached India Theory of Cosmic Periods Gilgamesh resembles the
Indian Yama and Persian Yimeh Links with Varuna and Mitra The Great
Winter in Persian and Teutonic Mythologies Babylonian Hades compared
with the Egyptian, Greek, Indian, Teutonic, and Celtic Otherworlds Legend
Underworld originally the Grave Why
of Nergal and the Queen of Death
Weapons, &c., were Buried with the Dead Japanese and "Roman Beliefs
" Our Graves are our Houses
Palaeolithic Burial Customs
Importance of
Babylonian Funerary Ceremonies Doctrine of Eternal Bliss in Egypt and
IndiaWhy Suppressed in Babylonia Heavy Burial Fees Various Burial
Customs.
Blessed

THE

story of the

Deluge which was

by Pir-napishtim runs as follows:

" Hear
me, O Gilgamesh, and

related to

will

make

Gilgamesh
revelation

As thou
regarding the hidden doings of the high gods.
is
of
the
situated
bank
the
knowest,
Shurippak
city
upon
of the Euphrates. The gods were within it there they
assembled together in council.
Anu, the father, was
and
the
counsellor
and
Bel
warrior, Ninip the
there,
Ea, the wise
messenger, and Ennugi the governor.
In their hearts the gods agreed
lord, sat also with them.
:

together to send a great deluge.

"Thereafter
divine rulers in

Ea made known

purpose of the
hut of
the hut of reeds, saying: 1 C
the

Ea addresses the hut in which his human favourite, Pir-napishtim,

message was conveyed to this man in a dream.
1

190

slept.

His

DELUGE LEGEND
reeds, hear;
a ship

O wall,

leave

and preserve

The

tear

in

must be of goodly proIt must be floated on

length and height.

command of Ea and

made answer,

shall

thou dost possess and save thy life,

the ship the living seed of every kind.

portions
the great deep.'
" I heard the

so will

all

ship that thou wilt build

in

O man of Shurippak,
down thy house and build

understand

Umbara Tutu,

son of

191

understood, and
wise lord, as thou hast said

saying,
do, for thy counsel is most excellent.
give reason for my doings to the young

But how

men and

the elders?'

" Ea
opened his mouth and said unto me,
c
vant
What thou shalt say unto them is this
:

hath

been revealed unto

me

that Eel doth

hate

his ser.

me

I cannot remain any longer in his domain^ this

fore

//

therecity

of

Shurippak) so I must depart unto the domain of Ea and

dwell with him
Unto you will Bel send abundance
.

and fishes in plenty

and have a rich harvest.
But Shamash hath appointed
a time for Ramman to pour down destruction from the
of rain,

so

that you

may

obtain

birds

heavens.'"^

Ea then gave instructions to Pir-napishtim how to

build the ship in which he should find refuge.
So far
as can be gathered from the
it
fragmentary text,
appears
that this vessel was to have a deck house six stories
high, with

nine apartments

to another account,

in

Ea drew

each story.
According
plan of the great ship

upon the sand.

work and made a flat-bottomed

which
was
120
cubits
wide and 120 cubits in
vessel,
He smeared it with bitumen inside and pitch
height.
outside ; and on the seventh day it was ready.
Then
Pir-napishtim set to

The

second sentence of Ea's speech

is

conjectural, as the lines are mutilated.

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

192

he carried out

Ea's further

his narrative to

Gilgamesh, he said

"

instructions.

Continuing

gathered together all that I possessed, my silver

and gold and seeds of every kind, and my goods also.
I

Then I caused to go aboard

house
and
servants, the animals of the
my family
field and the beasts of the field and the workers
every
one of them I sent up.
c
" The
I
god Shamash appointed the time, saying
rain
cause
and
will
the Night Lord to send much
bring
destruction.
Then enter thou the ship and shut thy
These

placed in the ship.

all

door.'

" At the
appointed time the Night Lord sent at even r
time much rain.
I saw the
beginning of the deluge and
I entered the
I was afraid to look
ship and shut
up.
I
the
the door.
sailor, to be
appointed Buzur-Kurgala,
captain, and put under his command the great vessel and
all

that

it

"At

contained.

the

dawn of day

saw

rising athwart the heavens

a dark cloud, and in the midst of

Nebo and Merodach went

saries

over

hills

and

plains.

it

in front,

The

Ramman

thundered.

speeding like emis-

were

cables of the ship

let loose.

"Then Ninip, the tempest god, came nigh, and the

All the earth spirits
storm broke in fury before him.
and
torches
the whole land was
leapt up with flaming
The thunder god swept over the heavens,
aflare.
the sunlight and bringing thick darkness.
out
blotting
Rain poured down the whole day long, and the earth
the
was covered with water ; the rivers were swollen
land was in confusion men stumbled about in the darkBrothers were unable
ness, battling with the elements.
;

to see brothers;

The

spirits

no man could recognize

his friends.

above looked down and beheld the rising

THE BABYLONIAN DELUGE

From

the Painting

by E. Wallcousins

DELUGE LEGEND
flood and were afraid

of

Anu

193

they fled away, and in the heaven

like to hounds in the
crouched
they
protecting
:

enclosures.

" In time

Ishtar, the lady

c

The

tressfully, saying
turned to clay because
:

of the gods, cried out dis-

elder race

hath perished and

have consented to evil

I
Alas
have
counsel in the assembly of the gods.
I
allowed my people to be destroyed.
gave being to
is
he
?
Like
the
but
where
man,
offspring of fish he
that

cumbers the deep/

"

The earth spirits were weeping with Ishtar they

down cowering with tightened lips and spake not
they mourned in silence.
:

sat

" Six
days and six nights went past, and the tempest
the waters which gradually covered the land.
over
raged
But when the seventh day came, the wind fell, the whirlThe
ing waters grew peaceful, and the sea retreated.

storm was over and the rain of destruction had ceased.

I
I called aloud over the waters.
looked forth.
But
all mankind had
Where
perished and turned to clay.

saw marshes only.

opened wide the window of the ship, and
the sunlight suffused my countenance.
I
was dazzled
and sank down weeping and the tears streamed over
my face. Everywhere I looked I saw water.
fields

had been

"Then

"At length, land began to appear. The ship drifted

towards the country of Nitsir, and then it was held fast
by the mountain of Nitsir. Six days went past and the

On the seventh day I sent forth

ship remained stedfast.
a dove, and she flew away and searched this way and that,
I then sent
but found no resting place, so she returned.
Next 1 sent
forth a swallow, and she returned likewise.
forth a raven, and she flew away. She saw that the waters
were shrinking, and gorged and croaked and waded, but

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

94

Then

did not come back.

brought forth

all

the animals

into the air of heaven.

"An

offering

out a libation.

made on the mountain.

poured

up incense vessels seven by seven

on heaped-up reeds and used cedar wood with incense.
I

set

The gods
flies

smelt the sweet savour, and they clustered like

about the sacrificer.

"Thereafter Ishtar (Sirtu) drew nigh. Lifting up the

jewels, which the god Anu had fashioned for her according to her desire, she spake, saying
1 vow
by the lapis lazuli gems upon

Oh these
my neck that
<

gods
I

will

I will remember these

never forget
days for ever and
Let all the gods come hither to the offering, save
ever.
Bel (Enlil) alone, because that he ignored my counsel,
!

and sent a great deluge which destroyed my people.'

" But Bel Enlil came
also, and when he beheld the
His heart was filled with wrath against
ship he paused.
the gods and the spirits of heaven.
Angrily he spake
and said: 'Hath one escaped? It was decreed that no
human being should survive the deluge.'
"
son of
'Who hath done
Bel, spoke, saying:

Ninip,

this save

"

Ea

alone

He

knoweth

all

things.'

Ea, god of the deep, opened his mouth and said

unto the warrior Bel: 'Thou art the lord of the gods, O
But thou wouldst not hearken to my counsel
and caused the deluge to be. Now punish the sinner
for his sins and the evil doer for his evil deed, but be
merciful and do not destroy all mankind.
May there
never again be a flood.
Let the lion come and men will
decrease.
May there never again be a flood. Let the
come
and men will decrease. May there never
leopard
be
a
Let famine come upon the land; let
flood.
again
Ura, god of pestilence, come and snatch'ofF mankind.
warrior.

did not reveal the secret purpose of the mighty gods,

DELUGE LEGEND

195

I caused Atra-chasis
(Pir-napishtim) to dream a dream
which he had knowledge of what the gods had decreed/
"
Having pondered a time over these words, Bel entered

but
in

He grasped my hand jand led me forth,

even me, and he led forth my wife also, and caused her
to kneel down beside me.
Then he stood between us
and gave his blessing. He spoke, saying: 'In time past
Henceforth Pir-napishtim and
Pir-napishtim was a man.
Let them
his wife will be like unto deities, even us.

the ship alone.

dwell apart beyond the river mouths/

"Thereafter Bel carried me hither beyond the mouths

of

rivers.'

Flood myths are found in many mythologies both in

Old World and the New.
The violent and deceitful men of the mythical Bronze
Age of Greece were destroyed by a flood. It is related
that Zeus said on one occasion to Hermes: "I will send
a great rain, such as hath not been since the making of
1 am
the world, and the whole race of men shall perish.
the

weary of their iniquity."

For receiving with hospitable warmth these two gods
in human
guise^ Deucalion, an old man, and his wife
Zeus instructed his host
were
Pyrrha
spared, however.
to build an ark of oak, and store it well with food.
When this was done, the couple entered the vessel and
shut the door.

Then Zeus " broke up

all

the fountains

of the deep, and opened the well springs of heaven, and

it rained
for forty days and forty nights continually".
The Bronze folk perished not even those who fled to
the hilltops could escape.
The ark rested on Parnassus,
:

and when the waters ebbed the old couple descended the
mountain and took up their abode in a cave. 1
1

The Muses* Pageant,

W. M.

L. Hutchinson, pp. 5 et seq.

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

196

In Indian mythology the world is destroyed by a

end of each Age of the Universe. There

flood at the

are four ages

the Dwapara

the Krita or Perfect Age, the Treta Age,

Age, and the Kali or Wicked Age. These

1
correspond closely to the Greek and Celtic ages.

There

are also references in Sanskrit literature to the destruction

of the world because too many human beings lived upon

"When the increase of population had been so
it.
" the
Earth, oppressed with the
frightful," a sage related,
excessive burden, sank down for a hundred Yojanas.
Suffering pain in all her limbs, and being deprived of her
senses by excessive pressure, the Earth in distress sought
2
the protection of Narayana, the foremost of the gods."
Manu's account of the flood has been already referred
to (Chapter II).

"

The time

The god

in fish

shape informed him:

Build a
purging the world.
strong and massive ark, and furnish it with a long rope.
." When the waters rose the horned fish towed the
.

is

ripe for

ark over the roaring sea, until

peak of the Himavat, which

it

is

grounded on the highest

called

still

Naubandha

Manu was

8
(the harbour).
accompanied by seven rishis.
In the Celtic (Irish) account of the flood, Cessair,
granddaughter of Noah, was refused a chamber for herself

in the ark,

and

fled to the

advised by her idol. 4

ships, but two foundered
as

western borders of the world

Her

consisted of three

fleet

before Ireland was

reached.

The

survivors in addition to Cessair were, her father Bith,

two other men, Fintan and Ladru, and fifty women.
All of these perished on the hills except Fintan, who
slept on the crest of a great billow, and lived to see
Partholon, the giant, arriving from Greece.
1

Indian

Vana Parva section of the Mahdbharata (Roy's

Indian Myth and Legend, p. 141.

9
4

Myth and Legend^

pp.

107

et

setj.

trans.), p.

Book ofLcimter, and Kcating'l History of Irfland,

p.

425.

150 (1811

cd.).

DELUGE LEGEND
There

is

deluge also

in

197

Egyptian

mythology.

When

Ra, the sun god, grew old as an earthly king, men

to
mutter words against him.
He called the gods
began
"
I will not
together and said
slay them (his subjects)
:

have heard what ye say concerning them/'

Nu,
advised
his father, who was the
of
primeval waters,
god

until

the wholesale destruction of mankind.

Said Ra:

"Behold men

flee

unto the

hills; their

heart

of fear because of that which they said."

The goddess Hathor-Sekhet, the Eye of Ra, then
went forth and slew mankind on the hills. Thereafter

is full

Ra, desiring to protect the remnant of humanity, caused

made to the goddess, consisting of
This
corn beer mixed with herbs and human blood.

a great offering to be

drink was poured out during the night.

dess came in the morning; she found the

"And

the god-

fields

inundated,
she rejoiced thereat, she drank thereof, her heart was
rejoiced, she went about drunken and took no more
1

cognizance of men."
It is obvious that the
Egyptian myth refers to the
"
annual inundation of the Nile, the " human blood
in

"beer" being

the blood of the slain corn god, or of

his earthly representative.
It is probable that the flood

the

legends of North and South America similarly reflected

local phenomena, although the possibility that they were

of Asiatic origin, like the American Mongoloid

cannot be overlooked.

Whether

tribes,

or not Mexican civiliza-

which was flourishing about the time of the battle

of Hastings, received any cultural stimulus from Asia is a
question regarding which it would be unsafe to dogmatize,
owing to the meagre character of the available data.
The Mexican deluge was caused by the "water sun",
which suddenly discharged the moisture it had been

tion,

Religion of the Ancient Egyptian*)

A. Wicdcmann,

pp. 58 tt seq.

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

198

drawing from the earth in the form of vapour through

long ages. All life was destroyed.

flood legend among the

closely the Babylonian story as

Nahua
told

tribes

resembles

by Pir-napishtim.

The god Titlacahuan instructed a man named Nata

make a boat by hollowing out a cypress tree, so as

to
to

This pair
offered
a
fish
in
destruction.
sacrifice
escaped
up
They
the boat and enraged the deity who visited them, disescape the coming deluge with his wife Nena.

playing as

much

indignation as did Bel

when he discovered

that Pir-napishtim had survived the great disaster.

Nata
and Nena had been instructed to take with them one ear

of maize only, which suggests that they were harvest

spirits.

In Brazil,

the chief god, sent a great

Monan,

burn up the world and

its

wicked inhabitants.

guish the flames a magician caused so

that the earth was flooded.

The

much

To

fire

to

extin-

rain to fall

had a flood legend, and

believed that the early race was diminutive; and the
Athapascan Indians of the north-west professed to be
descendants of a family who escaped the deluge. Indeed,
" New World ".
deluge myths were widespread in the
The American belief that the first beings who were
created were unable to live on earth was shared by the
According to Berosus the first creation was
Babylonians.
a failure, because the animals could not bear the light and
1
Here we meet with the germs of the
they all died.
Doctrine of the World's Ages, which reached its highest
development in Indian, Greek, and Celtic (Irish) mythCalifornian

Indians

ologies.

The Biblical account of the flood is familiar to readers.

"It forms'', says Professor Pinches, "a good subject for
1

Pinches* The Religion of Babylonia and Assyria,

p.

42.

DELUGE LEGEND

199

comparison with the Babylonian account, with which it

agrees so closely in all the main points, and from which
it

differs so

much

in

many

essential details."

The drift of Babylonian culture was not only directed

westward towards the coast of Palestine, and from thence
to Greece during the Phoenician period, but also eastward
Referthrough Elam to the Iranian plateau and India.
ence has already been made to the resemblances between
" new
early Vedic and Sumerian mythologies. When the
"
of the Aryan invaders of India were being comsongs
posed, the sky and ocean god, Varuna, who resembles
Ea-Oannes, and Mitra, who links with Shamash, were
Other cultural influences
already declining in splendour.
were at work. Certain of the Aryan tribes, for instance,
buried their dead in Varuna's " house of clay ", while a
growing proportion cremated their dead and worshipped
At the close of the Vedic period
Agni, the fire god.
there were fresh invasions into middle India, and the
" late comers " introduced new
beliefs, including the
doctrines of the Transmigration of Souls and of the Ages
of the Universe.
Goddesses also rose into prominence,
and the Vedic gods became minor deities, and subject to
" late comers " had
Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva. These
undoubtedly been influenced by Babylonian ideas before
In their Doctrine of the World's
they entered India.
for instance, we are forcibly reminded
of the Euphratean ideas regarding space and time. Mr.
Robert Brown, junr., who is an authority in this con"
nection, shows that the system by which the
Day of
Brahma" was calculated in India resembles closely an

Ages or Yugas,

The problems

involved are discussed from different points of view by Mr. L. W.

(Books on Egypt and Chaldaea, vol. iv), Professor Pinches

in Babylonian
Religion
in The Old Testament in the

King

Baby Ion id) and other

vols.

Light of

the Historical Records

and Legends of Assyria and

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

200

astronomical system which obtained in Babylonia, where

1
apparently the theory of cosmic periods had origin.
The various alien peoples, however, who came under
the spell of Babylonian modes of thought did not remain
in a state of intellectual bondage.
Thought was stimu-

and the
development of ideas regarding the mysteries of life and
death proceeded apace in areas over which the ritualistic
and restraining priesthood of Babylonia exercised no sway.
As much may be inferred from the contrasting conceptions
of the Patriarchs of Vedic and Sumerian mythologies.
Pir-napishtim, the Babylonian Noah, and the semi-divine
Gilgamesh appear to be represented in Vedic mythology
Yama was " the first man ",
by Yama, god of the dead.
and, like Gilgamesh, he set out on a journey over
He
mountains and across water to discover Paradise.
" the
as
is lauded in the Vedic
of
the
explorer
hymns
lated rather than arrested

path" or

"way"

to the

by

religious borrowing,

"Land

of the Pitris" (Fathers),

the Paradise to which the Indian uncrematcd dead walked

on foot. Yama never lost his original character.

2
a traveller in the Epics as in the Vedas.

He

is

Him who
Him who

along the mighty heights departed,

searched and spied the path for many,
Son of Vivasvat, gatherer of the people,

Yama,

the King, with sacrifices worship.

Rigveda,

To Yama,

x, 14, I.

gifts and homage paid,

that died, the first to brave
Death's rapid rushing stream, the first to point the road
heaven, and welcome others to that bright abode.

He was

the

mighty King, be
first

men

of

To

Sir

Yama and
1

his sister

Primitive Constellations, vol.

* Professor

i,

M.

Monier William? Trans/athn*

Yami were

pp.

Macdonell's translation.

334-5.

the

first

Indian

Indian Wisdom.

Myth and

human

pair.

Legend, chap.

iii.

DELUGE LEGEND
They

201

Yima
Yima resembles Mitra (Mithra); Varuna,

are identical with the Persian Celestial twins,

and Yimeh.

brother of Mitra, in fact, carries the noose

1
associated with the god of death.
" lord
The Indian
called
the

twin

Yama, who was

also

Pitripati,

", takes Mitra's place in the Paradise of

Ancestors beside Varuna, god of the sky and the deep.

of the fathers

He

sits

the

Soma drink which

below a

tree,

playing on a flute and drinking

When the
gives immortality.

of Yama reached Paradise they assumed

" refined and from all taint set free ", 2
forms
shining

descendants

In Persian mythology" Yima *, says Professor Moulton,

"reigns over a community which may well have been

composed of

own

descendants, for he lived yet longer

render them immortal, he gives them to
eat forbidden food, being deceived by the Daevas (demons).

than

Adam.

What was

his

To

this

forbidden food

May we

connect

it

with

another legend whereby, at the Regeneration, Mithra is to

make men immortal by giving them to eat the fat of

Ur-Kuh) the primeval cow from whose slain body,

according to the Aryan legends adopted by Mithraism,
mapkind was first created ?"
Yima is punished for " presumptuously grasping at
immortality for himself and mankind, on the suggestion
of an evil power, instead of waiting Ahura's good time ".
Professor Moulton wonders if this story, which he
the

endeavours to reconstruct, "owed anything to Babylon ?"

Yima, like the Babylonian Pir-napishtim, is also a
revealer of the secrets of creation.
He was appointed to
"
be " Guardian, Overseer, Watcher over my Creation
by
Three hundred years went
Ahura, the supreme god.
past
1 '*

Varuna, the deity bearing the noose as his weapon ", Sabha Parva section
*
Mahabh&rata (Roy's trans.), p. 29.
Indian Myth and Legend^ pp. 38-42.

of the

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

202

Then

the earth

became abounding,

Full of flocks and

full

of cattle,

Full of

men, of birds, dogs likewise,

Full of

fires all

Nor

did

Longer

bright and blazing,

flocks, herds of cattle,

men,
them

find

places in

it.

Jackson's Translation.

The earth was thereafter cloven with a golden arrow.

Yima then built a refuge in which mankind and the
domesticated animals might find shelter during a terrible
cc
The picture ", says Professor Moulton, " strongly
tempts us to recognize the influence of the Babylonian

winter,

"
Flood Legend/' x The " Fimbul winter
of Germanic
is also recalled.
asks
in
Odin
one of the
mythology
Icelandic Eddie poems
:

What

beings shall live when the long dread winter

o'er the people of earth ? 2

Comes

In another Eddie poem, the Voluspa, the Vala tells of

Sword Age, an Axe Age, a Wind Age, and a Wolf Age

which

is

to

come "ere the world

After the battle

sinks".

of the gods and demons,

The

sun

is

darkened, earth sinks in the sea.

In time, however, a

new world

I see uprising

appears.

a second time

Earth from the Ocean, green anew;

The waters fall, on high the eagle
Flies o'er the fell and catches fish.

When

the surviving gods return, they will talk, according

"
" the
to the Vala (prophetess), of
great world serpent

(Tiamat).
1

The

fields

will

be sown and

Early Religious Poetry of Persia, J. H. Moulton, pp. 41

The Elder Edda, O. Bra/, p. 55.

et

stf.

"Balder
and 154

tt

seq,

will

DELUGE LEGEND
"

203

The association
apparently as Tammuz came.
of Balder with corn suggests that, like Nata of the Nahua
tribes, he was a harvest spirit, among other things.
Leaving, meantime, the many problems which arise
from consideration of the Deluge legends and their connection with primitive agricultural myths, the attention of
readers may be directed to the Babylonian conception of
come

the Otherworld.
Pir-napishtim,

who

escaped destruction at the Flood,

which resembles the Greek

resides in an Island Paradise,

"Islands of the Blessed ", and the Irish "Tir nan og" or
"Land of the Young'*, situated in the western ocean, and
identical with the British

island-valley of Avilion,

Where
Nor

falls

ever

not

hail, or rain,

wind blows

Deep meadow'd, happy,

And bowery

or any snow,

loudly, but
fair

it lies

with orchard lawns

hollows crowned with

summer

sea.

Only two human beings were permitted to reside on

the Babylonian island paradise, however.
These were
Pir-napishtim and his wife. Apparently Gilgamesh could
not join them there.
His gods did not transport heroes
and other favoured individuals to a happy isle or isles
those of the Greeks and Celts and Aryo-Indians.
There was no Heaven for the Babylonian dead.
All
mankind were doomed to enter the gloomy Hades of the
" the land of darkness and the shadow of
Underworld,
death; a land of darkness, as darkness itself; and of the
shadow of death, without any order, and where the light
is darkness ", as Job exclaimed in the hour of
despair,
like

lamenting his
1

fate.

The Elder Edda, O. Bray, pp. 291 et seq.

Myth and Legend^ pp. 133 et seq.

2 Celtic

Tennyson* 8 The Passing of Arthur,

(ct-42)

Job) x, i~2a.

16

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

204

This gloomy habitation of the dead resembles the

Greek Hades, the Teutonic Nifelhel, and the Indian
" Put ".
No detailed description of it has been found.
The references, however, in the " Descent of Ishtar " and
the Gilgamesh epic suggest that it resembled the hidden
regions of the Egyptians, in which souls were tortured by

demons who stabbed them, plunged them in pools of

fire, and thrust them into cold outer darkness where they
gnashed

their teeth, or into places

with poisonous

of horror swarming

reptiles.

was similarly tortured by the plague demon,

when
she boldly entered the Babylonian UnderNamtar,
world to search for Tammuz. Other sufferings were, no
Ishtar

doubt, in store for her, resembling those, perhaps, with

"
which the giant maid in the Eddie poem " Skirnismal
was threatened when she refused to marry Frey, the god
of fertility and harvest
:

morn

Trolls shall torment thae from

eve

till

In the realms of the Jotun race,

Each day to the dwellings of Frost giants must thou
Creep helpless, creep hopeless of love ;

Thou shalt weeping have in the stead

And sore burden bear with tears.
.

of joy,
.

May madness and shrieking, bondage and yearning

Burden thee with bondage and tears. 1
In like manner, too, the inhabitants of the Indian Hell
2
suffered endless and complicated tortures.

The Persephone of the Babylonian Underworld was

Eresh-ki-gal, who was also called Allatu. A myth, which
was found among the Egyptian Tel-el-Amarna "Letters",
sets forth that on one occasion the Babylonian gods held
a feast.
1

All the deities attended

The Elder Edda^ O. Bray, pp. 150-1.

it,

Indian

except Eresh-ki-gal.
Myth and

Legend,

p.

326.

DELUGE LEGEND

205

She was unable to leave her gloomy Underworld, and sent

her messenger, the plague demon Namtar, to obtain her
The various deities honoured Namtar, except
share.

When Eresh-kiNergal, by standing up to receive him.

was
informed
of
this
she
became
gal
very angry,
slight
and demanded that Nergal should be delivered up to her
so that he might be put to death.
The storm god at
once hastened to the Underworld, accompanied by his
own group of fierce demons, whom he placed as guardians
at the various doors so as to prevent the escape of Ereshki-gal.

clutched
throne.

Then he went

boldly towards the goddess,

the
hair, and dragged her from her
by
After a brief struggle, she found herself overher

powered.
Nergal made ready to cut off her head, but
" Do not kill
she cried for mercy and said
me, my
brother!
Let me speak to thee."
:

This appeal indicated that she desired to ransom her

so Nergal
like the hags in the European folk tales
unloosed his hold
Then Eresh-ki-gal continued: "Be thou my husband
and I will be thy wife. On thee I confer sovereignty
over the wide earth, giving thee the tablet of wisdom.
Thou shalt be my lord and I will be thy lady."
Nergal accepted these terms by kissing the goddess.
Affectionately drying her tears, he spoke, saying: "Thou
shalt now have from me what thou hast demanded during
these past months."
In other words, Nergal promises to honour her as
she desired, after becoming her husband and equal.
In the "Descent of Ishtar" the Babylonian Underworld is called Cuthah. This city had a famous cemetery,
like Abydos in Egypt, where many pious and orthodox
worshippers sought sepulture. The local god was Nergal,
who symbolized the destructive power of the sun and the
life

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

206

sand storm; he was a gloomy, vengeful deity, attended

by the spirits of tempest, weariness, pestilence, and disease, and was propitiated because he was dreaded.
In Nether Cuthah, as Ea-bani informed Gilgamesh,
the worm devoured the dead amidst the dust and thick
darkness.
It

is

evident that this Underworld was modelled on

In early times men believed that the spirits

the grave.
of the dead hovered in or about the place of sepulture.
They were therefore provided with "houses" to protect

same manner as the living were protected in

above the ground.
The enemies of the human ghosts were the earth
Weapons were laid beside the dead in their
spirits.
so
that they might wage war against demons when
graves
The corpse was also charmed, against attack,
necessary.
by the magical and protecting ornaments which were
worn by the living
necklaces, armlets, ear-rings, &c.
Even face paint was provided, probably as a charm
against the evil eye and other subtle influences.
So long as corpses were left in their graves, the spirits
of the dead were, it would appear, believed to be safe.
But they required food and refreshment. Food vessels
and drinking urns were therefore included in the funerary
furniture, and the dead were given food offerings at
them,

in the

their houses

Once a year the living held feasts in

regular intervals.
the burial ground, and invited the ghosts to share in the
This custom was observed in Babylonia, and is
not yet obsolete in Egypt; Moslems and Coptic Christians alike hold annual all-night feasts in their cemeteries.
repast.

The

Japanese

"Land

of

Yomi"

is

similarly an under-

world, or great grave, where ghosts mingle with the

demons of disease and destruction. Souls reach it by

"the pass of Yomi".

The Mikado, however, may

be

DELUGE LEGEND

207

privileged to ascend to heaven and join the gods in the

Eternal Land".
the ancient

Romans

the primitive belief survived that the spirit of the dead "just sank into the earth
where it rested, and returned from time to time to the

Among

upper world through certain openings in the ground

(mundi), whose solemn uncovering was one of the regular
1
observances of the festal calendar".
According to Babylonian belief, the dead who were
not properly buried roamed through the streets searching
for food, eating refuse and drinking impure water.
Prior to the period of ceremonial burials, the dead
were interred in the houses in which they had lived a
custom which has made it possible for present-day
scientists

to

accumulate

primitive races

and

much

valuable data

their habits of

life.

The

regarding
Palaeolithic

Europe were buried in their caves.

These were then deserted and became the haunts of wild
After a long interval a deserted cave was occuanimals.
cave-dwellers of

In certain characteristic caves the

pied by strangers.
various layers containing human remains represent distinct
periods of the vast Pleistocene Age.

When

Mediterranean

man moved northward through

Europe, he utilized some of these caves, and constructed

in them well-built
graves for his dead, digging down
through older layers. In thus making a "house" within
a "house", he has provided us with a link between an old
custom and a new. Apparently he was influenced by
local practices and beliefs, for he met and mingled in
certain localities with the men of the Late Palaeolithic

Age.

The

primitive house-burial rite is referred to in the

Ethiopic version of the life of Alexander the Great. The
1

The Religion of Ancient Rome, Cyiil Bailey,

p. 50.

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

208

"Two-horned", as the hero was called, conversed with

Brahmans when he reached India. He spoke to one of
"
c
Have ye no tombs wherein to bury any
them, saying
:

man among ye who may die ?' And an interpreter made

answer to him, saying: c Man and woman and child grow
up, and arrive at maturity, and become old, and when
any one of them dieth we bury him in the place wherein
And our God
he lived; thus our graves are our houses.
knoweth that we desire this more than the lust for food
and meat which all men have: this is our life and manner
'"
When Alexof living in the darkness of our tombs.
ander desired to make a gift to these Brahmans, and asked
them what they desired most, their answer was, " Give us
1

immortality".
In the Gilgamesh epic the only ray of hope which
relieves the gloomy closing passages is Ea-bani's suggestion that the sufferings endured by the dead may be

by the performance of strict burial rites. Commenting on this point Professor Jastrow says: "A proper
burial with an affectionate care of the corpse ensures at

alleviated

least a quiet repose.

Such a one rests on a couch and drinks pure water

But he whose shade has no rest in the earth, as I have seen
;

and you will see,

His shade has no rest in the earth

Whose shade no one cares for

What is left over in the pot, remains
.

That

are

thrown

in the street,

of rood

he eats." 2
Gilgamesh Epic.

The Life and Exploits of Alexander the Great (Ethiopic version of the Pseudo CallisThe conversation possibly never took place, but it is of interest in
133-4.
so far as it reflects beliefs which were familiar to the author of this ancient work.
His
thenes), pp.

Brahmans evidently believed that immortality was denied to ordinary men, and reserved
who was the representative of the deity, of course.
2
Aspects of Religious Belief and Practice in Babylonia and Assyria, Morris Jastrow, pp.

only for the king,

358-9.

DELUGE LEGEND

209

By disseminating the belief that the dead must be

buried with much ceremony, the priests secured great
power over the people, and extracted large fees.
In Egypt, on the other hand, the teachers of the
sun cult sold charms and received rewards to perform
ceremonies so that chosen worshippers might enter the
sun-barque of Ra; while the Osirian priests promised
the just and righteous that they would reach an agricultural Paradise

where they could

live

and work

as

on

earth,

but receive a greater return for their labour, the harvests

of the Otherworld being of unequalled abundance.
In the sacred books of India a number of Paradises

No human beings, however, entered

are referred to.
the Paradise of Varuna, who resembles the Sumerian
Ea-Oannes. The souls of the dead found rest and enin

joyment

the Paradise of

Yama, while "those kings

up their lives, without turning their backs on

the field of battle, attain", as the sage told a hero, "to
that yield

the mansion of Indra", which recalls the Valhal of Odin.

It will thus be seen that belief in
immortality was a tenet

of the Indian cults of Indra and Yama.

possible that the Gilgamesh epic in one of its
forms concluded when the hero reached the island of
It

is

Pir-napishtim, like the Indian Yama who "searched and

The Indian "Land of the
spied the path for many".
"
Pitris
(Ancestors), over which Yama presided, may be
compared to the Egyptian heaven of Osiris. It contains,

we

are told, "all kinds of enjoyable articles",

"sweet, juicy, agreeable and delicious edibles
.

and
.

also

floral

wreaths of the most delicious fragrance, and trees that

Thither go "all
yield fruits that are desired of them".
sinners

among human

beings, as also (those) that have

a suggestion that this

died during the winter solstice' 11

1

The Mahdbhdrata

(Sabha Parva section), Roy's translation, pp. 25-7.

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

210
Paradise was
deity

not

who took up

unconnected with the Tammuz-like

abode in the spirit land during the

his

barren season.

The view may be urged that in the Gilgamesh epic

we have a development of the Tammuz legend in its
heroic form.
Like Ishtar, when she descended to Hades,
King of Erech could not return to earth until he
had been sprinkled by the water of life.
No doubt, an
incident of this character occurred also in the original

the

Tammuz

The

of the god had to be renewed

before he could return.
Did he slumber, like one of the
Seven Sleepers, in Ea's house, and not awake again until
" the
he arrived as a child in his crescent moon boat
legend.

life

"

of the hymns like Scef, who came over

sunken boat
the waves to the land of the Scyldings ?
It seems remarkable that the doctrine of Eternal
Bliss, which obtained in Egypt on the one hand and in
India on the other, should never have been developed
among the Babylonians. Of course, our knowledge in
this connection is derived from the orthodox religious
texts.
Perhaps the great thinkers, whose influence can be
traced in the tendencies towards monotheism which became marked at various periods, believed in a Heaven for
the just and good. If they did, their teachings must have
It was exbeen suppressed by the mercenary priests.
tremely profitable for these priests to perpetuate the belief
that the spirits of the dead were consigned to a gloomy
Hades, where the degree of suffering which they endured

depended on the manner in which their bodies were disposed or upon earth. An orthodox funeral ceremony was
This is made evident by the inscripcostly at all times.
tions which record the social reforms of Urukagina, the
ill-fated patesi of Lagash.
When he came to the throne
he cut

down

the burial fees by

more than

a half.

"In

DELUGE LEGEND

211

the case of an ordinary burial," writes Mr. King, " when

a corpse was laid in a grave, it had been the custom for
the presiding priest to demand as a fee for himself seven
urns of wine or strong drink, four hundred and twenty
loaves of bread, one hundred and twenty measures of
corn, a garment, a kid, a bed, and a seat." The reformer
reduced the perquisites to " three urns of wine, eighty

loaves of bread, a bed, and a kid, while the fee of his

(the priest's) assistant was cut down from sixty to thirty

measures of corn". 1

The
reflected

conservative element in Babylonian religion is

by the burial customs. These did not change

Prehistoric Sumerian
greatly after the Neolithic period.
graves resemble closely those of pre-Dynastic Egypt.
The bodies of the dead were laid on their sides in

" beaker
or " drinking
",
posture, with a
Other vessels were
urn, beside the right hand.
cup
In
this
it
the
connection
near
head.
placed
may be noted
that the magic food prepared for Gilgamesh by Pircrouching
"

napishtim's wife,
his head.

when he

lay asleep,

was

also placed near

The

corpse was always decked with various ornaments,

As has been
including rings, necklaces, and armlets.

were worn by the living as charms, and,

no doubt, they served the same purpose for the dead.
This charm - wearing custom was condemned by the
Hebrew teachers. On one occasion Jacob commanded
his household to " put away the strange gods which were
in their hand, and all the ear-rings which were in their
ears ; and Jacob buried them under the oak which was
2
To Jacob, personal ornaments had quite
by Shechem".
indicated, these

evidently an idolatrous significance.

"
very typical class of grave furniture ", writes
2
Gene sit, xxxv,
A History of Sumer and Akkad, L. W. King, pp. 8 1-2.

Mr.
2-4.

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

212

King, "consisted of palettes, or colour dishes, made of

alabaster, often of graceful shape, and sometimes standing
on four feet.
There is no doubt as to their use, for
.

remains in many of them, generally black and

but
sometimes a light rose and light green."
yellow,
Palettes for face paint have also been found in many early
colour

still

Egyptian graves.
The gods had their faces painted like the living and
the dead and were similarly adorned with charms. In the
course of the daily service in the Egyptian temples an
important ceremony was "dressing the god with white,
green, bright-red, and dark-red sashes, and supplying two
In
kinds of ointment and black and green eye paint". 1
the word-picture of the Aryo-Indian Varuna's heaven in
the MahAbhdrata the deity is depicted "attired in celestial
robes and decked with celestial ornaments and jewels ".

His

attendants, the Adityas, appear

garlands and perfumed with

with

of

"adorned with celestial

and besmeared

celestial scents
2

Apparently the
"paste", like the face
Babylonians and
had
The
Picts of Scotprotective qualities.
Egyptians,
land may have similarly painted themselves to charm their
bodies against magical influences and the weapons of their
paste

enemies.

who was

celestial

fragrance".
paint of the

man was probably regarded as one

have good luck, being guarded against

painted

likely to

bad luck.

Weapons and implements were also laid in the

Sumerian graves, indicating a belief that the spirits of
the dead could not only protect themselves against their
enemies but also provide themselves with food.
The
of
fish-hooks
were
that
funerary gifts
spirits
suggests
expected to catch
1

fish

and thus obtain clean food, instead

The Religion of Ancient Egypt^ W. M. Flinders Petric, p. 72.

Sabha Parva section of the Mah&bh&rata (Roy's trans.), p. 29.

DELUGE LEGEND

213

of returning to disturb the living as they searched for the

remnants of the feast, like the Scottish Gunna,
perched alone
a chilly old grey stone,
Nibbling, nibbling at a bone

On

That we

'11

maybe throw away.

Some

bodies which were laid in Sumerian graves were

wrapped up in reed matting, a custom which suggests
that the reeds afforded protection or imparted magical

powers.
Magical ceremonies were performed in Babylonian reed huts.
As we have seen, Ea revealed the
"
"
of
the
purpose
gods, when they resolved to send a

by addressing the reed hut in which Pir-napishtim

lay asleep.
Possibly it was believed that the dead might
also have visions in their dreams which would reveal the
"
"
purpose of demons who were preparing to attack them.
In Syria it was customary to wrap the dead in a sheep
1
skin.
As priests and gods were clad in the skins of
animals from which their powers were derived, it is probable that the dead were similarly supposed to receive
flood,

The Highland seer

inspiration in their skin coverings.
was wrapped in a bull's skin and left all night beside a
stream so as to obtain knowledge of the future.
This
was a form of the Taghairm ceremony, which is referred
to by Scott in his " Lady of the Lake ". 2
The belief in
the magical influence of sacred clothing gave origin to
the priestly robes. When David desired to ascertain what
Saul intended to do he said, "Bring hither the ephod".
1

Myth and Legend,

Egyptian
2

Canto

iv

p.

214.

Last eventide

Brian an augury hath tried.

The Taghairm
Our

sires

called

by which

afar

foresaw the events of war.

Duncraggan's milk-white bull they slew.

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

2i 4

Then he came

to

know

that his

enemy had resolved

to

Elisha became a prophet when he re2

ceived Elijah's mantle.
Sometimes the bodies of the Sumerians were placed
attack Keilah.

The earlier type was of "bathsarcophagi of clay.

"
tub
round
and
flat-bottomed, with a rounded lid,
shape,
"
while the later was the
slipper-shaped coffin ", which was
in

ornamented with charms.

"
between the " bath-tub

There

a close resemblance
of Sumeria and the
Egyptian pottery coffins of oval shape found in Third
and Fourth Dynasty tombs in rock chambers near Nuerat.
is

coffins

Certain designs on wooden coffins, and tombs as early as

3
the First Dynasty, have direct analogies in Babylonia.
No great tombs were erected in Sumeria. The

were usually laid in brick vaults below dwellings,

or below temples, or in trenches outside the city walls.
On the " stele of victory ", which belongs to the period
of Eannatum, patesi of Lagash, the dead bodies on the
battlefield are piled up in pairs quite naked, and earth
is
being heaped over them ; this is a specimen of mound

coffins

burial.

According to Herodotus the Babylonians "buried

their dead in honey, and had funeral lamentations like the
4
The custom of preserving the body in this
Egyptians ",
manner does not appear to have been an ancient one, and
may have resulted from cultural contact with the Nile
So long as the
valley during the late Assyrian period.
bones were undisturbed, the spirit was supposed to be
assured of rest in the Underworld.
This archaic belief
was widespread, and finds an echo in the quaint lines
over Shakespeare's grave in Stratford church
1

2 /
/ Samuel, xxiii, 9-11.
Kings, xix, 19 and 2 Kings, ii, 13-15.
The Burial Customs of Ancient Egypt,
John Garstang, pp. 28, 29 (London, 1907).

Herod., book

i,

198.

2
B
U4

Q
w
N
<

8 *
"*
<
z

o
a,

DELUGE LEGEND

215

Good

friend, for Jesus' sake forbeare

dig the dust enclosed heare ;
Blest be the man that spares these stones,
And curst be he that moves my bones.

To

In Babylonia the return of the spirits of the dead was

Ishtar once uttered the terrible threat:
greatly dreaded.

"I

dead to rise ; they will then eat and live.

be more numerous than the living." When

will cause the

The dead will

was invaded, it was a common custom

tombs and scatter the bones they contained.
Probably it was believed, when such acts of
vandalism were committed, that the offended spirits would
Ghosts always haunted the homes
plague their kinsfolk.
and
once
lived
were as malignant as demons. It
in,
they
is
significant to find in this connection that the bodies of
enemies who were slain in battle were not given decent
burial, but mutilated and left for birds and beasts of prey
a foreign country
to break open the

to devour.

The demons

the living.
referred to

that plagued the dead

fragmentary narrative,
the " Cuthean

might also attack

which used to be
a

Legend of Creation ",

and has been shown by Mr. L. W. King to have no connection with the struggle between Merodach and the
2

dragon,

as

deals

with a

war waged by an ancient king

"
by the lord of heights,

against a horde of evil spirits, led

lord of the

Anunaki

Some of the

(earth spirits) ".

supernatural warriors had bodies like birds; others had "raven

had been " suckled by Tiamat ".

For three years the king sent out great armies to
attack the demons, but "none returned alive ".
Then
he decided to go forth himself to save his country from
So he prepared for the conflict, and took
destruction.
faces ",

ft

and

all

Records of the Past (old series),

2

sej.

L.

W.

xi, pp.

109

et

seq.>

and (new

King's The Seven Tablets of Creation.

series), vol.

i,

pp.

149

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

2i 6

the precaution of performing elaborate and therefore costly

religious rites so as to secure the co-operation of the gods.
His expedition was successful, for he routed the supernatural army.
victory

on
at

On

home, he recorded his great

which were placed in the shrine of

his return

tablets

Cuthah.

Nergal
This myth
Eresh-ki-gal.

be an echo of Nergal's raid against

Or, being associated with Cuthah, it may

may

have been composed to encourage burial in that city's

sacred cemetery, which had been cleared by the famous
old king of the evil demons which tormented the dead
and made seasonal attacks against the living.

CHAPTER X
Buildings and

Laws and Customs

of Babylon
Decline and Fall of Sumerian Kingdoms Elamites and Semites strive for
Supremacy Babylon's Walls, Gates, Streets, and Canals The Hanging Gardens
Merodach's Great Temple The Legal Code of Hammurabi The Marriage
Market Position of Women Marriage brought Freedom Vestal Virgins
Breach of Promise and Divorce Rights of Children Female Publicans
The Land Laws Doctors legislated out of Existence Folk Cures Spirits of

Worm "Touch

Disease expelled by Magical Charms The Legend of the

"
Iron
Curative Water Magical Origin of Poetry and Music.

THE

rise of Babylon inaugurated a new era in the history

of Western Asia.
Coincidentally the political power of
It had been paralysed
the Sumerians came to an end.
towards
the
the
close
of the Dynasty of
Elamites, who,
by
I sin,
successfully overran the southern district and endeavoured to extend their sway over the whole valley.
Two Elamite kings, Warad-Sin and his brother Rim-Sin,
struggled with the rulers of Babylon for supremacy, and
for a time it appeared as if the intruders from the East
were to establish themselves permanently as a military
But the Semites
aristocracy over Sumer and Akkad.
were strongly reinforced by new settlers of the same
blended stock who swarmed from the land of the AmoOnce again Arabia was pouring into Syria vast
rites.
hordes of its surplus population, with the result that
ethnic disturbances were constant and widespread.
This
is termed the Canaanitic or Amorite: it flowed
migration
into Mesopotamia and across Assyria, while it supplied
217

2i

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

the "driving power" which secured the ascendancy of

the Hammurabi Dynasty at Babylon.
Indeed, the ruling
is believed to
into
there
which
came
prominence
family

have been of Canaanitic origin.

Once Babylon became the metropolis

it

retained

its

Many political changes took

pre-eminence
place during its long and chequered history, but no rival
to its splendour and greatcity in the south ever attained
ness.
Whether its throne was occupied by Amorite or
Kassite, Assyrian or Chaldean, it was invariably found
to be the most effective centre of administration for the
lower Tigro-Euph rates valley.
Some of the Kassite
until the end.

monarchs, however, showed a preference for Nippur.

Of its early history little is known. It was overshadowed in turn by Kish and Umma, Lagash and Erech,
and may have been little better than a great village when
Akkad

rose into prominence.

Sargon I, the royal garhimself in its developto
have
interested
dener, appears
for
it
was
that
he
cleared its trenches
recorded
ment,

and strengthened

its

fortifications.

The

city

occupied

a strategic position, and probably assumed importance

on that account as well as a trading and industrial centre.

Considerable wealth had accumulated at Babylon

the Dynasty of Ur reached the zenith of its power.
"
its famous
recorded that

when
It is

Temple
King Dungi plundered
of the High Head", E-sagila, which some identify with
the Tower of Babel, so as to secure treasure for Ea's
His vantemple at Eridu, which he specially favoured.
dalistic raid, like that of the Gutium, or men of Kutu,
was remembered for long centuries afterwards, and the
city god was invoked at the time to cut short his days.

No
the

doubt, Hammurabi's Babylon closely resembled

later city so
vividly described by Greek writers,

although

it

was probably not of such great dimensions.

BUILDINGS AND LAWS OF BABYLON

219

According to Herodotus, it occupied an exact square on

the broad plain, and had a circumference of sixty of our
" While such is its
miles.
size/' the historian wrote,
"in magnificence there is no other city that approaches
Its walls were eighty-seven feet thick and three
to it."
hundred and fifty feet high, and each side of the square
was fifteen miles in length. The whole city was surrounded by a deep, broad canal or moat, and the river

Euphrates ran through it.

U
"Here", continued Herodotus, I may not omit to
tell the use to which the mould dug out of the great
moat was turned, nor the manner in which the wall was
wrought. As fast as they dug the moat the soil which
they got from the cutting was made into bricks, and
when a sufficient number were completed they baked the
Then they set to building, and began
bricks in kilns.
with bricking the borders of the moat, after which they
proceeded to construct the wall itself, using throughout
cement hot bitumen, and interposing a layer of
wattled reeds at every thirtieth course of the bricks. On
for their

the top, along the edges of the wall, they constructed

buildings of a single chamber facing one another, leaving
between them room for a four-horse chariot to turn. In

the circuit of the wall are a hundred gates, all of brass,

with brazen lintels and side posts." 1
These were the
gates referred to by Isaiah
I

when God

called

Cyrus

will loose the loins of kings, to open before him the two
and the gates shall not be shut: I will go before

leaved gates;

and make the crooked places straight; I will break in pieces

the gates of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron. 2

thee,

The

outer wall was the main defence of the

there was
1

also

Hcrodofus,

(0042)

book

city,

an inner wall less thick but not

i,

179 (Rawlinson's translation).

but

much

Isaiah^ xlv, i, 2.

17

220

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

inferior in strength.
division of the city.

In addition, a fortress stood in each

king's palace and the temple of

The

Bel Merodach were surrounded by walls.

All the main streets were perfectly straight, and each
crossed the city from gate to gate, a distance of fifteen
miles, half of them being interrupted by the river, which

As there were twenty-five gates on

to be ferried.
each side of the outer wall, the great thoroughfares numbered fifty in all, and there were six hundred and seventy-

had

six squares, each

over two miles in circumference.

Herodotus we gather

From

were three or four

stories high, suggesting that the tenement system was
not unknown, and according to Q. Curtius, nearly half
of the area occupied by the city was taken up by gardens
that the houses

within the squares.

In Greek times Babylon was famous for the hanging
or terraced gardens of the "new palace ", which had been
erected by Nebuchadnezzar II.

These occupied a square

which was more than a quarter of a mile in circumference.

Great stone terraces, resting on arches, rose up like a
giant stairway to a height of about three hundred and
and the whole structure was strengthened by
fifty feet,
a surrounding wall over twenty feet in thickness.
So
the
of
on
were
mould
terrace
fruit
each
that
deep
layers

were grown amidst the plants of luxuriant foliage

and the brilliant Asian flowers. Water for irrigating the
gardens was raised from the river by a mechanical contrivance to a great cistern situated on the highest terrace,
and it was prevented from leaking out of the soil by
layers of reeds and bitumen and sheets of lead.
Spacious
furnished
and
decorated, were
apartments, luxuriously
constructed in the spaces between the arches and were
festooned by flowering creepers.
A broad stairway
ascended from terrace to terrace.
trees

BUILDINGS AND LAWS OF BABYLON

221

The

old palace stood in a square nearly four miles in

circumference, and was strongly protected by three walls,
which were decorated by sculptures in low relief, representing battle scenes and scenes of the chase and royal
ceremonies.
Winged bulls with human heads guarded
the main entrance.

Another architectural feature of the

city

was E-sagila,

Merodach, known to the Greeks as

"
The
Jupiter-Belus".
high wall which enclosed it had
gates of solid brass. "In the middle of the precinct",
the temple of Bel

wrote Herodotus, " there was a tower of solid masonry, a

furlong in length and breadth, upon which was raised a
second tower, and on that a third, and so on up to eight.
ascent to the top is on the outside, by a path which

The

winds round all the towers. When one is about halfway

up, one finds a resting-place and seats, where persons are
wont to sit some time on their way to the summit. On
the topmost tower there is a spacious temple, and inside
the temple stands a couch of unusual size, richly adorned,
with a golden table by its side.
There is no statue of
kind
set
in
the
is the chamber
nor
any
up
place,
occupied
of nights by anyone but a single native woman, who, as
the Chaldseans, the priests of this god, affirm, is chosen for
himself by the deity out of all the women of the land."
A woman who was the "wife of Amon" also slept in
that god's temple at Thebes in Egypt.
A similar custom
was observed in Lycia.
"
Below, in the same precinct," continued Herodotus,
" there is a second
temple, in which is a sitting figure of
all of
Before the figure stands a large
Jupiter,
gold.
the
and
throne
whereon it sits, and the base
golden table,
the
is
throne
on which
placed, are likewise of pure
Outside
the
temple are two altars, one of
gold.
.

solid gold,

on which

it

is

only lawful to offer sucklings

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

222

the other, a common altar, but of great size, on which

the full-grown animals are sacrificed.
It is also on the
altar that the Chaldaeans burn the frankincense,
great

which

is

offered to the

amount of

a thousand talents'

the festival of the god.

In the
weight, every
time of Cyrus there was likewise in this temple a figure
of a man, twelve cubits high, entirely of solid gold.
year, at

Besides the ornaments which

are

number of

a large

private

have mentioned, there

offerings

in

this

holy

precinct."

The city wall and river gates were closed every night,
and when Babylon was besieged the people were able to
The gardens and small farms were
feed themselves.
irrigated by canals, and canals also controlled the flow of
A great dam had been formed
the river Euphrates.
above the town to store the surplus water during inundation and increase the supply when the river sank to its
lowest.

In

Hammurabi's time the

river

was crossed by ferry

boats, but long ere the Greeks visited the city a great
bridge had been constructed. So completely did the fierce
Sennacherib destroy the city, that most of the existing
2

ruins date from the period of Nebuchadnezzar II.

Our knowledge of the social life of Babylon and the

derived chiefly from the

which an almost complete
copy was discovered at Susa, towards the end of 1901,
by the De Morgan expedition. The laws were inscribed
on a stele of black diorite 7 ft. 3 in. high, with a circumference at the base of 6 ft. 2 in. and at the top of 5 ft.
This important relic of an ancient law-abiding
4 in.
been broken in three pieces, but when these
had
people
territory

under

its

control

Hammurabi Code of

laws, of

He rodotus, book

History

is

i, 181-3 (Rawlinson's translation).

ofSumer and Akkad, L. W. King, p. 37.

Photo. Giraudo

STELE OF HAMMURABI, WITH

(Louvre;

Paris')

CODE OF LAWS"

BUILDINGS AND LAWS OF BABYLON

223

was found that the text was not

one
side are twenty-eight columns
impaired.
and on the other sixteen. Originally there were in all
nearly 4000 lines of inscriptions, but five columns, comprising about 300 lines, had been erased to give space,
it is
conjectured, for the name of the invader who carried
the stele away, but unfortunately the record was never
made.
On the upper part of the stele, which is now one of
the treasures of the Louvre, Paris, King Hammurabi
salutes, with his right hand reverently upraised, the sun
god Shamash, seated on his throne, at the summit of

were joined together

it

On

much

by
with which
E-sagila,

whom

he

is

being presented with the stylus

to inscribe the legal code.

Both

figures are

heavily bearded, but have shaven lips and chins. The god
wears a conical headdress and a flounced robe suspended

from his left shoulder, while the king has assumed a

round dome-shaped hat and a flowing garment which
almost sweeps the ground.
It is

gathered from the Code that there were three

the aristocracy, which included land-

chief social grades

owners, high officials and administrators; the freemen, who

might be wealthy merchants or small landholders; and

The fines imposed

men were much heavier

the slaves.

wealthy

the poor.

for a given offence upon

than those imposed upon
Lawsuits were heard in courts. Witnesses

were required to tell the truth, "affirming before the god

what they knew", and perjurers were severely dealt with;
a

man who gave

false

evidence in connection with a capital

A strict watch was also kept

charge was put to death.
over the judges, and if one was found to have willingly
convicted a prisoner on insufficient evidence he was fined
and degraded.
Theft was regarded as a heinous crime, and was invari-

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

224

Thieves included those who made

minors
or
from
slaves without the sanction of
purchases
elders or trustees.
Sometimes the accused was given the
alternative of paying a fine, which might exceed by ten or
even thirty fold the value of the article or animal he had
appropriated. It was imperative that lost property should
If the owner of an article of which he had
be restored.
been wrongfully deprived found it in possession of a man
who declared that he had purchased it from another, evidence was taken in court. When it happened that the
seller was proved to have been the thief, the capital
On the other hand, the alleged
penalty was imposed.
with
in like manner if he failed to
was
dealt
purchaser
ably punished by death.

Compensation for property stolen by a

prove his case.
was
paid by the temple, and the heirs of a man
brigand
slain by a brigand within the city had to be compensated
by the local authority.

Of

special interest are the laws which relate to the

In this connection reference may
position of women.
first

be made to the marriage-by-auction custom, which

" Once a
in each
as follows

Herodotus described

:
year
of
to
maidens
the
age
marry were collected all
village
together into one place, while the men stood round them

in a circle.

Then

a herald called

by one, and offered them

the most beautiful.

sum of money, he

When
offered

for

up the damsels one

sale.

He

began with

she was sold for no small

for sale the

one

who came

next to her in beauty.

All of them were sold to be
The richest of the Babylonians who wished to
wives.
wed bid against each other for the loveliest maidens, while
the humbler wife - seekers, who were indifferent about
beauty, took the more homely damsels with marriage

For the custom was that when the herald

had gone through the whole number of the beautiful

portions.

BUILDINGS AND LAWS OF BABYLON

225

a cripple,
damsels, he should then call up the ugliest
and offer her to the men,
if there chanced to be one

asking

who would

agree to take her with the smallest

And the man who offered to take

marriage portion.
The marriage
the smallest sum had her assigned to him.
for
the beautithe
furnished
were
money paid
portions
by
ful damsels, and thus the fairer maidens portioned out
No one was allowed to give his daughter in
the uglier.
man of his choice, nor might anyone carry
the
to
marriage
away the damsel whom he had purchased without finding

and truly to make her his wife; if, however, it

turned out that they did not agree, the money might be
All who liked might come, even from distant
paid back.

bail really

and bid
This custom

villages,

for the

women/ 11

mentioned by other writers, but it is

impossible to ascertain at what period it became prevalent
in Babylonia and by whom it was introduced. Herodotus
understood that it obtained also in " the Illyrian tribe of
the Eneti", which was reputed to have entered Italy with
Antenor after the fall of Troy, and has been identified
with the Venetians of later times.
But the ethnic clue
thus afforded is exceedingly vague.
There is no direct
reference to the custom in the Hammurabi Code, which
reveals a curious blending of the principles of " Father
A girl was subject to
and "Mother right".
right
her father's will; he could dispose of her as he thought
best, and she always remained a member of his family;
after marriage she was known as the
daughter of so and
so rather than the wife of so and so.
But marriage
freedom
her
and
the
of
The
brought
rights
citizenship.
in
her
vested
father
was
never transferred to her
power
is

1 '

husband.

had the right

father
1

Herodotus, book

i,

to select a suitable
spouse for

196 (Ravvlinson's translation).

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

226

his daughter, and she could

That this law did not
sent.

made
Code

not marry without his con-

prevent "love matches"

is

evident by the fact that provision was made in the

for the marriage of a free woman with a male slave,

part of

whose

estate in the event of his wife's death could

be claimed by his master.

When a betrothal was arranged, the father fixed the

"bride price ", which was paid over before the contract
The
could be concluded, and he also provided a dowry.
"
amount of the bride price" might, however, be refunded
to give them a start in life.
If,
betrothal
and
the
interval
between
the
marriage,
during
man "looked upon another woman", and said to his

to the

young couple

father-in-law, "I will not marry "your daughter", he

the "bride price" for breach of promise of

forfeited

marriage.

girl

might also obtain a limited degree of freedom

by taking vows of celibacy and becoming one of the

sun god.
seclusion.

vestal

who were

attached to the temple of the

She did not, however, live a life of entire
If she received her due proportion of her

virgins, or nuns,

father's estate, she could

make

business investments within

She was not, for instance, allowed to own

if she even entered one she was burned
Once she took these vows she had to observe
the end of her days.
If she married, as she

certain limits.
a wineshop,
at the stake.

them

until

and

might do to obtain the legal status of a married woman

and enjoy the privileges of that position, she denied her
husband conjugal rites, but provided him with a concubine

who might bear him children, as Sarah did to Abraham.

These nuns must not be confused with the unmoral
women who were associated with the temples of Ishtar
and other love goddesses of shady repute.
The freedom secured by a married woman had its

BUILDINGS AND LAWS OF BABYLON

legal limitations.

If she

became a widow,

227

for instance,

she could not remarry without the consent of a judge,

to whom she was expected to show good cause for the

Punishments for breaches

step she proposed to take.
of the marriage law were severe. Adultery was a capital
crime; the guilty parties were bound together and thrown
into the river.
If it happened, however, that the wife of

went to reside with another man on account of

poverty, she was acquitted and allowed to return to her
husband after his release. In cases where no plea of
poverty could be urged the erring women were drowned.
The wife of a soldier who had been taken prisoner by
an enemy was entitled to a third part of her husband's
estate if her son was a minor, the remainder was held
The husband could enter into possession
in trust.
of all his property again if he happened to return
home.
Divorce was easily obtained. A husband might send
his wife away either because she was childless or because
a prisoner

woman. Incompatibility of
also
was
temperament
recognized as sufficient reason for
A woman might hate her husband and wish
separation.
"
to leave him.
If", the Code sets forth, "she is careful
and is without blame, and is neglected by her husband
who has deserted her", she can claim release from the
But if she is found to have another
marriage contract.
and
is
of
lover,
guilty
neglecting her duties, she is liable
he

fell

in love with another

to be put to death.

woman possessed her own property. Invalue

of her marriage dowry was always vested
deed, the
in her.
When, therefore, she divorced her husband, or
married

was divorced by him, she was entitled to have her dowry

refunded and to return to her father's house. Apparently
she could claim maintenance from her father.

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

228

A woman

could have only one husband, but a man

He might marry a
have more than one wife.
because
he was without
or
concubine,
secondary wife,
"
the concubine ", the Code lays down,
offspring, but
" shall not rank with the wife ".
Another reason for

could

second marriage recognized by law was a wife's state of

In such circumstances a man could not divorce
health.
his sickly wife.
He had to support her in his house as
long as she lived.
Children were the heirs of their parents, but

if a

man

during his lifetime gifted his property to his wife, and

confirmed it on "a sealed tablet ", the children could have
no claim, and the widow was entitled to leave her estate
to those of her children she preferred; but she could not
any portion of it to her brothers. In ordinary cases
the children of a first marriage shared equally the estate
will

of a father with those of a second marriage. If a slave

bore children to her employer, their right to inheritance
depended on whether or not the father had recognized
them as his offspring during his lifetime. A father might
legally disown his son if the young man was guilty of
criminal practices.

The
detail.

legal rights of a vestal virgin were set forth in

If she had received no dowry from her father

when she took vows of

celibacy, she could claim after his

She could will

death one-third of the portion of a son.
her estate to anyone she favoured, but if she died intestate
her brothers were her heirs.
When, however, her estate
consisted of fields or gardens allotted to her by her father,
she could not disinherit her legal heirs. The fields or gar-

dens might be worked during her lifetime by her brothers

they paid rent, or she might employ a manager on the
" share
system ".
Vestal virgins and married women were protected

if

BUILDINGS AND LAWS OF BABYLON

against the slanderer.

229
"

Any man who "pointed

the finger
with
the
them
offence
was
unjustifiably
charged
against
before a judge, who could sentence him to have his fore-

head branded.

It

was not

Babylonia to discover the

difficult, therefore, in

men who made

ancient

malicious and

unfounded statements regarding an innocent woman.

Assaults on women were punished according to the victim's rank; even slaves were protected.

Women

appear to have monopolized the drink

traffic.

no reference to male wine sellers. A

At any rate, there
female publican had to conduct her business honestly, and
was bound to accept a legal tender. If she refused corn
and demanded silver, when the value of the silver by
"
was below the price of corn, she was
"grand weight
and
prosecuted
punished by being thrown into the water.
she
was
As much may be inPerhaps
simply ducked.
ferred from the fact that when she was found guilty of
allowing rebels to meet in her house, she was put to
is

death.

The land laws were strict and exacting. A tenant

could be penalized for not cultivating his holding proThe rent paid was a proportion of the crop, but
perly.
the proportion could be fixed according to the average
yield of a district, so that a careless or inefficient tenant

had to bear the brunt of

his

neglect or want of

skill.

The punishment for allowing a field to lie fallow was to

make a man hoe and sow it and then hand it over to
his landlord, and this applied even to a man who leased
unreclaimed land which he had contracted to cultivate.

Damage done to fields by floods after the rent was paid

was borne by the cultivator; but if it occurred before the
corn was reaped the landlord's share was calculated in
proportion to the amount of the yield which was recovered.
Allowance was also made for poor harvests, when the

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

230

shortage was not due to the neglect of the tenant, but

and no interest was paid for borrowed

if the farm suffered from the
even
money
depredations
of the tempest god; the moneylender had to share risks
with borrowers.
Tenants who neglected their dykes,
were
not
however,
exempted from their legal liabilities,
and their whole estates could be sold to reimburse their
to other causes,

creditors.

The industrious were protected against the careless.

Men who were negligent about controlling the water
supply, and caused floods by opening irrigation ditches
which damaged the crops of their neighbours, had to pay
/or the losses sustained, the damages being estimated
A tenant
according to the average yield of a district.
who allowed his sheep to stray on to a neighbour's
pasture had to pay a heavy fine in corn at the harvest
season, much in excess of the value of the grass cropped
by his sheep. Gardeners were similarly subject to strict
All business contracts had to be conducted accordlaws.
ing to the provisions of the Code, and in every case it
was necessary that a proper record should be made on
As a rule a dishonest tenant or trader had
clay tablets.
to pay sixfold the value of the sum under dispute if the

judge decided in court against his claim.

The law of an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth
A freeman who
was strictly observed in Babylonia.
an
of
a
freeman
had
of his own
one
destroyed
eye
if he broke a bone, he had a bone broken.
destroyed;
Fines were imposed, however, when a slave was injured.
For striking a gentleman, a commoner received sixty
lashes, and the son who smote his father had his hands
cut off. A slave might have his ears cut off for assaulting
his master's son.

Doctors must have found their profession an extremely

BUILDINGS AND LAWS OF BABYLON

risky one.

No

allowance was

made

known

as a "professional error ".

cut off

if

he opened a

wound

for

what

is

231

nowadays

doctor's hands were

with a metal knife and his

patient afterwards died, or if a man lost his eye as the

slave who died under a doctor's
result of an operation.
hands had to be replaced by a slave, and if a slave lost

eye, the doctor had to pay half the man's market

Professional fees were fixed accordvalue to the owner.
his

ing to a patient's rank. Gentlemen had to pay five shekels

of silver to a doctor who set a bone or restored diseased
flesh,

slaves

commoners three shekels, and masters for their

two shekels. There was also a scale of fees for
and

was not overAn unfortunate surgeon who undertook to

generous.
treat an ox or ass suffering from a severe wound had to
pay a quarter of its price to its owner if it happened, to
A shrewd farmer who was threatened with the loss
die.
of an animal must have been extremely anxious to engage
treating

domesticated

animals,

it

the services of a surgeon.

It is not surprising, after reviewing this part of the

Hammurabi Code,

to find Herodotus stating bluntly that

"When a man is
the Babylonians had no physicians.
him
in
the
ill", he wrote, "they lay
public square, and
the passers-by come up to him, and if they have ever had
his disease themselves, or

have known anyone

who

has

it,
they give him advice, recommending
do whatever they found good in their own case,

suffered from

him

to

or in the case

known

to

them; and no one

is

allowed to

pass the sick man in silence without asking him what

One might imagine that Hammurabi
his ailment is."
had legislated the medical profession out of existence,

were

not that letters have been found in the Assyrian

library of Ashur-banipal which indicate that skilled phyIt is improbable, howsicians were held in high repute.
it

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

232

were numerous. The risks they ran in

account for their ultimate disappearance

ever, that they

Babylonia

may

in that country.

No

doubt patients received some benefit from exand fresh air, and
posure
of
old
the
wives'
from
remedies which
some
perhaps, too,
were gratuitously prescribed by passers-by. In Egypt,
where certain of the folk cures were recorded on papyri,
quite effective treatment was occasionally given, although
the "medicines" were exceedingly repugnant as a rule;
ammonia, for instance, was taken with the organic substances found in farmyards.
Elsewhere some wonderful
instances of excellent folk cures have come to light,
in the streets in the sunlight

especially

among

them interwoven

isolated
in their

peoples,

who

immemorial

have received

traditions.

A medi-

man who

has investigated this interesting subject in

the Scottish Highlands has shown that "the simple obsercal

vation of the people was the starting-point of our fuller

knowledge, however complete we may esteem it to be ".

For dropsy and heart troubles, foxglove, broom tops, and
juniper berries, which have reputations "as old as the
are " the most reliable medicines in our scientific
hills
",

armoury

at the

present time

".

These discoveries of the

ancient folks have been "merely elaborated in later days".

Ancient cures for indigestion are still in use. "Tar water,
which was a remedy for chest troubles, especially for those

of a consumptive nature, has endless imitations in our

day"; it was also "the favourite remedy for skin diseases".
No doubt the present inhabitants of Babylonia, who utilize
bitumen as a germicide, are perpetuating an ancient folk
custom.
This medical man who is being quoted adds: "The
whole matter may be summed up, that we owe infinitely

more

to the simple nature study of

our people

in

the

BUILDINGS AND LAWS OF BABYLON

great affair
1
science."

of health

than

we owe

to

all

the

233
later

Herodotus, commenting on the custom of patients

taking a census of folk cures in the streets, said it was
one of the wisest institutions of the Babylonian people.
It is to be
regretted that he did not enter into details
regarding the remedies which were in greatest favour in
his day.
His data would have been useful for comparative purposes.
So far as can

cures were not

quackery.

be gathered from the clay

unknown, and there was

tablets, faith

good deal of

If surgery declined, as a result of the severe

which hampered progress in an honourable

Indeed,
profession, magic flourished like tropical fungi.
the worker of spells was held in high repute, and his
There
operations were in most cases allowed free play.
are only two paragraphs in the Hammurabi Code which
deal with magical practices.
It is set forth that if one
man cursed another and the curse could not be justified,
the perpetrator of it must suffer the death penalty.
Provision was also made for discovering whether a spell had
been legally imposed or not. The victim was expected
restrictions

plunge himself in a holy river. If the river carried

it was held as
proved that he deserved his
"
"
the layer of the spell
was given
punishment, and
of
A
the
victim's
man
who
house.
could
possession
swim was deemed to be innocent ; he claimed the residence of " the layer of the spell ", who was promptly put
to death.
With this interesting glimpse of ancient superstition the famous Code
opens, and then strikes a modern
to

him away

note by detailing the punishments for

perjury and the
administration
of
law
in
courts.
the
unjust
1

et

Home

sey.

Life of the Highlanders (Dr.

Glasgow, 1911.

Cameron

Gillies

on Medical Knowledge),

pp. 8 5

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

234

The poor
to

sufferers

make mute

who

gathered at street corners in

appeal for cures believed that they

Babylon
were possessed by evil spirits. Germs of disease were
depicted by lively imaginations as invisible demons, who
When a
derived nourishment from the human body.
with
and
thinner
was
wasted
disease, growing
patient
weaker and more bloodless day by day, it was believed
that a merciless vampire was sucking his veins and deIt had therefore to be expelled by
vouring his flesh.
performing a magical ceremony and repeating a magical
The demon was either driven or enticed away.
formula.
A magician had to decide in the first place what parHe then compelled its
ticular demon was working evil.
attention and obedience by detailing its attributes and
methods of attack, and perhaps by naming it. Thereafter
he suggested how it should next act by releasing a raven,
so that it might soar towards the clouds like that bird, or
by offering up a sacrifice which it received for nourishment and as compensation.
Another popular method
was to fashion a waxen figure of the patient and prevail
The figure was
upon the disease demon to enter it.
then carried away to be thrown in the river or burned
in

fire.

Occasionally a quite effective cure was included in

As much is suggested by the magical
the ceremony.
treatment of toothache.
First of all the magician identi-

" the

worm ". Then he rewhich is as follows After Anu created

the heavens, the heavens created the earth, the earth
fied the

toothache

cited its history,

demon

as

created the rivers, the rivers created the canals, the canals
created the marshes, and last of all the marshes created

"the worm".
This display of knowledge compelled the worm
listen, and no doubt the patient was able to indicate

to

to

BUILDINGS AND LAWS OF BABYLON

235

agitated mind.

The

it
gave evidence of
continued
magician

what degree

its

Came
Before

the

worm and wept

Ea came

her tears

before Shamash,

"

What wilt thou give me for my food,

What wilt thou give me to devour?"

One

of the deities answered

bones and scented

"
:

will give thee dried

wood"; but

the hungry

worm

protested
"
Nay, what are these dried bones of thine to me?
Let me drink among the teeth
And set me on the gums
:

That

may devour

the blood of the teeth,

And of their gums destroy

Then shall I hold the bolt

their strength
of the door."

" the worm

", and
magician provided food for
"
Mix beer, the plant sa-kilthe following is his recipe
bir, and oil together
put it on the tooth and repeat In-

The

No

doubt this mixture soothed the pain, and

the sufferer must have smiled gladly when the magician
finished his incantation by exclaiming:

cantation."

" So must thou

say

May Ea

this,

O Worm

smite thee with the might of his

fist."

Headaches were no doubt much relieved when damp

wrapped round a patient's head and scented
wood was burned beside him, while the magician, in
whom so much faith was reposed, droned out a mystical
incantation.
The curative water was drawn from the
confluence of two streams and was sprinkled with much
ceremony. In like manner the evil-eye curers, who still
cloths were

Translations by R. C.

Ixiii ft

Thompson

in

The Devils and

Spirits

of Babylon, vol.

!cq.

(0642)

18

i,

pp.

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

236

operate in isolated districts in these islands, draw water

from under bridges " over which the dead and the living

and mutter charms and lustrate victims.

Headaches were much dreaded by the Babylonians.
They were usually the first symptoms of fevers, and the
demons who caused them were supposed to be bloodthirsty and exceedingly awesome.
According to the
charms, these invisible enemies of man were of the brood
No house could be protected against them.
of Nergal.
They entered through keyholes and chinks of doors and
windows ; they crept like serpents and stank like mice
they had lolling tongues like hungry dogs.
pass

",*

Magicians baffled the demons by providing a charm.

If a patient "touched iron"
meteoric iron, which was
"
relief could be obtained.
the " metal of heaven
Or,
perhaps, the sacred water would dispel the evil one ; as
the drops trickled from the patient's face, so would the

When a pig was offered up in

fever spirit trickle away.
sacrifice as a substitute for a patient, the wicked spirit was
commanded to depart and allow a kindly spirit to take
its

place

an indication that the Babylonians, like the

Germanic peoples, believed that they were guarded by

who brought good luck.
spirits
The numerous incantations which were inscribed on
clay tablets and treasured in libraries, do not throw much
light on the progress of medical knowledge, for the
genuine folk cures were regarded as of secondary imBut these
portance, and were not as a rule recorded.
metrical compositions are of special interest, in so far as
they indicate how poetry originated and achieved wideLike the
spread popularity among ancient peoples.
religious dance, the earliest

purposes.

poems were used

They were composed

1

Bridges which

in

the

lead to graveyards.

first

for magical

place

by men

BUILDINGS AND LAWS OF BABYLON

and

women who were supposed

literal

sense

that

is,

to be inspired in

by

possessed

spirits.

the

Primitive

" breath
associated "spirit" with
", which
" air of life
The
", and identical with wind.

man

magician- drew

237

was the
poetical

"

spirit ", and thus received inspirahe stood on some sacred spot on the mountain

tion, as

summit,

in a

amidst

forest

beside

solitudes,

whispering

As Burns has sung

stream, or on the sounding shore.

The

muse, nae poet ever fand her,

Till by himseP he learn'd to wander,
Adown some trottin' burn's meander,

An' no think lang

O sweet
A

to stray, an' pensive

heart-felt sang!

ponder

Or, perhaps, the bard received inspiration by drinking

magic water from the fountain called Hippocrene, or the
skaldic

mead which dripped from

The

the

moon.

ancient poet did not sing for the

mere love of

singing: he knew nothing about "Art for Art's sake".

His object in singing appears to have been intensely

The world was inhabited by countless hordes

which
were believed to be ever exercising themspirits,
selves to influence mankind.
The spirits caused suffer-

practical.

of

;
they slew victims
they brought misfortune they
were also the source of good or " luck ".
Man regarded
spirits emotionally; he conjured them with emotion; he
warded off their attacks with emotion and his emotions
were given rhythmical expression by means of metrical

ing

magical charms.
Poetic imagery had originally a magical significance ;
if the ocean was
compared to a dragon, it was because it

was supposed to be inhabited by a storm-causing dragon ;

the wind
whispered because a spirit whispered in it.

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

238

Love

were charms to compel the love god to

lyrics

wound

or possess a maiden's heart

to fill it, as an Indian
sets forth, with "the yearning of the Apsaras

charm

satires

conjured up evil

(fairies)

";

victim

and heroic narratives chanted

spirits to injure a
at graves were state-

ments made to the god of battle, so that he might award

the mighty dead by transporting him to the Valhal of

Odin

or Swarga of Indra.

music had magical origin as an imitation

of the voices of spirits of the piping birds who were
" Fates
", of the wind high and low, of the thunder roll,
of the bellowing sea. So the god Pan piped on his reed
bird-like notes, Indra blew his thunder horn, Thor used
his hammer like a drumstick, Neptune imitated on his
"wreathed horn" the voice of the deep, the Celtic oak
god Dagda twanged his windy wooden harp, and Angus,
the Celtic god of spring and love, came through budding
forest ways with a silvern harp which had strings of gold,
Similarly,

echoing the tuneful birds, the purling streams, the whispering winds, and the rustling of scented fir and blossoming thorn.

Modern-day poets and

and

cast

the

singers,

of their

spell

who

voice their

moods over

moods

readers

and

audiences, are the representatives of ancient magicians

who believed that moods were caused by the spirits

which possessed them the rhythmical wind spirits, those

harpers of the forest and songsters of ocean.
The following quotations from Mr. R. C. Thompson's
translations of Babylonian charms will serve to illustrate
their poetic qualities

Fever

like frost

hath come upon the land.

Fever hath blown upon the man as the wind blast,

hath smitten the man and humbled his pride.

It

BUILDINGS AND LAWS OF BABYLON

Headache
praise

heaven

lieth like the stars of

239

and hath no

in the desert

Pain in the head and shivering like a scudding cloud turn unto
the form of man.

Headache whose course

like the dread

Headache roareth over the

Flashing like lightning,

blowing

like the

Its

And
Sickness

Flashing

shape

appearance

its

is

as the

is

whirlwind.

as the

face as the deep

like a

hath descended upon the land.

Headache ... a rushing hag-demon,

Granting no rest, nor giving kindly sleep

Whose

wind,

loosed above and below,

feareth not his god, like a reed

it is

him, who
From amid mountains it

It cutteth off

desert,

windstorm none knoweth.

darkening heavens,
shadow of the forest.

breaking the fingers as a rope of wind

heavenly star, it cometh like the dew.

These early poets had no canons of Art, and there

were no critics to disturb their meditations. Many singers
had to sing and die ere a critic could find much to say.
In ancient times, therefore, poets had their Golden Age
Even the "minors"
they were a law unto themselves.
were

influential

members of

society.

CHAPTER
The Golden Age
Rise of the Sun

XI

of Babylonia

God

Amorites and Elamites struggle for Ascendancy

Hammurabi Sunierian Cities Destroyed
Widespread Race Movements Phoenician Migration from Persian Gulf
Wanderings of Abraham and Lot Biblical References to Hittites and Amorites
Battles of Four Kings with Five
Amraphel, Arioch, and Tidal Hammurabi's Brilliant Reign
Elanrke Power Stamped Out
Babylon's Great
General and Statesman The Growth of Commerce, Agriculture, and EducaAn Ancient School Business and Private Correspondence
tion
Love

The Conquering

Ancestors of

Letter

The

Postal System

Sealand Dynasty

Hammurabi's Successors
The Earliest Kassites
Hittite Raid on Babylon and Hyksos Invasion of

Egypt.

SUN worship came

into prominence in its most fully

form
developed
during the obscure period which followed
This was probably
the decline of the Dynasty of Ism.
due to the changed political conditions which brought
about the ascendancy for a time of Larsa, the seat of the
Sumerian sun cult, and of Sippar, the seat of the Akkadian
sun cult. Larsa was selected as the capital of the Ela-

mite conquerors, while their rivals, the Amorites, appear to

have first established their power at Sippar.
Babbar, the sun god of Sippar, whose Semitic name
was Shamash, must have been credited with the early
successes of the Amorites, who became domiciled under
his care, and it was possibly on that account that the ruling
family subsequently devoted so much attention to his
worship in Merodach's city of Babylon, where a sun
temple was erected, and Shamash received devout recog240

THE GOLDEN AGE OF BABYLONIA

241

and law, who

and firmly governed

nition as an abstract deity of righteousness

reflected the ideals of well organized

communities.

The first Amoritic king was Sumu-abum, but

known regarding him except that he reigned at

little is

Sippar.

He

was succeeded by Sumu-la-ilu, a deified monarch,

who moved from Sippar to Babylon, the great wall of
which he either repaired or entirely reconstructed in his
fifth year.
With these two monarchs began the brilliant
Hammurabi, or First Dynasty of Babylonia, which endured
for three centuries.
Except Sumu-abum, who seems to
stand alone, all its kings belonged to the same family, and
son succeeded father in unbroken succession.
Sumu-la-ilu was evidently a great general and conHis
queror of the type of Thothmes III of Egypt.
it is
of
states
believed, included the rising city
empire,
Assyria, and extended southward as far as ancient Lagash.
Of special interest on religious as well as political
That city had
grounds was his association with Kish.
become the stronghold of a rival family of Amoritic kings,
some of whom were powerful enough to assert their
independence.
They formed the Third Dynasty of Kish.

The

god was Zamama, the Tammuz-like deity, who,

Nin-Girsu of Lagash, was subsequently identified
with Merodach of Babylon.
But prominence was also
given to the moon god Nannar, to whom a temple had
been erected, a fact which suggests that sun worship was
local

like

more pronounced among the Semites than the

Arabians, and may not, indeed, have been of Semitic
not

Perhaps the lunar temple was a relic of the

Dynasty of Ur.
Sumu-la-ilu attacked and captured Kish, but did not

origin at

all.

influential

slay

its
king, who became his vassal.
the overlordship of Sumu-la-ilu, the next ruler of

Bunutakhtunila,

Under

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

242
Kish, whose

name was Immerum, gave prominence

public worship of Shamash.

evidently hand in hand.

Politics

to the

and religion went

Sumu-la-ilu strengthened the defences of Sippar, restored the wall and temple of Cuthah, and promoted the
m at
worship of Merodach and his consort Zerpanitu

He was undoubtedly one of the forceful perHis son, Zabium, had a short
of his dynasty.
but successful reign, and appears to have continued the
policy of his father in consolidating the power of Babylon

Babylon.

sonalities

and securing the allegiance of subject cities.

He enKish
Merodach's
the
temple, E-sagila, restored
larged
temple of Zamama, and placed a golden image of himself
in the temple of the sun
god at Sippar. Apil-Sin, his
surrounded
son,
Babylon with a new wall, erected a
temple to Ishtar, and presented a throne of gold and
silver to Shamash in that city, while he also
strengthened
Borsippa, renewed NergaTs temple at Cuthah, and dug
canals.

The

next monarch was Sin-muballit, son of Apil-Sin

and father of Hammurabi. He engaged himself in ex-

tending and strengthening the area controlled by Babylon

by building

city fortifications

It is

and improving the

irrigation

recorded that he honoured Shamash with

system.
the gift of a shrine and a golden altar adorned with jewels.
Like Sumu-la-ilu, he was a great battle lord, and was
specially concerned in challenging the supremacy of Elam
in Sumeria and in the western land of the Amorites.

For a brief period a great conqueror, named RimAnum, had established an empire which extended from
Kish to Larsa, but
several

little is

known

flourished at Larsa

kings
ruled over Ur.

The

first

Then
regarding him.
who claimed to have

monarch with an Elamite

name who became connected with Larsa was Kudur-

THE GOLDEN AGE OF BABYLONIA

243

Mabug, son of Shimti-Shilkhak, the father of Warad-Sin

and Rim-Sin.
It was from one of these Elamite monarchs that Sinmuballit captured Isin, and probably the Elamites were
also the leaders of the army of Ur which he had routed
He was not successful,
before that event took place.
however, in driving the Elamites from the land, and
possibly he arranged with them a treaty of peace or perhaps of alliance.
Much controversy has been waged over the historical
problems connected with this disturbed age. The records
are exceedingly scanty, because the kings were not in the
habit of commemorating battles which proved disastrous
to them, and their fragmentary references to successes are
not sufficient to indicate what permanent results accrued
from their various campaigns. All we know for certain
is that for a considerable
period, extending perhaps over
a century, a tremendous and disastrous struggle was
waged at intervals, which desolated middle Babylonia.
At least five great cities were destroyed by fire, as is testiThese
fied by the evidence accumulated by excavators.
were Lagash, Umma, Shurruppak, Kisurra, and Adab.
The ancient metropolis of Lagash, whose glory had been
revived by Gudea and his kinsmen, fell soon after the rise
of Larsa, and lay in ruins until the second century B.C.,
when, during the Seleucid Period, it was again occupied
for a time.
From its mound at Tello, and the buried
ruins of the other cities, most of the relics of ancient
Sumerian civilization have been recovered.
It was probably during one of the intervals of this
stormy period that the
forces against a

Land.

rival

kings in Babylonia joined

invaded the Western

common enemy and

Probably there was much unrest there.

Great

ethnic disturbances were in progress which were changing

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

244

the political complexion of

Western

Asia.

In addition to

the outpourings of Arabian peoples into Palestine and

Syria, which propelled other tribes to invade Mesopotamia,

northern Babylonia, and Assyria, there was also much unover the wide area to north and west of Elam.

rest all

Indeed, the Elamite migration into southern Babylonia may

not have been unconnected with the southward drift of

roving bands from Media and the Iranian plateau.

It is believed that these
migrations were primarily due
to changing climatic conditions, a prolonged " Dry Cycle"
having caused a shortage of herbage, with the result that

go farther and farther

Inafield in quest of "fresh woods and pastures new".
numerable currents and cross currents were set in motion

pastoral peoples were compelled to

once these race movements swept towards settled districts

either to flood them with human waves, or surround them
like islands in the midst of tempest-lashed seas, fretting
the frontiers with restless fury, and ever groping for an
inlet through which to flow with irresistible force.

The Elamite

occupation of Southern Babylonia aphave propelled migrations of not inconsiderable

No doubt the various
numbers of its inhabitants.
sections moved towards districts which were suitable for
their habits of life.
Agriculturists, for instance, must
pears to

have shown preference for those areas which were capable

of agricultural development, while pastoral folks sought
grassy steppes and valleys, and seafarers the shores of
alien seas.

Northern Babylonia and Assyria probably attracted

But the movements of seafarers
the tillers of the soil.
must have followed a different route. It is possible that
about this time the Phoenicians began to migrate towards
the

"Upper

According to their own traditions

was on the northern shore of the Persian

Sea".

their racial cradle

THE GOLDEN AGE OF BABYLONIA

245

So far as we know, they first made their appearGulf.

ance on the Mediterranean coast about 2000 B.C., where
they subsequently entered into competition as sea traders
with the manners of ancient Crete.
Apparently the
northward
nomads
pastoral
through Mesopressed

potamia and towards Canaan. As much is suggested by

the Biblical narrative which deals with the wanderings of
Terah, Abraham, and Lot.
Taking with them their
"flocks and herds and tents", and accompanied by wives,

and servants, they migrated, it is stated, from

Sumerian city of Ur northwards to Haran "and
After Terah's death the tribe wandered
dwelt there ".
through Canaan and kept moving southward, unable, it

and

families,

the

would seem, to settle permanently in any particular disAt length "there was a famine in the land" an
"
"
and the
Dry Cycle
interesting reference to the

trict.

wanderers found

it

necessary to take refuge for a time in

Indeed,
Egypt. There they appear to have prospered.
so greatly did their flocks and herds increase that when
" the land was
they returned to Canaan they found that
not able to bear them", although the conditions had
improved somewhat during the interval. "There was",
as a result, " strife between the herdmen of Abram's
cattle and the herdmen of Lot's cattle."
It is evident that the area which these
pastoral flocks
were allowed to occupy must have been strictly circumscribed, for more than once it is stated significantly that
"the Canaanite and the Perizzite dwelled in the land".
The two kinsmen found it necessary, therefore, to part
Lot elected to go towards Sodom in the
company.
of
Jordan, and Abraham then moved towards the
plain
1
of
plain
Mamre, the Amorite, in the Hebron district.
With Mamre, and his brothers, Eshcol and Aner, the
1

Genesis, xii

and

xiii.

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

246

Hebrew
tection.

patriarch

formed a confederacy

for

mutual pro-

Other

tribes

included the

which were

Palestine at this period

Rephaims, the Zuzims, the
in

Horites, the
the Emims.

These were probably

of
the
older
stocks.
Like the Amorites,
representatives
"
"
the Hittites or
children of Heth
were evidently " late
comers", and conquerors. When Abraham purchased the

Zamzummims, and

Hebron, the landowner with whom he had

2
to deal was one Ephron, son of Zohar, the Hittite.
This
statement
with
what
we
know
agrees
illuminating
regard"
The " Hatti or
ing Hittite expansion about 2000 B.C.
burial cave at

" Khatti " had constituted

military aristocracies throughout
and
extended
their
influence by forming alliances.
Syria
their
settlers
of
owners of estates, and traders
were
Many

who

intermarried with the indigenous peoples and the

Arabian invaders. As has been indicated (Chapter I),
the

large-nosed

Armenoid

of the Hittite con-

section

federacy appear to have contributed to the racial blend

known vaguely as the Semitic. Probably the particular

group of Amorites with whom Abraham became associated

had those pronounced Armenoid traits which can still be
traced

in

representatives

of the

special interest in this connection

Of
people.
Ezekiel's declaration

Hebrew
is

"Thy birth and thy

regarding the ethnics of Jerusalem
nativity", he said, "is of the land of Canaan; thy father
:

was an Amorite, and thy mother an Hittite." 3

It was
during Abraham's residence in Hebron that
the Western Land was raided by a confederacy of Babylonian and Elamite battle lords.
The Biblical narrative
which deals with this episode is of particular interest and
has long engaged the attention of European scholars:

"And

it

came

Geneus, xiv, 13.

to

pass
J

in

lbiJ. y xxiii.

the days
*

of Amraphel

E*tkiel9 xvi,

3.

THE GOLDEN AGE OF BABYLONIA

247

(Hammurabi) king of Shinar (Sumer), Arioch (Eri-aku

or Warad-Sin) king of Ellasar (Larsa), Chedor-laomer
(Kudur-Mabug) king of Elam, and Tidal (Tudhula)
king of nations ; that these made war with Bera king
of Sodom, and with Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab
king of Admah, and Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and
All these joined tothe king of Bela, which is Zoar.
which is the salt sea.
gether in the vale of Siddim,
Twelve years they served Chedor-laomer, and in the
1
thirteenth year they rebelled."
Apparently the Elamites

had conquered part of Syria

after entering

southern Baby-

lonia.

Chedor-laomer and

routed the Rephaims,

the Zuzims, the Emims, the Horites and others, and
having sacked Sodom and Gomorrah, carried away Lot
and "his goods*'. On hearing of this disaster, Abraham
his

allies

hundred and eighteen men,

collected a force of three

all

of whom were no doubt accustomed to guerrilla warfare,

and delivered a night attack on the tail of the victorious

army which was withdrawing through the

area afterwards

Hebrew tribe of Dan. The surprise was

Abraham
"smote" the enemy and "pursued
complete;
allotted to the

them unto Hobah, which

is

on the

left

hand of Damascus.

And

he brought back all the goods, and also brought

again his brother Lot, and his goods, and the women also,
and the people/' 2

The identification of Hammurabi with Amraphel is

now generally accepted. At first the guttural " h", which
" Khammurabi
", presented a
gives the English rendering
serious difficulty,

but

in

time the form "

"

Ammurapi

which appears on a tablet became known, and the con"

clusion was reached that the softer " h
sound was used
and not the guttural. The "1" in the Biblical Amraphel
1

Genesis, xiv, 1-4..

Ibid.)

5-24.

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

248

"
"
has suggested
Ammurapi-ilu", Hammurabi, the god",
but it has been argued, on the other hand, that the change
may have been due to western habitual phonetic conditions,
or perhaps the slight alteration of an alphabetical sign.
Chedor-laomer, identified with Kudur-Mabug, may have

had several

local

names.

One of

Waradformer, had his name

his sons, either

Sin or Rim-Sin, but probably the

Semitized as Eri-Aku, and this variant appears in inscriptions.
"Tidal, king of nations", has not been identified.

The

suggestion that he was "King of the Gutium" reTwo late tablets have
in the realm of suggestion.

mains

which read like legends with

some historical basis.
One mentions Kudur-lahmal
the
other gives the form "Kudurand
(? Chedor-laomer)
calls him
and
"King of the land of Elam".
lahgumal",
Eri-Eaku (?Eri-aku) and Tudhula (? Tidal) are also menAttacks had been delivered on Babylon, and the
tioned.
its
and
It is
great temple E-sagila were flooded.
city
asserted that the Elamites "exercised sovereignty in Babylon*' for a period.
These interesting tablets have been
fragmentary

inscriptions

published by Professor Pinches.

The fact that the four leaders of the expedition to
Canaan are all referred to as "kings" in the Biblical
Princes and
narrative need not present any difficulty.
other subject rulers who governed under an overlord
might be and, as a matter of fact, were referred to as
" I am a
kings.
king, son of a king", an unidentified
monarch recorded on one of the two tablets just referred
to.

Kudur-Mabug, King of Elam, during

his lifetime

"
Arioch)
King of
Larsa".
It is of interest to note, too, in connection with
the Biblical narrative regarding the invasion of Syria and
called his son

Palestine, that

(Amorites) ".

Warad-Sin (Eri-Aku

he styled himself " overseer of the Amurru

HAMMURA1U RECEIVING THE "CODE OF LAWS"

FROM THE SUN GOD
(Louvre,

Paris')

THE GOLDEN AGE OF BABYLONIA

.No

249

have yet been found in Palestine of its conthe

Elamites, nor have the excavators been able
quest by
to substantiate the claim of Lugal-zaggizi of a previous
traces

age to have extended his empire to the shores of the

Mediterranean. Any relics which these and other eastern

conquerors

may have

left

were possibly destroyed by the

Egyptians and Hittites.

When Hammurabi

came

to the throne he

had appar-

ently to recognize the overlordship of the Elamite king

or his royal son at Larsa.
Although Sin-muballit had
Isin, it was retaken, probably after the death of
the Babylonian war-lord, by Rim-Sin, who succeeded his
brother Warad-Sin, and for a time held sway in Lagash,

captured

Nippur, and Erech, as well as Larsa.

was not

until the thirty-first year of his reign that

achieved ascendancy over his powerful rival.
Having repulsed an Elamite raid, which was probably
intended to destroy the growing power of Babylon, he
It

Hammurabi

"smote down Rim-Sin", whose power he reduced almost

For about twenty years afterwards
to vanishing point.
that subdued monarch lived in comparative obscurity;
then he led a force of allies against Hammurabi's son and
successor, Samsu-iluna, who defeated him and put him to
death, capturing, in the course of his campaign, the re-

So was
volting cities of Emutbalum, Erech, and Isin.
the last smouldering ember of Elamite power stamped
out

in

Babylonia.

Hammurabi, statesman and

general,

is

one of the great

No

more celebrated
He was proud
but
achievements,
preferred to be remem-

personalities of the ancient world.

monarch ever held sway

in

Western Asia.

of his military
bered as a servant of the gods, a just ruler, a father of his
In the
people, and "the shepherd that gives peace".
his
to
of
code
to
laws
he
"the
burden
refers
epilogue

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

250

of royalty", and declares that he "cut off the enemy"

and "lorded it over the conquered" so that his subjects
might have security. Indeed, his anxiety for their welfare
was the most pronounced feature of his character. "I
all the
people of Sumer and Akkad in my bosom ",
he declared in his epilogue. " By my protection, I guided

carried

peace its brothers.

By my wisdom I provided for
them."
He set up his stele, on which the legal code
was inscribed, so "that the great should not oppress the
weak" and "to counsel the widow and orphan", and "to
succour the injured
The king that is gentle, king of
in

the city, exalted

am

I."

Hammurabi was no mere

framer of laws but a practical

He

acted as supreme judge, and

his subjects could appeal to him as the Romans could to
Nor was any case too trivial for his attention.
Caesar.

administrator as well.

The humblest man was

assured that justice would be

done if his grievance were laid before the king. Hammurabi was no respecter of persons, and treated alike all
He punished corrupt judges,
his subjects high and low.
protected citizens against unjust governors, reviewed the
transactions of moneylenders with determination to curb
extortionate demands, and

kept a watchful eye on the

of
taxgatherers.
operations
There can be little doubt but that he won the hearts
of his subjects, who enjoyed the blessings of just administration under a well-ordained political system.
He must
also have endeared himself to them as an exemplary ex-

He respected the various

ponent of religious tolerance.
deities jn whom the various groups of people reposed their
faith, restored despoiled temples, and re-endowed them
with characteristic generosity.
By so doing he not only
1

Babylonian and Assyrian Laws, Contracts, and Letter^ C. H.

et seq.

W.

Johns, pp. 392

THE GOLDEN AGE OF BABYLONIA

251

afforded the pious full freedom and opportunity to perform their religious ordinances, but also promoted the
material welfare of his subjects, for the temples were
centres of culture and the priests were the teachers of
the young.
Excavators have discovered at Sippar traces

of a school which dates from the

Hammurabi Dynasty.

Pupils learned to read and write, and received instruction

in arithmetic and mensuration.
They copied historical
tablets,

practised

the

art

of composition, and studied

geography.

Although there were many professional

scribes, a not

inconsiderable proportion of the people of both sexes were

Sons wrote
able to write private and business letters.
from a distance to their fathers when in need of money
then as now, and with the same air of undeserved martyrdom and subdued but confident appeal. One son indited
a long complaint regarding the quality of the food he was
given in his lodgings. Lovers appealed to forgetful ladies,
" Inform
showing great concern regarding their health.
me how it fares with thee," one wrote four thousand years
" I went
up to Babylon so that I might meet thee,
ago.
but did not, and was much depressed. Let me know why
thou didst go away so that I may be made glad. And do
come hither. Ever have care of thy health, remembering
me." Even begging -letter writers were not unknown.
An ancient representative of this class once wrote to his
employer from prison. He expressed astonishment that
he had been arrested, and, having protested his innocence,
he made touching appeal for little luxuries which were
denied to him, adding that the last consignment which
had been forwarded had never reached him.
Letters were often sent by messengers who were
named, but there also appears to have been some sort
of postal system.
Letter carriers, however, could not
(0642)

19

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

252

have performed their duties without the assistance of

beasts of burden.
Papyri were not used as in Egypt.
Nor was ink required. Babylonian letters were shapely

The angular alphathorn

-like projections,
with
characters, bristling
were impressed with a wedge-shaped stylus on tablets of
soft clay which were afterwards carefully baked in an
little

bricks

resembling

cushions.

betical

Then

the letters were placed in baked clay

sealed
and addressed, or wrapped in pieces
envelopes,
If the ancient people had
of sacking transfixed by seals.
a festive season which was regarded, like the European

oven.

Yuletide or the Indian Durga fortnight, as an occasion

suitable for the general exchange of expressions of goodthe Babylonian streets and highways must have been
greatly congested by the postal traffic, while muscular
postmen worked overtime distributing the contents of
will,

Door to door deliveries

heavy and bulky letter sacks.
have
difficulties.
Wood being
presented
certainly
could
afford
and
not
some
houses
doors,
dear, everyone
would

were entered by stairways leading to the flat and partly

open roofs.
King Hammurabi had to deal daily with a voluminous
He received reports from governors in
correspondence.
all parts of his realm, legal documents containing appeals,
and private communications from relatives and others.
He paid minute attention to details, and was probably

one of the busiest men

at

home,

after

in

Babylonia.

worshipping Merodach

Every day while

at

E-sagila,

he

audiences to officials,

dictated letters to his scribes, gave

heard legal appeals and issued interlocutors, and dealt
He looks
with the reports regarding his private estates.
of
in
affairs
a typical man
sculptured representations

shrewd, resolute, and unassuming, feeling "the burden

of royalty", but ever ready and well qualified to discharge

THE GOLDEN AGE OF BABYLONIA

253

with thoroughness and insight.

His grasp of
was equalled only by his power to conceive of great
It was a
enterprises which appealed to his imagination.
work of genius on his part to weld together that great
empire of miscellaneous states extending from southern
Babylonia to Assyria, and from the borders of Elam to the
Mediterranean coast, by a universal legal Code which
secured tranquillity and equal rights to all, promoted business, and set before his subjects the ideals of right thinking
and right living.
Hammurabi recognized that conquest was of little
avail unless followed by the establishment of a just and
well-arranged political system, and the inauguration of
practical measures to secure the domestic, industrial, and
commercial welfare of the people as a whole. He engaged
his duties

detail

himself greatly, therefore,

resources of each
irrigating canals

in

developing

particular

was extended

in the

the

natural

The network of

district.

homeland so

that

these canals also

promoted
agriculture might prosper
trade, for they were utilized for travelling by boat and
for the distribution of commodities.
As a result of his
:

Babylon became not only the administrative,

but also the commercial centre of his Empire the Lon-

activities

don of Western Asia and it enjoyed a spell of prosperity

which was never surpassed in subsequent times. Yet it
never lost

its

pre-eminent position despite the attempts of

of its glory and influence, to suspend
It had been too firmly established
during

rival states, jealous

its activities.

the

Hammurabi Age, which was

the

Golden Age of

Babylonia, as the heartlike distributor nnd controller of

business life through a vast network of veins and arteries,
to be displaced by any other Mesopotamian city to pleaFor two thousand years,
sure even a mighty monarch.

from the time of Hammurabi

until

the

dawn of

the

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

254

Christian era, the city of Babylon remained amidst

of Western Asiatic
political changes the metropolis

many
com-

merce and culture, and none was more eloquent in its

praises than the scholarly pilgrim from Greece who wondered at its magnificence and reverenced its antiquities.
Hammurabi's reign was long as it was prosperous.
There is no general agreement as to when he ascended
the throne

was

after

some say in 2123

2000 B.C. but it is

over the destinies of Babylon

B.C.,

others hold that

it

certain that he presided

for the long period of forty-

three years.
There are interesting references to the military sucIt
cesses of his reign in the prologue to the legal Code.

when he "avenged Larsa", the seat of Rimthere the temple of the sun god.
Other
he
restored
Sin,
at
ancient
built
various
so
that
centres,
up
temples were
is

related that

these

cultural organizations might contribute to the

At
welfare of the localities over which they held sway.
at
he
thus
honoured
Eridu
the
Enlil,
god Ea, at
Nippur

Ur

the god Sin, at Erech the

god Anu and the goddess

Nana (Ishtar), at Kish the god Zamama and the goddess

Ma-ma, at Cuthah the god Nergal, at Lagash the god
" celebrated for its
Nin-Girsu, while at Adab and Akkad,
wide squares", and other centres he carried out religious
and public works. In Assyria he restored the colossus of
Ashur, which had evidently been carried away by a conqueror, and he developed the canal system of Nineveh.
Apparently Lagash and Adab had not been completely
deserted during his reign, although their ruins have not
yielded

evidence

that

they

flourished

after

their

fall

during the long struggle with the aggressive and plundering Elamites.

Hammurabi referred to
"a king who commanded

himself in the Prologue as

obedience in all the four

THE GOLDEN AGE OF BABYLONIA

255

He was the sort of benevolent despot whom

on
one
not an
occasion clamoured vainly for
Carlyle
Oriental despot in the commonly accepted sense of the
As a German writer puts it, his despotism was a
term.
form of Patriarchal Absolutism. " When Marduk (Meroquarters".

king recorded, "brought me to

people, and commissioned me to give judgment,

dach)", as
direct all

the

great

down justice and right in the provinces, I made all

1
That was the keynote of his long
to prosper/*
life; he regarded himself as the earthly representative of
I

laid

flesh

the

who

Ruler of all Merodach, "the lord god of right",

carried out the decrees of Anu, the sky god of

Destiny.

The

next king, Samsu-iluna, reigned nearly as long as

and similarly lived a strenuous and

his illustrious father,

pious

life.

Soon

of disorder were
crushed and slew

after
let

he came to the throne the forces

loose,

but, as has been stated, he

most formidable opponent, Rim-Sin,

the Elamite king, who had gathered together an army of
allies.
During his reign a Kassite invasion was repulsed.

The

his

people of uncertain racial affinities,

the land during Hammurabi's lifetime.

earliest I&issites, a

began to

Some

settle in

writers connect

them with the

Hittites,

and others

with the Iranians, vaguely termed as Indo-European or

Ethnologists as a rule regard them
as identical with the Cossaei, whom the Greeks found

Indo-Germanic

folk.

settled between Babylon and Media, east of the Tigris

and north of Elam. The Hittites came south as raiders
It is possible that the
about a century later.
invading
Kassites had overrun Elam and composed part of Rim-

Sin's army.

After settled conditions were secured

many

of them remained in Babylonia, where they engaged like

1

390

Translation by Johns in Babylonian and Assyrian Laws, Contracts^ and

et scq.

Letters, pp.

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

256

their pioneers

in

were welcomed

in

No

agricultural pursuits.
that capacity, for

owing

doubt they
to the con-

tinuous spread of culture and the

development of commerce, rural labour had become scarce and dear. Farmers
long-standing complaint, "The harvest truly is
1
plenteous, but the labourers are few'*.
"Despite the
existence of slaves, who were for the most
part domestic

had

Mr. Johns, "considerable

there was", writes

servants,

demand

for free labour in ancient

This is
Babylonia.
clear from the
large number of contracts relating to hire

which have come down to us. ... As a rule, the man

was hired for the harvest and was free
directly after.
But there are many examples in which the term of service
was different one month, half a year, or a whole
year.
Harvest labour was probably far dearer than
any
.

other, because of its importance, the skill

demanded, and the fact that so many were

and exertion

seeking for it
farm worker was engaged he received
"
a shekel for "earnest
money or arles, and was penalized

When

at once.'*

for non-appearance or late arrival. 2

So great was the political upheaval caused

by Rim-Sin
and his allies and imitators in southern Babylonia, that it
was not until the seventeenth year of his reign that Samsuiluna had recaptured Erech and Ur and restored their
other

walls.

Among

ancient

Akkad, where a

building

new

which had

rival

to be chastised

fortifications,

was

monarch endeavoured

Several years were

establish himself.
in

cities

setting

to

afterwards spent

up memorials

in

On more than
temples, and cutting and clearing canals.
one occasion during the latter part of his reign he had to
deal with aggressive bands of Amorites.
The

greatest danger to

threatened by a
1

Matthew,

2
ix,

37.

the Empire,

however, was

new kingdom which had been formed

Johns's Babylonian and Assyrian Laivs,

&fc., pp.

371-2.

in

THE GOLDEN AGE OF BABYLONIA

257

Bit-Jakin, a part of Sealand which was afterwards controlled

by the mysterious Chaldeans. Here may have collected

and

evicted and rebel bands of Elamites and Sumerians

various "gentlemen of fortune" who were opposed to

the Hammurabi regime.
After the fall of Rim-Sin it

became powerful under

a king called Ilu-ma-ilu.

Samsu-

iluna conducted at least two campaigns against his rival,

but without much success.
Indeed, he was in the end

compelled to retreat with considerable loss owing to the

difficult character of that marshy country.

Abeshu, the next Babylonian king, endeavoured to

shatter the cause of the Sealanders, and made it possible
for himself to strike at them by damming up the Tigris

He achieved a victory, but the wily Ilu-ma-ilu

eluded him, and after a reign of sixty years was succeeded
by his son, Kiannib. The Sealand Dynasty, of which
little is known, lasted for over three and a half centuries,

canal.

and certain of

its later

monarchs were able to extend

their

sway over part of Babylonia, but its power was strictly

circumscribed so long as Hammurabi's descendants held
sway.

During Abeshu's reign of twenty-eight

years, of which
to have proved

but scanty records survive, he appears

an able statesman and general.
He founded a

new

city

and appears to have repulsed a Kassite

called Lukhaia,
raid.

His son, Ammiditana, who succeeded him, apparently

inherited a prosperous and well-organized Empire, for
years of his reign he attended
chiefly to the adornment of temples and other pious
was a patron of the arts with archaeoundertakings.

during the

first

fifteen

He

logical leanings, and displayed traits which suggest that

he inclined, like Sumu-la-ilu, to ancestor worship. Ente-

mena, the pious patesi of Lagash, whose memory

is

258

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

associated with the

famous

silver vase decorated

with the

lion-headed eagle form of Nin-Girsu, had been raised to

the dignity of a god, and Ammiditana caused his statue to

He set
be erected so that offerings might be made to it.
himself
the
of
and
celebrated
several
also,
up
images
centenary of the accession to the throne of his grand" the warrior
lord", by unveiling
father, Samsu-iluna,
his statue with much ceremony at Kish.
About the

middle of his reign he put down a Sumerian rising,

and towards its close had to capture a city which is
believed to be Isin, but the reference is too obscure
to indicate
incident.

what political significance attached to this

His son, Ammizaduga, reigned for over

twenty years quite peacefully so far as is known, and

was succeeded by Samsuditana, whose rule extended over
a quarter of a century.
Like Ammiditana, these two
monarchs set up images of themselves as well as of the
gods, so that they might be worshipped, no doubt. They
also promoted the interests of agriculture and commerce,
and incidentally increased the revenue from taxation by
paying much attention to the canals and extending the
cultivatable areas.

But the days of the brilliant Hammurabi Dynasty

were drawing to a close. It endured for about a century
longer than the Twelfth Dynasty of Egypt, which came
to an end, according to the Berlin calculations, in 1788 B.C.
Apparently some of the Hammurabi and Amenemhet
kings were contemporaries, but there is no evidence that
they came into direct touch with one another. It was not
until at about two centuries after Hammurabi's day that
Egypt first invaded Syria, with which, however, it had
for a long period previously conducted a brisk trade.
Evidently the influence of the Hittites and their Amoritic
allies
predominated between Mesopotamia and the Delta

THE GOLDEN AGE OF BABYLONIA

259

frontier of Egypt, and it is significant to find in this con"

"
nection that the " Khatti
or " Hatti
were referred to
for the first time in

and

in

Egypt during the Twelfth Dynasty,

Babylonia during the

Hammurabi Dynasty, some-

time shortly before or after 2000

a

Hittite

raid

resulted

in

the

B.C.

About 1800

overthrow of the

king of the Hammurabi family at Babylon.

invasion of Egypt took place after 1788 B.C.

B.C.

last

The Hyksos

CHAPTER

XII

Rise of the Hittites, Mitannians, Kassites,

Hyksos, and Assyrians

The War God

of Mountaineers

Movements

Antiquity of Hittite Civilization

"Broad Heads" Evidence of Babylon and Egypt

Hittites and Mongolians
Biblical References to Hittites in Canaan
Great Father and Great Mother
Jacob's Mother and her Daughters-in-law
Prehistoric

Cults

of

The Kingdom
Mythology
The Hyksos Problem The Horse

History in

of

Mitanni
Warfare

Its

Aryan

and
Kassites
Mitannians
Kassites and Mitannians
Hyksos Empire in Asia
overthrow Sealand Dynasty Egyptian Campaigns in 'Syria Assyria in the
Making Ethnics of Genesis Nimrod as Merodach Early Conquerors of
Fall of Mitanni
Assyria Mitannian Overlords Tell-el-Amarna Letters
Rise of Hittite and Assyrian Empires
Assyrian and
Egypt in Eclipse
Aristocracy

in

Hittites

Babylonian Rivalries.

WHEN

the

Hammurabi Dynasty, like

the Twelfth

Dynasty

of Egypt, is found to be suffering languid decline, the

gaps in the dulled historical records are filled with the

echoes of the thunder god, whose hammer beating resounds among the northern mountains. As this deity

comes each year in Western Asia when vegetation has

withered and after fruits have dropped from trees, bringing tempests and black rainclouds to issue in a new
season of growth and fresh activity, so he descended from
the hills in the second millennium before the Christian era
as the battle lord of invaders and the stormy herald of
a new age which was to dawn upon the ancient world.
He was the war god of the Hittites as well as of the

RISE

OF THE HITTITES, ETC.

261

northern Amorites, the Mitannians, and the Kassites; and

he led the Aryans from the Iranian steppes towards the

verdurous valley of the Punjab. His worshippers engraved

his image with
grateful hands on the beetling cliffs of
in Asia Minor, where his sway was
chasms
Cappadocian
steadfast and pre-eminent for long centuries.
In one
locality he appears mounted on a bull wearing a fringed
and belted tunic with short sleeves, a conical helmet, and
upturned shoes, while he grasps in one hand the lightning symbol, and in the other a triangular bow resting
In another locality he is the
his right shoulder.

on

of grapes and barley sheaves.

But his most
form is the bearded and thick-set mountaineer,
armed with a ponderous thunder hammer, a flashing
trident, and a long two-edged sword with a hemispherical
knob on the hilt, which dangles from his belt, while an
bringer

familiar

antelope or goat wearing a pointed tiara prances beside

This deity is identical with bluff, impetuous Thor
him.
of northern Europe, Indra of the Himalayas, Tarku of

Phrygia, and

Teshup

or

Teshub of Armenia and northern

Adad or

Mesopotamia, Sandan, the Hercules of Cilicia,

Hadad of Amurru and

Assyria, and

Ramman, who

at

an

penetrated Akkad and Sumer in various

His Hittite name is uncertain, but in the time
of Rameses II he was identified with Sutekh (Set). He
" the
passed into southern Europe as Zeus, and became
early

period

forms.

"

of the

of the ^Egean and Crete.

entered Babylon about 1800 B.C.,
and overthrew the last king of the Hammurabi Dynasty,
lord

The

deities

Hittites

who

may have been plundering

Gauls of a

raiders,

like

the

European

well-organized force of a strong,

which
consolidated power,
endured for a period of uncertain duration.
They were probably the latter, for
later age, or a

m
although they carried off Merodach and Zerpanitu , these

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

262
idols

were not thrust into the melting pot, but retained

apparently for political reasons.

"a people of the mist".

than once in ancient history casual reference is
made to them ; but on most of these occasions they
soon vanish suddenly behind their northern mountains.
These

early

Hittites

are

More

The

explanation appears to be that at various periods

great leaders arose who were able to weld together the
various tribes, and make their presence felt in Western
Asia.

But when once

on account of

the organization broke

down, either
of an out-

internal rivalries or the influence

side power, they lapsed back again into a state of political

It is
insignificance in the affairs of the ancient world.

possible that about 1800 B.C. the Hittite confederacy was

controlled by an ambitious king who had dreams of a

great empire, and was accordingly pursuing a career of

conquest.

Judging from what we know of the northern worshippers of the hammer god in later times, it would
appear that when they were referred to as the Hatti
or Khatti, the tribe of that name was the dominating
power in Asia Minor and north Syria. The Hatti are
usually identified with the broad-headed mountaineers of
Alpine or Armenoid type the ancestors of the modern
Their ancient capital was at Boghaz-Kfti,
Armenians.
the site of Pteria, which was destroyed, according to the
Greeks, by Croesus, the last King of Lydia, in the sixth
It was
century B.C.
strongly situated in an excellent
on
the
district
pastoral
high, breezy plateau of Cappadocia, surrounded by high mountains, and approached
through narrow river gorges, which in winter were
blocked with snow.
Hittite civilization was of great antiquity.

which have been conducted

at

Excavations

an undisturbed

artificial

RISE OF

THE

HITTITES, ETC.

263

mound

at Sakje-Geuzi have revealed evidences of a continuous culture which began to flourish before 3000 B.C. 1

In one of the lower layers occurred that particular type

of Neolithic yellow-painted pottery, with black geometric
designs, which resembles other specimens of painted fabrics
found in Turkestan by the Pumpelly expedition; in Susa,

the capital of Elam, and

its

vicinity,

by

De Morgan;

in

the Balkan peninsula by Schliemann; in a First Dynasty

tomb at Abydos in Egypt by Petrie ; and in the late

Neolithic and early Bronze

Age (Minoan)

strata

of Crete

by Evans. It may be that these interesting relics were

connected with the prehistoric drift westward of the
broad-headed pastoral peoples

who

ultimately formed the

Hittite military aristocracy.

According to Professor Elliot

Smith, broad-headed
from Asia Minor first reached Egypt at the dawn
of history. There they blended with the indigenous tribes
of the Mediterranean or Brown Race. A mesocephalic
It is referred to as the Giza
skull then became common.
type, and has been traced by Professor Elliot Smith from
aliens

2
Egypt to the Punjab, but not farther into India.
During the early dynasties this skull with alien

traits

was confined chiefly to the Delta region and the vicinity

of Memphis, the city of the pyramid builders. It is not
improbable that the Memphite god Ptah may have been
introduced into Egypt by the invading broad heads.
This deity is a world artisan like Indra, and is similarly
associated with dwarfish artisans ; he hammers out the
copper sky, and therefore links with the various thunder
Tarku, Teshup, Adad, Ramman, &c., of the
gods

Asian mountaineers.

Thunderstorms were of too

rare

occurrence in Egypt to be connected with the food supply,

1

The Land of the Hittites, John Garstang, pp. 312

The Ancient Egyptian^ pp. 106 et $eq

et

seq.

and

5 et seq.

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

264

which has always depended on the river Nile. Ptah's

purely Egyptian characteristics appear to have been acquired after fusion with Osiris-Seb, the Nilotic gods of
The ancient god Set
inundation, earth, and vegetation.
a
and
was ultimately re
who
became
demon,
(Sutekh),
exalted as a great deity during the Nineteenth Dynasty,
may also have had some connection with the prehistoric
Hatti.

Professor Elliot Smith, who has found alien traits in

the mummies of the Rameses kings, is convinced that the

who entered Europe by way of Asia

and
Minor,
Egypt through the Delta, at the close of the
Neolithic Age, represent " two streams of the same
1
The opinion of such an authority cannot
Asiatic folk".
broad-headed folks

be lightly set aside.

The

Egyptian reference to the Kheta, as the

Hittites were called, was made in the reign of the first
Amenemhet of the Twelfth Dynasty, who began to reign
earliest

about 2000

B.C.

Some

authorities, including Maspero,

are of opinion that the allusion to the Hatti which is
found in the Babylonian Book of Omens belongs to the

age of Sargon of Akkad and Naram-Sin, but Sayce

Others would connect
favours the age of Hammurabi.
the Gutium, or men of Kutu, with the Kheta or Hatti.

earlier

Sayce has expressed the opinion that the Biblical Tidal,

identified with Tudkhul or Tudhula, "king of nations",
the ally of Arioch, Amraphel, and Chedor-laomer, was a
Hittite king, the "nations" being the confederacy of
" In the
Asia Minor tribes controlled by the Hatti.

of the Babylonian story of Chedor-laomer

published by Dr. Pinches", says Professor Sayce, "the
name of Tid c al is written Tudkhul, and he is described
as King of the Umman Manda^ or Nations of the North,
fragments

The Anatnt Egyptians,

p.

130.

Struggle of the Nations (1896), p. 19.

RISE OF
of which the

name is
of Rameses

THE

HITTITES, ETC.

Hebrew Goyyim

is

a literal translation.

265

Now

In the account of the campaign

II against the Hittites it appears as Tid^al,
of the Hittite kings of Boghaz-K6i bears

the

Hittite.

and one
the same name, which

is

written as Dud-khaliya in cunei-

form. 1

One of

the racial types among the Hittites wore

These head adornments appear on figures in
Cappadocian sculptures and on Hittite warriors

pigtails.

certain
in

the pictorial records of a north Syrian campaign of

It is suggestive, therefore, to
II at Thebes.

Rameses

who

taineers

of Naram-Sin of Akkad, the mounare conquered by that battle lord wear pig-

on the

find that

stele

Their split robes are unlike the short fringed

tunics of the Hittite gods, but resemble the long split
mantles worn over their tunics by high dignitaries like
tails also.

King Tarku-dimme, who

figures

on

famous

silver boss

Naram-Sin inherited the

of an ancient Hittite dagger.
of
of
Akkad, which extended to the
Sargon
Empire
Mediterranean Sea.
If his enemies were not natives of
Cappadocia, they

may have been

Hittite pigtailed type in another

the congeners of the

wooded and mountainous

country.
It has been
suggested that these wearers of pigtails

But although high cheek bones and

oblique eyes occurred in ancient times, and still occur, in
parts of Asia Minor, suggesting occasional Mongolian

were Mongolians.

admixture with Ural-Altaic broad heads, the Hittite pigtailed warriors must not be confused with the true smallnosed Mongols of north-eastern Asia.
The Egyptian

them with long and prominent noses,

which emphasize their strong Armenoid affinities.
sculptors depicted

Other
1

tribes in the Hittite confederacy included the

Note contributed

to The

Land of the

Hittites, J.

Garstang,

p.

324.

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

266

representatives of the earliest settlers from North Africa

of Mediterranean racial stock. These have been identified with the Canaanites, and especially the agriculturists
for the Palestinian Hittites are also referred

among them,

and

to as Canaanites in the Bible,

in

one particular con-

nection under circumstances which afford an interesting

When
glimpse of domestic life in those far-off times.

was forty years of age, " he took

to wife Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and
"
Bashemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite l
ApparEsau,

Isaac's eldest son,

ently the Hittite ladies considered themselves to be of

higher caste than the indigenous peoples and the settlers

from other countries, for when Ezekiel declared that the

mother of Jerusalem was a Hittite he said " Thou art
thy mother's daughter, that lotheth her husband and her
2
Esau's marriage was " a grief of mind unto
children."
1
The Hebrew mother seems to
Isaac and to Rebekah "have entertained fears that her favourite son Jacob would
fall a victim to the allurements of other representatives of
the same stock as her superior and troublesome daughters:

in-law, for she said to

Isaac

"

am weary

of

my

life

because of the daughters of Heth ; if Jacob take a wife

of the daughters of Heth, such as these which are of the
3
daughters of the land, what good shall my life do me?"
Isaac sent for Jacob, "and charged him, and said unto
him, Thou shalt not take a wife of the daughters of

go to Padan-aram, to the house of

Bethuel, thy mother's father and take thee a wife from
Canaan.

Arise,

thence of the daughters of Laban, thy mother's brother."

From these quotations two obvious deductions may be

drawn the Hebrews regarded the Hittites "of the land"

as one with the Canaanites, the stocks having probably
:

Genesis, xxvi, 34, 35.

Genesis^ xxvii, 46.

Exekie/, xvi, 45.

Genesis^ xxviii, I, 2.

RISE OF

THE

HITTITES,

ETC

267

been so well fused, and the worried Rebekah had the

choosing of Jacob's wife or wives from among her own
relations in Mesopotamia who were of Sumerian stock
and kindred of Abraham. 1 It is not surprising to find
traces of Sumerian pride among the descendants of the
evicted citizens of ancient Ur, especially when brought
into association with the pretentious Hittites.

Evidence of

racial

blending in Asia

Minor

is

also

In the fertile agricultural

afforded by Hittite mythology.
the
of
round
shores
that great Eur-Asian
and
valleys

"land bridge" the indigenous stock was also of the

Mediterranean race, as Sergi and other ethnologists have
The Great Mother goddess was wordemonstrated.
from
the
earliest times, and she bore various
shipped
local names.
At Comana in Pontus she was known to
the Greeks as Ma, a name which may have been as old as
that of the Sumerian Mama (the creatrix), or Mamitu m
in Armenia she was Anaitis; in
(goddess of destiny)
Cilicia she was Ate ('Atheh of Tarsus) ; while in Phrygia
she was best known as Cybele, mother of Attis, who links
with Ishtar as mother and wife of Tammuz, Aphrodite
as mother and wife of Adonis, and Isis as mother and
The Great Mother was in Phoenicia
wife of Osiris.
called Astarte ; she was a form of Ishtar, and identical
with the Biblical Ashtoreth.
In the Syrian city of Hierapolis she bore the name of Atargatis, which Meyer, with
whom Frazer agrees, considers to be the Greek rendering
of the Aramaic 'Athar-'Atheh the god 'Athar and the
goddess 'Atheh. Like the "bearded Aphrodite", AtarSome
gatis may have been regarded as a bisexual deity.
of the specialized mother goddesses, whose outstanding
attributes reflected the history and politics of the states
they represented, were imported into Egypt the land of
;

(C042)

Genesis, xxiv.

20

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

268

ancient mother deities

during the Empire period, by

Rameses
these included the
kings
half-foreign
and
the
warlike
In every
Kadesh
Anthat.
voluptuous
district colonized by the early representatives of the Mediterranean race, the goddess cult came into prominence,
and the gods and the people were reputed to be descenthe

This rule obtained as far

dants of the great Creatrix.
distant as Ireland, where the Danann folk and the Danann

gods were the children of the goddess Danu.

Among the Hatti proper that is, the broad-headed
the chief deity of the pantheon was
military aristocracy
" the lord of Heaven
the Great Father, the creator,
", the
As Sutekh, Tarku, Adad, or Ramman, he was the
Baal.
of
thunder, rain, fertility, and war, and he ultimately
god
A famous rock sculpture at
acquired solar attributes.
Boghaz-Kfti depicts a mythological scene which is believed to represent the Spring marriage of the Great
Father and the Great Mother, suggesting a local fusion
of beliefs which resulted from the union of tribes of the
So long as
god cult with tribes of the goddess cult.
the Hatti tribe remained the predominant partner in
the Hittite confederacy, the supremacy was assured of the
But when,
Great Father who symbolized their sway.
in the process of time, the power of the Hatti declined,
c<
from his predominant place in
fell
their chief god
" But
the religion of the interior ", writes Dr. Garstang.
the Great Mother lived on, being the goddess of the
.

land."

In addition to the Hittite confederacy of Asia Minor

Syria, another great power arose in northern

and North

Mesopotamia. This was the Mitanni Kingdom. Little is

known regarding it, except what is derived from indirect
Winckler believes that it was first established
sources.
1

The Syrian

Goddt^ John Garstang (London,

1913), pp. 17-8.

OF THE HITTITES, ETC.

RISE
by

early

269

"waves" of Hatti people who migrated from

the east.

The

based chiefly on the followof the gods of the Mitanni rulers

Hittite connection

One

ing evidence.

was Teshup, who is

Asia Minor.
The

is

identical with

raiders

who

Tarku, the Thor of

1800 B.C. entered

in

and carried off Merodach

m were called the Hatti. The
Zerpanitu ,
images of these deities were afterwards obtained from
Khani (Mitanni).
At a later period, when we come to know more about
Mitanni from the letters of one of its kings to two
Egyptian Pharaohs, and the Winckler tablets from Boghaz-Koi, it is found that its military aristocracy spoke an
Indo-European language, as is shown by the names of
Babylon,

and

set fire to

E-sagila,

his consort

their kings

Saushatar, Artatama, Sutarna, Artashshumara,

They worshipped the follow-

Tushratta, and Mattiuza.

ing deities

Mi-it-ra,

Uru-w-na, In-da-ra, and

Na-sa-at-ti-ia

Mitra, Varuna, Indra, and Nasatyau (the "Twin Aswins"

Castor and Pollux)
whose names have been deciphered

These gods were also imported into

by Winckler.
The Mitanni tribe (the
India by the Vedic Aryans.
" Kharri
was
called
", and
military aristocracy probably)
some philologists are of opinion that it is identical with
"Arya", which was "the normal designation in Vedic
literature from the Rigveda onwards of an Aryan of the
three upper classes 'V Mitanni signifies " the river lands ",
and the descendants of its inhabitants, who lived in
" Mattienoi ".
Cappadocia, were called by the Greeks
"They are possibly", says Dr. Haddon, "the ancestors
1

Vedic Index of Names and Subjects^ Macdonald

1912).

&

Keith, vol.

i,

pp.

64-5 (London,

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

270

of the modern Kurds 'V a conspicuously long-headed

people, proverbial, like the ancient Aryo-Indians and
the Gauls, for their hospitality and their raiding propensities.
It would appear that the
Mitannian invasion of
northern Mesopotamia and the Aryan invasion of India
represented two streams of diverging migrations from a
common cultural centre, and that the separate groups of

wanderers mingled with other stocks with whom they

came into contact. Tribes of Aryan speech were associated with the Kassite invaders of Babylon, who took
possession of northern Babylonia soon after the disastrous
It is believed that
Hittite raid.
they came from the east
through the highlands of Elam.
For a period, the dating of which is uncertain, the
Mitannians were overlords of part of Assyria, including

Nineveh and even Asshur, as well as the district called

"Musri" by the Assyrians, and part of Cappadocia.
They also occupied the cities of Harran and Kadesh.
Probably they owed their great military successes to their
The horse became common in Babylon during
cavalry.
the Kassite Dynasty, which followed the Hammurabi, and
was there called " the ass of the east ", a name which
suggests whence the Kassites and Mitannians came.

The westward movement of the Mitannians in the

second millennium B.C. may have been in progress prior
to the Kassite conquest of Babylon and the Hyksos invasion of Egypt.
Their relations in Mesopotamia and
Syria with the Hittites and the Amorites are obscure.

Perhaps they were for a time the overlords of the Hittites.

At any

rate

it

is

of interest to note that

III struck at the last

when Thothmes

Hyksos stronghold during his long

of
about twenty years' duration, his
Syrian campaign
1

The Wanderings of Peoples,

p. 21.

J I

1
ft

RISE OF

THE

HITTITES, ETC.

271

operations were directly against Kadesh on the Orontes,

which was then held by his fierce enemies the Mitannians

of Naharina. 1

During the Hyksos Age the horse was introduced

into Egypt.
Indeed the Hyksos conquest was probably
due to the use of the horse, which was domesticated, as

Pumpelly expedition has ascertained, at a remote

period in Turkestan, whence it may have been obtained
by the horse-sacrificing Aryo- Indians and the horsethe

of the Siberian Buriats.

Mitanni rulers were not overlords of the Hittites
about 1800 B.C., the two peoples may have been military
Some writers suggest, indeed, that
allies of the Kassites.
Another view is that
the Kassites came from Mitanni.
the Mitannians were the Aryan allies of the Kassites who
entered Babylon from the Elamite highlands, and that
they afterwards conquered Mesopotamia and part of
Cappadocia prior to the Hyksos conquest of Egypt. A
third solution of the problem is that the Aryan rulers of
the Mitannian Hittites were the overlords of northern
Babylonia, which they included in their Mesopotamian
sacrificing ancestors

If the

empire for a century before the Kassites achieved political

supremacy in the Tigro-Euphrates valley, and that they

were also the leaders of the Hyksos invasion of Egypt,

which they accomplished with the assistance of their Hittite
and Amoritic allies.
The first Kassite king of Babylonia of whom we have
knowledge was Gandash. He adopted the old Akkadian

"king of the four quarters", as well as the title

"king of Sumer and Akkad", first used by the rulers of
the Dynasty of Ur. Nippur appears to have been selected
by Gandash as his capital, which suggests that his war and
title,

storm god, Shuqamuna, was identified with Bel Enlil,

1

Brcasted's History of Egypt) pp. 219-20.

who

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

272
as a

"world giant" has much

ern

hammer

After

gods.

in

common

reigning

with the northsixteen

for

years,

Gandash was succeeded by his son, Agum the Great, who

sat on the throne for twenty-two years.
The greatand
not until
of
the
Great
was
grandson
Agum II,
Agum
his reign were the statues of Merodach and his consort
m
This
ot
back to the
Zerpanitu

brought

monarch recorded

Babylon.

city

the oracle of
response
land ot
to
the
distant
the
he
sun
sent
Shamash,
god,
Khani (Mitanni) for the great deity and his consort.
Babylon would therefore appear to have been deprived

of

Merodach

Mitanni raid

for
is

that,

to

in

about two centuries.

dated about 1800

B.C.,

The
and the

Hittiterise

of

Gandash, the Kassite, about 1700 B.C. At least a century elapsed between the reigns of Gandash and Agum II.
These calculations do not coincide, it will be noted,
Babylonian hymn, that Merodach
remained in the land of the Hatti for twenty-four years,
which, however, may be either a priestly fiction or a referThe period which followed the
ence to a later conquest.

with the statement

fall

Hammurabi Dynasty
Hyksos Age of Egypt.

of the

as the

in a

Agum

II,

not he waged

of Babylonia

is

as obscure

the Kassite king, does not state whether or

war against Mitanni to recover Babylon's

however, he was an ally of the

If,
Mitanni ruler, the transference of the deity may have
The possibility
been an ordinary diplomatic transaction.
Mitanni were
that
the
of
Hittites
also
be
suggested
may

god Merodach.

not displaced by the Aryan military aristocracy until after

the Kassites were firmly established in northern Babylonia
between 1700 B.C. and 1600 B.C. This may account for
the statements that

Merodach was

carried off

by the Hatti

and returned from the land of Khani.

The

evidence afforded by Egypt

is

suggestive in this

RISE OF

THE

HITTITES, ETC.

273

There was a second Hyksos Dynasty in that

"
"
later rulers became
as
Egyptianized
country.
"
but
were
the Kassites became
they
Babylonianized ",
all referred to
by the exclusive and sullen Egyptians as
"barbarians" and "Asiatics".
They recognized the sun
also
concerned in promoting
but
of
were
god
Heliopolis,
the worship of Sutekh, a deity of sky and thunder, with
solar attributes, whom Rameses II identified with the
connection.

The

" Baal" of the Hittites.

The

Mitannians, as has been

stated, recognized a Baal called Teshup, who was identical

with Tarku of the Western Hittites and with their own
tribal Indra also.
One of the Hyksos kings, named Ian
or Khian, the lanias of Manetho, was either an overlord
or the ally of an overlord, who swayed a great empire in
Asia.
His name has been deciphered on relics found as

Knossos in Crete and Baghdad on the Tigris,

the time was situated within the area of Kassite

far apart as

which

at

Apparently peaceful conditions prevailed during

reign over a wide extent of Asia and trade was brisk
The very
between far -distant centres of civilization.
term Hyksos is suggestive in this connection. According
to Breasted it signifies "rulers of countries", which comcontrol.
his

pares with the Biblical "Tidal king of nations", whom

Sayce, as has been indicated, regards as a Hittite monarch.

When

have been read and

Mesopotamia thoroughly explored, light may be thrown
on the relations of the Mitannians, the Hittites, the
Hyksos, and the Kassites between 1 800 B.C. and 1 500 B.C.
It is evident that a
fascinating volume of ancient history
the

Hittite

hieroglyphics

has yet to be written.

The Kassites formed the military aristocracy of Babylonia, which was called Karduniash, for nearly six centuries.

Agum

II

was the

first

of their kings who became

still
gave

thoroughly Babylonianized, and although he

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

274

god of

battle, he
had taken back
from "Khani", and decorated E-sagila with gifts of gold,
he also
jewels, rare woods, frescoes, and pictorial tiles
the
re-endowed the priesthood.
During
reign of his
the
of
Sealand
Burnaburiash
came
1,
successor,
Dynasty

recognition to Shuqamuna, the Kassite

re-exalted Merodach, whose statue he

to an end.

Little is known regarding the relations between Elam

and Babylonia during the Kassite period. If the Kassite
invaders crossed the Tigris soon after the raid of the
Mitannian Hittites they must have previously overrun
a great part of Elam, but strongly situated Susa may
At first the
have for a time withstood their attacks.

Kassites held northern Babylonia only, while the ancient

Sumerian area was dominated by the Sealand power, which

had gradually regained strength during the closing years

No doubt many northern
of the Hammurabi Dynasty.
Babylonian refugees reinforced

The

its

army.

Elamites, or perhaps the Kassites of Elam, appear

made frequent attacks on southern Babylonia.

At length Ea-gamil, king of Sealand, invaded Elam with
purpose, no doubt, to shatter the power of his restless
enemies.
He was either met there, however, by an army
to have

his country was invaded during his

Prince Ulamburiash, son of Burnaburiash I,
defeated Ea-gamil and brought to an end the Sealand

from Babylon, or

absence.

Dynasty which had been founded by Ilu-ma-ilu, the contemporary and enemy of Samsu-la-ilu, son of Hammurabi.
Ulamburiash is referred to on a mace-head which was
discovered at Babylon as "king of Sealand", and he probThe whole of
ably succeeded his father at the capital.
Babylonia thus came under Kassite sway.
Agum III, a grandson of Ulamburiash, found it
necessary, however, to invade Sealand, which must

RISE OF

THE

HITTITES, ETC.

therefore have revolted.

275

was probably a centre of

It

discontent during the whole period of Kassite ascendancy.

After a long obscure interval we reach the period

the Hyksos power was broken in Egypt, that is,

when
after

1580

The

B.C.

great

Western

Asiatic

kingdoms

time were the Hittite, the Mitannian, the Assyrian,

and the Babylonian (Kassite). Between 1557 B.C. and
at the

1501 B.C. Thothmes I of Egypt was asserting his sway

over part of Syria.
Many years elapsed, however, before
Thothmes III, who died in 1447 B.C., established firmly,

waging a long war of conquest, the supremacy of

Egypt between the Euphrates and the Mediterranean
coast as far north as the borders of Asia Minor.

after

" At

this

period

"the

",

as

Flinders

Professor

Petrie

emphasizes,
Syria was equal or
Not only was there in the
superior to that of Egypt."
cities "luxury
of
the Egyptians ", but also
that
beyond
"technical work which could teach them".
The Syrian
soldiers had suits of scale armour, which afterwards were
manufactured in Egypt, and they had chariots adorned
with gold and silver and highly decorated, which were
civilization

of

greatly prized by the Egyptians when they captured them,

and reserved for royalty. "In the rich wealth of gold
and silver vases", obtained from captured cities by the
Nilotic warriors, "we see also", adds Petrie, "the sign of
a people who were their (the
Egyptians') equals, if not
"*
their superiors in taste and skill.
It is not to be wondered
therefore, when the
Syria that they preferred

at,

skilled

workmen.

"

Pharaohs received tribute from

it

The

to be carried into

keenness

with

Egypt by
which

the

Egyptians record all the beautiful and luxurious products of the Syrians shows that the workmen would
1

A History of Egypt,

W. M.

Flinders Petrie, vol.

ii,

p.

146

et

seq.

(1904

ed.).

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

276

probably be more
tribute."

One

in

demand than other kinds of

slave

of the monarchs with

whom Thothmes

III corre-

sponded was the king of Assyria. The enemies of Egypt

northern Mesopotamia were the Hittites and Mitannians, and their allies, and these were also the enemies
of Assyria.
But to enable us to deal with the new situation which was created by Egypt in Mesopotamia, it is
in

necessary in the first place to trace the rise of Assyria,

which was destined to become for a period the dominating
power in Western Asia, and ultimately in the Nile valley
also.

The

Assyrian group of cities grew up on the banks of

the Tigris to the north of Babylonia, the mother country.
The following Biblical references regarding the origins of
the two states are of special interest:

Now these are the generations of the sons of Noah: Shem, Ham,
and Japheth.
The sons of Ham: Cush, and Mizraim, and
And Cush begat Nimrod; he began to be
Phut, and Canaan.
a mighty one in the earth.
He was a mighty hunter before the
Lord wherefore it is said, Even as Nimrod the mighty hunter
And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel,
before the Lord.
and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. Out of
that land went forth Asshur and builded Nineveh, and the city
Rehoboth, and Calah, and Resen between Nineveh and Calah: the
same is a great city.
The children of Shem: Elam and Asshur
(Genesis, x, 1-22).
and the land of Nimrod in the
The land of Assyria
.

entrances thereof (Micah,

It will

v, 6).

be observed that the Sumero-Babylonians are

Cushites or Hamites, and therefore regarded as racially

an
akin to the proto-Egyptians of the Mediterranean race
interesting confirmation of recent ethnological conclusions.
1

A History of Egypt,

W. M.

Flinders Pctric, vol.

ii,

p.

147 (1904

ed.).

RISE OF

THE

HITTITES, ETC.

277

Nimrod, the king of Babel (Babylon), in Shinar

(Sumer), was, it would appear, a deified monarch who
became ultimately identified with the national god of
1
Professor Pinches has shown that his name
Babylonia.
is a
In Sumerian Merorendering of that of Merodach.
dach was called Amaruduk or Amarudu, and in the
By a process
Assyro- Babylonian language Marduk.
familiar to philologists the suffix "uk" was dropped and
" ni "
the rendering became Marad. The Hebrews added
= " ni-marad ", assimilating the name "to a certain extent
to the
niphal forms* of the Hebrew verbs and making
a change", says Pinches, "in conformity with the genius
of the Hebrew language ".
Asshur, who went out of Nimrod's country to build
Nineveh, was a son of Shem a Semite, and so far as is
known it was after the Semites achieved political supremacy
in
Akkad that the Assyrian colonies were formed.
Asshur may have been a subject ruler who was deified
and became the god of the city of Asshur, which probably
'

gave its name to Assyria.

According to Herodotus, Nineveh was founded by
King Ninus and Queen Semiramis. This lady was reputed to be the daughter of Derceto, the fish goddess,
whom Pliny identified with Atargatis. Semiramis was
She was
actually an Assyrian queen of revered memory.
deified and took the place of a goddess, apparently Nina,
This Nina, perhaps a form
the prototype of Derceto.
of Damkina, wife of Ea, was the great mother of the
Sumerian city of Nina, and there, and also at Lagash,
received offerings of fish.
She was one of the many
of
The Greek
goddesses
maternity absorbed by Ishtar.

Ninus
1

is

regarded as a male form of her name;

The Old Testament

in the

Babylonia, pp. 126 et seq.

Light of

the Historical

R words and

like

Legends of Assyria and

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

278

Atargatis, she may have become a bisexual deity, if she

was not always accompanied by a shadowy male form.
Nineveh (Ninua) was probably founded or conquered by
colonists from Nina or Lagash, and called after the fish

goddess.
All the deities of Assyria were imported from Baby-

some hold, Ashur, the national god.

The theory that Ashur was identical with the AryoIndian Asura and the Persian Ahura is not generally
One theory is that he was an eponymous hero
accepted.
who became the city god of Asshur, although the early
lonia

except,

form of

as

name, Ashir, presents a difficulty in this conAsshur was the first capital of Assyria. Its
nection.
city god may have become the national god on that
his

account.

At an
Thothmes

early period, perhaps a thousand years before

III battled with the Mitannians in northern

an early wave of one of the peoples of Aryan

speech may have occupied the Assyrian cities. Mr. Johns
points out in this connection that the names of Ushpia,
Kikia, and Adasi, who, according to Assyrian records,
were early rulers in Asshur, "are neither Semitic nor
Sumerian". An ancient name of the goddess of Nineveh
was Shaushka, which compares with Shaushkash, the conAs
sort of Teshup, the Hittite-Mitanni hammer god.
many of the Mitannian names "are", according to Mr.
Syria,

Johns, "really Elamitic", he suggests an ethnic connection between the early conquerors of Assyria and the
2
Were the pre-Semitic Elamites origipeople of Elam.
an agglutinative language, like the
of
nally speakers

Sumerians and present-day Basques, who were conquered

in
prehistoric times by a people of Aryan speech?
Anu

His connection with

Ancient Assyria^ C. H.

W.

is

discussed in chapter xiv.

Johns,

p.

(London, 1912).

RISE OF
The

THE

HITTITES, ETC.

279

is
urged by Mr. Johns's suggestion
have
been dominated in pre-Semitic
Assyria may
times by the congeners of the Aryan military aristocracy
of Mitanni. As has been shown, it was Semitized by the

possibility

that

Amoritic migration which, about 2000 B.C., brought into

prominence the Hammurabi Dynasty of Babylon.
A long list of kings with Semitic names held sway in
the Assyrian cities during and after the Hammurabi Age.
But not until well on in the Kassite period did any of

prominence in Western Asia. Then Ashurbel-nish-eshu, King of Asshur, was strong enough to deal
on equal terms with the Kassite ruler Kara-indash I, with
whom he arranged a boundary treaty. He was a contemporary of Thothmes III of Egypt.
After Thothmes III had secured the predominance of
Egypt in Syria and Palestine he recognized Assyria as
an independent power, and supplied its king with Egyptian gold to assist him, no doubt, in strengthening his
Gifts were also
territory against their common enemy.
sent from Assyria to Egypt to fan the flame of cordial

them

attain

relations.

The

was

of peril for Saushatar, king

Deprived by Egypt of tribute-paying cities
in Syria, his
exchequer must have been sadly depleted.
A standing army had to be maintained, for although
Egypt made no attempt to encroach further on his terrisituation

full

of Mitanni.

tory, the Hittites

frontier,

were ever hovering on

ready when opportunity

his north-western

offered

to

win back

Eastward, Assyria was threatening to become a dangerous, rival. He had himself to pay tribute
Cappadocia.

Egypt, and Egypt was subsidizing his enemy. It was

imperative on his part, therefore, to take action without
The power of Assyria had to be crippled its
delay.
revenues were required for the Mitannian exchequer. So
to

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

280

Saushatar raided Assyria during the closing years of the

reign of Thothmes III, or soon after his successor, Amen-

hotep

ascended the Egyptian throne.

II,

Nothing

is

known from contemporary

records regard-

campaign; but it can be gathered from the references of a later period that the city of Asshur was captured
and plundered; its king, Ashur-nadin-akhe, ceased corresponding and exchanging gifts with Egypt. That Nineveh
ing this

made

by the fact that a descendant of

Saushatar (Tushratta) was able to send to a descendant
of Thothmes III at Thebes (Amenhotep III) the image
of Ishtar (Shaushka) of Nineveh.
Apparently five sucMitannian
were
overlords of Assyria during
cessive
kings
a period which cannot be estimated at much less than a
hundred years.
also fell

is

clear

Our knowledge

regarding

these

events

is

derived

from the Tell-el-Amarna letters, and the tablets

found by Professor Hugo Winckler at Boghaz-Koi in
Cappadocia, Asia Minor.
The Tell-el-Amarna letters were discovered among
the ruins of the palace of the famous Egyptian Pharaoh,
Akhenaton, of the Eighteenth Dynasty, who died about

chiefly

1358

B.C.

During the winter of 18878 an Egyptian

woman was

excavating soil for her garden, when she

happened Upon the cellar of Akhenaton's foreign office in
which the official correspondence had been stored. The
" letters " were baked
tablets inscribed with cuneiclay

form

alphabetical

signs

in

the

language, which, like French in

Babylonian

Assyrian

modern

times, was the

for
international
of
diplomacy
many centuries in
language

Western Asia

after the

Hyksos period.
The Egyptian natives, ever so eager to sell antiquities
so as to make a fortune and retire for life, offered some
One or two were sent
specimens of the tablets for sale.

Photo. Manscll

LETTER FROM TUSHRATTA, KING OF MITANNI, TO

AMENHOTEP III, KING OF EGYPT
One of

the

TelM-Amarna

tablets,

noiv in the British

Museum.

(See pages

280-282}

RISE OF

THE

HITTITES, ETC.

281

where they were promptly declared to be forthe result that for a time the inscribed bricks
with
geries,
a
not
marketable
were
commodity. Ere their value was
discovered, the natives had packed, them into sacks, with
to Paris,

many were damaged and some completely

the result that

At

length, however, the majority of them

destroyed.
reached the British Museum and the Berlin Museum,

while

others

drifted

into

the

museums

at

Cairo,

St.

When they were deciphered,

Petersburg, and Paris.
Mitanni was discovered, and a flood of light thrown on
the internal affairs of Egypt and its relations with various
kingdoms in Asia, while glimpses were also afforded of
the life and manners of the times.
The letters covered the reigns of Amenhotep III, the
great-grandson of Thothmes III, and of his son Akhenaton, "the dreamer king", and included communications
from the kings of Babylonia, Assyria, Mitanni, Cyprus,
the Hittites, and the princes of Phoenicia and Canaan.
The copies of two letters from Amenhotep III to KallimaOne
Sin, King of Babylonia, had also been preserved.
deals with statements

made by Babylonian ambassadors,

whom
sent

the Pharaoh stigmatizes as liars.

Kallima-Sin had
his daughter to the royal harem of Egypt, and

know if she was alive and

"
much gold to enable him to

desired to

"

well.

He

also asked

carry on the work of

When twenty minas of gold was
extending his temple.
sent to him, he complained in due course that the quantity received was not only short but that the gold was not
pure; it had been melted in the furnace, and less than
In return he sent to Akhenaton
five minas came out.
two minas of enamel, and some jewels for his daughter,
who was in the Egyptian royal harem.
Ashur-uballit, king of Ashur, once wrote intimating
to Akhenaton that he was gifting him horses and chariots
for

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

282

and a jewel

seal.

He

asked for gold to assist in building

country", he added, "gold is as
He also made an illuminating state-

"In your
his palace.
as
dust."
plentiful
ment

to the effect that

no ambassador had gone from

Egypt since the days of his ancestor Ashurnadin-akhe. It would therefore appear that Ashur-uballit

Assyria to

had freed part of Assyria from the yoke of Mitanni.

The contemporary king of Mitanni was Tushratta.
He corresponded both with his cousin Amenhotep III
In his correspondence
and his son-in-law Akhenaton.
with Amenhotep III Tushratta tells that his kingdom had
been invaded by the Hittites, but his god Teshup had
delivered them into his hand, and he destroyed them;
"not one of them", he declared, "returned to his own
country". Out of the booty captured he sent Amenhotep
several chariots and horses, and a boy and a girl. To his
sister Gilu-khipa, who was one of the Egyptian Pharaoh's
In
wives, he gifted golden ornaments and a jar of oil.
another letter Tushratta asked for a large quantity of
He complained that he did
gold "without measure".
not receive enough on previous occasions, and hinted that
some of the Egyptian gold looked as if it were alloyed
Like the Assyrian king, he hinted that
with copper.
as plentiful as dust in Egypt. His own presents
was
gold
to the Pharaoh included precious stones, gold ornaments,
chariots and horses, and women (probably slaves).
This
It
been
was
the
have
tribute.
third
Amenmay
during
hotep's illness that Tushratta forwarded the Nineveh
image of Ishtar to Egypt, and he made reference to its
having been previously sent thither by his father, Sutarna.
When Akhenaton came to the throne Tushratta wrote
to him, desiring to continue the friendship which had
existed for two or three generations between the kings of
Mitanni and Egypt, and made complimentary references

RISE OF
to

THE

HITTITES, ETC.

"the distinguished Queen Tiy

",

283

Akhenaton's mother,

who

evidently exercised considerable influence in shaping

In the course of his long
Egypt's foreign policy.

correspondence with the Pharaohs, Tushratta made those

statements regarding his ancestors which have provided
so much important data for modern historians of his

kingdom.
During the early part of the Tell-el-Amarna period,
Mitanni was the most powerful kingdom in Western
Asia.
It was
chiefly on that account that the daughters
of its rulers were selected to be the wives and mothers of
But its numerous enemies
great Egyptian Pharaohs.
were ever plotting to accomplish its downfall. Among
these the foremost and most dangerous were the Hittites
and the Assyrians.
The ascendancy of the Hittites was achieved in
northern Syria with dramatic suddenness.
There arose

Minor a great conqueror, named Subbi-luliuma,

the successor of Hattusil I, who established a strong
Hittite empire which endured for about two centuries.

in Asia

His

was

at

Sweeping through
Boghaz-Koi.
head of a finely organized army, remarkable for its mobility, he attacked the buffer states
which owed allegiance to Mitanni and Egypt. City after
city fell before him, until at length he invaded Mitanni ;
but it is uncertain whether or not Tushratta met him in
battle.
Large numbers of the Mitannians were, however,
evicted and transferred to the land of the Hittites, where
the Greeks subsequently found them, and where they are
believed to be represented by the modern Kurds, the
capital

Cappadocia,

at the

hereditary enemies of the Armenians.

In the confusion which ensued, Tushratta was

dered by Sutarna
luliuma.
(0642)

The

mur-

who was

II,
recognized by Subbicrown prince, Mattiuza, fled to Babylon,
21

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

284

where he found protection, but was unable to receive any

assistance.
Ultimately, when the Hittite emperor had
secured his sway over northern Syria, he deposed
Sutarna II and set Mattiuza as his vassal on the throne
of the shrunken Mitanni kingdom.
Meanwhile the Egyptian empire in Asia had gone to
When Akhenaton, the dreamer king, died in his
pieces.
palace at Tell-el-Amarna, the Khabiri were conquering
the Canaanite cities which had paid him tribute, and the
Hittite ruler was the acknowledged overlord of the
Amorites.

The

star

of Assyria was also in the ascendant.

who had corresponded

with

Its

Akhen-

king, Ashur-uballit,
aton, was, like the Hittite king, Subbi-luliuma, a distinguished statesman and general, and similarly laid the

foundations of a great empire.

Before or after Subbiluliuma invaded Tushratta's domains, he drove the
Mitannians out of Nineveh, and afterwards overcame the

Shubari tribes of Mitanni on the north-west, with the

result that he added a wide extent of territory to his

growing empire.
He had previously thrust southward the AssyroIn fact, he h^d become so formidBabylonian frontier.
able an opponent of Babylonia that his daughter had been
accepted as the wife of Karakhardash, the Kassite king of
In time his grandson, Kadashman-Kharbe,
that country.
ascended the Babylonian throne. This young monarch

co-operated with his grandfather in suppressing the Suti,

who infested the trade routes towards the west, and plun-

dered the caravans of merchants and the messengers of

great monarchs with persistent impunity.

reference to these bandits appears in one of the

Tell-el-Amarna letters.
Writing to Akhenaton, Ashuruballit

said:

"The

lands (of Assyria

and Egypt) are

RISE OF

THE

H1TTITES, ETC.

285

That
let our messengers come and go.
in
is
late
reason
were
reaching you, (the
your messengers
that) if the Suti had waylaid them, they would have been
dead men. For if I had sent them, the Suti would have
therefore I have retained
sent bands to waylay them
them.
may they not (for
My messengers (however),
1
this reason) be delayed."
Ashur-uballit's grandson extended his Babylonian
frontier into Amurru, where he dug wells and erected
remote, therefore

The Kassite aristocracy, howforts to protect traders.

have
entertained
towards him a strong
to
ever, appear
perhaps because he was so closely associated with
He had not
their hereditary enemies the Assyrians.

dislike,

reigned for long when the embers of rebellion burst into

The Kassites
flame and he was murdered in his palace.

then selected as their king a

Nazibugash, who was

of nobody

Ashur-uballit

".

man of humble

origin,

named

afterwards referred to as " the son

deemed the

occasion a fitting

He suddenly
a
with
overawed
the
appeared
strong army,
and
Then
seized
slew
he
and
set
Kassites,
Nazibugash.
infant
on the throne his great grandson the
Kurigalzu II,
one

to interfere in the affairs of Babylonia.

at the capital

who

lived to reign for fifty-five years.

Ashur-uballit appears to have died soon after this

He was succeeded by his son Bel-nirari, who

on the policy of strengthening and extending the
For many years he maintained excelAssyrian empire.
lent relations with his kinsman Kurigalzu II, but ultimately they came into conflict apparently over disputed
A sanguinary battle was fought, in which the
territory.
A
Babylonians suffered heavily and were put to rout.
was
afterwards
of
which
secured
for
peace
treaty
arranged,
the Assyrians a further extension of their frontier c< from
event.

carried

The Tell-el-Amarna Letters,

Hugo Winckler,

p. 31.

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

286

the borders of Mitanni as far as Babylonia ". The

struggle
of the future was to be for the possession of Mesopotamia, so as to secure control over the trade routes.
Thus Assyria rose from a petty state in a comparatively brief period to become the rival of Babylonia, at a

time

when Egypt

at the beginning of its Nineteenth

was
Dynasty
endeavouring to win back its lost empire in
Syria, and the Hittite empire was being consolidated in

the north.

CHAPTER

XIII

Astrology and Astronomy

Culture and Superstition Primitive Star Myths Naturalism, Totemism,
and Animism Stars as Ghosts of Men, Giants, and Wild Animals Gods
as Constellations and Planets
Osiris,
Babylonian and Egyptian Mysticism
Tammuz, and Merodach Ishtar and Isis as Bisexual Deities The Babylonian
The
Planets as Forms of Tammuz and Ghosts of Gods
Planetary Deities
Cosmic Periods in Babylonia,
Signs of the Zodiac The "Four Quarters"
India, Greece, and Ireland
Babylonian System of Calculation Traced in
Indian Yuga System
Astrology Beliefs of the Masses Rise of Astronomy
Greece and Babylonia Eclipses Foretold
Conflicting Views of Authorities
The Dial of Ahaz Omens of Heaven and Air Biblical References to
Constellations

The

Past in the Present.

THE empire builders of old who enriched themselves

with the spoils of war and the tribute of subject States,
not only satisfied personal ambition and afforded protection for industrious traders and workers, but also
incidentally promoted culture and
a conqueror returned to his

When

endowed
capital

research.

laden with

He

treasure, he made generous gifts to the temples.

believed that his successes were rewards for his piety, that

were won for him by his god or goddess of

was necessary, therefore, that he should continue
to find favour in the eyes of the deity who had been
proved to be more powerful than the god of his enemies.
Besides, he had to make provision during his absence on
his

war.

battles
It

long campaigns, or while absorbed in administrative work,

for the constant performance of religious rites, so that the
various deities of water, earth, weather, and corn might be
287

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

288

sustained or propitiated with sacrificial offerings, or held

in
magical control by the performance of ceremonial rites.

Consequently an endowed priesthood became a necessity

in all powerful and well-organized states.

Thus came
as

a result

official class,

into existence in Babylonia, as elsewhere,

of the accumulation of wealth, a leisured

whose duties tended to promote intellectual

although they were primarily directed to perCulture was really

petuate gross superstitious practices.
a by-product of temple activities
it
flowed forth like
activity,

pure gold from furnaces of thought which were walled up

by the crude ores of magic and immemorial tradition.
No doubt in ancient Babylonia, as in Europe during
the Middle Ages, the men of refinement and intellect
among the upper classes were attracted to the temples,
while the more robust types preferred the outdoor life,
and especially the life of the soldier. 1 The permanent
triumphs of Babylonian civilization were achieved either

by the

or in consequence of the influence they

They were the grammarians and the scribes,

priests,

exercised.

the mathematicians and the philosophers of that ancient

country, the teachers of the young, and the patrons of the

and crafts. It was because the temples were centres

of intellectual activity that the Sumerian language remained the language of culture for long centuries after it
ceased to be the everyday speech of the people.
Reference has already been made to the growth of art,
and the probability that all the arts had their origin in
magical practices, and to the growth of popular education necessitated by the centralization of business in the
arts

1
"It maybe worth while to note again", says Beddoe, "how often finely developed
skulls are discovered in the graveyards of old monasteries, and how likely seems Galton's
conjecture, that progress was arrested in the Middle Ages, because the celibacy of the

clergy brought about the extinction of the best strains of blood."

16 1
(1912).

History of Europt, p.

The Anthropological

ASTROLOGY AND ASTRONOMY

289

It remains with us to deal now with

temples.
priestly
contributions to the more abstruse sciences.
In India

the ritualists

among

the Brahmans,

who concerned them-

selves greatly
regarding the exact construction

and mea-

surements of altars, gave the world algebra ; the pyramid

builders of Egypt, who erected vast tombs to
protect
royal mummies, had perforce to lay the groundwork of
the science of geometry ; and the Babylonian
priests who

elaborated

the study of astrology became great astron-

omers because they found

it
necessary to observe and
record accurately the movements of the
heavenly bodies.
From the earliest times of which we have knowledge,

the religious beliefs of the Sumerians had

vague stellar
associations.
But it does not follow that their myths

myths to begin with. A people who called

"the ram ", "the bull", "the lion", or
"the scorpion", did not do so because astral
groups
were

star

constellations

suggested the forms of animals, but rather because the

animals had an earlier connection with their
religious life.
At the same time it should be recognized that the

mystery of the stars must ever have haunted the minds

of primitive men. Night with all its terrors
appealed
more strongly to their imaginations than refulgent
day
when they felt more secure ; they were concerned most
regarding what they feared most.
Brooding in darkness
regarding their fate, they evidently associated the stars
with the forces which influenced their lives
the ghosts

of ancestors, of totems, the spirits that

brought food or
famine and controlled the seasons.
As children see
images in a fire, so they saw human life reflected in the
To the simple minds of early folks the great
starry sky.
moon seemed to be the parent of the numerous twinkling
and moving orbs. In Babylon, indeed, the moon was
regarded as the father not only of the stars but of the sun

290

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

also; there, as elsewhere, lunar worship

solar worship.

was older than

Primitive beliefs regarding the stars were of similar

character in various parts of the world.
But the importance which they assumed in local mythologies depended
On the northern
in the first place on local phenomena.

Eur-Asian steppes, for instance, where stars vanished

during summer's blue nights, and were often obscured by
clouds in winter, they did not impress men's minds so
persistently and deeply as in Babylonia, where for the
greater part of the year they gleamed in darkness through
a dry transparent atmosphere with awesome intensity.
The development of an elaborate system of astral myths,
besides, was only possible in a country where the people
had attained to a high degree of civilization, and men
enjoyed leisure and security to make observations and
It is not surprising, therefore, to find
compile records.
But before
that Babylonia was the cradle of astronomy.
this science had destroyed the theory which it was

fostered to prove, it lay smothered for long ages in the

It is necessary, therefore,
debris of immemorial beliefs.

dealing with Babylonian astral myths to endeavour

to approach within reasonable distance of the point of
in

who framed them.

of highly complex
was
Babylonian religious thought
Its
character.
progress was ever hampered by blended

view, or points of view, of the people

The earliest settlers in the Tigro- Euphrates

no
doubt
valley
imported many crude beliefs which they
had inherited from their Palaeolithic ancestors the modes
of thought which were the moulds of new theories
When consideration is
arising from new experiences.
traditions.

given to the existing religious beliefs of various peoples

throughout the world, in low stages of culture, it is
found that the highly developed creeds of Babylonia,

ASTROLOGY AND ASTRONOMY

291

Egypt, and other countries where civilization flourished

were never divested wholly of their primitive traits.
Among savage peoples two grades of religious ideas
have been identified, and classified as Naturalism and
Animism. In the plane of Naturalism the belief obtains
that a vague impersonal force, which may have more than
one manifestation and is yet manifested in everything,
An
controls the world and the lives of human beings.
illustration of this stage of religious consciousness is
afforded by Mr. Risley, who, in dealing with the religion
of the jungle dwellers of Chota Nagpur, India, says that
" in most cases the indefinite
something which they fear

and attempt to propitiate is not a person at all in any

sense of the word; if one must state the case in positive
terms, I should say that the idea which lies at the root of
1
their religion is that of a power rather than many powers".
Traces of Naturalism appear to have survived in
Sumeria in the belief that " the spiritual, the Zi, was that
which manifested life.
The test of the manifestation
2
of life was movement/'
All things that moved, it was
conceived in the plane of Naturalism, possessed " self
power"; the river was a living thing, as was also the
fountain; a stone that fell from a hill fell of its own
.

accord;

a tree groaned because the wind caused it to

This idea that inanimate objects had con-

suffer pain.

the religion of the AryoNala story of the Indian epic, the

scious existence survived in

Indians.

In

the

Mahdbhdrata, the disconsolate wife Damayanti addresses

a mountain when searching for her lost husband:
This, the monarch of all mountains, ask I of the king of men ;
all-honoured Prince of Mountains, with thy heavenward

soaring peaks
1

Census of India, vol. i, part i, pp. 352

Hibbert Lectures, Professor Sayce, p.

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

292

Hast thou seen the kingly Nala in this dark and awful wood?.
Why repliest thou not, Mountain?"

She similarly addresses the Asoka tree:

" Hast thou
seen Nishadha's monarch, hast thou seen
love?

That

will

my

only

may depart ungrieving, fair Asoka, answer me.

a tree she stood and gazed on.
.*

Many
it

be recognized

that

when

."

primitive

men gave

names to mountains, rivers, or the ocean, these possessed

for them a deeper significance than they do for us at the
present

day.

The

speech

who

called

peoples of Indo-European
sky "dyeus", and those of

earliest

the

Sumerian speech who called it "ana", regarded it not

as the sky "and nothing more", but as something which
had conscious existence and "self power". Our remote
resembled, in this respect, those imaginative
children who hold conversations with articles of furniture,

ancestors

and administer punishment to stones which, they believe,

have tripped them up voluntarily and with desire to
commit an offence.
In this early stage of development the widespread
Families
totemic beliefs appear to have had origin.
or tribes believed that they were descended from mountains, trees,

or wild animals.

jEsop's fable about the mountain which gave birth to

a mouse may be a relic of Totemism ; so also may be the

mountain symbols on the standards of Egyptian ships

which appear on pre-dynastic pottery; the black dwarfs
of Teutonic mythology were earth children. 2
1

The Story of Nala, Monier Williams, pp. 68-9 and 77.

" In Ymer*8 flesh
(the earth) the dwarfs were engendered and began to move and
live.
The dwarfs had been bred in the mould of the earth, just as worms are in
.
a dead body."
The Prose Edda.
"The gods
took counsel whom they should make the lord of dwarfs out of
2

ASTROLOGY AND ASTRONOMY

293

tree; his mother may have,

to
been simply a tree; Dagda,
belief,
primitive
according

Adonis sprang from a

the patriarchal Irish corn god, was an oak; indeed, the

idea of a "world tree", which occurs in Sumerian, VedicIndian, Teutonic, and other mythologies, was probably

product of Totemism.
Wild animals were considered to be other forms of
human beings who could marry princes and princesses as
Damayanti addressed
they do in so many fairy tales.

the tiger, as well as the mountain and tree, saying:

approach him without fear.
the monarch, all this forest thy domain;
1
of
beasts, console me, if my Nala thou hast seen."
king
I

"

Of the beasts art thou

Thou, O
A tribal totem

In
exercised sway over a tribal district.
worHerodotus
the
was
crocodile
recorded,
Egypt,
shipped in one district and hunted down in another.
as

Tribes fought against tribes when totemic animals were

The Babylonian and Indian myths about the conslain.
flicts between
eagles and serpents may have originated as
records of battles between eagle clans and serpent clans.
Totemic animals were tabooed. The Set pig of Egypt
and the devil pig of Ireland, Scotland, and Wales were
not eaten except sacrificially.
Families were supposed to

be descended from swans and were named Swans, or from

and were named Seals, like the Gaelic " Mac

Codrums", whose surname signifies "son of the seal";
the nickname of the Campbells, " sons of the pig ", may
refer to their totemic boar's head crest, which commemorated the slaying, perhaps the sacrificial slaying, of the
boar by their ancestor Diarmid.
Mr. Garstang, in The
Syrian Goddess^ thinks it possible that the boar which killed

seals

Ymer's blood (the

sea)

and his swarthy limbs (the earth),"

stanza 9).
1

The Story of Nala, Monier Williams,

p.

67.

The Elder Edda

(Voluspfi)

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA
Adonis was of totemic origin. So may have been the
When an animal
fish form of the Sumerian god Ea.
a
and
once
eaten sacrificially
was
sacrificed
totem
year,
so that the strength of the clan might be maintained, the
in its skin was
priest who wrapped himself
supposed to

have transmitted to him certain magical powers ; he became identified with the totem and prophesied and gave
instruction as the totem.
fish's

Ea was

depicted clad in the

skin.

Animism, the other early stage of human developMen

ment, also produced distinctive modes of thought.
conceived that the world swarmed with spirits, that a
groaned in the wind-shaken tree, that the howling wind was an invisible spirit, that there were spirits
in fountains, rivers, valleys, hills, and in ocean, and in
all animals; and that a hostile spirit
might possess an
The sun and the
individual and change his nature.
moon were the abodes of spirits, or the vessels in which
spirit

over the sea of the sky

the stars
were all spirits, the "host of heaven". These spirits
existed in groups of seven, or groups of three, and the

great spirits

sailed

multiple of three, or in pairs, or operated as single individuals.

Although certain spirits might confer gifts upon

mankind, they were at certain seasons and in certain
localities hostile and vengeful, like the
grass-green fairies
in winter, or the earth-black elves when their
gold was
for
in
forbidden
and
secret
These
sought
places.
of
were
the
artisans
creation
and vegetation, like
spirits
the Egyptian Khnumu and the Indian Rhibus
they
fashioned the grass blades and the stalks of corn,
but at times of seasonal change they might ride on
their tempest steeds, or issue forth from
flooding rivers
and lakes, Man was greatly concerned about striking
;

ASTROLOGY AND ASTRONOMY

295

bargains with them to secure their services, and about

propitiating them, or warding off their attacks with

and by performing "ceremonies of

The ghosts of the dead, being spirits, were
riddance".
similarly propitious or harmful on occasion; as emissaries
protective charms,

of Fate they could injure the living.

Ancestor worship, the worship of ghosts, had origin
But ancestor worship was not
in the stage of Animism.

developed in Babylonia as in China, for instance, although

traces of it survived in the worship of stars as ghosts, in
the deification of kings, and the worship of patriarchs,
who might be exalted as gods or identified with a

supreme god. The Egyptian Pharaoh Unas became the

sun god and the constellation of Orion by devouring his

He

predecessors.

ate his

god

as a tribe ate its animal

totem; he became the "bull of heaven ".

There were star totems as well as mountain totems.
A St. Andrew's cross sign, on one of the Egyptian ship
standards referred to, may represent a star.
lonian goddess Ishtar was symbolized as a

The Babystar,

and she

was the "world mother''.

Many primitive currents of

of ancient mythologies.
the
fretted
rocks
thought shaped
In various countries all round the globe the belief
prevailed that the stars were ghosts of the mighty dead
of giants, kings, or princes, or princesses, or of pious

people

whom

the gods loved, or of animals which were

few instances may be selected at random.

worshipped.
When the Teutonic gods slew the giant Thjasse, he apIn India the ghosts of
peared in the heavens as Sirius.

who were semi -divine Patriarchs,

formed the constellation of the Great Bear, which in Vedic
times was called the "seven bears ".
The wives of the
seven Rishis were the stars of the Pleiades.
In Greece
the "seven Rishis"

ian

Myth and Legend,

pp.

168

et

seq.

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

296

the Pleiades were the ghosts of the seven daughters of

Adas and Pleione, and in Australia they were and are

queen and

handmaidens. In these countries, as elsewhere, stories were told to account for the "lost Pleiad ",
a fact which suggests that primitive men were more constant observers of the heavenly bodies than might otherwise be supposed. The Arcadians believed that they were
descended, as Hesiod recorded, from a princess who was
transformed by Zeus into a bear ; in this form Artemis
slew her and she became the " Great Bear" of the sky.
a

six

The Egyptian

Isis

was the

star Sirius,

whose

rising co-

Her
incided with the beginning of the Nile inundation.
" the
first tear for the dead Osiris fell into the river on
The flood which ensued brought
night of the drop".
the food supply.
Thus the star was not only the Great
Mother of all, but the sustainer of all.

The

brightest stars were regarded as being the greatest

In Babylonia all the planets were
influential.

and most

great deities.
Jupiter, for instance, was
and
one
of
the
astral
forms of Ishtar was
Merodach,
Venus.
Merodach was also connected with " the fish of
identified with

Ea"
had

(Pisces), so that

it is

stellar associations.

nition before the planets

not improbable that

Ea worship

Constellations were given recog-

were

identified.

strange blending of primitive

the deities were given astral forms.

beliefs

As

when
shown

occurred

has been

The
(Chapter III) gods were supposed to die annually.
out
to
the
Herodotus
Egyptian priests pointed
grave of
There are "giants' graves" also
in those countries in which the gods were simply ferocious
A god might assume various forms he might
giants.
take the form of an insect, like Indra, and hide in a plant,
or become a mouse, or a serpent, like the gods of Erech
Osiris

and

also his star.

in the

Gilgamesh

epic.

The

further theory that a

god

ASTROLOGY AND ASTRONOMY

297

at one and the same time

its
had
origin among a people who
suggests
accepted the idea of a personal god while yet in the stage
of Naturalism. In Egypt Osiris, for instance, was the
moon, which came as a beautiful child each month and was
devoured as the wasting "old moon" by the demon Set;
he was the young god who was slain in his prime each year;
he was at once the father, husband, and son of Isis; he
was the Patriarch who reigned over men and became the
Judge of the Dead; he was the earth spirit, he was the
bisexual Nile spirit, he was the spring sun; he was the
Apis bull of Memphis, and the ram of Mendes; he was
In his fusion with Ra, who was
the reigning Pharaoh.
threefold
he died each day as
Khepera, Ra, and Turn
an old man; he appeared in heaven at night as the constellation Orion, which was his ghost, or was> perhaps,
rather the Sumerian Zi 5 the spiritual essence of life.
Osiris, who resembled Tammuz, a god of many forms
also, was addressed as follows in one of the Isis chants:

could exist in various forms

that

it

There proceedeth from thee

the strong

Orion

in

heaven

at evening,

at the resting of every day

it is I
at the approach of the Sothis (Sirius) period,
(Isis),
doth watch for him (the child Osiris),
!

Lo
Nor

who

watching for him; for that which proceedeth

from thee (the living Osiris) is revered.
An emanation from thee causeth life to gods and men, reptiles and
animals, and they live by means thereof.
Come thou to us from thy chamber, in the day when thy soul bewill I leave off

getteth emanations,

The

day when offerings upon offerings are made

which causeth the gods and men likewise to

to

thy

live.

spirit,

This extract emphasizes how unsafe it is to confine

narrow limits by terming them simply

certain deities within

1

The Burden of

Isis,

Dennis,

p.

24.

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

298

"solar gods", "lunar gods", "astral gods", or "earth

gods". One deity may have been simultaneously a sun

god and moon god, an air god and an earth god, one who
was dead and also alive, unborn and also old. The priests
of Babylonia and Egypt were less accustomed to concrete
and logical definitions than their critics and expositors of
the twentieth century.
Simple explanations of ancient'
beliefs are often by reason of their very simplicity highly
Recognition must ever be given to the
puzzling complexity of religious thought in Babylonia
and Egypt, and to the possibility that even to the priests
improbable.

the doctrines of a particular cult, which embraced the

accumulated ideas of centuries, were invariably confusing

and vague, and full of inconsistencies; they were mystical
understanding could not grasp them
A god, for inalthough it permitted their acceptance.
stance, might be addressed at once in the singular and
in the sense that the

he had developed from an anior, perhaps, for reasons we cannot

plural, perhaps because

group of spirits,
This is shown clearly by the following pregnant
extract from a- Babylonian tablet: "Powerful,
Sevenfold,
mistic

discover.

upon

it

as follows

was applied

W. King, the translator, comments

" There is no doubt that the name

Mr. L.

one are ye".

to a

group of gods who were so closely con-

nected that, though addressed in the plural, they could

in the same sentence be regarded as forming a single
1

personality".
Like the Egyptian Osiris, the Babylonian Merodach
was a highly complex deity.
was the son of Ea, god

He

of the deep; he died to give origin to human life when

he commanded that his head should be cut off so that the

human

beings might be fashioned by mixing his

blood with the earth; he was the wind god, who gave

first

Babylonian JMagtc And Sorcery^ p. 117.

ASTROLOGY AND ASTRONOMY

299

"the

air of life"; he was the deity of thunder and the

he
was the sun of spring in his Tammuz character;
sky;
he was the daily sun, and the planets Jupiter and Mercury

as well as Sharru (Regulus); he had various astral associations at various seasons.

Ishtar, the goddess, was Iku

(Capella), the water channel star, in January-February,

and Merodach was Iku

This strange
June.
system of identifying the chief deity with different stars
at different periods, or simultaneously, must not be conin

May

fused with the monotheistic identification of him with

other gods.

Merodach changed

forms with Ishtar,

This goddess, for in-

his

and had similarly many forms.

stance, was, even when connected with one particular
According to a tablet
heavenly body, liable to change.
fragment she was, as the planet Venus, "a female at sun1
that is, a bisexual deity like
set and a male at sunrise"
Nannar of Ur, the father and mother deity combined, and
Nannar is addressed in a famous hymn:
Isis of Egypt.

God Sin, ruler among the gods.

ivhich
produceth all things. .
body

Father Nannar, Lord,

Mother

Merciful, gracious Father, in

whole land is contained.

One

of the

Isis

chants of

whose hand the

Egypt

of the

life

sets forth, addressing

Osiris:
Isis, lady of the horizon, who hath
in the image of the gods
herself
alone
begotten
hath taken vengeance before Horus, the woman who was made

There cometh unto thee

She

a male by her father Osiris?

Merodach, like Osiris-Sokar, was a "lord of many

existences", and likewise "the mysterious one, he who
3
It was impossible for the
is unknown to mankind'*.
human mind "a greater than itself to know".
1

Babylonian and Assyrian Religion^ T. G. Pinches,

J
(

c 642

The Burden of his,

)

J.

T. Dennii,

p.

49.

p.

100.

////., p. $2.

22

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

300

Evidence has not yet been forthcoming

to enable us

to determine the period at which the chief Babylonian

deities were identified with the planets, but it is clear

that Merodach's ascendancy in astral form could not have

occurred prior to the rise of that city god of Babylon as
At the same
chief of the pantheon by displacing Enlil.

time

it

must be recognized

that long before the

Ham-

murabi age the star-gazers of the Tigro-Euphrates valley

must have been acquainted with the movements of the
chief planets and stars, and, no doubt, they connected
them with seasonal changes as in Egypt, where Isis was
identified with Sirius long before the Ptolemaic age, when
Horus was identiBabylonian astronomy was imported.

not only with the sun but also with Saturn, Jupiter,
Even the primitive Australians, as has been
indicated, have their star myths ; they refer to the stars
fied

and Mars. 1

Castor and Pollux as two young men, like the ancient

Greeks, while the African Bushmen assert that these
stars are two girls.
It would be a mistake, however, to
assume that the prehistoric Sumerians were exact astron-

Probably they were, like the Aryo-Indians of the

Vedic period, "not very accurate observers ". 2
It is of special interest to i find that the stars were

omers.

grouped by the Babylonians at the earliest period in

companies of seven. The importance of this magical
number is emphasized by the group of seven demons
which rose from the deep to rage over the land (p. 71).
Perhaps the sanctity of Seven was suggested by Orion,
the Bears, and the Pleiad, one of which constellations may
have been the "Sevenfold" deity addressed as "one".
rate arbitrary groupings of other stars into comof
seven took place, for references are made to
panies

At any

Religion of tht Ancient Egyptians, A.

Vtdtc Index, Macdoncll

&

Wiedemann,

Keith, vol.

i,

p. 30.

et
pp. 4.23

set}.

ASTROLOGY AND ASTRONOMY

301

the seven Lumashi, and the seven

which
are
older
than the signs of the Zodiac;
Mashi,
far
as
can be ascertained these groups were selected
so
from various constellations. When the five planets were
identified, they were associated with the sun and moon
and connected with the chief gods of the Hammurabi

the seven Tikshi,

A bilingual list in the British Museum

pantheon.
the
sevenfold planetary group in the following
arranges
order:

The moon, Sin.

The sun, Shamash.
Jupiter,

Venus,

Merodach.
Ishtar.

Saturn, Ninip (Nirig).

Mercury, Nebo.
Mars, Nergal.

An

ancient

recalls the

name of

the

moon was

Egyptian Adh

was Aku, "the measurer ",

like

his lunar character as a Fate

men, and was

scribes.

The

Aa, A, or Ai, which

The Sumerian moon

Thoth of Egypt, who in

or Ah.

measured out the

lives

of

god of architects, mathematicians, and

moon was the parent of the sun or its
a

spouse; and might be male, or female, or both as a bisexual deity.

"
As the "bull of light Jupiter had solar associations;
he was also the shepherd of the stars, a title shared by

Tammuz

Orion
Nin-Girsu, a developed form of
was
identified
with both Orion and Jupiter.
Tammuz,
as

Venus is of special interest.

that planet was at its brightest phase, its rays were
referred to as "the beard" of the goddess; she was the
Ishtar's identification with

When

a bisexual deity evidently.

The
the
as
and
the
Venus
astrologers regarded
bright
lucky
as
Venus
rayless

"bearded Aphrodite"

unlucky.

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

302

who

best known as Ninip, a deity

the
elder Bel, and afterwards
displaced by Enlil,
his
son.
His
story has not been recovered,
regarded as
but from the references made to it there is little doubt

Saturn was Nirig,

is

who was

was a version of the widespread myth about the

who was slain by his son, as Saturn was by
It may have resembled the
Jupiter and Dyaus by Indra.
lost Egyptian myth which explained the existence of the
two Horuses Horus the elder, and Horus, the posthumous son of Osiris. At any rate, it is of interest to find
in this connection that in Egypt the planet Saturn was
Her-Ka, "Horus the Bull". Ninip was also identified
Both deities were also connected with the
with the bull.
like
Tammuz, and were terrible slayers of their
spring sun,
enemies.
Ninip raged through Babylonia like a storm
flood, and Horus swept down the Nile, slaying the
As the divine sower of seed, Ninip
followers of Set.
have
developed from Tammuz as Horus did from
may
Each were at once the father and the son,
Osiris.
different forms of the same deity at various seasons of
The elder god was displaced by the son
the year.
(spring), and when the son grew old his son slew him
As the planet Saturn, Ninip was the ghost of
in turn.
the elder god, and as the son of Bel he was the solar war
god of spring, the great wild bull, the god of fertility.
He was also as Ber "lord of the wild boar", an animal
that

it

elder deity

Rimmon. 1
Nebo (Nabu), who was

associated with

identified with Mercury, was

of
a
He
was
Borsippa.
god
messenger and "announcer"
of the gods, as the Egyptian Horus in his connection with
Jupiter was Her-ap-sheta, "Horus the opener of that

which

is

secret ",

Nebo's original character

Religion of the Ancient Babylonians, Sayce, p. 153, n. 6.

Religion of the Ancient Egyptians, A.

Wiedemann,

is

p. 30.

obscure.

Photo. Manscll

THE GOD NINIP AND ANOTHER DEITY

Marble

slab from Kouyunjik

(Nineveh}:

now

in the British

Museum

ASTROLOGY AND ASTRONOMY

303

He

appears to have beeji a highly developed deity of a

people well advanced in civilization when he was exalted

of Borsippa. Although Hammurabi

ignored him, he was subsequently invoked with Merodach, and had probably much in common with Merodach.
Indeed, Merodach was also identified with the planet
Mercury. Like the Greek Hermes, Nebo was a messenas the divine patron

ger of the gods and an instructor of mankind.

Jastrow
regards him as "a counterpart of Ea", and says: "Like
Ea, he is the embodiment and source of wisdom. The
art

and therefore of all

of writing

ticularly associated with him.

literature

is

more

par-

A common form of his name

He appears
*god of the stylus Y'
also to have been a developed form of Tammuz, who was
an incarnation of Ea.
Professor Pinches shows that one
of his names, Mermer, was also a non-Semitic name of
Ramman. 2 Tammuz resembled Ramman in his character
as a spring god of war.
It would seem that Merodach
designates

him

as the

as Jupiter displaced at Babylon Nebo as Saturn, the elder

god, as Bel Enlil displaced the elder Ninip at Nippur.

The god of Mars was Nergal, the patron deity of

3
Cuthah, who descended into the Underworld and forced
into submission Eresh-ki-gal (Persephone), with

was afterwards associated.

Pinches, "is supposed to

whom

he

His " name ", says Professor

mean lord of the great habitac

which would be a parallel to that of his spouse,

4
At Erech he symbolized the destroying
Eresh-ki-gal".
influence of the sun, and was accompanied by the demons
of pestilence.
Mars was a planet of evil, plague, and
its
animal
form was the wolf. In Egypt it was
death;
tion

Aspects of Religious Belief and Practice in Babylonia and Assyria, p. 95.

Babylonian and Assyrian Religion, pp. 63 and 83.

When the King of Assyria transported the Babylonians, &c., to Samaria " the

of

',

Cuth made Nergal

*

",

2 Ktngs,

xvii, 30.

Babylonian and Assyrian Religion,

p.

80.

men

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

304

" the

Red Hprus ", and in Greece it

was associated with Ares (the Roman Mars), the war god,
who assumed his boar form to slay Adonis (Tammuz).

called

Herdesher,

Nergal was also a fire god like the Aryo-Indian Agni,

who, as has been shown, links with Tammuz as a demon
It may be that Nergal was
slayer and a god of fertility.
a specialized form of Tammuz, who, in a version of the
myth, was reputed to have entered the Underworld as a
conqueror when claimed by Eresh-ki-gal, and to have
become, like Osiris, the lord of the dead. If so, Nergal
was at once the slayer and the slain.
The various Babylonian deities who were identified with
the planets had their characters sharply defined as memBut before this developbers of an organized pantheon.
ment took place certain of the prominent heavenly bodies,
perhaps all the planets, were evidently regarded as manifestations of one deity, the primeval Tammuz, who was
Tama form of Ea, or of the twin deities Ea and Anu.
muz may have been the " sevenfold one " of the hymns.
At a still earlier period the stars were manifestations of
the Power whom the jungle dwellers of Chota Nagpur
attempt to propitiate the "world soul" of the cultured
Brahmans of the post-Vedic Indian Age. As much is
suggested by the resemblances which the conventionalized
planetary deities bear to Tammuz, whose attributes they
symbolized, and by the Egyptian conception that the sun,
Jupiter, Saturn, and Mars were manifestations of Horus.

Tammuz
the

Power

and Horus may have been personifications of

or

World Soul vaguely recognized

in the
stage

of Naturalism.

The

influence of animistic

modes of thought may be

in the idea that the planets and stars were the

of
ghosts
gods who were superseded by their sons. These
sons were identical with their fathers
they became, as

traced

ASTROLOGY AND ASTRONOMY

305

" husbands of their mothers

".
This idea
was perpetuated in the Aryo-Indian Laws of Manu, in
which it is set forth that <c the husband, after conception
by his wife, becomes an embryo and is born again of
her ".* The deities died every year, but death was simply
Yet they remained in the separate forms they
change.
assumed in their progress round " the wide circle of
Horus was remembered as various planets
necessity".
as the falcon, as the elder sun god, and as the son
of Osiris; and Tammuz was the spring sun, the child,
youth, warrior, the deity of fertility, and the lord of
death (Orion-Nergal), and, as has been suggested, all

in

Egypt,

the planets.

The

were also the ghosts of deities who died

the sun perished as an old man at evening,
daily.
in
the
it rose
heavens as Orion, or went out and in among
the stars as the shepherd of the flock, Jupiter, the planet
stars

When

in Babylonia, and Attis in Asia Minor. The

was the group of heavenly spirits invisible by day,
"
manifestations or ghosts of the
the " host of heaven
emissaries of the controlling power or powers.
The planets presided over various months of the
Sin (the moon) was associated with the third
year.

of

Merodach

flock

month; it also controlled the calendar; Ninip (Saturn)

was associated with the fourth month, Ishtar (Venus) with
the sixth, Shamash (the sun) with the seventh, Merodach
(Jupiter) with the eighth, Nergal (Mars) with the ninth,
and a messenger of the gods, probably Nebo (Mercury),

with the tenth.

Each month was

lation.

also controlled

by a zodiacal constel-

In the Creation myth of Babylon

when Merodach engaged

Universe

in

order he "set
1

Indian

in
all

the

it is

work of

stated that
setting the

the great gods in their

Myth and Legend, p

3.

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

306

several stations ", and "also created their images,

1
stars of the Zodiac, and fixed them all" (p. 147).

the

Our
They
and

signs of the Zodiac are of Babylonian origin.

were passed on to the Greeks by the Phoenicians

" There was a time

", says Professor Sayce,

the Hittites were profoundly affected by Babylonian civilization, religion, and art.
."
They "carried

Hittites.

"when

the time-worn civilizations of Babylonia and Egypt to

the furthest boundary of Egypt, and there handed them

West in the grey dawn of European history.

Greek traditions affirmed that the rulers of Mykense
had come from Lydia, bringing with them the civiliza-

over to the
.

tion

and treasures of Asia Minor.

confirmed by modern research.

The

tradition has been

While

certain elements

belonging to the prehistoric culture of Greece, as revealed

Mykense and elsewhere, were derived from Egypt and

Phoenicia, there are others which point to Asia Minor
as their source.
And the culture of Asia Minor was
at

Hittite."*

The

early Babylonian astronomers did not know, of

that
the earth revolved round the sun.
course,
They
believed that the sun travelled across the heavens
3

In studying its
flying like a bird or sailing like a boat.
movements they observed that it always travelled from

west to east along a broad path, swinging from side to

This path is the
side of it in the course of the year.
1

the celestial "circle of necessity'

Zodiac
1

Derived from the Greek

The Hitnte$) pp. 116, 119, 120, 272.

u The sun ... is as a
bridegroom coming out of

z<?on,

The middle

an animal.

his

chamber, and rejoiceth

as a

The marriage of the sun bridegroom

strong man to run a race." (Psalnt xix, 4 et seq,}
with the moon bride appears to occur in Hittite mythology. In Aryo-Indian Vedic
mythology the bride of the sun (Surya) is Ushas, the Dawn. The sun maiden also

moon god. The Vedic gods ran a race and Jndra and Agni were
Indian Myth and Legend^ pp.
The tun was "of the nature of Agni".

married the

the

winners.

14,

36, 37-

SYMBOLS OF DEITIES AS ASTRONOMICAL SIGNS

Sculptured on a stone recording privileges granted to

Ritti-Marduk by Nebuchadnezzar
(British

Museum]

ASTROLOGY AND ASTRONOMY

307

is the
The Babylonian
Ecliptic.
divided the Ecliptic into twelve equal parts,
and grouped in each part the stars which formed their

of the sun's path

line

scientists

constellations; these are also called "Signs of the Zodiac ".

Each month had thus its sign or constellation.

The names borne

at the

present day by the signs of

the Zodiac are easily remembered even by children, who

are encouraged to repeat the following familiar lines:

The Ram the Bull, the heavenly Twins,

And next the Crab, the Lion shines.
The Virgin and the Scales;
The Scorpion, Archer, and Sea goat,
The man that holds the water pot,
And Fish with glitt'ring 1 tails.
y

The

table

on

p.

308 shows that our signs are derived

from ancient Babylonia.

The
more

celestial

parts.

regions were also divided into three or

""fields" were allotted to the ancient

Three

formed by Ea, Anu, and Bel. The zodiacal "path"

ran through these " fields ".
Ea's field was in the west,
and was associated with Amurru, the land of the Amorites;
Anu's field was in the south, and was associated with
Elam; and Bel's central "field" was associated with the
land of Akkad.
When the rulers of Akkad called themselves "kings of the four quarters", the reference was to
the countries associated with the three divine fields and
to Gutium 2 (east = our north-east).
Was Gutium associated with demons, as in Scandinavia the north-east was
associated with the giants against whom Thor waged war ?
triad

The Babylonian

Creation

having fixed the stars

1

Or golden,
The later reference

early beliefs

is

were developed.

states that

Merodach,
of the Zodiac, made three stars for

to Assyria.

myth

There was no Assyrian kingdom when these

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

3 o8

Date of Sun's Entry

Constellations.

(Babylonian

Month

Aries (the Ram).

Taurus

April-May).

(Si van

divine figure and

" bull of heaven ".

The

May

2ist

(the

May-June).

2ist

Leo

(Ab

23rd August

Virgo (the Virgin).

= August-Sept

(Elul

Bal-

(the

ance).

Scorpio (the Scor-

the

Virgin's

ear

of

corn.

The

Balance.

).

23rd October

Sagittarius

(the

Archer).

Scorpion of darkness.

Aquarius

(the

2ist

(Tebet
1

(the

Carrier).

Pisces (the Fishes).

Nov.-Dcc.)

December

=
=

8th February

(p. 147).

Man or man-horse with

bow,

or an arrow symbol.
Ea's goat-fish.

Dec.-Jan.).

9th January
Jan. -Feb.).

(Sebat

(Adar

month

Oct.-Nov.).

22nd November
(Chisleu

Capricornus
Goat)

each

Sept.-Oct

feet to feet.

big dog (Lion).

Ishtar,
)

3rd September

head and

(Marcheswan

pion).

Water

(Tisri

Faithful Shepherd and

side by side, or head

Crab or Scorpion.

The

22nd July
July-August)

(the Lion).

Libra

June

= June-July).

(Tain muz

the

Twins
to

Cancer (the Crab).

or Messenger.

March-April).

(lyyar

Twins).

The Labourer

zoth April

(the Bull).

Gemini

March

2oth
(Nisan

Babylonian Equivalent.

in brackets).

God

with water urn.

Fish

tails in canal.

Feb.-March).

Mr. Robert Brown,

jun.,

who

has

dealt as exhaustively with the astronomical problems of

Babylonia as the available data permitted him, is of opinion

that the leading stars of three constellations are referred

ASTROLOGY AND ASTRONOMY

to, viz.:

309

(i) the central or zodiacal constellations, (2) the

northern constellations, and (3) the southern constellahave thus a scheme of thirty-six constellations.
tions.
"
The twelve zodiacal stars were flanked on either side

We

by

twelve non-zodiacal stars

who gave

r6sum

in this connection.

".

Mr. Brown quotes Diodorus,

of Babylonian astronomico-astrology,
He said that " the five planets were

and in subjection to these were marThirty Stars', which were styled Divinities of the
Council'.
The chiefs of the Divinities are twelve in
to
of whom they assign a month and one
each
number,
of the twelve signs of the Zodiac."
Through these
twelve signs sun, moon, and planets run their courses.
called

shalled

Interpreters';
c

" And with the zodiacal

circle

they mark out twenty-four

stars, half of which they say are arranged in the north and
half in the south." 1 Mr. Brown shows that the thirty stars

referred to " constituted the original Euphratean Lunar

Zodiac, the parent of the seven ancient lunar zodiacs which

have come down to us, namely, the Persian, Sogdian,

Khorasmian, Chinese, Indian, Arab, and Coptic schemes ".

The

three constellations associated with each

month

had each a symbolic significance: they reflected the characters of their months. At the height of the rainy season,
for instance, the month of Ramman, the thunder god, was
presided over by the zodiacal constellation of the water
" Fish of the Canal
", and
urn, the northern constellation

Horse". In India the black horse

and fertility ceremonies. The
months of growth, pestilence, and scorching sun heat were
in turn symbolized. The "Great Bear" was the "chariot"
= "Charles's Wain", and the "Milky Way" the "river

the southern "the

was

sacrificed at rain-getting

of the high cloud ", the Celestial Euphrates, as in Egypt

it was the Celestial Nile.
1

Primitive Constellations, R. Brown, jun., vol.

ii,

p. I *t

uq.

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

310

Of

special

interest

among

the

many problems

sented by Babylonian astronomical lore

Cosmic periods or Ages of the Universe.

is

prethe theory of
In the Indian,

Greek, and Irish mythologies there are four Ages

the

Silvern (white). Golden (yellow), the Bronze (red), and

As has been already indicated, Mr. R.
the Iron (black).

Brown,
ages of

that u the Indian system of Yugas, or

the world, presents many features which forcibly

jun.,

shows

remind us of the Euphratean scheme". The Babylonians

had ten antediluvian kings, who were reputed to have
reigned for vast periods, the total of which amounted to
1 20
These figures at once recall
saroi, or 432,000 years.
the Indian Maha-yuga of 4,320,000 years = 432,000 x
10.
Apparently the Babylonian and Indian systems of
In both countries
calculation were of common origin.
the measurements of time and space were arrived at
by utilizing the numerals 10 and 6.

When

primitive

man began

method which comes

to count

he adopted a
he
;

naturally to every schoolboy

utilized his fingers.

Twice five gave him ten, and from
ten he progressed to twenty, and then on to a hundred

and beyond. In making measurements his hands, arms,

and feet were at his service. We are still measuring by
feet and yards (standardized strides) in this country, while
those who engage in the immemorial art of knitting, and,
in doing so, repeat
designs found on neolithic pottery,
continue to measure in finger breadths, finger lengths,
and hand breadths as did the ancient folks who called an
arm length a cubit. Nor has the span been forgotten,
by boys in their games with marbles; the space
from the end of the thumb to the end of the little finger
when the hand is extended must have been an important
measurement from the earliest times.
As he made progress in calculations, the primitive
especially

ASTROLOGY AND ASTRONOMY

311

Babylonian appears to have been struck by other details

in his anatomy besides his sets of five fingers and five

He observed, for instance, that his fingers were

toes.
divided into three parts and his thumb into two parts
1

four fingers multiplied by three gave him twelve,

and multiplying 12 by 3 he reached 36. Apparently the
His body was divided into 6
figure 6 attracted him.

only;

arms, 2 legs, the head, and the trunk; his 2

The
ears, 2 eyes, and mouth, and nose also gave him 6.
parts

basal 6, multiplied by his 10 fingers, gave him 60, and

60 x 2 (for his 2 hands) gave him 120. In Babylonian

arithmetic 6 and 60 are important numbers, and it is not

surprising to find that in the system of numerals the
signs for

and 10 combined represent 60.

In fixing the length of a mythical period his first great

calculation of 120 came naturally to the Babylonian, and

when he undertook

measure the Zodiac he equated

His first
time and space by fixing on 120 degrees.
zodiac was the Sumerian lunar zodiac, which contained
thirty moon chambers associated with the "Thirty Stars"
of the tablets, and referred to by Diodorus as " Divinities
of the Council".
The chiefs of the Thirty numbered
twelve.
solstice.

In

this

to

system the year began

Mr. Hewitt has shown

In India "finger counting" (Kaur guna)

of mantras.

The counting

is

is

in

the winter

that the chief annual

associated with prayer or the repeating

performed by the thumb, which, when the hand

is

drawn

up, touches the upper part of the third finger. The two upper "chambers" of the third
ringer are counted, then the two upper "chambers" of the little finger; the thumb then

touches the tip of each finger from the little finger to the
into the upper chamber of the first finger 9 is counted. By

first;

when

it

comes down

a similar process

each round

9=

108 repetitions of a
recorded by the left up to 12; 12 X
mantra. The upper "chambers" of the fingers are the "best" or "highest" (uttama),
the lower (adhama) chambers are not utilized in the prayer-counting process.
When
of 9 on the right hand

is

Hindus sit cross-legged at prayers, with closed eyes, the right hand is raised from the
elbow in front of the body, and the thumb moves each time a mantra is repeated; the
left hand lies palm upward on the left knee, and the thumb moves each time nine
mantras have been counted.

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

312

of the Indian Dravidians begins with the first

after the winter festival, and Mr. Brown
emphasizes the fact that the list of Tamil (Dravidian)
lunar and solar months are named like the Babylonian
1
"Lunar chronology ", wrote Professor
constellations.
Max tiller, " seems everywhere to have preceded solar
2
The later Semitic Babylonian system had
chronology."
twelve solar chambers and the thirty-six constellations.
Each degree was divided into sixty minutes, and each
minute into sixty seconds.
The hours of the day and
festival

full

moon

night each numbered twelve.

Multiplying 6 by 10 (pur), the Babylonian arrived at
60 (soss); 60 x 10 gave him 600 (ner), and 600 x 6, 3600

while 3600 x 10 gave him 36,000, and 36,000 x 12,

432,000 years, or 120 saroi, which is equal to the "sar"
(sar),

"Pur" signifies "heap"

multiplied by the "soss"x2.
the ten fingers closed after being counted; and "ner"
"foot".
Mr, George Bertin suggests that when
6 x 10 fingers gave 60 this number was multiplied by the
ten toes, with the result that 600 was afterwards associated

signifies

with the feet (ner). The Babylonian sign for 10 resembles

the impression of two feet with heels closed and toes apart.

This suggests a primitive record of the

first

round of

finger counting.

In India this Babylonian system of calculation was

The four
developed during the Brahmanical period.
the four fingers used by the
12,000 divine years,
primitive mathematicians,
a period which was called a Maha-yuga; it equalled the

Yugas or Ages, representing

totalled

120 saroi, multiplied by 100.

Ten times
hundred of these periods gave a "Day of Brahma".
Each day of the gods, it was explained by the

Babylonian
a

Primitive Constellations, R. Brown, jun., vol.

India^ J, F.

Hewitt, pp. 551-2.

ii,

p.

61

and Early History of JSort/iern

Ri^ueda-Samhita^ vol.

iv

(1892),

p.

67.

ASTROLOGY AND ASTRONOMY

Brahmans, was a year to mortals.

313

Multiplied by 360

12,000
years equalled 4,320,000 human
This Maha-yuga, multiplied by 1000, gave the
years.
"
"Day of Brahma as 4,320,000,000 human years.
The shortest Indian Yuga is the Babylonian 120 saroi
divine

days,

multiplied by 10=1200 divine years for the Kali Yuga;

twice that number gives the Dvapara Yuga of 2400

divine years; then the Treta Yuga is 2400+ 1200

3600
divine years, and Krita Yuga 3600+1200
4800 divine

years.

The

influence of Babylonia is apparent in these calcuDuring the Vedic period "Yuga" usually
signified a "generation", and there are no certain referThe names "Kali",
ences to the four Ages as such.

lations.

"Treta", and "Krita" "occur as the

1
It was after the arrival
designations of throws of dice".
"
of the
late comers ", the post-Vedic Aryans, that the
2
Yuga system was developed in India.
In Indian Myth and Legend* it is shown that the Indian
and Irish Ages have the same colour sequence: (i) White
or Silvern, (2) Red or Bronze, (3) Yellow or Golden, and
The Greek order is: (i) Golden, (2)
(4) Black or Iron.
Silvern, (3) Bronze, and (4) Iron.

"Dvapara",

The
the

Babylonians coloured the seven planets as follows

moon,

black;
blue.

As
saroi

silvern;

Jupiter,

orange;

Mars, red; Saturn,

Venus, yellow; and Mercury,

the ten antediluvian kings

had an

the sun, golden;

who

astral significance, their

reigned for 120

long reigns correcertain of the

sponding "with the distances separating

principal stars in or near the ecliptic"/
1

Vtdic Index, Macdoneil

Indian

4 Primitive
Constellations,

how

&

Myth and Legend.

Keith, vol.
3

ii,

it

seems highly

pp. 192 et seq.

Pp. 107

et

seq*

R. Brown, jvm., vol. i, i. 333.

table is given showing
1 20 saroi
equals 360 degrees, each king being identified with a star.

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA
probable that the planets were similarly connected with
cc
four
mythical ages which were equated with the

"
of the celestial regions and the four regions of
quarters
the earth, which in Gaelic story are called " the four red
divisions of the world ".

Three of the planets may have been heralds of change.

"
Venus, as "Dilbat", was the
Proclaimer", and both
called
were
"Face voices of light ",
and
Jupiter
Mercury
"
and " Heroes of the rising sun
among other names.
the herald of the "Golden Age"
This
planet was also associated with
morning
" Kakkub
as
bronze,
Urud", "the star of bronze", while
"
Mars was Kakkub Aban Kha-urud", "the star of the
bronze fish stone".
Mercury, the lapis lazuli planet,
have
been
connected
with the black Saturn, the
may
ghost of the dead sun, the demoniac elder god in Egypt
hair colour of Ra when he grew old,
lapis lazuli was the

Jupiter

may have been

as a

star.

The rare and

of
regular appearances
Mercury may have suggested the
with
a recurring Age.
connection
Venus as an
planet's
as
star
be
the
herald
of the lunar
evening
might
regarded
she was propitious as a bearded deity and
or silver age

and Egyptologists

translate

it

as black.

interchanged with Merodach as a seasonal herald.

Connecting Jupiter with the sun as a propitious

and with Mars as a destroying planet, Venus with

the moon, and Mercury with Saturn, we have left four
colour schemes which suggest the Golden, Silvern, Bronze,
and Iron Ages. The Greek order of mythical ages may
have had a solar significance, beginning as it does with
On the other hand the Indian and
the "golden" period.
planet,

Irish systems begin

with the Silvern or white lunar period.

* **
Behold, his majesty the god Ra is grown old ; his bones are become silver, his
the Ancient
limbs #old, and his hair pure lapis lazuli."
Egyptians^ A. WiedeReligion of

mann,

p. 58.

Ra became

a destroyer after

completing his reign as an earthly king.

ASTROLOGY AND ASTRONOMY

315

In India the White

Age (Treta Yuga) was the age of

and
in
the Golden Age was the age
Greece
perfect men,
of men who lived like gods. Thus the first ages in both
cases were "Perfect" Ages.
The Bronze Age of Greece
was the age of notorious fighters and takers of life in
Babylonia the bronze planet Mars was the symbol of the
destroying Nergal, god of war and pestilence, while
Jupiter was also a destroyer as Merodach, the slayer of
Tiamat. In India the Black Age is the age of wickedness.
The Babylonian Saturn, as we have seen, is black, and its
god, Ninip, was the destroying boar, which recalls the
;

black boar of the Egyptian

children.

ghosts of

demon

(or elder god)

Set.

destroyer even of his own

All the elder gods had demoniac traits like the

The Greek Cronos was

human

beings.
the Babylonian lunar zodiac was imported into
India before solar worship and the solar zodiac were

As

may have been the germs of the Yuga

which
Greece,
doctrine,
appears to have a long history.
on the other hand, came under the influence of Babylon
In Egypt Ra, the sun god, was
at a much later period.
an antediluvian king, and he was followed by Osiris.
Osiris was slain by Set, who was depicted sometimes red
and sometimes black. There was also a Horus Age.
The Irish system of ages suggests an early cultural
drift into Europe, through Asia Minor, and along the
uplands occupied by the representatives of the Alpine
or Armenoid peoples who have been traced from Hindu
Kush to Brittany. The culture of Gaul resembles that
of India in certain particulars; both the Gauls and the
developed, so too

post-Vedic Aryans, for instance, believed in the doctrine

of Transmigration of Souls, and practised " suttee ".
After the Roman occupation of Gaul, Ireland appears to
have been the refuge of Gaulish scholars, who imported
(0642)

23

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

316

and traditions and laid the foundations of

which shed lustre on the Green Isle
late Pagan and early Christian times.
The part played by the Mitanni people of Aryan

their beliefs

that brilliant culture

in

speech in distributing Asiatic culture throughout Europe

may have been considerable, but we know little or

nothing regarding their movements and influence, nor

has sufficient evidence been forthcoming to connect them
with the cremating invaders of the Bronze Age, who
penetrated as far as northern Scotland and Scandinavia.

On

the other hand

it is

certain that the Hittites

adopted

the planetary system of Babylonia and passed it on to

Europeans, including the Greeks. The five planets Ninip,
Merodach, Nergal, Ishtar, and Nebo were called by the

Greeks after their gods Kronos, Zeus, Ares, Aphrodite,

and Hermes, and by the Romans Saturnus, Jupiter, Mars,
Venus, and Mercurius. It must be recognized, however^
that these equations were somewhat arbitrary.
Ninip
resembled Kronos and Saturnus as a father, but he was
also at the same time a son; he was the Egyptian Horus
the elder and Horus the younger in one.
Merodach
was similarly of complex character a combination of Ea,
Anu, Enlil, and Tammuz, who acquired, when exalted by
the Amoritic Dynasty of Babylon, the attributes of the
thunder god Adad-Ramman in the form of Amurru,
"lord of the mountains'*. During the Hammurabi Age
Amurru was significantly popular in personal names. It
is

as

Amurru-Ramman

with Zeus.

He

must not be made,

identifications

of

that

Merodach bears comparison

also links with Hercules.

therefore, of the Greek

alien deities with their own.

Too much
Roman

and

Mulla, the

Gaulish mule god, may have resembled Mars somewhat,

but it is a "far cry" from Mars-Mulla to Mars-Nergal,
as it is also from the Gaulish Moccus, the boar, called

ASTROLOGY AND ASTRONOMY

317

to Nebo, the god of culture, who was the

of
the Tigro-Euphrates valley.
Similarly
"Mercury"
the differences between " Jupiter-Amon" of Egypt and
"
Jupiter-Merodach" of Babylon were more pronounced

"Mercury",

than the resemblances.

The

basal idea in Babylonian astrology appears to be

the recognition of the astral bodies as spirits or fates, who

exercised an influence over the gods, the world, and mankind.

These were worshipped in groups when they were
The group addressed, " Powerful,
yet nameless.

may have been a constellation

1
of
The worship of stars and
seven
stars.
consisting
were
identified
and
which
named, "seems never to
planets,
have spread ", says Professor Sayce, " beyond the learned
classes, and to have remained to the last an artificial
sevenfold, one are ye",

system.

The mass of

a whole, but

it

the people worshipped the stars as

was only as a whole and not individually," 2

The masses

perpetuated ancient animistic beliefs, like the

" The
pre-Hellenic inhabitants of Greece.
Pelasgians, as
"
I was informed at Dodona," wrote Herodotus,
formerly
things indiscriminately to the gods.
They
distinguished them by no name or surname, for they

offered

all

were hitherto unacquainted with either but they called

them gods, which by its etymology means disposers, from
observing the orderly disposition and distribution of the
various parts of the universe." 3
The oldest deities are
those which bore no individual names. They were simply
"Fates" or groups called "Sevenfold". The crude giant
"
"
gods of Scotland are Fomhairean (Fomorians), and do
not have individual names as in Ireland.
Families and
tribes were controlled by the Fates or nameless gods,
;

Tammuz

As Nin-Girsu,

Babylonian and Assyrian Life, pp. 61, 62.

'Herodotus

(ii,

was associated with "sevenfold" Oiion.

52) as quoted in Egypt and Scythia (London, 1886),

p.

49.

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

318

which might appear as beasts or

birds, or be heard

knock-

ing or screaming.
In the Babylonian astral hymns, the star spirits are
associated with the gods, and are revealers of the decrees

of Fate.

"

Ye

stars

brilliant

to destroy evil did

Anu

...

ye bright ones

create you.

... At

thy com-

mand mankind was named (created)

Give thou the
with
thee
Give
and
let
the
Word,
great gods stand!
"l
thou my judgment, make my decision
The Indian evidence shows that the constellations,
!

and

especially the bright stars, were identified before the

Indeed, in Vedic literature there is no certain
planets.

reference to a single planet, although constellations are

named. It seems highly probable that before the Baby-

lonian gods were associated with the astral bodies, the

belief obtained that the stars exercised an influence over

human

In one of the Indian "Forest Books'*, for

is made to a man who was "born under
reference
instance,
2
" Nakshatras " are stars in the
the Nakshatra Rohini ".
lives.

Rigveda and

later,
3

and "lunar mansions"

"

is

the

Brahmanical
a con-

in

name of

Rohini, ruddy ',

compositions.
a
spicuously reddish star, Tauri or Aldebaran, and denotes
4
This reference
the group of the Hyades."
before 600 B.C., perhaps 800 B.C.

From Greece comes

may

be dated

the evidence of Plutarch regard-

ing the principles of Babylonian astrology.

the planets, which they call the birth-ruling

"

Respecting
divinities,

the

Chaldeans", he wrote, "lay down that two (Venus and

Jupiter) are propitious, and two (Mars and Saturn)
malign, and three (Sun, Moon, and Mercury) of a middle
" That
is," Mr. Brown comnature, and one common."
1

Babylonian Magic and Sorcery, L. W. King (London, 1896), pp. 43 and 115.
Vedic Index, Macdonell & Keith, vol. ii, p. 229.
Ibid., vol.

i,

pp. 409, 416.

Ibid., vol.

i,

p.

415.

ASTROLOGY AND ASTRONOMY

"an

ments,

astrologer

would

319

three are pro-

say, these

1
pitious with the good, and may be malign with the bad."
Jastrow's views in this connection seem highly con-

troversial.

He

holds

that Babylonian

astrology

dealt

" the
affairs, and had no concern with
"
conditions under which the individual was born
it did
"
the fate in store for him ".
He believes
not predict
that the Greeks transformed Babylonian astrology and
infused it with the spirit of individualism which is a
characteristic of their religion, and that they were the first
simply with national

to give astrology a personal significance.

Jastrow also perpetuates the idea that

astronomy began
" Several centuries before the
days of
a
the Greeks had begun
Alexander the Great/' he says,
to cultivate the study of the heavens, not for purposes of
divination, but prompted by a scientific spirit as an intelwith the Greeks.

might help them to solve the

It is
possible, however, to
"
of
the
Greeks, who, like
spirit
the Japanese in our own day, were accomplished borThat astronomy had
rowers from other civilizations.
humble beginnings in Greece as elsewhere is highly prolectual

discipline

that

mysteries of the universe."

overrate the " scientific

The late Mr. Andrew Lang wrote in this con" The

very oddest example of the survival of
notion that the stars are men and women is found in

bable.

nection

the

Pax of Aristophanes. Trygaeus in that comedy has

made an expedition to heaven. A slave meets him,
just
and asks him
Is not the story true, then, that we become stars when we die?' The answer is, 'Certainly';
the

and Trygaeus points out the star into which Ion of

Chios has just been metamorphosed."
Mr. Lang added:
is
"Aristophanes
making fun of some popular Greek

The Eskimos,

superstition ".
1

Persians,

Primitive Constellations, vol.

i,

p.

343.

Aryo-Indians,

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

320
Germans,

New

Zealanders,

and

others

had a similar

superstition.

"
Jastrow goes on to say that the Greeks
imparted
their scientific view of the Universe to the East.
They
became the teachers of the East in astronomy as in medi-

and other

and the credit of having discovered the law of the precession of the equinoxes belongs
to Hipparchus, the Greek astronomer, who announced
2
this important
Untheory about the year 130 B.C."
doubtedly the Greeks contributed to the advancement of
the science of astronomy, with which, as other authorities
believe, they became acquainted after it had become well
developed as a science by the Assyrians and Babylonians.
"In return for improved methods of astronomical
calculation which," Jastrow says, " /'/ may be assumed (the
cine

italics

sciences,

are ours), contact with

Greek

science gave to the

Babylonian astronomers, the Greeks accepted from the

Babylonians the names of the constellations of the eclip3
This is a grudging admission ; they evidently
tic."
accepted more than the mere names.
Jastrow's hypothesis is certainly interesting, especially
is an Oriental
But it is
linguist of high repute.

as he

The sudden advance made by

not generally accepted.
the Tigro-Euphratean astronomers when Assyria was at
the height of its glory, may have been due to the dismade by great native scientists, the Newtons and
Herschels of past ages, who had studied the data
accumulated by generations of astrologers, the earliest
It
recorders of the movements of the heavenly bodies.
coveries

the

is

hard to believe that the Greeks made

1

much

progress

Custom and Myth, pp. 133

$eq.
Dr. Alfred Jeremias gives very forcible reasons for believing that the ancient
Das Alter der
Babylonians were acquainted with the precession of the equinoxes.
Babylonischen Astronomic (Hinrichs, Leipzig, 1908), pp. 47 et seq.
et

Aspects of Religious Belief and Practice in Babylonia and Assyria, pp. 207 et seq.

ASTROLOGY AND ASTRONOMY

321

as scientists before they had identified the planets, and

become familiar with the Babylonian constellations through

medium of the Hittites or the Phoenicians.

known for certain is that long centuries before

the

What
the

is

Greek

science was heard of, there were scientists in Babylonia.

"
During the Sumerian period the forms and relations of

geometry", says Professor Goodspeed, "were employed

for purposes of augury.
The heavens were mapped out,
and the courses of the heavenly bodies traced to determine the bearing of their movements upon human
destinies/'

Several centuries before Hipparchus was born, the

Assyrian kings had in their palaces official astronomers who

were able to foretell, with varying degrees of accuracy,

when

Instructions were sent

eclipses would take place.
to various observatories, in the king's name, to send in
translation of one of
reports of forthcoming eclipses.

documents sent from the observatory of Babylon to Nineveh, has been published by Professor Harper.
The following are extracts from it: "As for the eclipse
of the moon about which the king my lord has written to
me, a watch was kept for it in the cities of Akkad, BorWe observed it ourselves in the city
sippa, and Nippur.
of Akkad.
And whereas the king my lord ordered
me to observe also the eclipse of the sun, I watched to
see whether it took place or not, and what passed before
my eyes I now report to the king my lord. It was an
eclipse of the moon that took place. ... It was total
over Syria, and the shadow fell on the land of the
Amorites, the land of the Hittites, and in part on the
land of the Chaldees."
Professor Sayce comments
" We
from
this
letter that there were no less than
gather
three observatories in Northern Babylonia one at Akkad,
these

official

A History

of

the

Babylonians and Assyrians,

p.

93.

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

322

near Sippara ; one at Nippur, now Niffer ; and one at BorAs Borsippa possessed
sippa, within sight of Babylon.
a university,
tories

it

was natural that one of the three observa-

should be established there." 1

evident that before the astronomers at Nineveh

It is

could foretell

eclipses,
as scientists.

they had achieved considerable

The data at their disposal prob-

progress
Mr. Brown,
ably covered nearly two thousand years.
the
calculates
the
of
that
Zodiac
were fixed
junior,
signs
in the year

2084

B.C.

These

star

groups do not now

occupy the positions in which they were observed by the

early astronomers, because the revolving earth is rocking
like a top, with the result that the pole does not always

the same spot in the heavens.

Each
of
the
of
lines
the
meeting-place
imaginary

keep pointing
year

the

ecliptic

about

at

and equator

fifty

seconds.

is

moving westward

In time

ages hence

at

the rate of

the pole will

round to the point it spun at when the constellaIt is by calculattions were named by the Babylonians.
ing the period occupied by this world-curve that the date
2084 B.C. has been arrived at.
As a result of the world-rocking process, the present"
"
do not correspond with the
day
signs of the Zodiac
circle

constellations.

In March, for instance, when the sun

it enters the
sign of the Ram (Aries),

crosses the equator

but does not reach the constellation

till

the 2Oth, as the

shows on p. 308.
When " the ecliptic was marked off into the twelve
regions" and the signs of the Zodiac were designated,
"the year of three hundred sixty-five and one-fourth
days was known", says Goodspeed, "though the common
year was reckoned according to twelve months of thirty
comparative table

Babylonians and Assyrian*; Life and Customs, pp. 219, 220.

Primitive Constellations, vol. ii, pp, 147 et sey.

ASTROLOGY AND ASTRONOMY

1

days each,
calating a

and equated with the

month

at the

year by inter-

solar

proper times.

323

The month

was divided into weeks of seven days.

The clepsydra
and the sundial were Babylonian inventions for measuring
.

time." 2

The

sundial of

When

Ahaz was probably of Babylonian

shadow went "ten degrees back(2 KingSy xx, 11) ambassadors were sent from
" to
Babylon
enquire of the wonder that was done in
the land" (2 Chron., xxxii, 31).
It was believed that the
was
with
the
incident.
illness
connected
king's
According
to astronomical calculation there was a partial eclipse of
the sun which was visible at Jerusalem on nth January,
design.
"

the

ward

689

B.C.,

about 11.30 a.m.

When

the

upper part of

the solar disc was obscured, the shadow on the dial was
strangely affected.

The Babylonian astrologers in their official documents

were more concerned regarding international omens than
those which affected individuals.
They made observations not only of the stars, but also the moon, which, as
has been shown, was one of their planets, and took note
of the clouds and the wind likewise.
As

portions of the heavens were assigned to various

countries, so was the moon divided into four quarters for
the same purpose
the upper part for the north, Gutium,
the lower for the south, Akkad or Babylonia, the eastern
part for Elam, and the western for Amurru. The crescent

was also divided

manner; looking southward the

astrologers assigned the right horn to the west and the
In addition, certain days and certain
left to the east.
months were connected with the different regions. Lunar
When
astrology was therefore of complicated character.
1

in like

The Aryo-Indians had

a lunar year of

360 days (Fedic Index%

History of the Babylonians and Assyrians,

p.

94.

ii,

158).

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

324

moon was dim

phase which was conwas believed that the fortunes of

that region were in decline, and if it happened to shine
brightly in the Babylonian phase the time was considered
Great importance
auspicious to wage war in the west.
was attached to eclipses, which were fortunately recorded,
with the result that the ancient astronomers were ultimately
the

at the particular

nected with Amurru,

it

enabled to forecast them.

The

destinies of the various states in the four quarters

were similarly influenced by the planets. When Venus,

for instance, rose brightly in the field of Anu, it was a
"
"
if it were dim it foretold misfor Elam
prosperor
Much importance was also attached to the
fortune.
;

positions occupied by the constellations when the planets

no king would venture
were propitious or otherwise
forth on an expedition under a "yoke of inauspicious
;

stars".
Biblical references to the stars

known Babylonian

make mention of

well-

constellations:

Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or loose the

Canst thou bring forth Mazzaroth (?the Zodiac)
in his season? or canst thou guide Arcturus with his sons? Knowest
thou the ordinances of heaven? canst thou set the dominion thereof
bands of Orion?

in the earth?

Job, xxxviii,

Which maketh
of the south.

31-33.

Arcturus, Orion, and Pleiades, and the chambers

Job, ix, 9.

Seek him that maketh the seven

the

shadow of death

with night.

Amos,

stars

and Orion, and turneth

into the morning, and

maketh the day dark

v, 8.

The so-called science of astrology, which had origin in

ancient Babylonia and spread eastward and west, is not yet
extinct, and has its believers even in our own country at
the present day, although they are not nearly so
when Shakespeare made Malvolio read:

as

numerous

ASTROLOGY AND ASTRONOMY

325

my stars I am above thee ; but be not afraid of greatness :

are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon 'em.
Thy Fates open their hands. . .*
In

some

or

when Byron wrote:

Ye stars! which

are the poetry of heaven!

we would read the fate

If in your bright leaves

Of men
That

Our
And

Our
them

we

't is

to be forgiven

our aspirations to be great,

destinies o'erleap their mortal state
claim a kindred with you.

2
.

grave astronomers are no longer astrologers, but

still

they

and empires

in

call

by the names given

time
look at our watches
we
Every
of the ancient mathematicians who

certain constellations

in Babylonia.

reminded
counted on their fingers and multiplied 10 by 6, to give
us minutes and seconds, and divided the day and the
night into twelve hours by multiplying six by the two
leaden feet of Time.
The past lives in the present.
are

Twelfth Night) act

ii,

scene

5.

Chtldt Harold, canto

iii,

v, 88.

CHAPTER XIV
Ashur the National God of Assyria
Ashur as Anshar and Anu Animal forms of Sky
Anshar as Star God on the Celestial Mount Isaiah's Parable Symbols
of World God and World Hill
Dance of the Constellations and Dance of
Goat Gods and Bull GodsSymbols of Gods as "High Heads" The
Satyrs
Winged Disc Human Figure as Soul of the Sun Ashur as Hercules and
Gods differentiated by Cults Fertility Gods as War Gods
Gilgamesh
Ashur's Tree and Animal forms Ashur as Nisroch Lightning Symbol in
Disc EzekiePs Reference to Life Wheel Indian Wheel and Discus Wheels
of Shamash and Ahura-Mazda Hittite Winged Disc Solar Wheel causes
Seasonal Changes
Bonfires to stimulate Solai Deity
Burning of Gods and
Kings Magical Ring and other Symbols of Scotland Ashur's Wheel of Life
and Eagle Wings King and Ashur Ashur associated with Lunar, Fire, and
Star Gods
The Osirian Clue Hittite and Persian Influences.
Derivation of Ashur

God

THE

of Assyria brings into prominence the national god

the city god of Asshur, the ancient
When
first met with, he is found to be a complex
capital.
and mystical deity, and the problem of his origin is consequently rendered exceedingly difficult. Philologists are not
agreed as to the derivation of his name, and present as
varied views as they do when dealing with the name of
rise

Ashur, who had been

Osiris.

Some give Ashur a geographical

that

original

significance, urging
form was Aushar, "water field "; others
prefer the renderings "Holy", "the Beneficent One", or
"the Merciful One"; while not a few regard Ashur as
simply a dialectic form of the name of Anshar, the god
who, in the Assyrian version, or copy, of the Babylonian
Creation myth, is chief of the " host of heaven", and the
father of Anu, Ea, and Enlil.
its

THE NATIONAL GOD OF

If

Ashur

is

ASSYRIA

327

to be regarded as an abstract solar deity,

a descriptive place name, it

who was developed from

follows that he had a history, like Arm or Ea, rooted in

cannot assume that his
Naturalism or Animism.

We

local character
strictly

which did

was produced by modes of thought

not obtain

elsewhere.

The

who

colonists

Asshur no doubt imported beliefs from some

area; they must have either given recognition
to a god, or group of gods, or regarded the trees, hills,
rivers, sun, moon, and stars, and the animals as manifestasettled at

cultural

tions of the "self

power" of the Universe, before they

undertook the work of draining and cultivating the "water

Those who settled
field" and erecting permanent homes.
at Nineveh, for instance, believed that they were protected
by the goddess Nina, the patron deity of the Sumerian
As this goddess was also worshipped at
city of Nina.
Lagash, and was one of the many forms of the Great

Mother,

it

would appear

that in ancient times deities

a tribal rather than a geographical significance.

If the view is accepted that Ashur is Anshar,

it

had

can be

<c

Out of that
land (Shinar)", according to the Biblical reference, "went
forth Asshur, and builded Nineveh/' 1
Asshur, or Ashur
urged that he

was imported from Sumeria.

and Jastrow believe, with Ashir), 2 may

have been an eponymous hero a deified king like Etana,
or Gilgamesh, who was regarded as an incarnation of an
As Anshar was an astral or early form of
ancient god.
the
Sumerian
Anu,
city of origin may have been Erech,
(identical, Delitzsch

Genesis, x,

"

1 1

number of tablets have been found in Cappadocia of the time of the Second
Dynasty of Ur which show marked affinities with Assyria. The divine name Ashir,
as in early Assyrian texts, the institution of eponyms and many personal names which
occur in Assyria, are so characteristic that we must assume kinship of peoples.
But
whether they witness
yet clear."

to a settlement in Cappadocia

Ancient Assyria, C. H.

W.

from Assyria, or vice versa,

Johns (Cambridge, 1912), pp. iz-ij.

is

not

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

328

where the worship of the mother goddess was

also given

prominence.

Damascius rendered Anshar's name

as

"Assoros",

usually cited to establish Ashur's connection with

This writer stated that the Babylonians passed

fact

that deity.

over " Sige, 1 the mother, that has begotten heaven and
earth ", and made two
Apason (Apsu), the husband, and
Tauthe (Tiawath or Tiamat), whose son was Moymis

From

came forth
Lache and Lachos (Lachmu and Lachamu). These were
followed by the progeny Kissare and Assoros (Kishar and
Anshar), "from which were produced Anos (Anu), Illillos
And of Aos and Dauke (Dawkina
(Enlil) and Aos (Ea).
or Damkina) was born Belos (Bel Merodach), whom they

(Mummu).

these another progeny

2
say is the Demiurge" (the world artisan who carried out
the decrees of a higher being).
Lachmu and Lachamu, like the second pair of the

ancient group of Egyptian deities, probably symbolized

Anshar
darkness as a reproducing and sustaining power.
was apparently an impersonation of the night sky, as his

Anu was

son

of the day sky.

that the soul of

or in a

star,

festations

Anshar was

or that the

may have been believed

moon as Nannar (Sin),

It

in the

moon and

the stars were mani-

of him, and that the soul of

Anu

was

in the

sun or the firmament, or that the sun, firmament, and the

wind were forms of this "self power ".

Anshar and Anu,

for.
Like
may
the Indian Brahma, he may have been in his highest form
If

Ashur combined the

attributes of

his early mystical character

be accounted

an impersonation, or symbol, of the "self power" or

"world soul" of developed Naturalism the "creator",
"preserver", and "destroyer" in one, a god of water, earth,
1

Sumcrian Ziku, apparently derived from

power

"

of the Universe.

Pen Archon,

Zi, the spiritual essence of

cxxv.

life,

the "self

THE NATIONAL GOD OF

ASSYRIA

329

and sky, of sun, moon, and stars, fire and lightning, a

god of the grove, whose essence was in the fig, or the fir
cone, as it was in all animals. The Egyptian god Amon of
Thebes, who was associated with water, earth, air, sky, sun
and moon, had a ram form, and was " the hidden one", was
developed from one of the elder eight gods; in the Pyramid Texts he and his consort are the fourth pair. When
Amon was fused with the specialized sun god Ra, he was
" We
placed at the head of the Ennead as the Creator.
have traces'', says Jastrow, "of an Assyrian myth of
Creation in which the sphere of creator is given to
Ashur." 1
Before a single act of creation was conceived of, however, the early peoples recognized the eternity of matter,
which was permeated by the "self power" of which the
These were too vague,
elder deities were vague phases.
indeed, to be worshipped individually. The forms of the
"self power" which were propitiated were trees, rivers, hills,
air,

As

indicated in the previous chapter, a tribe

worshipped an animal or natural object which dominated its
The animal might be the source of the
environment.

or animals.

food supply, or might have to be propitiated to ensure the

food supply. Consequently they identified the self power
of the Universe with the particular animal with which they

were most concerned. One section identified the spirit of

the heavens with the bull and another with the goat.
In
India Dyaus was a bull, and his spouse, the earth mother,
The Egyptian sky goddess Hathor
Prithivi, was a cow.
was a cow, and other goddesses were identified with the
hippopotamus, the serpent, the cat, or the vulture. Ra,
the sun god, was identified in turn with the cat, the ass,
the bull, the ram, and the crocodile, the various animal
forms of the

local deities
1

The

he had absorbed.

Religion of Babylonia and Assyria^

p.

197

tt

seq.

eagle in

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

330

Babylonia and India, and the vulture, falcon, and mysterious Phoenix in Egypt, were identified with the sun, fire,
wind, and lightning. The animals associated with the god

Ashur were the

bull, the eagle,

and the

lion.

He

either

absorbed the attributes of other gods, or symbolized the

"Self Power" of which the animals were manifestations.

The

germ of the Creation myth was the idea

was the parent of day, and water of the earth.
Out of darkness and death came light and life. Life
was also motion. When the primordial waters became
Out of the confusion came
troubled, life began to be.
order and organization.
This process involved the idea
of a stable and controlling power, and the succession of
a group of deities
passive deities and active deities.
earliest

that night

When

the Babylonian astrologers assisted in developing

Creation
the
myth, they appear to have identified with
the stable and controlling spirit of the night heaven that
steadfast orb the Polar Star.
Caesar,

seemed

Anshar, like Shakespeare's

to say:

am constant as the northern star,

Of whose true-fixed and resting quality

There

is

no fellow

in the

The skies are painted

They are all fire, and
But there's but one

firmament.

with unnumbered sparks

every one doth shine;

in all

doth hold his place. 1

Associated with the Polar Star was the constellation Ursa

Minor, "the Little Bear", called by the Babylonian

There were chariots
astronomers, "the Lesser Chariot".
A patesi of Lagash had
before horses were introduced.
a chariot which was drawn by asses.
The seemingly steadfast Polar Star was called "Ilu
Sar ", "the god Shar", or Anshar, "star of the height ",
1

Julius

Owr,

act

iii,

scene

I.

THE NATIONAL GOD OF

ASSYRIA

331

It seemed to be situated at
or " Shar the most high ".
the summit of the vault of heaven. The god Shar, there-

stood upon the Celestial mountain, the Babylonian

Olympus. He was the ghost of the elder god, who in
fore,

Babylonia was displaced by the younger god, Merodach,

Mercury, the morning star, or as the sun, the planet

as

of day; and

in Assyria by Ashur, as the sun, or Regulus,

or Arcturus, or Orion. Yet father and son were identical.
"
They were phases of the One, the self power ".

deified reigning king

after death

he merged

The eponymous

Unas.

merged

in

the

was an incarnation of the god;

god, as did the Egyptian

hero Asshur may have similarly

in the

universal Ashur, who,

like

Horus, an

incarnation of Osiris, had many phases or forms.

Isaiah appears to have been familiar with the Tigro-

Euphratean myths about the divinity of kings and the

displacement of the elder god by the younger god, of
whom the ruling monarch was an incarnation, and with
the idea that the summit of the Celestial mountain was
crowned by the "north star", the symbol of Anshar.
"Thou shalt take up this parable ", he exclaimed, making
use of Babylonian symbolism, " against the king of
Babylon and say, How hath the oppressor ceased the
How art thou fallen from
golden city ceased!
O
of
son
the
heaven,
Lucifer,
morning! how art thou
cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!
For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend unto
heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God;
I will sit also
upon the mount of the congregation, in the
sides of the north\ I will ascend above the heights of the
1
The king is idenclouds; I will be like the most High."
tified with Lucifer as the deity of fire and the morning
!

star

he

is

the younger

god who aspired

Isaiah^ xiv,

(C642)

to occupy the

4-14.

24

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

332

mountain throne of

his father, the

god Shar

the Polar

or North Star.
It is possible that the Babylonian idea of a Celestial
mountain gave origin to the belief that the earth was
a mountain surrounded by the outer ocean, beheld by
Etana when he flew towards heaven on the eagle's back.
In India this hill is Mount Meru, the "world spine",
which "sustains the earth "; it is surmounted by Indra's
In Teutonic
Valhal, or "the great city of Brahma".
mythology the heavens revolve round the Polar Star,
which is called "Veraldar nagli ",* the "world spike";
" world tree ".
while the earth is sustained by the
The "ded" amulet of Egypt symbolized the backbone
" ded " means " firm
of Osiris as a world god
",
2
while
at
burial
ceremonies
the
coffin
was
"established";
set up on end, inside the tomb, "on a small sandhill
the
intended to represent the Mountain of the West
The Babylonian temple towers
realm of the dead". 3
At
were apparently symbols of the " world hill ",
"
holy mound ", was Merodach's
Babylon, the Du-azaga,
:

" the
Temple of the High Head ".
temple E-sagila,
"
or temple of the Mounhouse
the
rendered
E-kur,
At
tain ", was the temple of Bel Enlil at Nippur.
Ishtar
of
was
the
the
E-anna,
Erech,
goddess
temple

which connects her, as Nina or Ninni, with Anu, deIshtar was "Queen of
rived from "ana", "heaven".
heaven

".

Now

Polaris, situated at the

summit of the

celestial

"
mountain, was identified with the sacred goat, the highest
of the flock of night ".* Ursa Minor (the "Little Bear"
<c
the goat with six heads ",
constellation) may have been
1

3
4

Eddubrott,

ii.

2
Religion of the Ancient Egyptians, A. Wiedemann, pp. 289-90.
Atlas was also believed to be in the west.

Ibid.) p. 236.
Primitive Contteltations, vol.

ii,

p. 184.

THE NATIONAL GOD OF

1
referred to by Professor Sayce.

The

ASSYRIA

333

six astral goats or

goat-men were supposed to be dancing round the chief

goat-man or Satyr (Anshar). Even in the dialogues of
Plato the immemorial belief was perpetuated that the
constellations were " moving as in a dance ".
Dancing
began as a magical or religious practice, and the earliest
astronomers saw their dancing customs reflected in the
heavens by the constellations, whose movements were
No doubt, Isaiah had in mind the belief of
rhythmical.
the Babylonians regarding the dance of their goat-gods
when he foretold: "Their houses shall be full of doleful
creatures; and owls (ghosts) shall dwell there, and satyrs
2
In other words, there would be no
shall dance there ".
"
to
left
people
perform religious dances beside the desolate houses "; the stars only would be seen dancing round
Polaris.

Anshar, as sentinel of the night heaven,

was also Nin-Girsu of Lagash. A Sumerian reference to "a white kid of En Mersi (Nin"
was translated into Semitic, " a white kid of
Girsu)
Tammuz ". The goat was also associated with Mero-

Tammuz,

was

a goat,

dach.

like

as

Babylonians, having prayed to that

god

to take

away their diseases or their sins, released a goat, which

was driven into the desert.
The present Polar Star,
which was not, of course, the Polar

star

of the

earliest

astronomers, the world having rocked westward, is called

in Arabic Al-Jedy, "the kid ".
In India, the goat was

connected with Agni and Varuna ; it was slain at funeral

ceremonies to inform the gods that a soul was about to
Ea, the Sumerian lord of water, earth, and
"
was
heaven,
Thor, the
symbolized as a
goat fish ".

enter heaven.

tion,

Cuneiform Inscriptions of Western Asia, xxx, 1 1 .

For "Satyrs" the Revised Version gives the alternative translaIsaiah, xiii, 21.

" or
he-goats

".

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

334

and thunder god, had a chariot drawn

of
interest to note that the sacred Suby goats.
merian goat bore on its forehead the same triangular
symbol as the Apis bull of Egypt.
Ashur was not a " goat of heaven ", but a " bull of
heaven ", like the Sumerian Nannar (Sin), the moon god
of Ur, Ninip of Saturn, and Bel Enlil. As the bull,
Teutonic

fertility

It is

however, he was, like Anshar, the ruling animal of the

heavens; and like Anshar he had associated with him
" six divinities of council ".

Other
heads

"

who were

deities

at various centres

and

at

exalted as

"

high
various periods, included

similarly

and Ea, Merodach, Nergal, and Shamash.

A symbol of the first three was a turban on a seat, or
altar, which may have represented the "world mountain '.
Ea, as "the world spine", was symbolized as a column,
with ram's head, standing on a throne, beside which
Merodach's column terminated
crouched a "goat fish".
in a lance head, and the head of a lion crowned that of
These columns were probably connected with
Nergal.
therefore with tree worship, the pillar
pillar worship, and
The symbol of
trunk
of
the " world tree ".
the
being
a
from
was
which flowed
sun
Shamash
the
disc,
god
"
his rays apparently were
streams of water
fertilizing
tears ", like the rays of the Egyptian sun god Ra. Horus,
the Egyptian falcon god, was symbolized as the winged

Anu, Bel

Enlil,

solar disc.

necessary to accumulate these details regarding

deities and their symbols before dealing with

It is

other

Ashur.

The symbols of Ashur must be

studied, because

one of the sources of our knowledge regarding

the god's origin and character.
These include (i) a
they are

winged disc with horns, enclosing four circles revolving

round a middle circle; rippling rays fall down from either

-2

11

"S|

11
6.8

5
cs

c
rt

1-

THE NATIONAL GOD OF

ASSYRIA

335

(2) a circle or wheel, suspended from

and
wings,
enclosing a warrior drawing his bow to disan
arrow; and (3) the same circle; the warrior's
charge

side of the disc

carried in his left hand, while the right

These
uplifted as if to bless his worshippers.
are taken from seal cylinders.

bow, however,

hand

is

symbols

is

An Assyrian standard, which probably represented the

" world column
", has the disc mounted on a bull's head
horns.
The
with
upper part of the disc is occupied by
a warrior,

whose head, part of

his

bow, and the point

The rippling
of his arrow protrude from the circle.
water rays are V-shaped, and two bulls, treading riverThere are
like rays, occupy the divisions thus formed.
a lion's and a man's
with gaping
two heads
the
which
mouths,
may symbolize tempests,
destroying
of
or
the
of
the
the
sources
sun,
power
Tigris and

also

Euphrates.
Jastrow regards the winged disc as "the purer and
more genuine symbol of Ashur as a solar deity ". He
" a sun disc with
calls it
protruding rays ", and says
"To this symbol the warrior with the bow and arrow
:

was added a despiritualization that reflects the martial

spirit of the Assyrian empire 'V
The sun symbol on the sun boat of Ra encloses
similarly a human figure, which was apparently regarded
as the soul of the sun: the life of the god was in the
"sun egg". In an Indian prose treatise it is set forth:
" Now that man in
yonder orb (the sun) and that man
in the right eye truly are no other than Death (the
soul).
His feet have stuck fast in the heart, and having pulled

them out he comes forth; and when he comes forth then

that man dies; whence they say of him who has passed
1

Aspects of Religious Belief and Practice in Babylonia

and note.

and Assyria,

p.

120, plate 18

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

336
c

away,

he has been cut off

severed) V

(his life or life string has

been

The human

figure did not indicate a process

"
of " despiritualization either in Egypt or in India. The
Horus "winged disc" was besides a symbol of destruc-

Horus
of light and fertility.
form in one legend to destroy Set and his
2
followers.
But, of course, the same symbols may not
have conveyed the same ideas to all peoples. As Blake
and
assumed

battle, as well as

tion

that

it:

put

What to others a trifle appears

Fills me full of smiles and tears.
With my inward Eye, *t is an old Man
With my outward, a Thistle across my
.

grey,

way.

Indeed, it is possible that the winged disc meant one thing

to an Assyrian priest, and another thing to a man not
with what Blake called a double vision ".

gifted

What

seems

certain,

as truly solar as the

however,

"wings"

is

that the archer

was

In Babylonia

or "rays".

and Assyria Hie sun was, among other things, a destroyer

from the earliest times. It is not surprising, therefore,
to find that Ashur, like Merodach, resembled, in one of
Hercules, or rather his prototype Gilgamesh.

his phases,

One of Gilgamesh's mythical feats was the slaying of

These may be identical with the
three demon birds.
birds of prey which

labour,

hunted

out

Hercules, in performing his sixth

In the Greek
of Stymphalus. 3

Hipparcho-Ptolemy star list Hercules was the constellaof the " Kneeler ", and in Babylonian -Assyrian
" Sarru
",
astronomy he was (as Gilgamesh or Merodach)
"
"
" the
The astral " Arrow (constellation of Sagitta)
king
tion

1
Satapatha Brahmana, translated b/ Professor Eggeling, part
Books of the East.}

Egyptian MLyth and Legend^ pp. 165

Clastic

Myth and

Legend,

p.

105.

et

iv,

1897,

p.

371.

seq.

The

birds

were

called

"

Stymphalides

".

(Sacred

THE NATIONAL GOD OF ASSYRIA

337

was pointed against the constellations of the " Eagle ",

" Vulture
" Swan ".
In Phoenician astronomy the
", and
Vulture was "Zither*' (Lyra), a weapon with which Hercules (identified with Melkarth) slew Linos, the musician.
Hercules used a solar arrow, which he received from
In various mythologies the arrow is associated
Apollo.
with the sun, the moon, and the atmospheric deities, and
is a
symbol of lightning, rain, and fertility, as well as of

famine, disease, war, and death.

The

green-faced goddess
Neith of Libya, compared by the Greeks to Minerva,
1
If we knew
carries in one hand two arrows and a bow.
as little of Athena (Minerva), who was armed with a
lance, a breastplate made of the skin of a goat, a shield,
and helmet, as we do of Ashur, it might be held that she
was simply a goddess of war. The archer in the sun disc

of the Assyrian standard probably represented Ashur as

a deity closely akin to Merodach,
the god of the people
with pronounced Tammuz traits, and therefore linking
with other local deities like Ninip, Nergal, and Shamash,
and partaking also like these of the attributes of the elder

gods Anu, Bel

Enlil,

and Ea.

All the other deities worshipped by the Assyrians

were of Babylonian origin. Ashur appears to have differed from them just as one local Babylonian deity differed
from another.
He reflected Assyrian experiences and
it
is
difficult to decide whether the
but
aspirations,
sublime spiritual aspect of his character was due to the
beliefs of alien peoples, by whom the early Assyrians were
influenced, or to the teachings of advanced Babylonian
thinkers, whose doctrines found readier acceptance in a

"new
1

deity

The
is

country*' than

among

Neith may be a thunderbolt.

The bow and arrows suggest a lightning

so-called "shuttle" of

a goddess.

the conservative ritualists

war because she was

a deity of fertility.

Scotland's archaic thunder

goddess

who wae

a deity of

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

338

of ancient Sumerian and Akkadian cities.

New cults
were formed from time to time in Babylonia, and when
they achieved

political

power they gave a

distinctive char-

acter to the religion of their city states. Others which did

not find political support and remained in obscurity at

home, may have yet extended their influence far and

wide.
Buddhism, for instance, originated in India, but
now flourishes in other countries, to which it was introIn the homeland it was subduced by missionaries.
merged by the revival of Brahmanism, from which it
sprung, and which it was intended permanently to dis-

An

instance of an advanced cult suddenly achieving

prominence as a result of political influence is afforded by

place.

Egypt, where the fully developed Aton religion was embraced and established as a national religion by Akhenaton,
That
were somethe so-called " dreamer ".
migrations
times propelled by cults, which sought new areas in which

freedom and propagate their beliefs,

suggested by the invasion of India at the close of
the Vedic period by the " later comers ", who laid the
foundations of Brahmanism.
They established themselves in Madhyadesa, "the Middle Country", "the
land where the Brahmanas and the later Samhitas were
produced ". From this centre went forth missionaries,
who accomplished the Brahmanization of the rest of
to exercise religious
is

India.

It

may

be, therefore, that the cult of

Ashur was

in-

development by the doctrines of advanced

teachers from Babylonia, and that Persian Mithraism was
fluenced in

its

of missionary efforts extended from that

and
ancient
cultural area. Mitra, as has been stated,
great
was one of the names of the Babylonian sun god, who was
also a god of fertility.
But Ashur could not have been to
also the product

y*dic Index) Macdonell

&

Keith, vol.

ii,

pp. 125-6,

and vol.

i,

168-9.

THE NATIONAL GOD OF

ASSYRIA

339

As the god of
must have been worshipped by agriculturists,
he must have been recognized as a
artisans, and traders
of
commerce, and law. Even as a
culture,
deity
fertility,
national god he must have made wider appeal than to the
Bel Enlil of Nippur was a
cultured and ruling classes.
"
" world
god and war god, but still remained a local corn
begin with merely a battle and solar deity.

a city state he

god.
Assyria's greatness was reflected by Ashur, but he also
The
reflected the origin and growth of that greatness.
civilization of which he was a product had an agricultural

began with the development of the natural

resources of Assyria, as was recognized by the Hebrew
prophet, who said: "Behold, the Assyrian was a cedar in

basis.

It

Lebanon with
great, the

The waters made him

him up on high with her rivers running
plants, and sent out her little rivers unto

fair

branches.

set

deep
round about his

Therefore his height was exalted

field, and his boughs were
multiplied, and his branches became long because of the
multitude of waters when he shot forth. All the fowls of

all

the trees of the

above

all

field.

the trees of the

heaven made their nests

in

his

boughs, and under his

all the beasts of the field

bring forth their
and
under
his
shadow
dwelt
all
young,
great nations.
Thus was he fair in his greatness, in the length of his
branches ; for his root was by great waters.
The cedars
in the garden of God could not hide him: the fir trees
were not like his boughs, and the chestnut trees were not
like his branches ; nor any tree in the garden of God was
1
like unto him in his beauty/'
Asshur, the ancient capital, was famous for its merIt is referred to in the Bible as one of the cities
chants.
which traded with Tyre " in all sorts of things, in blue

branches did

Exckiel, xxxi, 3-8.

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

340
clothes,

and broidered work, and

in chests

of

rich apparel,

bound with cords, and made of cedar".

As a military power, Assyria's name was dreaded.
"

" thou
Behold," Isaiah said, addressing King Hezekiah,
hast heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all
lands by destroying them utterly." 2

when

foretelling

how

Israel

would

The same

suffer,

prophet,
exclaimed:

"O

Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their

I
mine indignation.
will send him against an
hypocritical nation, and against the people of my wrath
will I give him a
charge, to take the spoil, and to take
the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the

hand

is

streets."

We expect
of Assyrian

to find

Ashur
If

civilization.

reflected in these three phases

recognize him in the first

we

god of fertility, his other attributes are at once

A god of fertility is a corn god and a water
The
river as a river was a "creator" (p. 29), and
god.
Ashur was therefore closely associated with the " watery
place", with the canals or "rivers running round about
place as a
included.

his plants".

The

rippling water-rays, or fertilizing tears,

As a corn god, he was a god

appear on the solar discs.
of war. Tammuz's first act was to slay the demons of
winter and storm, as Indra's in India was to slay the
demons of drought, and Thor's in Scandinavia was to
exterminate the frost giants.
The corn god had to be
fed with human sacrifices, and the people therefore waged
As the god
war against foreigners to obtain victims.
made a contract with his people, he was a deity of commerce he provided them with food and they in turn fed
him with offerings.
In Ezekiel's comparison of Assyria to a mighty tree,
there is no doubt a mythological reference. The Hebrew
;

Evekiely xxvii, 23, 24.

hauih, xxxvii,

u.

Ibid., x, 5, 6.

w
w

Q
S 2
u -5

S
w
2
3
w

s
w

THE NATIONAL GOD OF

ASSYRIA

341

prophets invariably utilized for their poetic imagery the

characteristic beliefs of the peoples to whom they made
direct reference.
The "owls", " satyrs ", and " dragons "
of Babylon, mentioned by Isaiah, were taken from Babylonian mythology, as has been indicated.
fore, Assyria is compared to a cedar, which

or chestnut, and

fir

it is

there-

When,

greater than
stated that there are nesting birds
is

and under them reproducing beasts of the

and that the greatness of the tree is due to " the

in the branches,
field,

multitude of waters

",

the conclusion

is

suggested that

Assyrian religion, which Ashur's symbols reflect, included

the worship of trees, birds, beasts, and water.
The
symbol of the Assyrian tree probably the "world tree"
of its religion appears to be " the rod of mine anger
the staff in their hand"; that is, the battle standard which
was a symbol of Ashur. Tammuz and Osiris were tree
.

as well as corn gods.

Now, as Ashur was evidently a

gods

complex deity, it is
to
his
futile to attempt
read
symbols without giving consideration to the remnants of Assyrian mythology which
are

found

in the ruins

of the ancient

cities.

These

either

reflect the attributes of Ashur, or constitute the material

from which he evolved.

As Layard pointed out many

years ago, the Assyrians

had a sacred tree which became conventionalized. It was

"an elegant device, in which curved branches, springing
from a kind of scroll work, terminated in flowers of
As one of the figures last described 1 was
graceful form.
turned, as if in act of adoration, towards this device, it
was evidently a sacred emblem and I recognized in it
the holy tree, or tree of life, so universally adored at the
remotest period in the East, and which was preserved in
the religious systems of the Persians to the final over;

winged human

figure, carrying in

one hand

a basket

and in another

fir

cone.

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

342

throw of their Empire.

seven petals/' 1
This tree looks like a

The

pillar,

flowers were formed by

and

is

thrice crossed

by

conventionalized bull's horns tipped with ring symbols

which may be stars, the highest pair of horns having a
larger ring between them, but only partly shown as if it

were

The

crescent.

tree with

its

many

<c

sevenfold

"

" Sevenfold-onedesigns may have been a symbol of the

"
This is evidently the Assyrian tree which
deity.
are-ye
"
was called "the rod or " staff".

What mythical animals did this tree shelter ? Layard

found that " the four creatures continually introduced on
the sculptured walls ", were " a man, a lion, an ox, and an
2

eagle".
In Sumeria the gods were given human form, but
before this stage was reached the bull symbolized Nannar

moon god, Ninip (Saturn, the old sun), and

while
Enlil,
Nergal was a lion, as a tribal sun god. The
is
represented by the Zu bird, which symbolized the
eagle

(Sin), the

storm and a phase of the sun, and was also a deity of

On the silver vase of Lagash the lion and eagle
fertility.
were combined as the lion-headed eagle, a form of NinGirsu (Tammuz), and
stags,

lions,

and

it

bulls.

was associated with wild goats,

On a mace head dedicated to

Nin-Girsu, a lion slays a bull as the Zu bird slays serpents

in the folk tale, suggesting the wars of totemic deities,
according to one "school", and the battle of the sun with
the storm clouds according to another.
Whatever the
explanation may be of one animal deity of fertility slaying
another, it seems certain that the conflict was associated
with the idea of sacrifice to procure the food supply.
In Assyria the various primitive gods were combined
as a

winged

bull, a

Layard'f

winged

Nmruth

bull with

(1856), p. 44,

human head
Ibld^ p. 309.

(the

THE NATIONAL GOD OF

ASSYRIA

343

king's), a winged lion with human head, a winged man,

a deity with lion's head, human body, and eagle's legs
with claws, and also as a deity with eagle's head and

feather headdress, a human body, wings, and feather-fringed

robe, carrying in one hand ? metal basket on which two

winged men adored the holy

cone.

tree,

and

in the other a

fir

Layard suggested that the latter deity, with eagle's

head, was Nisroch, "the word Nisr signifying, in all
2
This deity is referred to
Semitic languages, an eagle".
"
was
in the Bible
Sennacherib, king of Assyria,
3
of
his
in
the
house
Professor
Nisroch,
god".
worshipping
Pinches is certain that Nisroch is Ashur, but considers
" ni " was attached to "Ashur"
that the
(Ashuraku or
" Marad "
it was to
as
(Merodach) to give
Ashurachu),
==
The
names of heathen
Nimrod.
the reading Ni-Marad
"
deities were thus made
unrecognizable, and in all probPious and orthodox lips
as
ridiculous
well.
ability
.

could pronounce them without fear of defilement."* At

"
it
the same time the " Nisr
theory is probable
may
this
The
of
of
names
another
phase
process.
represent
:

heathen gods were not all treated in like manner by the

Hebrew teachers. Abcd-nebo, for instance, became Abednego (Daniel, i, 7), as Professor Pinches shows.

prominence in the
mythologies of Sumeria and Assyria, as a deity of fertility
with solar and atmospheric attributes, it is highly probable
Seeing

that

the

eagle

received

Ashur symbol, like the Egyptian Horus solar disk,

winged symbol of life, fertility, and destruction. The

that the
is

idea that
J

The

fir

it

represents the sun in eclipse, with protruding

cone was offered to Attis and Mithra.

It* association

with Ashur suggests

that the great Assyrian deity resembled the gods of corn and trees and fertility.
3

Nineveh^ p. 47.
The Old Testament

Babylonia^ pp. 129-30.

*
in the

Isaiah^ xxxvii, 37-8.

Light of

the Historical

Records and Legends of Assyria and

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

344

rays, seems rather far-fetched, because eclipses were dis1

asters and indications of divine wrath; it certainly does

"rays" should only stretch out sidewings, and downward like a tail, why the "rays"

not explain

why

the

ways, like
should be double, like the double wings of cherubs, bulls,
&c., and divided into sections suggesting feathers, or why

the disk is surmounted by conventionalized horns, tipped

with star-like ring symbols, identical with those depicted in
the holy tree.
What particular connection the five small
rings within the disk were supposed to have with the
eclipse of the sun is difficult to discover.

In one of the other symbols in which appears a featherrobed archer, it is significant to find that the arrow he is

about to discharge has a head shaped like a trident it is

evidently a lightning symbol.
When Ezekiel prophesied to the Israelitish captives at
"
"
Tel-abib,
by the river of Chebar in Chaldea (Kheber,
;

near Nippur), he appears to have utilized Assyrian symbolism.

Probably he came into contact in Babylonia with

from Assyrian cities.

This great prophet makes interesting references to
" four faces "
" four
the face of
living creatures ", with
a man, the face of a lion, the face of an ox, and the face
of an eagle; "they had the hands of a man under their
their wings were joined one to another;
wings,
their wings were stretched upward: two wings of every
Their appearance
one were joined one to another.
was like burning coals of fire and like the appearance of
The living creatures ran and returned as
lamps.
2
the appearance of a flash of lightning."
Elsewhere, referring to the sisters, Aholah and Aholibah,
who had been in Egypt and had adopted unmoral ways of
fugitive priests

An

break of

eclipse of the
civil

war.

sun in Assyria on June

2
Ezekiel, i, 4-14.

15,

763

B.C.,

was followed by an out-

Photo. Manscll

EAGLE-HEADED WINGED DEITY (ASHUR)

Marble Slab

>

British

Afuseum

THE NATIONAL GOD OF

Ezekiel

life,

"

tells that

she " saw

Assyrians

ASSYRIA

345

when Aholibah "doted upon

men pourtrayed upon the wall,

the
the

images of the Chaldeans pourtrayed with vermilion, girded

with girdles upon their loins ".* Traces of the red colour

on the

walls of Assyrian temples and palaces have been

observed by excavators. The winged gods " like burning
"
coals
were probably painted in vermilion.

makes reference

Ezekiel

to

In his vision he saw

symbols.

"ring*' and

"wheel"

"one wheel upon

the

by the living creatures, with his four faces. The

appearance of the wheels and their work was like unto
earth

and they four had one likeness and

their work was as it were a wheel in
the middle of a wheel. ... As for their rings, they were
so high that they were dreadful and their rings were full
of eyes round about them four. And when the living
and when the
creatures went, the wheels went by them
creatures
lifted
from
the
were
earth, the wheels
up
living
were lifted up. Whithersoever the spirit was to go, they
went, thither was their spirit to go; and the wheels were
the colour of beryl

their appearance

and

up over against them

creature was in the wheels?

lifted

for the

;
.

And

of the living
the likeness of the
spirit

firmament upon the heads of the living creature was as the

colour of terrible crystal, stretched forth over their heads
And when they went I heard the noise of
above.
their wings, like the noise of great waters, as the voice of
.

the Almighty, the voice of speech, as the noise of an host;

when they stood they

let

down

their wings. . . ."

the cherubs states: "Their

Another description of
whole body, and their backs, and their hands, and their
wings, and the wheels, were full of eyes (? stars) round
1

Exekiel, xxiii, 1-15.

As

the soul of the Egyptian god was in the sun disk or sun egg.
i,

15-28.

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

346

As

about, even the wheels that they four had.

was cried unto them

for the
"

wheels,
my hearing, wheel
a
to
or, according
marginal rendering, "they were called
in my hearing, wheel, or Gilgal," i.e. move round.
l
" And the cherubims were lifted
up."
it

in

would appear that the wheel (or hoop, a variant

rendering) was a symbol of life, and that the Assyrian
feather-robed figure which it enclosed was a god, not of
war only, but also of fertility. His trident-headed arrow
It

resembles, as has been suggested, a lightning symbol.

Ezekiel's references are suggestive in this connection.
When the cherubs " ran and returned " they had " the

appearance of a flash of lightning*', and "the noise of their

"
resembled " the noise of great waters ". Their
wings
bodies were "like burning coals of fire ".
Fertility gods
were associated with fire, lightning, and water. Agni of
India, Sandan of Asia Minor, and Melkarth of Phoenicia
were highly developed fire gods of fertility. The fire
cult was also represented in Sumeria (pp. 49-51).

In the Indian epic, the Mahdbhdrata, the revolving ring

or wheel protects the Soma 2 (ambrosia) of the gods, on
which their existence depends. The eagle giant Garuda
to steal it.
The gods, fully armed, gather
to protect the life-giving drink. Garuda approaches
"darkening the worlds by the dust raised by the hurricane
sets

forth

round

" overwhelmed
by that
swoon
afterwards
Garuda
assumes
a fiery
dust",
away.
"
like masses of black clouds ", and in
shape, then looks
the end its body becomes golden and bright " as the rays
of the sun ". The Soma is protected by fire, which the
"
bird quenches after " drinking in many rivers
with the
numerous mouths it has assumed. Then Garuda finds
that right above the Soma is "a wheel of steel, keen
of his wings

".

The

Evtkiel, x, 11-5.

celestials,

Also called " Amrit*

".

THE NATIONAL GOD OF

ASSYRIA

347

That
edged, and sharp as a razor, revolving incessantly.
of
sun
and
the
lustre
of
the
instrument,
blazing
of terrible form, was devised by the gods for cutting to
pieces all robbers of the Soma." Garuda passes "through
fierce

the spokes of the wheel ", and has then to contend against
" two
great snakes of the lustre of blazing fire, of tongues
bright as the lightning flash, of great energy, of mouth
He slays the snakes.
emitting fire, of blazing eyes".
.

The gods

afterwards recover the stolen Soma.

vehicle of the god Vishnu, who

another fiery wheel which revolves and
returns to the thrower like lightning. "And he (Vishnu)
made the bird sit on the flagstaff of his car, saying: 'Even

Garuda becomes the

carries the discus,

thus thou shalt stay above me Y' 1

The Persian god Ahura Mazda

hovers above

the

king in sculptured representations of that high dignitary,

enclosed in a winged wheel, or disk, like Ashur, grasping
a ring in

those

one hand, the other being

who

lifted

up

as if blessing

adore him.

Shamash, the Babylonian sun god; Ishtar, the goddess

of heaven; and other Babylonian deities carried rings as
the Egyptian gods carried the ankh, the symbol of life.
Shamash was also depicted sitting on his throne in a
pillar-supported pavilion, in front of which is a sun wheel.
The spokes of the wheel are formed by a star symbol and
threefold rippling "water rays".
In Hittite inscriptions there are interesting winged
emblems; "the central portion" of one "seems to be
composed of two crescents underneath a disk (which is
also divided like a crescent).

Above

the

emblem

there

appear the symbol of sanctity (the divided oval) and the

hieroglyph which Professor Sayce interprets as the name

of the god Sandes."

1

(0642)

In another instance " the centre of

The Mah&bh&rata

^Adi Parva), Sections xxxiii~iv.

25

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

348

the winged emblem may be seen to be a rosette, with a

curious spreading object below.
Above, two dots follow
the

name of Sandes, and

human arm

bent

in adoration'

is
."
Professor Garstang is here dealing
by the side.
with sacred places "on rocky points or hilltops, bearing
out the suggestion of the sculptures near Boghaz-Keui 1,
.

which there may be reasonably suspected the surviving

of mountain cults, or cults of mountain deities,
Who the
underlying thd*" newer religious symbolism ".
"
he was identified at
deity is it is impossible to say, but
some time or other with Sandes". 2 It would appear, too,
" called
that the god may have been
by a name which was
that used also by the priest ".
Perhaps the priest king
was believed to be an incarnation of the deity.
Sandes or Sandan was identical with Sandon of Tarsus,
"the prototype of Attis", 8 who links with the Babylonian
Tammuz. Sandon's animal symbol was the lion, and he
"
carried the " double axe
symbol of the god of fertility
and thunder. As Professor Frazer has shown in The
4
Golden Bough, he links with Hercules and Melkarth.
in

traces

All the younger gods, who displaced the elder gods as

one year displaces another, were deities of fertility, battle,
lightning, fire, and the sun; it is possible, therefore, that

Ashur was

Merodach, son of Ea, god of the deep, a

form of Tammuz in origin. His spirit was in the solar
wheel which revolved at times of seasonal change. In
Scotland it was believed that on the morning of May
Day (Beltaine) the rising sun revolved three times. The
younger god was a spring sun god and fire god. Great
like

Turkish name which signifies "village of the pass".

not usually attempted by English speakers.
common
rendering is "Bog-baz' Kay-ee", a slight "oo" sound being given to the "a" in "Kay";
" sound is hard and
the " z
hissing.
1

Another way of

The deep"gh"

spelling the

guttural

The Land of the

Ibid,) p. 173.

is

Hittites, J.
4

Garstang, pp. 178

et

teq.

/f dgnii) Atfjst Osiris, chaps, v and

vi,

THE NATIONAL GOD OF

ASSYRIA

349

lit to
strengthen him, or as a ceremony of
old
the
Indeed the god
riddance;
year was burned out.
burned
be
the
old
himself might
(that is,
god), so that he

bonfires were

might renew his youth. Melkarth was burned at Tyre.

Hercules burned himself on a mountain top, and his soul
ascended to heaven as an eagle.
These fiery rites were evidently not unknown in
When, according to Biblical
Babylonia and Assyria.
"made an image of gold"
Nebuchadnezzar
narrative,
u
which he set up in the plain of Dura, in the province
of Babylon ", he commanded: "O people, nations, and
languages ... at the time ye hear the sound of the
cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, dulcimer, and all
fall down and
kinds of musick
worship the golden
who
had
been
"set over the
Certain
Jews
image".
"
affairs of the province of Babylonia", namely,
Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abed-nego", refused to adore the idol.
"
They were punished by being thrown into a burning
fiery furnace", which was heated "seven times more than
1
it was wont to be heated".
They came forth uninjured.
.

it is related that Abraham

destroyed the
them
of
he
"brake
all in
Chaldean
images
gods;
pieces
except the biggest of them; that they might lay the blame
on that". 2 According to the commentators the Chaldaeans
were at the time " abroad in the fields, celebrating a great
festival ".
To punish the offender Nimrod had a great
" Then
they bound Abraham,
pyre erected at Cuthah.
and putting him into an engine, shot him into the midst
of the fire, from which he was preserved by the angel
Eastern ChrisGabriel, who was sent to his assistance."

In the Koran

tians
1

were wont to

Daniel,

The

iii,

set apart

in the Syrian calendar the

i-z6.

story that
other idols is of

Abraham hung an

Jewish origin.

axe round the neck of Baal after destroying the

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

350

25th of January to commemorate Abraham's escape from

NimrocPs pyre. 1
It is evident that the
Babylonian fire ceremony was
observed in the spring season, and that human beings
were sacrificed to the sun god. A mock king may have
been burned to perpetuate the ancient sacrifice of real
kings, who were incarnations of the god.
Isaiah makes reference to the sacrificial burning of
" For
kings in Assyria
through the voice of the Lord
shall the Assyrian be beaten down, which smote with a
rod.
And in every place where the grounded staff shall
which
the Lord shall lay upon him, it shall be with
pass,
tabrets and harps: and in battles of shaking will he fight
with it.
For Tophet is ordained of old yea, for the
it is
prepared: he hath made it deep and large: the
king
the breath of the
pile thereof is fire and much wood
:

2
When
Lord, like a stream of brimstone, doth kindle it."
Nineveh was about to fall, and with it the Assyrian Empire,

the legendary king,

who was

reputed to
have founded Tarsus, burned himself, with his wives, conSardanapalus,

and eunuchs, on

a pyre in his palace.

Zimri,
for
Israel
seven days, "burnt the king's
over
reigned
house over him with fire" 3
Saul, another fallen king,

cubines,

who

was burned after death, and his bones were buried "under
4
In Europe the oak was associated
the oak in Jabesh".
with gods of fertility and lightning, including Jupiter and
Thor. The ceremony of burning Saul is of special interest.
Asa, the orthodox king of Judah, was, after death,
"laid in the bed which was filled with sweet odours and
divers kinds of spices prepared by the apothecaries' art:
and they made a very great burning for him" (2 Chronicles^
1

The Koran, George Sale, pp. 245- 6.

See also for Tophet customs 2 Kings,
31-3.
8 /
31, 32 and xix, 5-12.
Kings, xvi, 18.
4 7
Samuel, xxxi, 12, 13 and / Chronicles, x, n, 12.
2

Isaiah, xxx,

xxiii,

10; Jeremiah,

vii,

THE NATIONAL GOD OF

ASSYRIA

351

Jehoram, the heretic king of Judah, who

way of the kings of Israel", died of "an
incurable disease.
And his people made no burning for
"
him, like the burning of his fathers
(2 Chronicles^ xxi,

xvi,

14).

"walked

in the

8, 19).

The

conclusion suggested by the comparative study

of the beliefs of neighbouring peoples, and the evidence

by Assyrian sculptures, is that Ashur was a

highly developed form of the god of fertility, who was
sustained, or aided in his conflicts with demons, by the
fires and sacrifices of his worshippers.
afforded

It

These

possible to read too much into his symbols.

are not more complicated and vague than are the

is

stones of Scotland
the crescent
symbols on the standing
"
arrow ; the trident with the double
with the " broken

two crescents; the circle

rings, or wheels, connected by
with the dot in its centre; the triangle with the dot; the
large disk with

two small rings on

either side crossed

by

lines; the so-called "mirror", and so on.

Highly developed symbolism may not indicate a process
of spiritualization so much, perhaps, as the persistence of

double straight

There is really no direct

magical beliefs and practices.
evidence to support the theory that the Assyrian winged
disk, or disk "with protruding rays", was of more spiritual character than the wheel which encloses the featherrobed archer with

his trident-shaped arrow.

various symbols may have represented phases of
the god.
When the spring fires were lit, and the god

The

"renewed

symbol was possibly

the solar wheel or disk with eagle's wings, which became
his life like the eagle", his

The god brought life and

regarded as a symbol of life.
light to the world; he caused the crops to grow; he gave
But he was also
increase; he sustained his worshippers.
of
darkness
who
slew
the
demons
and storm.
god

the

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

352

The

winged disk was Sandes or Sandon, the god

who stood on the back of a bull. As the
lightning god was a war god, it was in keeping with his
character to find him represented in Assyria as "Ashur
the archer'' with the bow and lightning arrow.
On the
disk of the Assyrian standard the lion and the bull appear
"
with "the archer as symbols of the war god Ashur, but
they were also symbols of Ashur the god of fertility.
The life or spirit of the god was in the ring or wheel,
as the life of the Egyptian and Indian gods, and of the
The "dot within
giants of folk tales, was in "the egg".
the circle ", a widespread symbol, may have represented
the seed within "the egg" of more than one mythology,
or the thorn within the egg of more than one legendary
Hittite

of lightning,

story.
beliefs

It

may

be that in Assyria, as in India, the crude

and symbols of the masses were spiritualized by

the speculative thinkers in the priesthood, but no literary

evidence has survived to justify us in placing the Assyrian

teachers on the same level as the Brahmans who com-

posed the Upanishads.

Temples were erected to Ashur, but he might be
worshipped anywhere, like the Queen of Heaven, who
received offerings in the streets of Jerusalem, for " he
needed no temple", as Professor Pinches says. Whether
this

was because he was a highly developed deity or a

product of folk religion

it

is

difficult

to decide.

One

important
king of Assyria was more
with
the
connected
closely
worship of Ashur than the
of
with
the worship of Merodach.
king
Babylonia was
This may be because the Assyrian king was regarded as
fact is that the ruling

an incarnation of his god, like the Egyptian Pharaoh.

Ashur accompanied the monarch on his campaigns: he
was their conquering war god. Where the king was,
there was

Ashur

also.

No

images were made of him,

THE NATIONAL GOD OF

ASSYRIA

353

but his symbols were carried aloft, as were the symbols

of Indian gods in the great war of the Mahdbhdrata
epic.
It

in the

he

would appear

that

associated with the

is

Ashur was sometimes worshipped

temples of other gods.

In an interesting inscription
(Sin) of Haran.

moon god Nannar

Esarhaddon, the Assyrian king, is believed to have been

"The writer", says Professor
crowned in that city.
Pinches, "is apparently addressing Assur-bani-apli,
great and noble Asnapper':
"

When

crowned
cedar.

(?)

the father of

king

my

lord

went

to Egypt, he
'

temple

(lit.

Bethel

the

was
')

of

The god

crowns upon

The

my

in the gannl of Harran, the

Sin remained over the (sacred) standard, two

his head, (and) the god Nusku stood beside him.

lord entered, (and) he (the priest of

Sin) placed (the crown?) upon his head, (saying) thus: 'Thou shalt
go and capture the lands in the midst'. (He we)nt, he captured
father of the king

my

The rest of the lands not submitting (?) to

Assur (Ashur) and Sin, the king, the lord of kings, shall capture

the land of Egypt.

1

(them)."

Ashur and Sin are here linked as equals. Associated

with them is Nusku, the messenger of the gods, who was

The kings frequently ingiven prominence in Assyria.

voked him. As the son of Ea he acted as the messenger
between Merodach and the god of the deep. He was
also a son of Bel Enlil, and like Anu was
guardian or
chief of the Igigi, the "host of heaven".
Professor
Pinches suggests that he may have been either identical
with the Sumerian fire god Gibil, or a brother of the fire
god, and an impersonation of the light of fire and sun. In
Haran he accompanied the moon god, and may, therefore,
have symbolized the light of the
1

The Old Testament

Babylonia, pp. 201-2.

in the

Light of

the Historical

moon

also.

Professor

and
Records and Legends
of Assyria

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

354

Pinches adds that in one inscription "he

with Nirig or En-reshtu

"

(Nin-Girsu

Babylonians and Assyrians associated

moisture and fertility.

The

is

identified

= Tammuz).
fire

and

The

light with

phase of the character of Ashur is highly

has
been indicated, the Greek rendering of
probable.
Anshar as "Assoros", is suggestive in this connection.
astral

As

Jastrow, however, points out that the use of the characters

Anshar for Ashur did not obtain until the eighth century
B.C.

"

" the
change of Ashir to
Linguistically ", he says,
can be accounted for, but not the transformation of

Ashur

An-shar to Ashur or Ashir; so that we must assume the

'
etymology of Ashur, proposed by some learned scribe,
2
to be the nature of a play upon the name."
On the
other hand, it is possible that what appears arbitrary to us
may have been justified in ancient Assyria on perfectly
'

Professor
reasonable, or at any rate traditional, grounds.
Pinches points out that as a sun god, and "at the same

Ashur resembled Merodach. "His

identification with Merodach, if that was ever accepted,
may have been due to the likeness of the word to Asari,
one of the deities names." 3 As Asari, Merodach has been
time not Shamash

",

compared to the Egyptian Osiris, who, as the Nile god,

Osiris resembles Tammuz and was
was Asar-Hapi.
a
corn
similarly
deity and a ruler of the living and the
dead, associated with sun, moon, stars, water, and vegeta-

We

tion.

"water

consistently connect Ashur with Aushar,

field", Anshar, "god of the height", or "most
and with the eponymous King Asshur who went

may

high ",
out on the land of
we regard him as of

Nimrod and " builded Nineveh

common

origin with

Tammuz,

Babylonian and Assyrian Religion, pp. 57-8.

Aspects of Religious Belief and Practice in Babylonia and Assyria,

Babylonian and Assy nan Religion, p. 86.

p.

", if

Osiris,

121.

THE NATIONAL GOD OF

and Attis
deity of

a developed and localized

fertility and corn.

Ashur had
cc

Beltu,

ASSYRIA

355

form of the ancient

who is referred to as Ashuritu, or

Her name, however, is not given,

a spouse

the lady ".

possible that she was identified with the Ishtar of

Nineveh. In the historical texts Ashur, as the royal god,
stands alone.
Like the Hittite Great Father, he was per-

but

it is

Indeed, it may have

haps regarded as the origin of life.
been due to the influence of the northern hillmen in the
early Assyrian period, that Ashur was developed as a father
the Hittite inscriptions are read,
god a Baal.

When

Anbe thrown on the Ashur problem.

other possible source of cultural influence is Persia.
The
inas
has
been
Ahura-Mazda
supreme god
(Ormuzd) was,
dicated, represented, like Ashur, hovering over the king's
more

light

may

head, enclosed in a winged disk or wheel, and the sacred

mythology. The early Assyrian

kings had non-Semitic and non-Sumerian names. It seems
reasonable to assume that the religious culture of the

tree figured in Persian

ethnic elements they represented must have contributed

to the development of the city god of Asshur.

CHAPTER XV
Conflicts for Trade and

Supremacy

Modern Babylonia

History repeating itself Babylonian Trade Route

Egyptian Supremacy in Syria Mitanni and Babylonia
Bandits who plundered Caravans Arabian Desert Trade Route opened
Assyrian and Elamite Struggles with Babylonia Rapid Extension of Assyrian
Empire Hittites control Western Trade Routes Egypt's Nineteenth Dynasty
Conquests Campaigns of Rameses II Egyptians and Hittites become Allies
Babylonian Fears of Assyria Shalmaneser's Triumphs Assyria Supreme in
Mesopotamia Conquest of Babylonia Fall of a Great King Civil War in
Revival of
Assyria Its Empire goes to pieces Babylonian Wars with Elam
Babylonian Power Invasions of Assyrians and Elamites End of the Kassite
in

Mesopotamia

Dynasty

IT

Babylonia contrasted with Assyria.

that during the present century Babyonce

again become one of the great wheatmay
producing countries of the world. A scheme of land
reclamation has already been inaugurated by the construction of a great dam to control the distribution of the
waters of the Euphrates, and, if it is energetically prois

possible

lonia

moted on

generous scale in the years to come, the

ancient canals, which are used at present as caravan roads,
may yet be utilized to make the whole country as fertile
and prosperous as it was in ancient days. When that
a

happy consummation is reached, new cities may grow up

and flourish beside the ruins of the old centres of Babylonian culture.

With

the revival of agriculture will come the revival

Ancient trade routes will then be re-

of commerce.

opened, and the slow-travelling caravans supplanted by

356

CONFLICTS FOR TRADE

357

beginning has already been made in

first
modern commercial highway
which is crossing the threshold of Babylonia's new Age
is the German
railway through Asia Minor, North Syria,
and Mesopotamia to Baghdad. 1 It brings the land of

speedy

trains.

direction.

this

Hammurabi

The

Europe, and will solve

problems which engaged the attention of many rival
monarchs for long centuries before the world knew aught
of " the glory that was Greece and the grandeur that was
into close touch with

Rome".
These sudden and dramatic changes are causing history
itself.
Once again the great World Powers are

to repeat

evincing much concern regarding their respective "spheres

of influence" in Western Asia, and pressing together
around the ancient land of Babylon. On the east, where
the aggressive Elamites and Kassites were followed by the
triumphant Persians and Medes, Russia and Britain have
asserted themselves as protectors of Persian territory, and
the influence of Britain is supreme in the Persian Gulf.

Turkey
looms

controls the land of the Hittites, while Russia

a giant across the Armenian highlands ;

like

also the governing power in Syria and Mesowhich

are being crossed by Germany's Baghdad
potamia,
is
France
railway.
constructing railways in Syria, and
will control the ancient "way of the Philistines". Britain
occupies Cyprus on the Mediterranean coast, and presides
over the destinies of the ancient land of Egypt, which,
during the brilliant Eighteenth Dynasty, extended its
Once
sphere of influence to the borders of Asia Minor.
after
of
the
international
lapse
again,
many centuries,

Turkey

is

At Carchemish a railway bridge spans the mile-wide river ferry which Assyria'*
were wont to cross with the aid of skin floats. The engineers have found it

soldiers

the oldest engineering

possible to utilize a Hittite river wall about 3000 years old
structure in the world.
The ferry was on the old trade route.

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

358

being strongly influenced by the problems connected with the development of trade in Babylonia and
politics is

its

vicinity.

The

history

of the ancient

rival

States,

which

is

being pieced together by modern

excavators, is, in view of

present-day political developments, invested with special
interest to us.
have seen Assyria rising into promi-

We

nence.

supreme
ites)

It

a great Power when Egypt was

"Western Land" (the land of the AmorUnder
north as the frontiers of Cappadocia.

began to be

in the

as far

the Kassite regime Babylonia's political influence had declined in Mesopotamia, but its cultural influence remained,
for its language and script continued in use among traders

and diplomatists.
At the beginning of the Pharaoh Akhenaton period,
As
the supreme power in Mesopotamia was Mitanni.
the ally of Egypt it constituted a buffer state on the
borders of North Syria, which prevented the southern
expansion from Asia Minor of the Hittite confederacy
and the western expansion of aggressive Assyria, while it
also held in check the ambitions of Babylonia, which still
claimed the "land of the Amorites". So long as Mitanni
was maintained as a powerful kingdom the Syrian possessions of Egypt were easily held in control, and the Egyptian merchants enjoyed preferential treatment compared
with those of Babylonia.
But when Mitanni was overcome, and its territories were divided between the Assyrians and the Hittites, the North Syrian Empire of Egypt
went to pieces. A great struggle then ensued between
the nations of western Asia for political supremacy in
the "land of the Amorites".
Babylonia had been seriously handicapped by losing
control of its western caravan road.
Prior to the Kassite
its influence was
in
period
Mesopotamia and
supreme

CONFLICTS FOR TRADE

359

middle Syria; from the days of Sargon of Akkad and of

Naram-Sin until the close of the Hammurabi Age its
merchants had naught to fear from bandits or petty kings
between the banks of the Euphrates and the MediterThe city of Babylon had grown rich and
ranean coast.
as
the
commercial metropolis of Western Asia.
powerful
from
the Delta frontier by the broad and
Separated
perilous wastes of the Arabian desert, Babylonia traded
Its caravan road ran
with Egypt by an indirect route.
northward along the west bank of the Euphrates towards
Haran, and then southward through Palestine. This was
a long detour, but it was the only possible way.
During the early Kassite Age the caravans from

Babylon had to pass through the area controlled by

Mitanni, which was therefore able to impose heavy duties
and fill its coffers with Babylonian gold. Nor did the
situation improve when the influence of Mitanni suffered
decline in southern Mesopotamia.
Indeed the difficulties
under which traders operated were then still further
increased, for the caravan roads were infested by plunder"
ing bands of Suti ", to whom references are made in the
Tell-el-Amarna letters. These bandits defied all the great
powers, and became so powerful that even the messengers
sent from one king to another were liable to be robbed
and murdered without discrimination. When war broke
out between powerful States they harried live stock and
sacked towns in those areas which were left unprotected.
The "Suti" were Arabians of Aramaean stock. What
"
" Third Semitic
is known as the
Migration was in pro-

The nomads gave trouble to

and
Babylonia
Assyria, and, penetrating Mesopotamia and
the
Syria, sapped
power of Mitanni, until it was unable to
resist the
onslaughts of the Assyrians and the Hittites.
The Aramaean tribes are referred to, at various periods

gress during this period.

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

360

and by various peoples, not only as the "Suti", but also

the "Achlame", the "Arimi", and the "Khabiri".
Ultimately they were designated simply as "Syrians",
and under that name became the hereditary enemies of
the Hebrews, although Jacob was regarded as being of
as

"A Syrian ready to perish ", runs a Biblical

" was
reference,
my father (ancestor), and he went down
into Egypt and sojourned there with a few, and became
there a nation, great, mighty, and populous '. 1
An heroic attempt was made by one of the Kassite
kings of Babylonia to afford protection to traders by
stamping out brigandage between Arabia and Mesopotamia, and opening up a new and direct caravan road to
Egypt across the Arabian desert. The monarch in question was Kadashman-Kharbe, the grandson of AshurAs we have seen, he combined forces
uballit of Assyria.
his
with
distinguished and powerful kinsman, and laid a
" Suti ".
Then he dug wells and
heavy hand on the
erected a chain of fortifications, like " block-houses ", so
that caravans might come and go without interruption,
and merchants be freed from the imposts of petty kings
whose territory they had to penetrate when travelling by
their stock:

the

Haran

route.

bold scheme, however, was foredoomed to

was shown scant favour by the Babylonian
No record survives to indicate the character of
Kassites.
the agreement between Kadashman-Kharbe and Ashur-

This

failure.

It

uballit, but there can be little doubt that it involved the

abandonment by Babylonia of its historic claim upon
Mesopotamia, or part of it, and the recognition of an
It was probAssyrian sphere of influence in that region.
his
of
on
account
pronounced pro-Assyrian tenably
dencies that the Kassites murdered Kadashman-Kharbe,
1

Deuteronomy^ xxvi,

5,

CONFLICTS FOR TRADE

and

set the pretender,

known

as

361

" the son of

nobody", on

the throne for a brief period.

Kadashman-Kharbe's immediate successors recognized

in Assyria a dangerous and unscrupulous rival, and
resumed the struggle for the possession of Mesopotamia.
The trade route across the Arabian desert had to be
abandoned.

Probably it required too great a force to

keep
open. Then almost every fresh conquest achieved
by Assyria involved it in war with Babylonia, which
it

appears to have been ever waiting for a suitable opportunity to cripple its northern rival.

had
was

But Assyria was not the only power which Babylonia

On its eastern frontier Elam
to guard itself against.

Its chief caravan roads

also panting for expansion.
ran from Susa through Assyria towards Asia Minor, and
through Babylonia towards the Phoenician coast. It was

probably because its commerce was hampered by the

growth of Assyrian power in the north, as Servians com-

our own day has been hampered by Austria, that

it cherished dreams of
conquering Babylonia. In fact, as
Kassite influence suffered decline, one of the great problems of international politics was whether Elam or Assyria

merce

in

would enter
and Akkad.

into possession of the ancient lands of

Sumer

Ashur-uballit's vigorous policy of Assyrian expansion

was continued, as has been shown, by his son Bel-nirari.
His grandson, Arik-den-ilu, conducted several successful
campaigns, and penetrated westward as far as Haran, thus
crossing the Babylonian caravan road.

He

captured great
herds of cattle and flocks of sheep, which were transported
to Asshur, and on one occasion carried away 250,000
prisoners.

It is
Meanwhile Babylonia waged war with Elam.
a
of
sent
Elam,
King
challenge

related that Khur-batila,

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

362
to

Kurigalzu

saying:

a descendant of

III,

"Come

hither;

will

Kadashman-Kharbe,

fight

with thee".

The

Babylonian monarch accepted the challenge, invaded the

Deserted
territory of his rival, and won a great victory.
Elamite
the
taken
was
his
king
by
troops,
prisoner, and
did not secure release until he had ceded a portion of
his territory and consented to pay annual tribute to
Babylonia.

Flushed with
Assyria

came

success, the Kassite king invaded

his

when Adad-nirari

to

the

died and his son Arik-den-ilu

He

found, however, that the

were
more
Assyrians
powerful than the Elamites, and
throne.

His

son, Na'zi-mar-ut'tash , also made

an unsuccessful attempt to curb the growing power of

suffered defeat.

the northern Power.

These recurring conflicts were intimately associated

with the Mesopotamian question.
Assyria was gradually
westward
and
expanding
shattering the dreams of the
Babylonian statesmen and traders

who hoped

to recover

control of the caravan routes and restore the prestige of

their nation in the west.

Like

his father,

Adad-nirari

the Aramaean "Suti"

who were

of Assyria had attacked

settling

about Haran.

He

also acquired a further portion of the ancient kingdom

of Mitanni, with the result that he exercised sway over

After defeating Na'zipart of northern Mesopotamia.

fixed
the boundaries of the Assyrian and
mar-ut'tash, he

much to the advantage

own country.
At home Adad-nirari conducted a vigorous policy.

Babylonian spheres of influence

of

his

He

developed the resources of the city state of Asshur

by constructing a great dam and quay wall, while he
contributed to the prosperity of the priesthood and the
*

Pr.

as oo,

CONFLICTS FOR TRADE

363

growth of Assyrian culture by extending the temple of

Ere he died, he assumed the proud
the god Ashur.
title of "Shar Kishshate",
"king of the world", which
His reign
was also used by his son Shalmaneser I.
extended over a period of thirty years and terminated
about 1300

Soon

B.C.

after

Shalmaneser came to the throne

his

country

suffered greatly from an earthquake, which threw

Ishtar's

temple

at

Nineveh and Ashur's temple

at

down

Asshur.

Fire broke out in the latter building and destroyed

it

completely.

These

dismay the young monarch.

Indeed, they appear to have stimulated him to set out on
a career of conquest, to secure treasure and slaves, so as to
carry out the work of reconstructing the temples without
He became as great a builder, and as tireless a
delay.
campaigner as Thothmes III of Egypt, and under his
guidance Assyria became the most powerful nation in
Western Asia. Ere he died his armies were so greatly
dreaded that the Egyptians and Assyrians drew their long
struggle for supremacy in Syria to a close, and formed
an alliance for mutual protection against their common
disasters did not

enemy.
It is

necessary at this point to review briefly the his-

tory of Palestine and north Syria after the period of Hittite

expansion under King Subbi-luliuma and the decline of
Egyptian power under Akhenaton. The western part of
Mitanni and the most of northern Syria had been colon1
Farther south, their allies, the
by the Hittites.
a
buffer
formed
State on the borders of Egypt's
Amorites,
limited sphere of influence in southern Palestine, and of
Mitanni
Babylonia's sphere in southern Mesopotamia.

ized

1
The chief cities of North Syria were prior to this period Hittite. This expansion
did not change the civilization but extended the area of occupation and control.

(0642)

26

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

364

was governed by a subject king who was expected to

prevent the acquisition by Assyria of territory in the
north-west.

Subbi-luliuma was succeeded on the Hittite throne by

King Mursil, who was known to the Egyptians as
" Meraser
of this
The
or " Maurasar ".

his son,

greater part

",

monarch's reign appears to have been peaceful and prosHis allies protected his frontiers, and he was
perous.
able to devote himself to the work of consolidating his

empire

in

Asia

Minor and North

Syria.

He

erected a

Boghaz Koi, and appears to have had

dreams of imitating the splendours of the royal Courts of
Egypt, Assyria, and Babylon.
At this period the Hittite Empire was approaching
It controlled the caravan roads
the zenith of its power.
of Babylonia and Egypt, and its rulers appear not only to
have had intimate diplomatic relations with both these
countries, but even to have concerned themselves regardWhen Rameses I came to the
ing their internal affairs.
at
the
Egyptian throne,
beginning of the Nineteenth
an
he
sealed
agreement with the Hittites, and
Dynasty,
at a later date the Hittite ambassador at Babylon, who

great palace at

represented Hattusil II, the second son of King Mursil,

actually intervened in a dispute regarding the selection of
a successor to the throne.

The
turbed

closing years of King Mursil's reign were disby the military conquests of Egypt, which had

renewed its strength under Rameses I. Seti I, the son

of Rameses I, and the third Pharaoh of the powerful
Nineteenth Dynasty, took advantage of the inactivity of
the Hittite ruler by invading southern Syria.
He had
to grapple with the Amorites, whom he successfully
Then he pressed northward as far as Tunip,
defeated.
first

and won a decisive victory over a Hittite army, which

CONFLICTS FOR TRADE

365

secured to Egypt for a period the control of Palestine

as far north as Phoenicia.

When

Mursil died he was succeeded on the Hittite

throne by his son Mutallu, whom the Egyptians referred
"
He was a vigorous
or " Mautinel ".
to as " Metella
and aggressive monarch, and appears to have lost no
time in compelling the Amorites to throw off their
allegiance to
As a result,

Egypt and recognize him as their overlord.

when Rameses II ascended the Egyptian

throne he had to undertake the task of winning back

the Asiatic possessions of his father.

The preliminary operations conducted by Rameses on

the Palestinian coast were attended with much success.
Then,

in

his

fifth

year,

he marched northward with a

great army, with purpose, it would appear, to emulate

the achievements of Thothmes III and win fame as a

mighty conqueror. But he underestimated the strength

rival and narrowly escaped disaster.
Advancing
impetuously, with but two of his four divisions, he suddenly found himself surrounded by the army of the wily
of his

King Mutallu, in the

His
Kadesh, on the Orontes.
intact, but his second was put to
Hittite,

force of the

From

vicinity of the city of

first division remained

flight by an intervening
this perilous position Rameses

enemy.
by leading a daring charge against the
Hittite lines on the river bank, which proved successful.
Thrown into confusion, his enemies sought refuge in the
city, but the Pharaoh refrained from attacking them there.
Although Rameses boasted on his return home of
extricated himself

having achieved a great victory, there

is

nothing more

certain than that this

He

campaign proved a dismal failure.

was unable to win back for Egypt the northern terri-

which had acknowledged the suzerainty of Egypt

during the Eighteenth Dynasty.
Subsequently he was
tories

366

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

kept fully engaged in maintaining his prestige in northern

Palestine and the vicinity of Phoenicia.
Then his Asiatic
which
extended altogether over a
military operations,
period of about twenty years, were brought to a close
in a dramatic and unexpected manner.
The Hittite king

Mutallu had died in battle, or by the hand of an assassin,

and was succeeded by his brother Hattusil II (Khetasar),
who sealed a treaty of peace with the great Rameses.
An Egyptian copy of this interesting document can
still be read on the walls of a Theban
temple, but it is
in
certain
details
which
interest
lacking
present-day hisNo reference, for instance, is made to the bountorians.
daries of the

Egyptian Empire

in

Syria, so

that

it

is

impossible to estimate the degree of success which attended

An interesting light, howthe campaigns of Rameses.

ever, is thrown on the purport of the treaty by a tablet
which has been discovered by Professor Hugo
It is a
Winckler at Boghaz Kfti.
copy of a communiII
to the King of Babylonia,
cation addressed by Hattusil
who had made an enquiry regarding it. " I will inform
" the
King
my brother," wrote the Hittite monarch
of Egypt and 1 have made an alliance, and made ourBrothers we are and will [unite against]
selves brothers.
l
The
a common foe, and with friends in common."
no
than
other
foe
could
have
been
common
Assyria, and

letter

the Hittite king's

letter appears to convey a hint to

of
Kadashman-turgu
Babylon that he should make common cause with Rameses II and Hattusil.
Shalmaneser I of Assyria was pursuing a determined
He struck
policy of western and northern expansion.

boldly at the eastern Hittite States and conquered Malatia,

where he secured great treasure for the god Ashur. He

even founded colonies within the Hittite sphere of

1

Garstang's The Land of the

Hittite^ p. 349.

influ-

CONFLICTS FOR TRADE

367

ence on the borders of Armenia.

Shalmaneser's second
was
the
conducted
campaign
against
portion of ancient
Mitanni which was under Hittite control.
The vassal
a
descendant
of
Tushratta's,
king, Sattuari, apparently
endeavoured to resist the Assyrians with the aid of
Hittites and Aramaeans, but his army of allies was put
to flight.
The victorious Shalmaneser was afterwards
able to penetrate as far westward as Carchemish on the

Euphrates.

Having thus secured the whole of Mitanni, the

Assyrian conqueror attacked the Aramaean hordes which
were keeping the territory round Haran in a continuous
state

of unrest, and forced them to recognize him

as

their overlord.

Shalmaneser thus, it would appear, gained control of

northern Mesopotamia and consequently of the BabyAs a result Hittite
lonian caravan route to Haran.

For a
Babylon.
generation the Hittites had had the Babylonian merchants
at their mercy, and apparently compelled them to pay
prestige

must have suffered decline

in

Winckler has found among the Boghaz

Kfti tablets several letters from the king of Babylon, who
made complaints regarding robberies committed by Amoritic bandits, and
requested that they should be punished
Such a communication is a clear
and kept in control.
indication that he was entitled, in lieu of payment, to
heavy

duties.

have an existing agreement fulfilled.

Shalmaneser found that Asshur, the ancient capital,
was unsuitable for the administration of his extended
empire, so he built a great city at Kalkhi (Nimrud), the
Biblical Calah, which was strategically situated amidst
fertile meadows on the angle of land formed by the

Thither to a
Tigris and the Upper Zab.
he transferred his brilliant Court.

new

palace

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

368

He was succeeded by his son, Tukulti-Ninip I, who

was the most powerful of the Assyrian monarchs of the
Old Empire. He made great conquests in the north and
east, extended and strengthened Assyrian influence in
Mesopotamia, and penetrated into Hittite territory, bringing into subjection no fewer than forty kings, whom he
It was inevitable that
compelled to pay annual tribute.
he should be drawn into conflict with the Babylonian
king, who was plotting with the Hittites against him.
One of the tablet letters found by Winckler at Boghaz Koi
is of
Hattusil advises
special interest in this connection.
the young monarch of Babylonia to " go and plunder the
land of the foe". Apparently he sought to be freed from
the harassing attention of the Assyrian conqueror by
prevailing on his Babylonian royal friend to act as a
"cat's

paw".

It is

uncertain whether or not Kashtiliash II of Baby-

lonia invaded Assyria with purpose to cripple his rival.

At any

war broke out between the two countries, and

Tukulti-Nmip proved irresistible in battle. He marched
into Babylonia, and not only defeated Kashtiliash, but
captured him and carried him off to Asshur, where he
was presented in chains to the god Ashur.
The city of Babylon was captured, its wall was demolished, and many of its inhabitants were put to the
sword.
Tukulti-Ninip was evidently waging a war of
conquest, for he pillaged E-sagila, "the temple of the
high head", and removed the golden statue of the god
Merodach to Assyria, where it remained for about sixteen
He subdued the whole of Babylonia as far south
years.
as the Persian Gulf, and ruled it
through viceroys.
Tukulti-Ninip, however, was not a popular emperor
even in his own country. He offended national susceptibilities by
showing preference for Babylonia, and founding
rate

CONFLICTS FOR TRADE

new

369

which has not been located. There he built a

great palace and a temple for Ashur and his pantheon.
He called the city after himself, Kar-Tukulti-Ninip 1
Seven years after the conquest of Babylonia revolts
broke out against the emperor in Assyria and Babylonia,
and he was murdered in his palace, which had been
besieged and captured by an army headed by his own son,
The Babylonian
Ashur-natsir-pal I, who succeeded him.
nobles meantime drove the Assyrian garrisons from their
cities, and set on the throne the Kassite prince Adadshum-utsur.
Thus in a brief space went to pieces the old Assyrian
Empire, which, at the close of Tukulti-Ninip's thirty
years' reign, embraced the whole Tigro-Euphrates valley
from the borders of Armenia to the Persian Gulf. An
obscure century followed, during which Assyria was raided
by its enemies and broken up into petty States.
The Elamites were not slow to take advantage of the
state of anarchy which prevailed in Babylonia during the
They overran a part of
closing years of Assyrian rule.
ancient Sumer, and captured Nippur, where they slew a
large number of inhabitants and captured many prisoners.
a

city

On

a subsequent occasion they pillaged Isin.

When,
however, the Babylonian king had cleared his country of

the Assyrians, he attacked the Elamites and drove

them

across the frontier.

Nothing

is

known

Ashur-natsir-pal

regarding the reign of the parricide

of Assyria.
He was succeeded by

Ninip-Tukulti-Ashur and Adad-shum-lishir, who either

After a
reigned concurrently or were father and son.
brief period these were displaced by another two rulers,
Ashur-nirari III and Nabu-dan.
It is not clear why Ninip-Tukulti-Ashur was deposed,
1

"

Burgh of Tukulti-Ninip."

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

370

Perhaps he was an

ally

of Adad-shum-utsur, the Baby-

lonian king, and was unpopular on that account.

He

journeyed to Babylon on one occasion, carrying with him

the statue of Merodach, but did not return.
Perhaps he
At any rate Adad-shum-utsur was
fled from the rebels.
asked to send him back, by an Assyrian dignitary who
The king of Babylon
was probably Ashur-nirari III.
refused this request, nor would he give official recognition
to the

new

ruler or rulers.

Soon afterwards another usurper, Bel-kudur-utsur, led

an Assyrian army against the Babylonians, but was slain
in battle.
He was succeeded by Ninip-apil-esharia, who
led his forces back to Asshur, followed by Adad-shumThe city was besieged but not captured by the
utsur.

Babylonian army.
Under Adad-shum-utsur, who reigned for thirty years,
It
Babylonia recovered much of its ancient splendour.
held Elam in check and laid a heavy hand on Assyria,

which had been paralysed by civil war. Once again it

possessed Mesopotamia and controlled its caravan road to
Haran and Phoenicia, and apparently its relations with the
The
Hittites and Syrians were of a cordial character.
next king, Meli-shipak, assumed the Assyrian title " Shar
"
Kishshati ",
king of the world ", and had a prosperous
He was succeeded by Mardukreign of fifteen years.
who
presided over the destinies of Babylonia
aplu-iddin I,
thirteen
for about
years. Thereafter the glory of the Kassite

Dynasty passed away. King Zamama-shum-iddin followed

with a twelvemonth's reign, during which his kingdom
was successfully invaded from the north by the Assyrians
under King Ashur-dan I, and from the east by the
Elamites under a king whose name has not been traced.
Several towns were captured and pillaged, and rich booty
was carried off to Asshur and Susa.

CONFLICTS FOR TRADE

371

Bel-shum-iddin succeeded Zamama-shum-iddin, but

three years afterwards he was deposed by a king of Isin.
So ended the Kassite Dynasty of Babylonia, which had

endured

for a period of 576 years and nine months.

Babylonia was called Karduniash during the Kassite
Dynasty. This name was originally applied to the district

mouths, where the alien rulers appear to have

achieved ascendancy. Apparently they were strongly
supported by the non-Semitic elements in the population,
and represented a popular revolt against the political

at the river
first

supremacy of the

city

of Babylon and

its

god Merodach.

this connection that the early

a preference for Nippur as their

It is significant to find in

showed
and
promoted the worship of Enlil, the elder Bel,
capital
who was probably identified with their own god of fertility
and battle. Their sun god, Sachi, appears to have been
merged in Shamash. In time, however, the kings followed
the example of Hammurabi by exalting Merodach.
The Kassite language added to the "Babel of tongues"
among the common people, but was never used in inAt an early period the alien rulers became
scriptions.
thoroughly Babylonianized, and as they held sway for
nearly six centuries it cannot be assumed that they were
They allowed their mountain homeland, or
unpopular.
earliest area of settlement in the east, to be seized and
governed by Assyria, and probably maintained as slight a
Kassite kings

connection with

it after settlement in
Babylonia as did the
Saxons of England with their Continental area of origin.
Although Babylonia was not so great a world power

under the Kassites as

it

had been during the Hammurabi

prospered greatly as an industrial, agricultural,

and trading country. The Babylonian language was used
throughout western Asia as the language of diplomacy

Dynasty,

it

and commerce, and the

city

of Babylon was the most

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

372

important commercial metropolis of the ancient world.

Its merchants traded
directly and indirectly with far-

which was used

for colouring glass a vivid blue
from China, and may
have occasionally met Chinese traders who came westward
with their caravans, while a brisk trade in marble and
limestone was conducted with and through Elam. Egypt
was the chief source of the gold supply, which was
and in exchange for
obtained from the Nubian mines
distant countries.

They imported

cobalt

Babylonians supplied the Nilotic

merchants with lapis-lazuli from Bactria, enamel, and their
own wonderful coloured glass, which was not unlike the
this precious metal the

The
and horses.
Kassites were great horse breeders, and the battle steeds
from the Babylonian province of Namar were everywhere
in great demand.
They also promoted the cattle trade.
Cattle rearing was confined chiefly to the marshy districts
at the head of the Persian Gulf, and the extensive steppes
on the borders of the Arabian desert, so well known to
Abraham and his ancestors, which provided excellent
later

Venetian,

grazing.

as

well

as

chariots

Agriculture also flourished; as in Egypt

it

con-

of national and commercial prosperity.

evident that great wealth accumulated in Kar-

stituted the basis

It

is

duniash during the Kassite period. When the images of

Merodach and Zerpanitu 01 were taken back to Babylon,
from Assyria, they were clad, as has been recorded, in

garments embroidered with gold and sparkling with gems,

while E-sagila was redecorated on a lavish scale with priceless works of art.
Assyria presented a sharp contrast to Babylonia, the

mother land, from which its culture was derived. As a

separate kingdom it had to develop along different lines.
In fact, it was unable to exist as a world power without
the enforced co-operation of neighbouring States.
Baby-

CONFLICTS FOR TRADE

Ionia,

on the other hand, could have flourished

373
in

com-

Egypt during the Old Kingdom

was able to feed itself and maintain a

parative isolation, like

period, because

it

large population

alluvial plain was

which
extended over
dry season,

so long as
its

its

rich

irrigated during
about eight months in the year.
The region north of Baghdad was of different geographical formation to the southern plain, and therefore
less suitable

and growth of a great indeAssyria embraced a chalk plateau

Mesozoic period, with tertiary deposits, and
for the birth

civilization.

pendent
of the later
had an extremely limited area suitable for agricultural
Its original inhabitants were nomadic pastoral
pursuits.
and hunting tribes, and there appears to be little doubt
that agriculture was introduced along the banks of the
Tigris by colonists from Babylonia, who formed city
States which owed allegiance to the kings of Sumer and

Akkad.
After the

minence
stability

Hammurabi

as a predatory

period Assyria rose into pro-

power, which depended for its

it was able

those productive countries which

upon
and hold

to conquer

in sway.
It never had a numerous
as it had ultimately vanished, for

peasantry, and such

the kings pursued the short-sighted policy of colonizing
districts on the borders of their empire with their loyal
subjects, and settling aliens in the heart of the homeland,

where they were controlled by the military.

In this
manner they built up an artificial empire, which suffered
at

critical

history because it lacked the

sustaining force of a population welded

periods in

great driving and

its

together by immemorial native traditions and the love of

country which is the essence of true patriotism. National

sentiment was chiefly confined to the military aristocracy

priests ; the enslaved and uncultured masses of

and the

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

374
aliens

were concerned mainly with

no doubt included communities,

captivity,

who longed

their daily duties, and

like the Israelites in

to return to their native lands.

Assyria had to maintain a standing army, which grew

alliance of brigands who first enslaved the native
population, and ultimately extended their sway over

from an

neighbouring

The

States.

Assyria powerful.

successes of the

army made

Conquering kings accumulated rich

booty by pillaging alien cities, and grew more and more

wealthy as they were able to impose annual tribute on
those States which came under their sway.
They even
with
avaricious
It was to
regarded Babylonia
eyes.
achieve the conquest of the fertile and prosperous mother
State that the early Assyrian emperors conducted military operations in the north-west and laid hands on

Mesopotamia. There was no surer way of strangling it

than by securing control of its trade routes.
What the
command of the sea is to Great Britain at the present
day, the command of the caravan roads was to ancient
Babylonia.

Babylonia suffered

less

than

Assyria

by defeat

in

natural resources gave it great recuperative

;
powers, and the native population was ever so intensely
patriotic that centuries of alien sway could not obliterate
battle

its

conqueror of Babylon had

The Amorites and Kassites had
in turn to adopt the modes of life and modes of thought
of the native population. Like the Egyptians, the Babylonians ever achieved the intellectual conquest of their

their national aspirations.

to become a Babylonian.

conquerors.

The

Assyrian Empire, on the other hand, collapsed

like a house of cards when its army of mercenaries
The kings, as we have
suffered a succession of disasters.
indicated,

depended on the tribute of subject

States to

pay

CONFLICTS FOR TRADE

their soldiers

and maintain the priesthood

faced with national bankruptcy

fully revolted against them.

when

375
;

they were

their vassals success-

The

history of Assyria as a world power is divided

into three periods: (i) the Old Empire; (2) the Middle

Empire;

We

New

or Last Empire.
have followed the rise and growth of the
(3) the

Empire from the days of Ashur-uballit

when

Old

until the reign of

flourished in great splendour and

suddenly went to pieces. Thereafter, until the second
period of the Old Empire, Assyria comprised but a few

Tukulti-Ninip,

it

which had agricultural resources and were

Of these the most enterprising was
trading centres.
When a ruler of Asshur was able, by conservAsshur.
city

States

ing his revenues, to

command

sufficient capital

with pur-

pose to raise a strong army of mercenaries as a business

speculation, he set forth to build up a new empire on
the ruins of the old.

In

its

early stages, of course, this

It necessitated the
process was slow and difficult.
adoption of a military career by native Assyrians, who officered
the troops, and these troops had to be trained and dis-

ciplined by engaging in brigandage,

them rich rewards for their services.

which

also

brought

Babylonia became

powerful by developing the arts of peace; Assyria became

powerful by developing the science of warfare.

CHAPTER XVI
Race Movements
The Third
Crete

that Shattered

Empires

Achaean Conquest of Greece Fall of

European Settlers in Asia Minor The Muski
Sea Raids on Egypt The Homeric Age Israelites

Semitic Migration

Tribes of Raiders

overthrow the Hittites

and Philistines in Palestine

Nebuchadrezzar I of
Conquests in Mesopotamia
and Syria Assyrians and Babylonians at War Tiglath-pileser I of Assyria
His Sweeping Conquests Muski Power broken Big-game Hunting in
Babylonia

Wars

Culture of Philistines

against Elamites and Hittites

Slaying of a Sea Monster Decline of Assyria and Babylonia

An Important Period in History PhilisRevival of Hittite Civilization

Mesopotamia

Hebrews
Solomon's
Kingdom of David and Saul
Sea Trade with India
Aramaean
Egypt and Phoenicia
The Chaldaeans Egyptian King plunders Judah and Israel
Conquests
Historical Importance of Race Movements.
tines as Overlords of

Relations with

GREAT changes were

taking place in the ancient world

during the period in which Assyria rose into prominence

These were primarily due

to widespread migrations of pastoral peoples from the
steppe lands of Asia and Europe, and the resulting disand suddenly suffered

placement of settled

decline.

tribes.

The

military operations of

the great Powers were also a disturbing factor, for they

not only propelled fresh movements beyond their spheres
of influence, but caused the petty States to combine
against a

common enemy and

foster ambitions to achieve

conquests on a large scale.

Towards the close of the Eighteenth Dynasty of
Egypt, of which Amenhotep III and Akhenaton were
the last great kings, two well-defined migrations were in
876

RACE MOVEMENTS
The Aramaean

progress.

377

folk-waves had already begun to

increasing volume

into Syria from Arabia, and in

the
Europe
pastoral fighting folk from the mountains
were establishing themselves along the south-eastern coast

pour

in

and crossing the Hellespont to overrun the land of the

These race movements were destined to exerHittites.
cise considerable influence in shaping the history of the
ancient world.

The Aramaean,
swamped

or Third Semitic migration, in time

various decaying States,
Despite the successive

of the great Powers to hold it in check, it ultimately submerged the whole of Syria and part of MesoAramaean speech then came into common use
potamia.
efforts

the mingled peoples over a wide area, and was

not displaced until the time of the Fourth Semitic or
Moslem migration from Arabia, which began in the
seventh century of the Christian era, and swept northward

among

through Syria

to Asia

Minor, eastward across Mesopo-

tamia into Persia and India, and westward through Egypt

along the north African coast to Morocco, and then into
Spain.

When

Syria was sustaining the first shocks of Aramaean invasion, the last wave of Achaeans, " the tamers of
horses" and "shepherds of the people ', had achieved the
1

conquest of Greece, and contributed to the overthrow of

Professor Ridgethe dynasty of King Minos of Crete.

way
ward

identifies this stock,

which had been

for several centuries, with the

tall,

filtering

south-

fair-haired,

and

grey-eyed "Keltoi" (Celts), who, Dr. Haddon believes,

were representatives of " the mixed peoples of northern
2
and Alpine descent".

Sergi, holds,

Mr. Hawes, following Professor

on the other hand,

that the Achaeans

" in
1
Article u Celts
Encydopadia Britannica^ eleventh ed.
8 Tke
Wanderings of Peoples, p. 41.

were

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

378

"fair in comparison with the native (Pelasgian- Mediter1

The earliest
ranean) stock, but not necessarily blonde".
Achaeans were rude, uncultured barbarians, but the last

wave came from some unknown

probably used iron

The

as well as

old Cretans were

centre of civilization, and

bronze weapons.

known

to the Egyptians as the

"Keftiu", and traded on the Mediterranean and the

It is significant to find, however, that no
Black Sea.
mention is made of them in the inscriptions of the
In their
Pharaohs after the reign of Amenhotep III.
place appear the

gave

their

identical

name

Shardana, the Mykenaean people who

Danauna, believed to be

to Sardinia, the

with the Danaoi of

Homer,

the Akhaivasha,

perhaps the Achaeans, and the Tursha and Shakalsha, who

may have been of the same stock as the piratical Lycians.

When

Rameses

fought his famous battle at Kadesh

the Hittite king included among his allies the Aramaeans
from Arabia, and other mercenaries like the Dardanui and
II

Masa, who represented the Thraco-Phrygian peoples who

had overrun the Balkans, occupied Thrace and Macedonia,
and crossed into Asia Minor. In time the Hittite confederacy was broken up by the migrating Europeans, and
2
the Moschoi of the
their dominant tribe, the Muski
Greeks and the Meshech of the Old Testament came
The Muski were foreinto conflict with the Assyrians.
runners of the Phrygians, and were probably of allied
stock.

Pharaoh Meneptah, the son of Rameses II, did not

benefit much by the alliance with the Hittites, to whom
he had to send a supply of grain during a time of famine.
He found it necessary, indeed, to invade Syria, where
their influence had declined, and had to beat back from
the Delta region the piratical invaders of the same tribes
1

Crete, th

Forfrunner of Greece^

p.

146.

Pr, Moosh'kcc,

RACE MOVEMENTS

379

in Asia Minor.
In Syria
with
the
who
Israelites,
Meneptah fought
apparently had
his
their
of
Canaan
begun
conquest
during
reign.

as

were securing a footing

Dynasty had come to an end,

Rameses III of Egypt (1198-1167 B.C.) freed his country
from the perils of a great invasion of Europeans by land
and sea. He scattered a fleet on the Delta coast, and
then arrested the progress of a strong force which was
pressing southward through Phoenicia towards the Egyptian frontier.
These events occurred at the beginning of
the Homeric Age, and were followed by the siege of Troy,
Before the Kassite

which, according to the Greeks, began about 1194 B.C.

The land raiders who were thwarted by Rameses III

were the Philistines, a people from Crete. 1 When the

prestige of Egypt suffered decline they overran the coastline of Canaan, and that
country was then called Palestine,
"the land of the Philistines", while the Egyptian overland trade route to Phoenicia became known as " the way
of the Philistines". Their conflicts with the Hebrews
" The
are familiar to readers of the Old Testament.
only
contributions the

Hebrews made

to the culture of the

country", writes Professor Macalister, "were their simple

On the
desert customs and their religious organization.
other hand, the Philistines, sprung from one of the great
homes of art of the ancient world, had brought with them
the artistic instincts of their race: decayed no doubt, but
still

superior to anything they met with in the land itself.

to be ascribed to them, found in Gezer, contained

Tombs

beautiful jewellery and ornaments.

The Philistines, in
were
race
who ever occuthe
artistic
fact,
only cultured or

pied the soil of Palestine, at least until the time when the
influence of classical Greece asserted itself too strongly
1 "
Have I not brought up Israel out of the land of Egypt and the Philistines from
Caphtor (Crete)?" Amos, viii, 7.
27
( c 642 )

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

380

Whatsoever things

to be withstood.

raised life in the

country above the dull animal existence of fellahin were

The peasantry of the modern
due to this people.
.

villages

'Fenish'."

When

tell

still

(Palestine) was

of the great days of old

inhabited

by

the

mighty

race

when

it

of the

Dynasty of Babylonia was extinthe Amorites were being displaced

in Palestine by the Philistines and the Israelitish tribes;
the Aramaeans were extending their conquests in Syria
and Mesopotamia the Muski were the overlords of the
Hittites; Assyrian power was being revived at the beginning of the second period of the Old Empire; and Egypt
was governed by a weakly king, Rameses VIII, a puppet
in the hands of the priesthood, who was unable to protect
the rich tombs of the Eighteenth Dynasty Pharaohs
against the bands of professional robbers who were plunthe Kassite

guished, about

140

B.C.,

dering them.

new dynasty

the Dynasty of Pashe

had arisen at
Its early kings were
the ancient Sumerian city of Ism.

contemporary with some of the last Kassite monarchs,

and they engaged in conflicts with the Elamites, who were
encroaching steadily upon Babylonian territory, and were
ultimately able to seize the province of Namar, famous
for its horses, which was situated to the east of Akkad.
The Assyrians, under Ashur-dan I, were not only reconquering lost territory, but invading Babylonia and carrying
off rich plunder.
Ashur-dan inflicted a crushing defeat

upon the second-last Kassite ruler.

There years later Nebuchadrezzar

I, of the Dynasty
of Pashe, seized the Babylonian throne.
He was the
most powerful and distinguished monarch of his line an
His name
accomplished general and a wise statesman.
1

A Hiitory of CrviliiHition

in Palestine, p. 58.

RACE MOVEMENTS

381

"May the god Nebo protect my boundary".

His first duty was to drive the Elamites from the land,
and win back from them the statue of Merodach which
At first he suffered
they had carried off from E-sagila.
a reverse, but although the season was midsummer, and
signifies:

overpowering, he persisted in his campaign.

Elamites were forced to retreat, and following up
their main force he inflicted upon them a shattering
defeat on the banks of the Ula, a tributary of the Tigris.
heat

the

The

He

Elam and returned with rich booty.

The province of Namar was recovered, and its governor,
then invaded

Merodach, who was Nebuchadrezzar's battle companion, was restored to his family possessions and exempted from taxation. A second raid to Elam resulted
in the
The Kassite
recovery of the statue of Merodach.
and Lullume mountaineers also received attention, and
were taught to respect the power of the new monarch.
Having freed his country from the yoke of the
Elamites, and driven the Assyrians over the frontier,
Nebuchadrezzar came into conflict with the Hittites, who
appear to have overrun Mesopotamia.
Probably the
invaders were operating in conjunction with the Muski,
who were extending their sway over part of northern
Assyria.
They were not content with securing control of
the trade route, but endeavoured also to establish themselves permanently in Babylon, the commercial metropolis,
which they besieged and captured. This happened in the
third year of Nebuchadrezzar, when he was still
reigning
Ritti

at Isin.

Assembling

a strong force, he hastened north-

ward and defeated the

up

his

and apparently followed

was at this time that he

Hittites,
it

victory.
Probably
conquered the "West Land" (the land of the Amorites)
and penetrated to the Mediterranean coast.
Egyptian
power had been long extinguished in that region.

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

382

The

possession of

for Babylonia.

Mesopotamia was

As was

Nebuchadrezzar into

inevitable,

conflict

a signal

however,

some years

it

later

triumph
brought
with the

Assyrian king, Ashur-resh-ishi 1, grandson of Ashur-dan,

and father of the famous Tiglath-pileser I. The northern
monarch had engaged himself in subduing the Lullume
and Akhlami hill tribes in the south-east, whose territory
had been conquered by Nebuchadrezzar. Thereafter he
Nebuchadrezzar drove
crossed the Babylonian frontier.
him back and then laid siege to the border fortress of
Zanki, but the Assyrian king conducted a sudden and
successful reconnaissance in force which rendered perilous
the position of the attacking force.
By setting fire to his
siege train the Babylonian war lord was able, however, to
retreat in

good

Some time

order.

Nebuchadrezzar dispatched another

but
it suffered a serious defeat, and its
army northward,
general, Karashtu, fell into the hands of the enemy,
Nebuchadrezzar reigned less than twenty years, and
later

appears to have secured the allegiance of the nobility by

restoring the feudal system which had been abolished by
He boasted that he was " the sun of his
the Kassites.

who

restored ancient landmarks and boundaries",

and promoted the worship of Ishtar, the ancient goddess

country,

of the people.

By

restoring the image of

Merodach he

secured the support of Babylon, to which city he transferred his Court.

Nebuchadrezzar was succeeded by his son Ellil-nadinapil, who reigned a few years; but little or nothing is
known regarding him.
His grandson, Marduk-nadincame
into
with
conflict
akhe,
Tiglath-pileser I of Assyria,
and suffered serious reverses, from the effects of which
his country did not recover for over a century.
Tiglath-pileser I, in one of his inscriptions, recorded

RACE MOVEMENTS
significantly:

country".

383

"The

When

feet of the enemy I kept from my

he came to the throne, northern Assyria

was menaced by the Muski and their allies, the Hittites

and the Shubari of old Mitanni. The Kashiari hill tribes
to the north of Nineveh, whom Shalmaneser I subdued,
had half a century before thrown off the yoke of Assyria,
and their kings were apparently vassals of the Muski.
Tiglath-pileser first invaded Mitanni, where he routed
a combined force of Shubari hillmen and Hittites. Thereafter a great army of the Muski and their allies pressed
southward with purpose to deal a shattering blow against
The very existence of Assyria as
the Assyrian power.
a separate power was threatened by this movement.
He
Tiglath-pileser, however, was equal to the occasion.
Kashiari
the
the
mountains
and
invaders
among
surprised
inflicted a crushing defeat, slaying about 14,000 and
capturing 6000 prisoners, who were transported to
In fact, he wiped the invading army out of
Asshur.
existence and possessed himself of all its baggage. Thereafter he captured several cities, and extended his empire
beyond the Kashiari hills and into the heart of Mitanni.
His second campaign was also directed towards the
Mitanni district, which had been invaded during his
absence by a force of Hittites, about 4000 strong.
The
invaders submitted to him as soon as he drew near, and
he added them to his standing army.
Subsequent operations towards the north restored the
pre-eminence of Assyria in the Nairi country, on the
shores of Lake Van, in Armenia, where Tiglath-pileser
captured no fewer than twenty-three petty kings. These
he liberated after they had taken the oath of allegiance
and consented to pay annual tribute.
In his fourth year the conqueror learned that the
Aramaeans were crossing the Euphrates and possessing

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

384

themselves of Mitanni, which he had cleared of the

By a series of forced marches he caught them
them in confusion, and entered Carscattered
unawares,
Thereafter his army crossed
chemish, which he pillaged.
Hittites.

the Euphrates in boats of skin, and plundered and destroyed six cities round the base of the mountain of

Bishru.

While operating
in

in this district, Tiglath-pileser

He

recorded:

engaged

"Ten

powerful bull
elephants in the land of Haran and on the banks of the
Khabour I killed four elephants alive I took. Their

big-game hunting.
;

skins, their teeth, with the living elephants, I brought to

1
also claimed to have slain 920
city of Asshur."

He

my

nujnber of wild oxen, apparently includ"

his
of his officers and men.
in
record
the " bags
ing
him
later king credited
with having penetrated to the
Phoenician coast, where he put to sea and slew a sea
lions, as well as a

While at Arvad, the

monster called the "nakhiru".
narrative continues, the King of Egypt, who is not named,
sent him a hippopotamus (pagutu). This story, however,
of doubtful authenticity. About this time the prestige
of Egypt was at so low an ebb that its messengers were
is

subjected to indignities by the Phoenician kings.

The

conquests of Tiglath-pileser once more raised the

Mesopotamia!! question in Babylonia, whose sphere of

Mardukthat region had been invaded.

of
Nebuchadrezzar
the
I, "arrayed
nadin-akhe,
grandson
his chariots" against Tiglath-pileser, and in the first
influence

in

achieved some success, but subsequently he was

The Assyrian army
defeated in the land of Akkad.
afterwards captured several cities, including Babylon and
conflict

Sippar.

Thus once

again the Assyrian

1

Empire came

Pinches' translation.

into being

O
J
O
p
X
O

RACE MOVEMENTS

385

predominant world Power, extending from the land

of the Hittites into the heart of Babylonia.
Its cities
were enriched by the immense quantities of booty captured
by its warrior king, while the coffers of state were glutted
Fortifications were
with the tribute of subject States.
and
were
renewed, temples
built,
great gifts were lavished
on the priesthood. Artists and artisans were kept fully
employed restoring the faded splendours of the Old
Empire, and everywhere thousands of slaves laboured to
make the neglected land prosperous as of old. Canals

as the

were repaired and reopened ; the earthworks and quay

wall of Ashur were strengthened, and its great wall was
entirely rebuilt, faced with a rampart of earth, and pro-

The

tected once again by a deep moat.

enlarged and redecorated.

royal palace was

Meanwhile Babylonia was wasted by civil war and

It was entered more than once
by the Arawho
in
cities
the
several
north
and the
maeans,
pillaged

invasions.

Then

the throne was seized by Adad-aplu-iddina,

the grandson of "a nobody", who reigned for about ten
He was given recognition, however, by the Assyyears.
south.

rian king, Ashur-bel-kala, son of Tiglath-pileser I,

married his daughter, and apparently restored to

Sippar and Babylon

him
handsome dowry.
and was succeeded by

after receiving a

Ashur-bel-kala died without issue,

his brother,

who

Shamshi-Adad.

An

obscure period followed. In Babylonia there were

two weak dynasties in less than half a century, and there-

an Elamite Dynasty which lasted about six years.

Eighth Dynasty ensued, and lasted between fifty and
sixty years. The records of its early kings are exceedingly

after

An

meagre and

their order uncertain.

Nabu-mukin-apli, who was perhaps

During the reign of

the fourth monarch,

the Aramaeans constantly raided the land and hovered

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

386

The names of two or three kings

about Babylon.
succeeded Nabu-mukin-apli are unknown.

who

century and a half after Tiglath-pileser I conquered

the north Syrian possessions of the Hittites, the Old
Assyrian Empire reached the close of

its second and last

had
suffered
period.
gradual decline, under a series
of inert and luxury-loving kings, until it was unable to
withstand the gradual encroachment on every side of the

It

who were

ever ready to revolt when

the authority of Ashur was not asserted at the point of
the sword.

restless

hill

tribes,

North Syria, having

semblance of Assyrian authority,
revived their power, and enjoyed a full century of indeIn Cappadocia their kinsmen
pendence and prosperity.
had freed themselves at an earlier period from the yoke
of the Muski, who had suffered so severely at the hands
After 950

shaken

off

B.C.

the

the Hittites of

last

of Tiglath-pileser I. The Hittite buildings and rock

sculptures of this period testify to the enduring character
of the ancient civilization of the "Hatti".
Until the
can
be
we
must
wait
read, however,
patiently
hieroglyphics
for the detailed story of the pre-Phrygian period, which
was of great historical importance, because the tide of
cultural influence was then flowing at its greatest volume

from the old to the new world, where Greece was emerging in virgin splendour out of the ruins of the ancient
Mykenaean and Cretan civilizations.
It is possible that the
conquest of a considerable part
of Palestine by the Philistines was not unconnected with
the revival of Hittite power in the north.
They may
have moved southward as the allies of the Cilician State
For a period they
which was rising into prominence.
were the overlords of the Hebrews, who had been dis" Promised Land
",
placing the older inhabitants of the

RACE MOVEMENTS

387

and appear to have been armed with weapons of iron. In

fact, as is indicated by a passage in the Book of Samuel,
they had made a "corner" in that metal and restricted its
use

among

their vassals.

"Now",

the Biblical narrative

" there was no smith found

throughout all the
land of Israel; for the Philistines said, Lest the Hebrews
make them swords and spears; but all the Israelites went
sets forth,

down
and

to the Philistines, to sharpen every

his coulter,

and

his axe,

and

his

man

mattock". 1

his share,

"We

are

inclined", says Professor Macalister, "to picture the West

as a thing of yesterday, new fangled with its inventions

and its progressive civilization, and the East as an embodiment of hoary and unchanging traditions. But when
West first met East on the shores of the Holy Land, it
was the former which represented the magnificent traditions of the past, and the latter which looked forward to
the future.
The Philistines were of the remnant of the
dying glories of Crete; the Hebrews had no past to speak
of, but were entering on the heritage they regarded as
2
theirs, by right of a recently ratified divine covenant."
Saul was the leader of a revolt against the Philistines
in northern Palestine, and became the ruler of the
kingdom
of Israel.
Then David, having liberated Judah from the
yoke of the Philistines, succeeded Saul as ruler of Israel,
and selected Jerusalem as his capital. He also conquered
Edom and Moab, but was unsuccessful in his attempt to
The Philistines were then confined
subjugate Ammon.
to a restricted area on the seacoast, where
they fused
with the Semites and ultimately suffered loss of identity.
Under the famous Solomon the united kingdom of the
Hebrews reached its highest splendour and importance

among

the nations.

If the Philistines received the support of the Hittites,

1

/ Samuel,

xiii,

19.

A History of Civilization

in Palestine, p. 54.

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

388
the

Hebrews were strengthened by an

For

alliance

with

period of two and a half centuries no

Egypt.
had
crossed the Delta frontier into Syria.
Egyptian army
The ancient land of the Pharaohs had been overshadowed
meantime by a cloud of anarchy, and piratical and robber
bands settled freely on its coast line. At length a Libyan
a

general named Sheshonk (Shishak) seized the throne

from the Tanite Dynasty. He was the Pharaoh with

whom Solomon "made

affinity",

whom

and from

received the city of Gezer, which an Egyptian

2

Solomon had previously married

captured.
of Sheshonk's.

he

army had

a daughter

Phoenicia was also flourishing.

Freed from Egyptian,

and Assyrian interference. Tyre and Sidon attained to a high degree of power as independent city
States.
During the reigns of David and Solomon, Tyre
was the predominant Phoenician power.
Its
kings, Abibaal and his son Hiram, had become "
Kings of the
and
are
believed
to
have extended their sway
Sidonians",
over part of Cyprus. The relations between the Hebrews
and the Phoenicians were of a cordial character, indeed
the two powers became allies.
Hittite,

And Hiram king of Tyre sent his servants unto Solomon; for
he had heard that they had anointed him king in the room of his
And Solomon sent
father: for Hiram was ever a lover of David.
to

Thou knowgst how

Hiram, saying,

that

David

not build an house unto the narrfe of the Lord His

my

father could

God

for the wars

which were about him on every side, until the Lord put them
under the soles of his feet. But now the Lord my God hath given
me rest on every side, so that there is neither adversary nor evil

And, behold, I purpose to build an house unto the name

my God, as the Lord spake unto David my father,
Thy son, whom I will set upon thy throne in thy room,

occurrent.

of the Lord
saying,

he

shall build

an house unto
l

i Kings,

iii,

my

i.

Now

name.
2

therefore

Ibid., ix, 16.

command

O
h

"

fi

si

RACE MOVEMENTS

389

thou that they hew me cedar trees out of Lebanon; and my servants
be with thy servants: and unto thee will I give hire for thy

shall

servants according to all that thou shalt appoint: for thou knowest
that there is not among us
any that can skill to hew timber like

unto the Sidonians.

And

came

when Hiram

heard the words of Solomon,

and said, Blessed be the Lord this day,
which hath given unto David a wise son over this great people.
And Hiram sent to Solomon, saying, I have considered the
things which thou sentest to me for: and I will do all thy desire
concerning timber of cedar, and concerning timber of fir.
My
servants shall bring them down from Lebanon unto the sea: and I
it

to pass,

that he rejoiced greatly,

will

convey them by sea

unto the place that thou shalt

in floats

appoint me, and will cause them to be dischaiged there, and thou
shalt receive them: and thou shalt accomplish my desire, in giving
food for my household.
So Hiram gave Solomon cedar trees and
fir

trees according to all his desire.

And Solomon
for food

gave Hiram twenty thousand measures of wheat

and twenty measures of pure oil: thus

to his household,

gave Solomon to Hiram year by year. And the Lord gave Solomon
wisdom, as he promised him: and there was peace between Hiram

and Solomon; and they two made

a league together.

Hiram also sent skilled workers to Jerusalem to assist

work of building the temple and Solomon's palace,

in the

" a widow's son of the

including his famous namesake,

(Hebrew) tribe of Naphtali", who, like his father, "a man

of Tyre", had "understanding and cunning to work all
works in brass". 2
Solomon must have cultivated good
for

he had a

Chaldseans,
Persian Gulf which was

"Once

in

three

fleet

relations with the

of trading ships on the

manned by Phoenician sailors.

years", the narrative runs, "came the

navy of Tharshish, bringing gold, and silver, ivory, and

3
apes, and peacocks."
Apparently he traded with India,
the land of peacocks, during the Brahmanical period, when
1

/v/wjjj, v,

1-12.

Ibid., vii,

14

ft

3
scq,

Ibid,, x,

22-3.

390

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

the Sanskrit

name "Samudra", which formerly

the "collected

waters" of the

broadening

signified

Indus, was

1
applied to the Indian Ocean.
The Aramaeans of the Third Semitic migration were
not slow to take advantage of the weakness of Assyria

overran the whole of Syria, and

entered into the possession of Mesopotamia, thus acquir-

and Babylon.

They

ing full control of the trade routes towards the west.

From time to time they ravaged Babylonia from the

Large numbers of them acquired

in
that country, like the Amorites
settlement
permanent
of the Second Semitic migration in the pre-Hammurabi
north to the south.

Age.
In Syria the Aramaeans established several petty States,
and were beginning to grow powerful at Damascus, an
important trading centre, which assumed considerable

importance after the collapse of Assyria's Old

political

Empire.

At
nence
which
land

Chaldaeans came into promiTheir kingdom of Chaldaea (Kaldu,

this period, too, the

in

Babylonia.

signifies Sealand) embraces a wide stretch

at the head of the Persian Gulf between

Elam.

As we have

of the coast
Arabia and

seen, an important dynasty flourished

of Hammurabi.
Although
region
more than one king of Babylon recorded that he had

in

this

extinguished

in

the time

the Sealand Power,

it

continued

to

exist

through the Kassite period. It is possible that this

obscure kingdom embraced diverse ethnic elements, and
that it was controlled in turn by military aristocracies of
all

After the
Sumerians, Elamites, Kassites, and Arabians.
downfall of the Kassites it had become thoroughly
Semitized, perhaps as a result of the Aramaean migration,

which may have found one of

1

Indian

its

Myth and Legend,

outlets
pp. 83-4.

around the head

RACE MOVEMENTS

391

of the Persian Gulf. The ancient Sumerian city of Ur,

which dominated a considerable area of steppe land to the
west of the Euphrates, was included in the Sealand
kingdom, and was consequently referred to in after-time
as "Ur of the Chaldees".
When Solomon reigned over Judah and Israel, Babylonia was broken up into a number of petty States, as in
The feudal revival of Nebuchadearly Sumerian times.
rezzar I had weakened the central power, with the result
that the nominal high kings were less able to resist the
inroads of invaders.
Military aristocracies of Aramaeans,
and
held sway in various parts of the
Chaldaeans
Elamites,
for
and
valley,
supremacy.
struggled

When Assyria began to assert itself again, it laid claim

on Babylonia, ostensibly as the protector of its independence, and the Chaldaeans for a time made common cause
The future, however, lay
with the Elamites against it.
with the Chaldaeans, who, like the Kassites, became the
When Assyria was
liberators of the ancient inhabitants.
finally

extinguished as a world power they revived the

ancient glory of Babylonia, and supplanted the Sumerians

The Chalas the scholars and teachers of Western Asia.
daeans became famous in Syria, and even in Greece,
"the wise men from the east", and were renowned

as
as

astrologers.

The prestige of the Hebrew kingdom suffered sharp

and serious decline after Solomon's death.
Pharaoh
Sheshonk fostered the elements of revolt which ultimately
separated Israel from Judah, and, when a favourable
opportunity arose, invaded Palestine and Syria and reestablished Egypt's suzerainty over part of the area
which had been swayed by Rameses II, replenishing his
exhausted treasury with rich booty and the tribute he
Phoenicia was able, however, to maintain its
imposed.

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

392

independence, but before the Assyrians moved westward

again, Sidon had shaken off the yoke of Tyre and become
an independent State.
It will

be seen from the events outlined

in this chapter
of
the
ancient
world
was affected
the
history
greatly
of
the
folks
from the
by
periodic migrations
pastoral

how

These human tides were irresistible. The

steppe lands.
direction of their flow might be diverted for a time, but
they ultimately overcame every obstacle by sheer perGreat emperors in
sistency and overpowering volume.
Assyria and Egypt endeavoured to protect their countries

from the "Bedouin peril" by strengthening their frontiers

and extending their spheres of influence, but the dammed-

up

floods of

humanity only gathered strength in the

which might be postponed but

interval for the struggle

could not be averted.

These migrations, as has been indicated, were due to

natural causes.
They were propelled by climatic changes
which caused a shortage of the food supply, and by the
rapid increase of population under peaceful conditions.
Once a migration began to flow, it set in motion many
currents and cross currents, but all these converged
towards the districts which offered the most attractions
to mankind.
Prosperous and well-governed States were
ever in peril of invasion by barbarous peoples.

The

fruits

of civilization tempted them; the reward of conquest

was quickly obtained in Babylon and Egypt with their
Waste land was
flourishing farms and prosperous cities.
reclaimed then as now by colonists from centres of civilization; the migrating pastoral folks lacked the initiative
and experience necessary to establish new communities in

undeveloped districts. Highly civilized men sowed the

harvest and the barbarians reaped it.
It

must not be concluded, however,

that the migra-

RACE MOVEMENTS
tions

were

393

historical disasters, or that they retarded the

In time the
general advancement of the human race.
barbarians became civilized and fused with the peoples
whom they conquered. They introduced, too, into communities which had grown stagnant and weakly, a fresh
and invigorating atmosphere that acted as a stimulant in

every sphere of

human

activity.

The

Kassite,

for

in-

was a unifying and therefore a strengthening influence in Babylonia.

He shook oflf the manacles of the
which
bound
the
Sumerian and the Akkadian alike
past

stance,

to traditional lines of policy based

rivalries.

His concern was

on unforgotten ancient

chiefly with the future.

The

nomads with

their experience of desert wandering promoted

the
and
revival of trade inaugurated new eras of
trade,
in
ancient
centres of culture, and brought them
prosperity
into closer touch than ever before with one another. The
rise of Greece was due to the
blending of the Achaeans
and other pastoral fighting folks with the indigenous

Pelasgians.

Into

the early

States

which fostered the

elements of ancient Mykenaean civilization, poured the

cultural influences of the East through Asia Minor and
Phoenicia and from the Egyptian coast.
The conquerors
from the steppes meanwhile contributed their genius for
organization, their simple and frugal habits of life, and
their sterling virtues ; they left a deep
impress on the

moral, physical, and intellectual

life

of Greece.

CHAPTER
The Hebrews

in

XVII

Assyrian History

The
The Syro-Cappadocian Hittites
Power
Damascus Reign of Terror in Mesopotamia Barbarities
of Ashur-natsir-pal III
Babylonia and Chald&a subdued Glimpse of the
Kalkhi Valley The Hebrew Kingdoms of Judah and Israel Rival Monarchs
and their Wars How Judah became subject to Damascus Ahab and the
Revival

Aramaean

of Assyrian

State of

Persecution of Elijah and other Prophets Israelites fight

Shalmancser as Overlord of Babylonia Revolts of Jehu in
Israel and Ha/ael in Damascus
Shalmaneser defeats Hazael
Jehu sends
Tribute to Shalmaneser Baal Worship Supplanted by Golden Calf Worship
in Israel
Queen Athaliah of Judah Crowning of the Boy King Joash
Damascus supreme in Syria and Palestine Civil War in Assyria Triumphs
of Shamshi-Adad VII
Babylonia becomes an Assyrian Province.

Phoenician Jezebel

against Assyrians

IN one of the Scottish versions of the Seven Sleepers

legend a shepherd enters a cave, in which the great heroes
of other days lie wrapped in magic slumber, and blows

two

on the horn which hangs suspended from the

sleepers open their eyes and raise themselves
on their elbows. Then the shepherd hears a warning
voice which comes and goes like the wind, saying: "If
the horn is blown once again, the world will be upset
Terrified by the Voice and the ferocious
altogether".
appearance of the heroes, the shepherd retreats hurriedly,
locking the door behind him; he casts the key into the
The story proceeds: "If anyone should find the
sea.
key and open the door, and blow but a single blast on
the horn, Finn and all the Feans would come forth. And
1
that would be a great day in Alban."
roof.

blasts

The

Finn and His Warrior Band, pp. 245

304

et

seq.

(London, 1911).

HEBREWS

HISTORY

IN ASSYRIAN

395

After the lapse of an obscure century the national

heroes of Assyria were awakened as if from sleep by the
repeated blasts from the horn of the triumphant thunder

god amidst the northern and western mountains Adad

or Rimmon of Syria, Teshup of Armenia, Tarku of the
The great kings who came forth to
western Hittites.
"upset the world
pal,

"

bore the familiar names, Ashur-natsir-

Shalmaneser, Shamash-Adad, Ashur-dan, Adad-nirari,

They revived and increased the ancient

and Ashur-nirari.

Middle Empire period.

grown once again
like Subbino
leader
but
and
great
prosperous,
powerful

glory of Assyria during

its

The Syro-Cappadocian

Hittites had

luliuma arose to weld the various States into an Empire,

so as to ensure the protection of the mingled peoples

from the operations of the aggressive and ambitious

One kingdom had its capital at
war-lords of Assyria.
Hamath and another at Carchemish on the Euphrates.

The kingdom of Tabal

flourished in Cilicia (Khilakku);

included several city States like Tarsus, Tiana, and
Comana (Kammanu). Farther west was the dominion
it

of the Thraco-Phrygian Muski. The tribes round the

Lake Van had asserted themselves and extended
their sphere of influence.
The State of Urartu was of
growing importance, and the Nairi tribes had spread
round the south-eastern shores of Lake Van. The
northern frontier of Assyria was continually menaced by
groups of independent hill States which would have been
irresistible had they operated together against a common
enemy, but were liable to be extinguished when attacked
shores of

in detail.

number of Aramaean kingdoms had come into

Mesopotamia and throughout Syria. The

existence in

most
the

influential

king
(C64ti)

of these was the

of which was

the

of Damascus,
of
the Hebrew
overlord
State

28

396

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

kingdoms of Israel and Judah when Ashur-natsir-pal III

ascended the Assyrian throne about 885 B.C.
Groups of
the Aramaeans had acquired a high degree of culture and

become

traders

and

artisans.

Large numbers had

filtered,

as well, not only into Babylonia but also Assyria and the
north Syrian area of Hittite control.
Accustomed for

generations to desert warfare, they were fearless warriors.

Their armies had great mobility, being composed mostly
of mounted infantry, and were not easily overpowered by
the Assyrian forces of footmen and charioteers.
Indeed,
it was
not until cavalry was included in the standingarmy of Assyria that operations against the Aramaeans

were attended with permanent success.

1
Ashur-natsir-pal III was preceded by two vigorous
Assyrian rulers, Adad nirari III (911-890 B.C.) and
Tukulti-Ninip II (890-885 B.C.). The former had raided
North Syria and apparently penetrated as far as the
In consequence he came into conMediterranean coast.
flict with
Babylonia, but he ultimately formed an alliance
with that kingdom. His son, Tukulti-Ninip, operated in
southern Mesopotamia, and apparently captured Sippar.
In the north he had to drive back invading bands of
the Muski.
Although, like his father, he carried out
at Asshur, he
works
appears to have transferred his
great
Court to Nineveh, a sure indication that Assyria was once
again becoming powerful in northern Mesopotamia and
the regions towards Armenia.
Ashur-natsir-pal III, son of Tukulti-Ninip II, inaugurated a veritable reign of terror in Mesopotamia and

His methods of dealing with revolting

northern Syria.
Chiefs were
tribes were of a most savage character.
skinned

alive,

fighting -men

and when he sacked their cities, not only

but women and children were either
1

Also rendered Ashur-na'sir-pal.

Photo. Mansell

STATUE OF ASHUR-NATSIR-PAL, WITH INSCRIPTIONS

From S.tf. Palace of Nimroud : noiu

in British

Museum

HEBREWS

IN ASSYRIAN HISTORY

397

It is not
slaughtered or burned at the stake.
surprising
on more than one occasion, the

to find therefore that,

kings of petty States

made submission

to

him without

resistance as soon as he invaded their domains.

In his first year he overran the mountainous district

between Lake Van and the upper sources of the Tigris.
Bubu, the rebel son of the governor of Nishtun, who had
been taken prisoner, was transported to Arbela, where he
was skinned alive.
Like his father, Ashur-natsir - pal
fought against the Muski, whose power was declining.
Then he turned southward from the borders of Asia
Minor and dealt with a rebellion in northern Meso-

potamia.

An

Aramaean pretender named Akhiababa had estabSuru in the region to the east of the
Euphrates, enclosed by its tributaries the Khabar and the
He had come from the neighbouring Aramaean
Balikh.
State of Bit-Adini, and was preparing, it would appear,
to form a powerful confederacy against the Assyrians.

lished himself at

When

Ashur-natsir-pal approached Suru, a part of its

He entered the city, seized
population welcomed him.
the pretender and

many of

These he disSome were skinned

his followers.

posed of with characteristic barbarity.

and some impaled on stakes, while others were
enclosed in a pillar which the king had erected to remind
the Aramaeans of his determination to brook no opposition.
Akhiababa the pretender was sent to Nineveh with
a few supporters; and when they had been flayed their
skins were nailed upon the city walls.
Another revolt broke out in the Kirkhi district between the upper reaches of the Tigris and the southalive

western shores of Lake Van.

It

was promoted by the

Nairi tribes, and even supported by some Assyrian officials.

Terrible reprisals were meted out to the rebels.

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

398

When
3000

the city of Kinabu was captured, no fewer than

prisoners were burned alive, the unfaithful governor

being flayed.

The

Then Tela was

attacked.

city

of the operations runs

it.

of

Damdamusa was

Ashur-natsir-pars

on

set

own

fire.

account

as follows:

The city (of Tello) was

The inhabitants trusted

very strong

three walls surrounded

to their strong walls

down or embrace

and numerous

soldiers; they did not come

my feet. With
battle and slaughter I assaulted and took the city.
Three thousand
warriors I slew in battle.
Their booty and possessions, cattle,

sheep, I carried away; many captives I burned with fire.

Many
of their soldiers I took alive; of some I cut off* hands and limbs;
of others the noses, ears, and arms; of many soldiers I put out the
I reared a column of the living and a column of heads.
I
on
hung
high their heads on trees in the vicinity of their city.
Their boys and girls I burned up in flames. I devastated the city,
1
dug it up, in fire burned it; I annihilated it.

eyes.

The
kings to

Assyrian war-lord afterwards forced several Nairi

acknowledge him

He

as their overlord.

was

so greatly feared by the Syro-Cappadocian Hittites that

when he approached their territory they sent him tribute,

yielding without a struggle.

For several years the great conqueror engaged himself
in thus subduing rebellious tribes and extending his terri-

His military headquarters were at Kalkhi, to which

the
Court had been transferred. Thither he drafted
city
thousands of prisoners, the great majority of whom he
tory.

Assyrian colonies
incorporated in the Assyrian army.
were established in various districts for strategical purposes, and officials supplanted the petty kings in certain of
the northern city States.

The Aramaeans of Mesopotamia gave much

to Ashur-natsir-pal.
1

Although he had

A History of the Babylonians and Assyrians,

G.

S,

laid a

trouble

heavy hand

Goodspeed,

p.

197.

HEBREWS

HISTORY

IN ASSYRIAN

399

on Sum, the southern tribes, the Sukhi, stirred up revolts

Mesopotamia as the allies of the Babylonians. On one

in

occasion Ashur-natsir-pal swept southward through this

region, and attacked a combined force of Sukhi Aramaeans

The Babylonians were commanded by

of
brother
Zabdanu,
Nabu-aplu-iddin, king of Babylonia,
who was evidently anxious to regain control of the western
and Babylonians.

The Assyrian war-lord, however, proved to

He achieved so complete a
be too powerful a rival.
victory that he captured the Babylonian general and 3000
of his followers. The people of Kashshi (Babylonia) and
trade route.

Kaldu (Chaldaea) were "stricken with

agree to

pay increased

terror'',

and had to

tribute.

reigned for about a quarter of a

his
but
wars
occupied less than half of that
century,
accumulated
period.
great booty, he engaged
Having
himself, as soon as peace was secured throughout his
Ashur-natsir-pal

empire, in rebuilding the city of Kalkhi, where he erected

He

a great palace and made records of his achievements.

also extended and redecorated the royal palace at Nineveh,

and devoted much attention to the temples.

The
Tribute poured in from the subject States.
mountain and valley tribes in the north furnished in
abundance wine and corn, sheep and cattle and horses,
and from the Aramaeans of Mesopotamia and the SyroCappadocian Hittites came much silver and gold, copper
and lead, jewels and ivory, as well as richly decorated
Artists and artisans
furniture, armour and weapons.
were also provided by the vassals of Assyria. There are
traces

of Phoenician influence

Ashur-natsir-paPs

in the art

great palace at

of this period.

Kalkhi was excavated

by Layard, who has given a vivid description of the verdant

plain on which the ancient city was situated, as it appeared
ih

spring.

"Its pasture lands,

known

as the

jaif', are

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

4 oo

renowned
herbage.

" for their rich and luxuriant

wrote,
In times of quiet, the studs of the Pasha and

",

he

of the Turkish authorities, with the horses of the cavalry

and of the inhabitants of Mosul, are sent here to graze.

Flowers of every hue enamelled the meadows; not

thinly scattered over the grass as in northern climes, but
in such thick and gathering clusters that the whole plain
.

seemed a patchwork of many colours. The dogs, as they

returned from hunting, issued from the long grass dyed
red, yellow, or blue, according to the flowers through
which they had
after the labour

last

forced their way. ... In the evening,

I often sat at the door of
my

of the day,

myself up to the full enjoyment of that calm

and repose which are imparted to the senses by such
scenes as these. ... As the sun went down behind the
low hills which separate the river from the desert even
their rocky sides had struggled to emulate the verdant
its
receding rays were gradually
clothing of the plain
like
a
withdrawn,
transparent veil of light from the landOver the pure cloudless sky was the glow of the
scape.
In the distance and beyond the Zab, Keshaf,
last light.
tent, giving

another venerable ruin, rose indistinctly into the evening

mist.

Still

more

distant,

and

still

more

indistinct,

was

The
overlooking the ancient city of Arbela.
solitary
Kurdish mountains, whose snowy summits cherished the
hill

The
dying sunbeams, yet struggled with the twilight.
of
and
at
first faint, became
of
cattle,
lowing
sheep
bleating
louder as the flocks returned from their pastures and
wandered amongst the tents.
Girls hurried over the
or crouched down
seek
their
fathers'
to
cattle,
greensward
to milk those which had returned alone to their wellSome were coming rrom the river
remembered folds.
the
replenished pitcher on their heads or shoulders;
bearing
no
less
others,
graceful in their form, and erect in their

HEBREWS

IN ASSYRIAN

HISTORY

401

were carrying the heavy loads of long grass which

1
cut in the meadows/'
had
they
Across the meadows so beautiful in March the great
armies of Ashur-natsir-pal returned with the booty of
horses and cattle and sheep, bales of
great campaigns
embroidered cloth, ivory and jewels, silver and gold, the
products of many countries; while thousands of prisoners
were assembled there to rear stately buildings which ulti-

carriage,

and were buried by drifting sands.

Layard excavated the emperor's palace and dispatched
to London, among other treasures of antiquity, the sublime
winged human-headed lions which guarded the entrance,
and many bas reliefs.
The Assyrian sculptures of this period lack the technical skill, the delicacy and imagination of Sumerian and
Akkadian art, but they are full of energy, dignified and
massive, and strong and lifelike.
They reflect the spirit
of Assyria's greatness, which, however, had a materialistic
basis.
Assyrian art found expression in delineating the
outward form rather than in striving to create a " thing
of beauty" which is "a joy for ever".
When Ashur-natsir-pal died, he was succeeded by his
son Shalmaneser 111 (860-825 B.C.), whose military activities extended over his whole
No fewer than thirtyreign.
two expeditions were recorded on his famous black obelisk.
As Shalmaneser was the first Assyrian king who came
into direct touch with the Hebrews, it will be of interest
here to review the history of the divided
kingdoms of
Israel and Judah, as recorded in the Bible, because of the
light it throws on international politics and the situation
which confronted Shalmaneser in Mesopotamia and Syria
fell

mately

into decay

in the early part

of his reign.

After Solomon died, the kingdom of his son

1

Discoveries at Nine<ueh> Sir

Rehoboam

A. H. Layard (London, 1856), pp. 55, 56.

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

402
was

to Judah, Benjamin, Moab, and Edom.

" ten tribes " of Israel had revolted and were ruled

restricted

The

over by Jeroboam, whose capital was at Tirzah. 1 "There

were wars between Rehoboam and Jeroboam continually." 2

The

religious

organization

which

had united

Hebrews under David and Solomon was thus broken

the
up.

Jeroboam established the religion of the Canaanites and

made a gods and molten images". He was condemned
by the prophet Ahijah, who declared,
"The Lord shall smite Israel, as a reed is shaken in the
water; and he shall root up Israel out of this good land,
which he gave to their fathers, and shall scatter them
beyond the river, because they have made their groves,
for

his

idolatry

provoking the Lord to anger. And he shall give Israel

up because of the sins of Jeroboam, who did sin, and

who made

Israel to sin."

In Judah

Rehoboam

similarly

"did

evil in the sight

of the Lord"; his subjects "also built them high places

and images and groves, on every high hill, and under
After the raid of the Egyptian
every green tree ".*

Pharaoh Shishak (Sheshonk) Rehoboam repented, how"And when he humbled himself, the wrath of the
ever.
Lord turned from him, that he would not destroy him
5
altogether: and also in Judah things went well."
Rehoboam was succeeded by his son Abijah, who shattered the power of Jeroboam, defeating that monarch in
battle after he was surrounded as Rameses II had been
" The children of Israel fled before
by the Hittite army.
Judah and God delivered them into their hand. And
Abijah and his people slew them with a great slaughter:
so there fell down slain in Israel five hundred thousand
:

" Thou

Song, vi, 4.

*/ Kings,

art

beautiful,

-2
xiv, 1-20.

O my

Chronicle^

love, as Tirzah,
xii,

comely

a*

Jerusalem."

Solomon's

15.

Ibid.,

21-3.

Chronicles, xii, I-I2.

HEBREWS
chosen men.

under

Thus

at that time,

HISTORY

IN ASSYRIAN

403

the children of Israel were brought

and the children of Judah prevailed,

because they relied upon the Lord

God

of their fathers.

And

Abijah pursued after Jeroboam, and took cities from

Bethel
with the towns thereof, and Jeshanah with the
him,
towns thereof, and Ephraim with the towns thereof.

Neither did Jeroboam recover strength again in the days

of Abijah, and the Lord struck him and he died." 1
Ere Jeroboam died, however, " Abijah slept with his
and
fathers, and they buried him in the city of David
:

Asa

his

son reigned in his stead.

In his days the land

was quiet ten years. And Asa did that which was good
and right in the eyes of the Lord his God. For he took
away the altars of the strange gods, and the high places,
and brake down the images, and cut down the groves.
And commanded Judah to seek the Lord God of their
Also
fathers and to do the law and the commandment.
he took away out of all the cities of Judah the high places
and the images and the kingdom was quiet before him.
And he built fenced cities in Judah for the land had
rest, and he had no war in those years; because the Lord
had given him rest/' 2
Jeroboam died in the second year of Asa's reign, and
was succeeded by his son Nadab, who " did evil in the
sight of the Lord, and walked in the way of his father,
and in his sin wherewith he made Israel to sin ". 3 Nadab
waged war against the Philistines, and was besieging Gibbethon when Baasha revolted and slew him. Thus ended
the First Dynasty of the Kingdom of Israel.
Baasha was declared king, and proceeded to operate
against Judah.
Having successfully waged war against
Asa, he proceeded to fortify Ramah, a few miles to the
:

Chronicles, xiii, 1-20.

3

/ Kings, xv, 25-6.

Ibid., xiv,

1-6.

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

4o 4

north of Jerusalem, " that he might not suffer any to go

out or come in to Asa king of Judah". 1
Now Israel was at this time one of the allies of the

powerful Aramaean State of Damascus, which had resisted

the advance of the Assyrian armies during the reign of
Ashur-natsir-pal I, and apparently supported the rebellions
of the northern Mesopotamia!! kings. Judah was nominally subject to Egypt, which, however, was weakened
by internal troubles, and therefore unable either to assert
its

authority in Judah or help

of the

its

king to

resist the

advance

Israelites.

In the hour of peril Judah sought the aid of the king

" Asa took all the silver and the
of Damascus.
gold that

were

left in

the treasures of the house of the Lord, and

the treasures of the king's house, and delivered them into

the hand of his servants: and King Asa sent them to

Ben-hadad, the son of Tabrimon, the son of Hezion,

king of Syria, that dwelt at Damascus, saying, There is
a league between me and thee, and between my father

and thy

father

behold, I have sent unto thee a present

come and break thy league with Baasha

of silver and gold

king of Israel, that he

2
may depart from me".

Ben-hadad accepted the invitation readily. He waged

war against Israel, and Baasha was compelled to abandon
the building of the fortifications at Ramah. " Then king
Asa made a proclamation throughout all Judah none was
exempted and they took away the stones of Ramah, and
and
the timber thereof, wherewith Baasha had builded
3
king Asa built with them Geba of Benjamin, and Mizpah."
Judah and Israel thus became subject to Damascus,
and had to recognize the king of that city as arbiter in
;

all

their disputes.

After
1

twenty-four years, Baasha of

reigning about

/ Kings, xv, 16-7.

Ibid.)

18-9.

HEBREWS

HISTORY

IN ASSYRIAN

405

and was succeeded by his son

"in the twenty and sixth
Elah,
He had ruled a little over a year when he
year of Asa ".
was murdered by " his servant Zimri, captain of half his
chariots ", while he was "drinking himself drunk in the
house of Arza steward of his house in Tirzah". 1 Thus
ended the Second Dynasty of the Kingdom of Israel.
He reigned only
Zimri's revolt was shortlived.
"
" seven
The
Tirzah
".
in
encamped
army was
days
to
the
Philistines.
which
Gibbethon,
belonged
against
And the people that were encamped heard say, Zimri hath
wherefore all
conspired and hath also slain the king
Israel made Omri, the captain of the host, king over
Israel that day in the camp.
And Omri went up from
Gibbethon and all Israel with him, and they besieged
Tirzah.
And it came to pass when Zimri saw that the
was
taken, that he went into the palace of the king's
city
and
burnt the king's house over him with fire, and
house,
Israel died

in

886

who came

B.C.

to the throne

died."

Omri's claim to the throne was disputed by a rival

" But the
Tibni.
that followed Omri

named

people

prevailed against the people that followed Tibni, son of

Ginath so Tibni died, and Omri reigned." 3
Omri was the builder of Samaria, whither his Court
:

was transferred from Tirzah towards the close of his

six years reign.
He was followed by his son Ahab, who
ascended the throne "in the thirty and eighth year of Asa
And Ahab
did evil in the
king of Judah
So
sight of the Lord above all that were before him."
notorious indeed were father and son that the prophet
Micah declared to the backsliders of his day, " For the
statutes of Omri are kept, and all the works of the house
of Ahab, and ye walk in their counsel that 1 should
.

/ Kings, xvi, 9-10.

/;</.,

15-8,

3 IbiJ.
9

21-2.

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

406

make

thee a desolation, and the inhabitants thereof an

therefore ye shall bear the reproach of my
hissing
:

people 'V

Ahab was
vassal of

evidently an ally of Sidon as well as a

Damascus, for he married the notorious princess

He
Jezebel, the daughter of the king of that city State.
also became a worshipper of the Phoenician god Baal, to
whom

a temple

had been erected

made

a grove;

and Ahab did more

in

Samaria.

"And Ahab

provoke the Lord

the kings of Israel that

God

to

of Israel to anger than all

were before him." 2 Obadiah, who "feared the Lord
greatly", was the governor of Ahab's house, but the
outspoken prophet Elijah, whose arch enemy was the
notorious Queen Jezebel, was an outcast like the hundred
3
prophets concealed by Obadiah in two mountain caves.
Ahab became so powerful a king that Ben-hadad II
of Damascus picked a quarrel with him, and marched
It was on this occasion that Ahab sent
against Samaria.
" Let not him that
the famous message to Ben-hadad
girdeth on his harness (armour) boast himself as he
that putteth it off".
The Israelites issued forth from
"And Israel
Samaria and scattered the attacking force.
pursued them: and Ben-hadad the king of Syria escaped
on a horse with the horseman. And the king of Israel
:

went
the

out,

and smote the horses and

Syrians with

made
owed

to

and slew
Ben-hadad was

chariots,

great slaughter."
believe afterwards by his counsellors that he

his defeat to the fact that the

gods of

Israel

were

therefore they are stronger than we".

" Let us
fight against them in the plain,
In the
and surely we shall be stronger than they".
Israelites
the
Ben-hadad
following year
fought against

"gods of the
They added

hills;

vi, 16.
8

/ K'ngs y xvi, 29-33.

lbidt> xviii, 1-4.

HEBREWS
at

IN ASSYRIAN HISTORY

Aphek, but was again defeated.

"

necessary to

make " a covenant

He

407

then found

it

with Ahab. 1

Shalmaneser III of Assyria was engaged

in military operations against the Aramaean Syrians. Two
the power of Akhuni,
years previously he had broken
In 854

B.C.

king of Bit-Adini in northern Mesopotamia, the leader

of a strong confederacy of petty States. Thereafter the
Assyrian monarch turned towards the south-west and
attacked the Hittite State of
State of

Damascus.

The

against
attempted to thwart

the Aramaean

various rival kingdoms of Syria

him, and

united

Hamath and

an

army of 70,000

allies

Qarqar on the
progress
Orontes.
Although Shalmaneser claimed a victory on
this occasion, it was of no great advantage to him, for he
was unable to follow it up. Among the Syrian allies
were Bir-idri (Ben-hadad II) of Damascus, and Ahab of
Israel

Akhabbu of

his

at

the land of the Sir'ilites").

The

had a force of 10,000 men under his command.

Four years after Ahab began to reign, Asa died at
Jerusalem and his son Jehoshaphat was proclaimed king
of Judah.
"And he walked in all the ways of Asa his
father
he turned not aside from it, doing that which
was right in the eyes of the Lord nevertheless the high
for the people offered and
places were not taken away
latter

burnt incense yet in the high places/' 2

There is no record of any wars between Israel and
Judah during this period, but it is evident that the two

kingdoms had been drawn together and

that Israel

was

the predominating power.

Jehoshaphat "joined affinity

with Ahab", and some years afterwards visited Samaria,

where he was hospitably entertained. 3 The two monarchs

plotted together.
Apparently Israel and Judah desired
1

/ Kings, xx.
8
2 Chronicles^

Ibid.) xxii, 43.

xviii,

1-2.

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

4 o8

throw off the yoke of Damascus, which was being kept

It is recorded in
constantly on the defence by Assyria.
the Bible that they joined forces and set out on an
expedition to attack Ramoth in Gilead, which Israel
claimed, and take it "out of the hand of the king of
In the battle which ensued (in 853 B.C.) Ahab
Syria ".*
was mortally wounded, "and about the time of the sun
He was succeeded by his son
going down he died".
who
Ahaziah,
acknowledged the suzerainty of Damascus.
After a reign of two years Ahaziah was succeeded by
to

Joram.

Jehoshaphat did not again come into conflict with

Damascus. He devoted himself to the development of
his kingdom, and attempted to revive the sea trade on
the Persian gulf which had flourished under Solomon.
" He made
ships of Tharshish to go to Ophir for gold ;
but they went not for the ships were broken (wrecked)
Ahaziah offered him sailors probably
at Ezion-geber."
;

but they were refused. 2 Apparently Jehoshaphat had close trading relations with the Chaldaeans, who
were encroaching on the territory of the king of Babylon,
Phoenicians

and menacing the power of that monarch. Jehoram

succeeded Jehoshaphat and reigned eight years.
After repulsing the Syrian allies at Qarqar on the
Orontes in 854 B.C., Shalmaneser III of Assyria found
Soon after he came to
it
necessary to invade Babylonia.
the throne he had formed an alliance with Nabu-apluiddin of that kingdom, and was thus able to operate in
the north-west without fear of complications with the
of Mesopotamia. When Nabu-aplu-iddin
two sons Marduk-zakir-shum and Marduk-belThe former, the
usate were rivals for the throne.
for
to
Shalmaneser, and that
help
rightful heir, appealed
rival claimant

died, his

*/ Kings,

xxii

and 2 Chronicles,

xviii.

/ King*,

xxii,

48-9.

HEBREWS
monarch

at

IN ASSYRIAN

once hastened to assert

southern kingdom.

In 851

B.C.

HISTORY

his

409

authority in the

Marduk-bel-usate,

who

was supported by an Aramaean army, was defeated and

put to death.

Marduk-zakir-shum afterwards reigned over Babylonia as the vassal of Assyria, and Shalmaneser, his overlord, made offerings to the gods at Babylon, Borsippa,

and Cuthah. The Chaldaeans were afterwards subdued,

and compelled to pay annual tribute.
In the following year Shalmaneser had to lead an expedition into northern Mesopotamia and suppress a fresh
revolt

in

But the western allies

and in 846 B.C. he found

that troubled region.

soon gathered strength again,

it
necessary to return with a great army, but was not
successful in achieving any permanent success, although
he put his enemies to flight.
The various western king-

doms, including Damascus, Israel, and Tyre and Sidon,

remained unconquered, and continued to conspire against
him.

The

power of the Syrian allies, however, was

weakened
by internal revolts, which may
being greatly
have been stirred up by Assyrian emissaries. Edom
threw off the yoke of Judah and became independent.
resisting

Jehoram, who had married Athaliah, a royal princess of

His son Ahaziah, who succeeded him,
Israel, was dead.
with
his cousin and overlord, King Joram
forces
joined
of Israel, to assist him in capturing Ramoth-gilead from
the king of Damascus.
Joram took possession of the
was wounded, and returned to Jezreel to be
city, but
1
healed.
He was the last king of the Omri Dynasty of

The prophet Elisha sent a messenger to Jehu,

a military leader, who was at Ramoth-gilead, with a box
of oil and the ominous message, " Thus saith the Lord,
Israel.

/ Kings,

viii.

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

4 io

have anointed thee king over

smite the house of

the blood of

And

Israel.

thou

shalt

Ahab thy

master, that I may avenge

servants the prophets, and the blood

my

the servants of the Lord, at the hand of Jezebel

And the dogs shall eat Jezebel in the portion of
Jezreel, and there shall be none to bury her/'

of
.

all
.

"
Jehu
conspired against Joram ", and then, accom" rode in a chariot and went to
panied by an escort,
Jezreel", so that he might be the first to announce the
revolt to the king whom he was to depose.
The watchman on the tower of Jezreel saw Jehu and
his company approaching and informed Joram, who twice
sent out a messenger to enquire, "Is it peace ?" Neither
messenger returned, and the watchman informed the
wounded monarch of Israel, " He came even unto them,
and the driving is like the
and cometh not again
for he driveth
driving of Jehu the son of Nimshi
;

furiously".

King Joram went out himself

to

meet the famous

charioteer, but turned to flee when he discovered that

he came as an enemy.
Then Jehu drew his bow and

Ahaziah endeavoured to
conceal himself in Samaria, but was slain also.
Jezebel
was thrown down from a window of the royal harem and
trodden under foot by the horsemen of Jehu; her body
was devoured by dogs. 1
shot

Joram through the

heart.

king against whom Joram fought at

was
Hazael.
He had murdered BenRamoth-gilead
hadad II as he lay on a bed of sickness by smothering
him with a thick cloth soaked in water. Then he had
himself proclaimed the ruler of the Aramaean State of
The prophet Elisha had previously wept
Damascus.
" I know the evil that thou wilt do
before him, saying,

The

Syrian

3 Kings,

ix

and t Chronicles,

xxii.

DETAILS FROM SECOND SIDK OF HLACR OBELISK OF

SHALMAXKSKR
(i)

III

Tribute bearers of Jehu, Kinj,r of Israel.

(2) Tributary Animals.
(3) Tribute bearers \\ith shawls ami bags
(British

Museum]

HEBREWS

ASSYRIAN HISTORY

IN

411

unto the children of Israel; their strongholds wilt thou

set on fire, and their young men wilt thou slay with the
sword, and wilt dash their children and rip up their

women with child".

The time seemed
1

B.C.

843

Shalmaneser

for Assyrian conquest.

crossed the Euphrates

ripe
III

In
into

His first objective was

the sixteenth time.
He made offerings
welcomed.
he
was
where
Aleppo,
there to Hadad, the local Thor, and then suddenly
Hazael went out to oppose the
marched southward.
and
came into conflict with them
advancing Assyrians,
Syria

for

him'*, Shalmaneser recorded,

feat; I slew with the sword

captured
save his

"

Mount Hermon.

the vicinity of

in

1121 chariots

fought with

"and accomplished
1600 of

his de-

his warriors

He

and 470 horses.

fled

and
to

life."

Hazael took refuge within the walls of Damascus,

which the Assyrians besieged, but failed, however, to
Shalmaneser's soldiers meanwhile wasted and
capture.
burned cities without number, and carried away great
a In those
days", Shalmaneser recorded, "I rebooty.
ceived tribute from the Tyrians and Sidonians and from
Yaua (Jehu) son (successor) of Khumri (Omri)." The
following is a translation from a bas relief by Professor
Pinches of a passage detailing Jehu's tribute:

The

tribute of

Yaua, son of Khumri

silver, gold, a

golden

cup, golden
golden vessels, golden buckets, lead, a staff for
the hand of the king (and) sceptres, I received. 2
vases,

" It is
scholarly translator adds,
noteworthy that
the Assyrian form of the name, Yaua, shows that the

The

unpronounced aleph

at the

end was

at that

time sounded,

*<? Kings, viii,

3

1-15.
The Old Testament in

the

Light of

the Historical Records

and Legends of Asiyria and

Babylonia^ pp. 337 et sty.

(C642)

29

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

4 i2
so

that

Hebrews must have

the

called

him Yahua

(Jehua)".

His
Shalmaneser did not again attack Damascus.
sphere of influence was therefore confined to North
He found it more profitable, indeed, to extend
Syria.
For several years he
his territories into Asia Minor.
engaged himself in securing control of the north-western
caravan road, and did not rest until he had subdued
Cilicia

and overrun the Hittite kingdoms of Tabal and

Malatia.

Hazael of Damascus avenged himself meanwhile on

who had so readily acknowledged the
" In those
shadowy suzerainty of Assyria.
days the
Lord began to cut Israel short: and Hazael smote them
in all the coasts of Israel; from Jordan eastward, all the
land of Gilead, the Gadites, and the Reubenites, and the
Manassites, from Aroer, which is by the river Arnon,
even Gilead and Bashan." 1 Israel thus came completely
under the sway of Damascus.
Jehu appears to have cherished the ambition of uniting Israel and Judah under one crown. His revolt received
the support of the orthodox Hebrews, and he began well
his unfaithful allies

by inaugurating reforms in the northern kingdom with

purpose apparently to re-establish the worship of David's
He persecuted the prophets of Baal, but soon
God.
became a backslider, for although he stamped out the
Phoenician religion he began to worship "the golden
calves that were in Bethel and that were in Dan.
He departed not from the sins of Jeroboam, which made
2
Israel to sin/'
Apparently he found it necessary to
secure the support of the idolaters of the ancient cult
of the "Queen of Heaven ".
The crown of Judah had been seized by the Israelitish
.

? Kings,

x,

32-3,

Ibid.,

1-31,

HEBREWS
Queen mother

HISTORY

IN ASSYRIAN

413

Athaliah

after the death of her son

hands of Jehu. 1 She endeavoured to
destroy "all the seed royal of the house of Judah". But
another woman thwarted the completion of her monstrous
This was Jehoshabeath, sister of Ahaziah and
design.

Ahaziah

the

at

wife of the priest Jehoiada,

prince Joash

chamber",

in

who

concealed the

young

"and put him and his nurse in a bedThere Joash was

"the house of God".
2

for six years.

In time Jehoiada stirred up a revolt against the Baal-

strictly

guarded

Having secured the supworshipping queen of Judah.

of
the
the
of
royal guard and a portion of
captains
port
the army, he brought out from the temple the seven
" the
king's son, and put upon
years old prince Joash,
him the crown, and gave him the testimony, and made
him king. And Jehoiada and
and said, God save the king.
"

his

sons anointed him,

Now when

Athaliah heard the noise of the people

and
praising the king, she came to the people
running
and she looked, and, behold
into the house of the Lord
the king stood at his pillar at the entering in, and the
and all the people
princes and the trumpets by the king
of the land rejoiced, and sounded with trumpets, also the
singers with instruments of musick, and such as taught
Then Athaliah rent her clothes, and said,
to sing praise.
:

Treason, Treason.

"Then Jehoiada the priest brought out the captains

of hundreds that were set over the host, and said unto
them, Have her forth of the ranges and whoso followeth
:

him be

by the sword. For the priest said,

So they laid
her
not
in the house of the Lord.
Slay
hands on her ; and when she was come to the entering
her, let

slain

of the horse gate by the king's house, they slew her

1

2 KingSy

2
xi,

1-3.

* Chronicle^

xxii,

10-12.

there.

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

4 i4
"

And Jehoiada made a covenant between him, and

between all the people, and between the king, that they
should be the Lord's people. Then all the people went
to the house of Baal, and brake it down, and brake his
altars and his images in pieces, and slew Mattan the
1
priest of Baal before the altars.'*
When Jehu of Israel died, he was succeeded by
u The Lord was kindled
Jehoahaz.
against Israel, and
he delivered them into the hand of Ben-hadad the son
of Hazael all their days."
Then Jehoahaz repented.
He " besought the Lord, and the Lord hearkened unto
him: for he saw the oppression of Israel, because the
And the Lord gave
king of Syria oppressed them.
Israel a saviour, so that they went out from under the
hands of the Syrians." 2 The "saviour", as will be shown,
Not only Israel, but Judah, under King
was Assyria.
Philistines and the Ammonites were
the
Joash, Edom,
to
acknowledge the suzerainty of Damascus.
compelled
Shalmaneser III swayed an extensive and powerful
empire, and kept his generals continually employed supAfter he subdued the
pressing revolts on his frontiers.
king of Tabal, sent him his daughter,
who was received into the royal harem. Tribes of the
Medes came under his power the Nairi and Urartian
Hittites,

Kati,

tribes continued battling with his soldiers on his northern

borders like the frontier tribes of India against the British

troops.

The kingdom of Urartu was growing more and

more powerful.
In 829

B.C.

the great empire was suddenly shaken to

The party
foundations by the outbreak of civil war.
son
Shalmaneser's
Ashur-daninwas
led
of rebellion
by

its

apli,

who

evidently desired to supplant the crown prince

He was a popular hero and received

Shamshi-Adad.
1

'

2 Chronicle^

xxiii,

17.

2 Kings,

xiii,

1-5.

HEBREWS

IN ASSYRIAN

HISTORY

415

the support of most of the important Assyrian cities,

including Nineveh, Asshur, Arbela, Imgurbel, and DurShalmaneser
balat, as well as some of the dependencies.
retained Kalkhi and the provinces of northern Mesopotamia, and it appears that the greater part of the army

remained loyal to him.

After four years of civil war Shalmaneser died.
His
chosen heir, Shamshi-Adad VII, had to continue the
struggle for the throne for two more years.
When at length the new king had stamped out the
last embers of revolt within the kingdom, he had to
undertake the reconquest of those provinces which in the
interval had thrown off their allegiance to Assyria.
Urartu in the north had grown more aggressive, the
Syrians were openly defiant, the Medes were conducting
bold raids, and the Babylonians were plotting with the
Chaldaeans, Elamites, and Aramaeans to oppose the new
ruler.
Shamshi-Adad, however, proved to be as great a
He subdued the Medes and the
general as his father.
Nairi tribes, burned many cities and collected enormous
tribute, while thousands of prisoners were taken and
also

forced to serve the conqueror.

Having established his power in the north, Shamshi-

Adad then turned

attention to Babylonia.

southward he subdued many villages.

first
strong force of Babylonian allies
Akkad, and achieved a great victory,
taking 3000 captives.

Then

He

On
fell

his

way
upon the

Dur-papsukal in
killing 13,000 and

at

the Babylonian king,

duk-balatsu-ikbi, advanced to meet

him with

his

Marmixed

force of Babylonians, Chaldaeans, Elamites, and Aramaeans,

but was defeated in a fierce battle on the banks of the

Daban canal. The Babylonian camp was captured, and

the prisoners taken by the Assyrians included 5000 footmen, 200 horsemen, and 100

chariots

4i 6

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

Shamshi-Adad conducted in all five campaigns in

Babylonia and Chaldaea, which he completely subdued,
In
penetrating as far as the shores of the Persian Gulf.
the end he took prisoner the new king, Bau-akh-iddina,
the successor of Marduk-balatsu-ikbi, and transported
him to Assyria, and offered up sacrifices as the overlord

of the ancient land at Babylon, Borsippa, and Cuthah.

For over half a century after this disaster Babylonia was
a province of Assyria.
During that period, however, the
influence which it exercised over the Assyrian Court was

so great that it contributed to the downfall of the royal

line of the Second Empire.

CHAPTER
The Age

XVIII

of Semiramis

Queen Sammu-rammat the original of Semiramis "Mother-right" among

"Mother Worshippers" Sammu-rammat compared to Queen Tiy Popularity
of Goddess Cults

Temple Worship and Domestic Worship

Babylonian

Cultural Influence in Assyria

Ethical Tendency in Shamash Worship The
Nebo Religious Revolt Aton Revolt in Egypt The Royal Assyrian Library
The Semiramis and Shakuntala
Fish Goddess of Babylonia in Assyria
Stories
The Mock King and Queen- Dove Goddesses of Assyria, Phoenicia,
and Cyprus Ishtar's Dove Form St. Valentine's Day beliefs Sacred Doves

of Cretans, Hittites, and Egyptians Pigeon Lore in Great Britain and Ireland
Deities associated with various Animals
The Totemic Theory Common
Element in Ancient Goddess Cults Influence of Agricultural Beliefs Nebo
a form of Ea
His Spouse Tashmit a Love Goddess and Interceder Tra"
ditions of Famous Mother Deities
of Israel
Adad-nirari IV the " Saviour

Expansion df the Urartian Empire

of Assyria's Middle Empire Dynasty.

Its

Famous Kings

Decline and Fall

ONE

of the most interesting figures in Mesopotamian

history came into prominence during the Assyrian Middle
Empire period. This was the famous Sammu-rammat,
Like Sargon
the Babylonian wife of an Assyrian ruler.
of Akkad, Alexander the Great, and Dietrich von Bern,
she made, by reason of her achievements and influence,

deep impression on the popular imagination, and as

became identified in tradition with gods
of war and fertility, she had attached to her memory the
myths associated with the mother goddess of love and
In
battle who presided over the destinies of mankind.
her character as the legendary Semiramis of Greek literature, the Assyrian queen was reputed to have been the

these monarchs

417

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

4i 8

daughter of Derceto, the dove and fish goddess of Askalon,

and to have departed from earth in bird form.
It is not quite certain whether Sammu-rammat was
the wife of Shamshi-Adad VII or of his son, Adad-nirari
Before the former monarch reduced Babylonia to
IV.
the status of an Assyrian province, he had signed a treaty
of peace with its king, and it is suggested that it was
confirmed by a matrimonial alliance.
This treaty was

repudiated by King Bau-akh-iddina, who was transported

with his palace treasures to Assyria.

As Sammu-rammat was

evidently a royal princess of

seems probable that her marriage was arBabylonia,

ranged with purpose to legitimatize the succession of the
Assyrian overlords to the Babylonian throne. The principle of "mother right" was ever popular in those countries
where the worship of the Great Mother was perpetuated
if not in official at
any rate in domestic religion. Not a
few Egyptian Pharaohs reigned as husbands or as sons
of royal ladies. Succession by the female line was also
observed among the Hittites. When Hattusil II gave
it

his

daughter in marriage to Putakhi, king of the Amorites,

he inserted a clause in the treaty of alliance " to the effect

that the sovereignty over the Amorite should belong to
1

the son and descendants of his daughter for evermore".

As queen or queen-mother, Sammu-rammat occupied

prominent a position in Assyria as did Queen Tiy of

Egypt during the lifetime of her husband, Amenhotep III,
and the early part of the reign of her son, Amenhotep IV
(Akhenaton). The Tell-el-Amarna letters testify to Tiy's
influence in the Egyptian "Foreign Office", and we know
that at home she was joint ruler with her husband and
as

took part with him in public ceremonials.

During their
was
mother
a
erected
to
the
goddess Mut,
temple
reign
1

The Land of the

Hitiites, J.

Garstang,

p.

354.

THE AGE OF SEMIRAMIS

419

and beside it was formed a great lake on which sailed

"
in connection with mysterious
the "barque of Aton
After
Akhenaton's religious revolt
religious ceremonials.

was inaugurated, the worship of MuL was discontinued

and Tiy went into retirement. In Akhenaton's time the
vulture symbol of the goddess Mut did not appear above
the sculptured figures of royalty.
What connection the god Aton had with

Mut

during

There is
the period of the Tiy regime remains obscure.
no evidence that Aton was first exalted as the son of the
Great Mother goddess, although this is not improbable.
Queen Sammu-rammat of Assyria, like Tiy of Egypt,
is

associated with social

and religious innovations.

She

was the

first, and, indeed, the only Assyrian royal lady,

to be referred to on equal terms with her royal husband

in official inscriptions.

In a dedication to the god

"

Nebo,

reputed to be the protector of the life of

Adad-nirari, king of the land of Ashur, his lord, and the

that deity
life

is

of Sammu-rammat, she of the palace, his lady". 1

During the reign of Adad-nirari IV the Assyrian Court

radiated Babylonian culture and traditions. The king not

only recorded his descent from the first Shalmaneser, but
also claimed to be a descendant of Bel-kap-kapu, an earlier,
<c
Sulili ",
but, to us, unknown, Babylonian monarch than

Sumu-la-ilu, the great-great-grandfather of

i.e.

rabi.

Hammu-

Bel-kap-kapu was reputed to have been an over-

lord of Assyria.

Apparently Adad-nirari desired to be regarded as the

legitimate heir to the thrones of Assyria and Babylonia.
His claim upon the latter country must have had a subIt is not too much to assume that he was
stantial basis.
Sammua son of a princess of its ancient royal family.
1

The Old Testament

Babylonia, T.

in the

G. Pinches,

p.

Light of the Historical Records and Legends

343.

of

Assyria and

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

420

rammat may

She could
therefore have been his mother.
"
in the mythological sense,
have been called his " wife
If
the king having become " husband of his mother ".
such was the case, the royal pair probably posed as the
high priest and high priestess of the ancient goddess cult
the incarnations of the Great Mother and the son who
displaced his

sire.

The worship of

the Great Mother was the popular

of
the
indigenous peoples of western Asia, inreligion
cluding parts of Asia Minor, Egypt, and southern and
It appears to have been closely assowestern Europe.
ciated with agricultural rites practised among representa-

tive communities of the Mediterranean race. In Babylonia

and Assyria the peoples of the goddess cult fused with
the peoples of the god cult, but the prominence maintained by Ishtar, who absorbed many of the old mother
deities, testifies to the persistence of immemorial habits
of thought and antique religious ceremonials among the
descendants of the earliest settlers in the Tigro-Euphrates
Merodach's spouse Zerpanitu m was not a shadowy
valley.

who exercised as much influence as

As Aruru she took part with him
In Asia Minor the mother
of mankind.

deity but a goddess

her divine husband.
in the creation

goddess was overshadowed by the father god during the

period of Hatti predominance, but her worship was revived
after the early people along the coast and in the agricultural valleys were freed from the yoke of the father-god
worshippers.

must be recognized, in this connection, that an

was not always a full reflection of popular
In all the great civilizations of antiquity it was
beliefs.
invariably a compromise between the beliefs of the military
aristocracy and the masses of mingled peoples over whom
It

official religion

they held sway.

Temple worship had

therefore a political

THE AGE OF SEM1RAMIS

421

aspect; it was intended, among other things, to strengthen

But ancient deities
the position of the ruling classes.

could

still

be worshipped, and were worshipped, in homes

groves and on mountain tops, as the case

Jeremiah has testified to the persistence of
might
the folk practices in connection with the worship of the
mother goddess among the inhabitants of Palestine.

and

fields, in

be.

Sacrificial fires

to the

were

"Queen

of

lit

and cakes were baked and offered

Heaven"

of Jerusalem
Egypt domestic

in the streets

In Babylonia and
were
never completely supplanted by
religious practices
in
rulers took a prominent part.
ceremonies
which
temple
It was
always possible, therefore, for usurpers to make
popular appeal by reviving ancient and persistent forms of
worship. As we have seen, Jehu of Israel, after stamping
out Phoenician Baal worship, secured a strong following
by giving official recognition to the cult of the golden

and other

cities.

calf.

not possible to set forth in detail, or with intimate

knowledge, the various innovations which Sammu-rammat
It is

introduced, or with which she was credited, during the

reigns of Adad-nirari IV (810-782 B.C.) and his father.

No

discovery has been made of documents like the

Tell-el-Amarna "letters *, which would shed light on
the social and political life of this interesting period. But
evidence is not awanting that Assyria was being suffused
with Babylonian culture.
Royal inscriptions record the
but
of
the
triumphs
army,
suppress the details of bar7

barities

such as those which sully the annals of Ashur-

who had boys and

girls burned on pyres and

nations flayed alive.
An ethical
tendency becomes apparent in the exaltation of the Babylonian Shamash as an abstract deity who loved law and

natsir-pal,

the

heroes of small

order, inspired the king with

wisdom and ordained

the

422

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

destinies of

mankind.

He

invoked on equal terms

is

with Ashur.

The prominence

given to Nebo, the god of Borsippa,

during the reign of Adad-nirari IV is highly significant.
He appears in his later character as a god of culture and

wisdom, the patron of scribes and artists, and the wise

counsellor of the deities.
He symbolized the intellectual
life of the southern
kingdom, which was more closely
associated

with religious ethics than that of war-loving

Assyria.

great temple was erected to Nebo at Kalkhi, and

four statues of him were placed within it, two of which
are

now

in the British

Museum.

On

one of these was cut

the inscription, from which we have quoted, lauding the

exalted and wise deity and invoking him to protect Adad-nirari

and the lady of the

palace,

closing with the exhortation,

time,

let

The

him

trust in

priests

"

Nebo and

of Ashur

Sammu-rammat, and

Whoso cometh

in after

no other god ".

of Asshur must have

trust in

in the city
this religious revolt at

Kalkhi as
been as deeply stirred by
were the priests of Amon when Akhenaton turned his
back on Thebes and the national god to worship Aton in
his

new capital at Tell-el-Amarna.

It would appear that this sudden stream of Babylonian

culture had

to flow into Assyria as early as the

reign of Shalmaneser III, and it may be that it was on
account of that monarch's pro-Babylonian tendencies that
his nobles

begun

and

priests revolted against him.

Shalmaneser

established at Kalkhi a royal library which was stocked

with the literature of the southern kingdom.

During
the reign of Adad-nirari IV this collection was greatly

and subsequent additions were made to it by

and especially Ashur-nirari IV, the last
monarch of the Middle Empire.
The inscriptions of

increased,
his

successors,

STATUE OF NEBO
Dfdicated by Adad-nirari IV, and the Queen,
(British

Museum}

Sammu-rammat

THE AGE OF SEMIRAMIS

423

Shamshi-Adad, son of Shalmaneser III, have literary

which distinguish them from those of his prequalities
decessors, and may be accounted for by the influence
exercised by Babylonian scholars who migrated northward.
To the reign of Adad-nirari belongs also that impor"
tant compilation the
Synchronistic History of Assyria

and Babylonia ", which deals with the relations of the two
kingdoms and refers to contemporary events and rulers.
The legends of Semiramis indicate that Sammu-rammat
was associated like Queen Tiy with the revival of mother
As we have said, she went down to tradition
worship.
the daughter of the fish goddess, Derceto.
Pliny
1
identified that deity with Atargatis of Hierapolis.
In Babylonia the fish goddess was Nina, a developed

as

form of Damklna, spouse of Ea of Eridu. In the inis referred to as

scription on the Nebo statue, that god
Nina was the goddess
the "son of Nudimmud" (Ea).
who gave her name to Nineveh, and it is possible that
Nebo may have been regarded as her son during the
Semiramis period.

The

story of Semiramis's birth is evidently of great

It seems to survive throughout Europe in the
antiquity.

" Babes in the Wood ".

A striking
nursery tale of the
Indian parallel is afforded by the legend of Shakuntala,
which may be first referred to for the purpose of com-

Shakuntala was the daughter of the rishi,

and
Menaka, the Apsara (celestial fairy).
Viswamitra,
birth
to her child beside the sacred river
Menaka gave
"
And she cast the new-born infant on the bank
Malini.
And beholding the newof that river and went away.
parative study.

born infant lying in that forest destitute of human beings

but abounding with lions and tigers, a number of vultures
sat

around to protect
1

it

from harm/'

Nat. Hht.y v, 19 and Straho, xvi, 1-27.

sage discovered

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

42 4

" Because
" she
the child and adopted her.
", he said,
was surrounded by Shakuntas (birds), therefore hath she
been named by me Shakuntala (bird protected)." 1
Semiramis was similarly deserted at birth by her
She was protected by doves, and her
Celestial mother.
Assyrian name, Sammu-rammat,

from

"Summat"

is

"dove", and

believed to be derived
to

signify

"the dove

goddess loveth her". Simmas, the chief of royal shepherds, found the child and adopted her. She was of great
beauty like Shakuntala, the maiden of "perfect symmetry",

"sweet smiles ", and "faultless features", with whom King

2
Dushyanta fell in love and married in Gandharva fashion.
Semiramis became the wife of Onnes, governor of
Nineveh, and one of the generals of its alleged founder,
She accompanied her husband to Bactria
King Ninus.
on a military campaign, and is said to have instructed the
Ninus fell in love
king how that city should be taken.
with Semiramis, and Onnes, who refused to give her up,
went and hanged himself. The fair courtesan then became
the wife of the king.

The story proceeds that Semiramis exercised so great

an influence over the impressionable King Ninus, that she
persuaded him to proclaim her Queen of Assyria for five
days.
robes.

She then ascended the throne decked

On

in

royal

day she gave a great banquet, and on

the second thrust Ninus into prison, or had him put to
death. In this manner she secured the empire for herself.
the

first

She reigned

for over forty years.

Professor Frazer inclines to the

is

view that the legend

custom of appointing a mock king
the kingdom was yielded up for five

a reminiscence of the

and queen to
1

Adi Parva, sections Ixxi and

Myth and Legend^ pp. 157 et seq.

The Mah&bharata

216), and Indian

2

whom

That

is,

without ceremony but with consent,

Ixxii

(Roy's translation, pp. 213-

THE SHEPHERD FINDS THE BABE SEMIRAMIS

From

the Painting by E.

Wallcomins

THE AGE OF SEMIRAMIS

425

Semiramis played the part of the mother goddess,

priestly king died a violent death in the character
" The mounds of Semiramis which
of her divihe lover.
were pointed out all over Western Asia were sid to have
been the graves of her lovers whom she buried alive.
This tradition is one of the surest indications of the
identity of the mythical Semiramis with the Babylonian
1
As we have seen, Ishtar
goddess Ishtar or Astarte."
and other mother goddesses had many lovers whom they
deserted like La Belle Dame sans Merci (pp. 1745).
As Queen of Assyria, Semiramis was said to have cut
roads through mountainous districts and erected many
buildings.
According to one version of the legend she
founded the city of Babylon. Herodotus, however, says

days.

and the

"Semiramis held the throne

in this connection:

for five

She
generations before the later princess (Nitocris).
raised certain embankments, well worthy of inspection, in
.

the plain near Babylon, to control the river (Euphrates),

which, till then, used to overflow and flood the whole
2
Lucian,
country round about/'
"
famous queen with
mighty works

she was reputed by

some

temple of Aphrodite

in

who
in

associates

Asia

the

", states that

to be the builder of the ancient

the Libanus, although others

3

to Cinyras, or Deukalion.
Several Median
to
Armenian
bear
her
and
ancient
name,
places
according
tradition she was the founder of Van, which was formerly

credited

it

"

Shamiramagerd ". Strabo tells that unidentified

mountains in Western Asia were named after Semiramis. 4
Indeed, many of the great works in the Tigro-Euphrates
valley,' not excepting the famous inscription of Darius,
were credited to the legendary queen of Babylonia and

called

The Golden Bough (The Scapegoat), pp. 369 et scq. (jrd edition).
Perhaps the
mythic Semiramis and legends connected were in existence long before the historic
Sammu-rammat, though the two got mixed up.
*

Herodotus,

i,

184.

D<

dea Syria, 9-14.

Strabo^ xvi,

I, 3,

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

426

1
She was the rival in tradition of the famous
Assyria.
Sesostris of Egypt as a ruler, builder, and conqueror.

All the military expeditions of Semiramis were attended

with success, except her invasion of India.
She was

supposed to have been defeated

the Punjab.

in

suffering this disaster she died, or abdicated the

After

throne in

The most archaic form of the

favour of her son Ninyas.
be
that
she was turned into a dove
to
legend appears
and took flight to heaven in that form. After her death
she was worshipped as a dove goddess like " Our Lady
"
in Cyprus, whose shrine at old
of Trees and Doves
was
founded, Herodotus says, by Phoenician
Paphos
2
Fish and doves were sacred
colonists from Askalon.
3
" I have
to Derceto (Attar), who had a mermaid form.
beheld ", says Lucian, "the image of Derceto in Phoenicia.

marvellous spectacle

it

One

is.

the part which extends from

4
with the tail of a fish."

half

thighs

is

woman, but

to feet terminates

Derceto was supposed to have been a woman who

After death she
threw herself in despair into a lake.
was adored as a goddess and her worshippers abstained
from eating fish, except sacrificially. A golden image of
a fish was suspended in her temple.
Atargatis, who was
identical with Derceto, was reputed in another form of
the legend to have been born of an egg which the sacred
fishes found in the Euphrates and thrust ashore (p. 28).

The Greek Aphrodite was born of

and

floated

in a sea-shell.

The

the froth of the sea

According to Hesiod,

wafting waves

First bore her to

Cythera the divine:

To wave-encircled Cyprus came she then,
And forth emerged, a goddess, in the charms
1

Diodorus Siculus,

3
ii,

3.

Herodotus, i, 105.
dea Syria, I 4.

De

Diodorus Siculus,

ii,

4.

THE AGE OF SEMIRAMIS

427

Where her delicate feet

beauty.
the
sands, green herbage flowering sprang.
pressed
Aphrodite gods and mortals name,

Of awful
Had
Her

The

foam-born goddess; and her name is known

the blooming wreath,
For that she touched Cythera's flowery coast;
And Cypris, for that on the Cyprian shore

As Cytherea with

She

rose,

amid the multitude of waves.

Elton's translation.

The

animals sacred to Aphrodite included the sparrow,

1
She
the dove, the swan, the swallow, and the wryneck.
of
and
month
the
the
over
myrtle, rose,
April,
presided

poppy, and apple were sacred to her.

Some writers connect Semiramis, in her character as a
dove goddess, with Media and the old Persian mother
goddess Anaitis, and regard as arbitrary her identification
The dove
with the fish goddess Derceto or Atargatis.
was certainly not a popular bird in the religious art of
Babylonia and Assyria, but in one of the hymns translated
"
by Professor Pinches Ishtar says, Like a lonely dove I
In another the worshipper tries to touch Ishtar's
rest".
A Sumerian
heart by crying, "Like the dove I moan ".
a
who
makes
presided over
psalmist
goddess (Gula,
a
the
of
lament
over
Larak,
Isin)
city after it was
part
captured by the enemy

My

temple E-aste, temple of Larak,

Larak the city which Bel Enlil gave,
1

It

This

little bird

allied

to the

woodpecker twists

its

neck strangely when alarmed.

symbolized the coquettishncss of fair maidens. As love goddesses were

however, thr wryneck may have been connected with the belief that the per-

may have

" Fates

",

petrator of a murder, or a death spell, could be detected when he approached his victim's
If there was no wound to "bleed afresh", the "death thraw" (the contortions
corpse.
of death) might indicate who the criminal was.
In a Scottish ballad regarding a lady,

who was murdered by

her lover, the verse occurs

'Twas

in the

middle

o'

the night

The cock began to craw;

And at the middle o' the night
The corpse began to thraw.
(0642)

30

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

428

Beneath are turned to strangeness, above are turned to strangeness,

wailings on the lyre my dwelling-place is surrendered to the

With

stranger,

The dove

The

cots

they wickedly seized, the doves they entrapped

ravens he (Enlil) caused to

fly.

Apparently there were temple and household doves in

The Egyptians had their household doveBabylonia.
cots in ancient as in

modern

Lane makes

times.

reference

to the large pigeon houses in many villages.

They are
the
walls
of archaic pattern, "with
slightly inclining in-

wards (like many of the ancient Egyptian buildings) ",

and are " constructed upon the roofs of the huts with
Each pair of pigeons
crude brick, pottery, and mud.
.

occupies a separate (earthen) pot."

It

may

be that the

dove bulked more prominently in domestic than in official

and had a special seasonal significance. Ishtar
religion,
In the Gilgamesh epic
appears to have had a dove form.
she

said to have loved the "brilliant Allalu bird" (the

wood pigeon", according to Sayce), and

is

"bright-coloured

have afterwards wounded

to

by breaking its wings.

and the horse, and must therefore
it

She also loved the lion

have assumed the forms of these animals. The goddess
Bau, "she whose city is destroyed", laments in a Sumerian
psalm

Like a dove to

its

dwelling-place,

will they pursue

T my sanctuary
My
My

how

long to

my

dwelling-place

me,

.
.
the sacred place they pursue me
thou
art
of
the
brick
walls
destroyed;
resting place,
my city Isin,
sanctuary, shrine of my temple Galmah, thou art destroyed.
.

Langdon*s translation.
Langdon's Sumerian and Babylonian Psalms, pp. 133, 135.
Introduction to Lane's Mariners and Customs oj the Modern Egyptians.
5
Tammuz is referred to in a Sumerian psalm as " him of the dovelike voice, yea,
He may have had a dove form. Angus, the Celtic god of spring, love, and
dovelike".
1

fertility,

had a swan form; he also had his seasonal period

of sleep like

Tammuz.

THE AGE OF SEMIRAMIS

Here
which

429

the goddess appears to be identified with the doves

rest on the walls and make their nests in the

shrine.

The Sumerian

poets did not adorn their

poems

with meaningless picturesque imagery; their images were

stern facts; they had a magical or religious significance

imagery of magical incantations; the worshipper

invoked the deity by naming his or her various attributes,
forms, &c.
Of special interest are the references in Sumerian
psalms to the ravens as well as the doves of goddesses.
Throughout Asia and Europe ravens are birds of ill omen.

like the

In Scotland there

linger curious folk beliefs regarding

the appearance of ravens and doves after death.
Michael
on
his
told his
the
when
deathbed
Scott,
great magician,
still

" Three ravens

friends to place his body on a hillock.
and three doves would be seen flying towards it. If the
ravens were first the body was to be burned, but if the

doves were

first

it

was to receive Christian

burial.

The

ravens were foremost, but in their hurry flew beyond their

mark.
So the devil, who had long been preparing a bed
"

was disappointed. l
In Indian mythology Purusha, the chaos giant, first
" Hence were husband and wife
divided himself.
proThis couple then assumed various animal
duced."
forms and thus "created every living pair whatsoever
down to the ants". 2 Goddesses and fairies in the folk
tales of many countries sometimes assume bird forms.
"
The " Fates appear to Damayanti in the Nala story as
swans which carry love messages. 3
"
According to Aryo-Indian belief, birds were blessed
with fecundity".
The Babylonian Etana eagle and the
Egyptian vulture, as has been indicated, were deities of
for Michael,

Campbell's Superstitions of the

Indian

Myth and

Legend^

p.

Scottish Highlands, p. 288.

3
Ibid.^ pp. 329-30.

95.

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

430

birds, which were "Fates",

to
mated, according
popular belief, on St. Valentine's Day
in February, when lots were drawn for wives by rural

Throughout Europe

fertility.

folks.

Another form of the old custom

the poet

Gay

referred to by

is

Last Valentine, the day

when

birds of kind

Their paramours with mutual chirpings

I early rose

Thee

first I

find,

spied,

and the

first

swain

we

see,

In spite of fortune, shall our true love be.

The dove appears to have been a sacred bird in

various areas occupied by tribes of the Mediterranean
race.
Models of a shrine found in two royal graves at
Mycenae are surmounted by a pair of doves, suggesting
twin goddesses like Isis and Nepthys of Egypt and Ishtar
Doves and snakes were
mother goddess of Crete, " typifying ",
" her connection with air and
according to one view,
earth.
Although her character was distinctly beneficent
and pacific, yet as Lady of the Wild Creatures she had a
more fearful aspect, one that was often depicted on carved
1
Discussing
gems, where lions are her companions/'
the attributes and symbols of this mother goddess, Pro" As the
fessor Burrows says
serpent, coming from the
crevices of the earth, shows the possession of the tree
or pillar from the underworld, so the dove, with which
this goddess is also associated, shows its possession from
2
Professor Robertson Smith
the world of the sky ".
has demonstrated that the dove was of great sanctity
3
It
figures in Hittite sculptures and
among the Semites.
was probably connected with the goddess cult in Asia
and

Belitsheri

of Babylonia.

associated with the

Crete, the Forerunner of Greece, C.

The Discoveries

in Crete,
pp.

H. and H.

137-8.

B.

Hawes,

p.

139.

the Semites, p.
194.
Religion of

THE AGE OF SEMIRAMIS

431

Minor. Although Egypt had no dove goddess, the bird

was addressed by lovers
I

hear thy voice,

turtle

dove

The dawn is all aglow

Weary am I with love, with
Oh, whither

shall I

Pigeons, as indicated, are in Egypt

love,

go?
still

regarded as sacred

birds, and a few years ago British soldiers created a riot

by shooting them. Doves were connected with the ancient
Greek oracle at Dodona. In many countries the dove
is
closely associated with love, and also symbolizes innocence, gentleness, and holiness.
The pigeon was anciently, it would appear, a sacred
bird in these islands, and Brand has recorded curious

folk beliefs connected with

it.

In some districts the idea

prevailed that no person could die on a bed which con" If

tained pigeon feathers
anybody be sick and lye a
:

they lye upon pigeon feathers they will be

languishing and never die, but be in pain and torment,"
similar superstition about the
wrote a correspondent.
if

dying,

feathers of different varieties of wild fowl

other

Brand traced

districts.

obtained in

this interesting traditional

Yorkshire, Lancashire, Derbyshire, and some

of the Welsh and Irish counties. 3 It still lingers in parts
In the old ballad of "The
of the Scottish Highlands.
Bloody Gardener" the white dove appears to a young

belief in

man

as the soul

mother.
and then "

He

his

who was murdered by

saw the bird perched on his breast

of his lady love

first

on a myrtle tree ". 4

The dove was not only a symbol of Semiramis, but
1

sitting

Egyptian Myth and Legend, p. 59.

Including the goose, one of the forms of the harvest goddess.
Brand's Popular Antiquities^ vol. ii, 230-1 and vol. iii, 232 (1899
Ibid.^ vol.

iii,

217.

The myitle was

used for love charms.

c<

*0

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

432

of her mother Derceto, the Phoenician fish goddess.

connection between bird and fish may have been
"
"
given an astral significance. In Poor Robin's Almanack
also

The
for

1757 a

St.

Valentine rhyme begins:

This month bright Phoebus enters Pisces,

The maids will have good store of kisses,
For always when the sun comes there,
Valentine's day is drawing near,
And both the men and maids incline

To

choose them each a Valentine.

As we have

was set by the mating

no
doubt versified an old
poet
when
the
belief:
spring sun entered the sign
astrological
of the Fishes, the love goddess in bird form returned to
birds.

seen, the example

The "Almanack*'

earth.

Advocates of the Totemic theory, on the other hand,

may hold that the association of doves with snake goddesses and fishLgoddesses of fertility was due to the fusion
of tribes who had various animal totems.
"The Pelew
" that the
Islanders believed
Professor

Frazer,
", says
souls of their forefathers lived in certain species of animals,
which accordingly they held sacred and would not injure.

For this reason one man would not kill snakes, another
would not harm pigeons, and so on but everyone was
quite ready to kill and eat the sacred animals of his neighJ>1
That the Egyptians had similar customs is
bours.
suggested by what Herodotus tells us regarding their
" Those who live near Thebes and the
sacred animals
;

lake Mceris hold

the crocodile in religious veneration.

Those who

live in or near Elephantine, so far from

beasts as sacred, make them an article
these
considering
of food.
The hippopotamus is esteemed sacred in the
.

The Golden Bough

[Spirits of the

Corn and

oj

the

Wild), vol.

ii,

p.

293 (3rd

cd.).

THE AGE OF SEMIRAMIS

433

no other part of Egypt.

and fishes
They
excepting
1
Totemic
those which are preserved for sacred purposes."
animals controlled the destinies of tribes and families.
"
" Grose tells us
that, besides general
", says Brand,
district

of Papremis, but

roast

and

boil

notices of death,
or notices: some

many

in

birds

tall

families have particular warnings

by the appearance of

by the figure of a

woman,

dressed

a bird,
all

and others

in white.

Pennant says that many of the great families in Scotland

had their demon or genius, who gave them monitions of
future events/* 2
Members of tribes which venerated the
it like the
therefore
invoked
Egyptian love poet
pigeon
and drew omens from its notes, or saw one appearing as
"
the soul of the dead like the lover in the ballad of The
Bloody Gardener". They refrained also from killing the
pigeon except sacrificially, and suffered agonies on a death"
bed which contained pigeon feathers, the " taboo having
been broken.

Some such

explanation

is

necessary to account for the

fish, snake, cat, or

specialization of certain goddesses as

bird deities.

who

Aphrodite,

like Ishtar

absorbed the

attributes of several goddesses of fertility and fate, had

attached to her the various animal symbols which were
in districts or

brought into close

contact, while the poppy, rose, myrtle, &c., which were
used as love charms, or for making love potions, were
also consecrated to her.
Anthropomorphic deities were
decorated with the symbols and flowers of folk religion.
From the comparative evidence accumulated here, it

prominent

among

tribes

be seen that the theory of the mythical Semiramis's

Median or Persian origin is somewhat narrow. It is

will

possible that the

tainly was
1

Herodotus^

dove was venerated

in Crete,
ii,

it

cer-

long centuries before Assyrian

and

69, 71, and 77.

in

Cyprus, as

Brand's Popular Antiquititsy

vol.

iii,

p.

227.

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

434

Babylonian influence filtered westward through Phoenician

and Hittite channels. In another connection Sir Arthur
Evans shows that the resemblance between Cretan and
"
early Semitic beliefs
points rather to some remote common element, the nature of which is at present obscure,
than to any definite borrowing by one side or another". 1
From the evidence afforded by the Semiramis legends
and the inscriptions of the latter half of the Assyrian
Middle Empire period, it may be inferred that a renascence of "mother worship" was favoured by the social
and political changes which were taking place. In the
first
place the influence of Babylon must have been
The fact that Adadstrongly felt in this connection.
nirari found it necessary to win the support of the Babylonians by proclaiming his descent from one of their
ancient royal families, suggests that he was not only concerned about the attitude assumed by the scholars of the
southern kingdom, but also that of the masses of old
Sumerian and Akkadian stocks who continued to bake
cakes to the

Queen of Heaven

so as to ensure

good

In the second place it is not improbable that

even in Assyria the introduction of Nebo and his spouse
harvests.

made widespread

That country had become

an
alien
population ; many of these
largely peopled by
appeal.

"

came from districts where <c mother worship prevailed, and had no traditional respect for Ashur, while
aliens

they regarded with hostility the military aristocracy who

conquered and ruled in the name of that dreaded deity.

Perhaps, too, the influence of the Aramaeans, who in

Babylonia wrecked the temples of the sun god, tended to
revive the ancient religion of the Mediterranean race.
Jehu's religious revolt in Israel, which established once
again the cult of Ashtoreth, occurred after he
1

Cited by Profeiior Burrows in Tht Discoveries in Crifr,

p.

came under
134.

THE AGE OF SEMIRAMIS

435

the sway of Damascus, and may have not been unconnected with the political ascendancy elsewhere of the

goddess

cult.

Nebo, whom Adad-nirari exalted at Kalkhi, was more

than a local god of Borsippa.
"The most satisfactory
view ", says Jastrow, " is to regard him as a counterpart
of Ea.
Like Ea, he is the embodiment and source of
wisdom.

The

study of the heavens formed part of

traced back to Nebo, and the temple
school at Borsippa became one of the chief centres for the
the

wisdom which

is

astrological, and, subsequently, for the astronomical lore

of Babylonia. . . . Like Nebo, Ea is also associated with

the irrigation of the fields and with their consequent ferhymn praises him as the one who fills the canals
tility.

and the dikes, who protects the

Nebo

crops to maturity."

who

fields

links with

and brings the

Merodach (Mar-

sometimes referred to

as his father.
Jastrow
duk),
assumes that the close partnership between Nebo and
Merodach " had as a consequence a transfer of some of

the father

is

Marduk's

son, just as

Ea

attributes as a solar deity to Nebo, his

2
passed his traits on to his son, Marduk".
"

As the " recorder

or "scribe" among
Nebo resembles the Egyptian god Thoth, who

the

gods,

links with

Khonsu, the lunar and spring sun god of love and ferand with Osiris. In Borsippa he had, like Merotility,
Nebo, in
Babylon, pronounced Tammuz traits.
of
the
to
be
the
Tammuz
new
fact, appears
age, the son
of the ancient goddess, who became " Husband of his
If Nebo had no connection with Great
Mother".
dach

in

Mother worship,

it

is

unlikely that his statue

would have

1
Like the Egyptian Horus, Nebo had many phases: he was connected with the sun
and moon, the planet Mercury, water and crops 5 he was young and yet old a mysticaJ

god.
8

and Assyria, pp.

Atptcts of Re ligious Btlitf and Practice in Babylonia

94

it

seq.

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

436

borne an inscription referring to King Adad-nirari and

Queen Sammu-rammat on equal terms. The Assyrian

This "goddess of
spouse of Nebo was called Tashmit.

supplication and love" had a lunar significance. A prayer

addressed to her in association with Nannar (Sin) and
Ishtar, proceeds

In the evil of the eclipse of the moon which

has taken place,
In the evil of the powers, of the portents, evil and not good, which
.

are in
(I)

my

palace and

my

have turned towards thee!

Before

Nabu (Nebo)

land,
.

thy spouse, thy lord, the prince, the first-born

of E-sagila, intercede for me

May he hearken to my cry at the word of thy
!

remove

my

Damkina

O
O
O

sighing,

is

may

he learn

my

mouth

may he

supplication!

similarly addressed in another prayer

Damkina, mighty queen of

all

the gods,

wife of Ea, valiant art thou,

.
Ir-nina, mighty queen of all the gods
of
Thou that dwellest in the Abyss,
heaven and earth!
lady
.

In the

evil

Bau

is

of the eclipse of the moon,

etc.

u
also prayed in a similar connection as

lady that dwellest in the bright heavens ",

i.e.

"

mighty

Queen of

heaven". 1

Tashmit, whose name

to
or "

signifies

a Obedience

", accord-

according to Sayce, carried

Jastrow,
ing
Hearing
As Isis
the prayers of worshippers to Nebo, her spouse.
interceded with Osiris, she interceded with Nebo, on
",

behalf of mankind.
But this did not signify that she
was the least influential of the divine pair. A goddess
she was at once mother, daughter,
played many parts
and wife of the god ; the servant of one god or the*
"
mighty queen of all the gods ". The Great Mother
:

Babylonian

Magic and

Sorcery, L.

W.

King, pp. 6-7 and 26-7.

THE AGE OF SEMIRAMIS

437

was, as has been indicated, regarded as the eternal and

undecaying one ; the gods passed away, son succeeding
father

she alone remained.

survive in the popular

too, did Semiramis

as the queen-goddess of

Thus,

memory,

widespread legends, after kings and gods had been forTo her was ascribed all the mighty works of
gotten.
other days in the lands where the indigenous peoples
first
worshipped the Great Mother as Damkina, Nina, Bau,
or Tashmit, because the goddess was anciently
believed to be the First Cause, the creatrix, the mighty one
Ishtar,

who

invested the ruling god with the powers he possessed

god who held sway because he was her husband,

the

as did

Nergal as the husband of Eresh-ki-gal, queen of

Hades.

The

multiplication of well-defined goddesses was partly

due to the tendency to symbolize the attributes of the
Great Mother, and partly due to the development of the

great
local

"Lady"

in a particular district

phenomena and where

where she reflected

the political influence achieved

by her worshippers emphasized her greatness. Legends

regarding a famous goddess were in time attached to other
goddesses, and in Aphrodite and Derceto we appear to
have mother deities who absorbed the traditions of more
"
than one local " lady
of river and plain, forest and
on
mountain.
the other hand, survived as a
Semiramis,
link between the old world and the new, between the

country from which emanated the stream of ancient culAs the high
ture and the regions which received it.
priestess of the cult, she became identified with the goddess

whose bird name she bore,

as

Gilgamesh and Etana became

identified with the primitive culture-hero or patriarch of

the ancient Sumerians, and Sargon became identified with

Tammuz. No doubt

the fame of Semiramis was specially

emphasized because of her close association, as

Queen

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

438

Sammu-rammat, with the religious innovations which disturbed the land of the god Ashur during the Middle
Empire

period.

Adad-nirari IV, the son or husband of Sammu-rammat,

was a vigorous and successful campaigner. He was the

AlAssyrian king who became the "saviour" of Israel.

it is not
to
a
detailed account of his
give
though
possible
various expeditions, we find from the list of these which
survives in the Eponym Chronicle that he included in the

Assyrian Empire a larger extent of territory than any of

his predecessors.
In the north-east he overcame the

Median and other tribes, and acquired a large portion of

the Iranian plateau ; he compelled Edom to pay tribute,
and established his hold in Babylonia by restricting the
In the north he
power of the Chaldaeans in Sealand.
at least, so he claimed
the
wide
domains of the
swayed
Nairi people.
He also confirmed his supremacy over the
Hittites.

The Aramasan

of Damascus, which had withstood the attack of the great Shalmaneser and afterwards
state

we have seen, the kingdoms of Israel and

was
Judah,
completely overpowered by Adad-nirari. The
old king, Hazael, died when Assyria's power was being
He was
strengthened and increased along his frontiers.
oppressed, as

succeeded by his son Mari, who is believed to be identical

with the Biblical Ben-Hadad III. 1
Shortly after this new monarch came to the throne,
Adad-nirari IV led a great army against him. The Syrian
ruler appears to have been taken

by surprise ; probably
was
from
the
three defeats which
kingdom
suffering
had been previously administered by the revolting Israel2
At any rate Mari was unable to gather together an
ites.
of
allies to resist the Assyrian, advance, and took
army
his

2 Kings,

a
xiii, 3.

2 Kings,

xiii,

14-25.

THE AGE OF SEMIRAMIS

439

refuge behind the walls of Damascus.

This strongly
was closely invested, and Mari had at length
to submit and acknowledge Adad-nirari as his overlord.
The price of peace included 23,000 talents of silver, 20
of gold, 3000 of copper, and 5000 of iron, as well as
ivory ornaments and furniture, embroidered materials,
and other goods "to a countless amount ". Thus u the
Lord gave Israel a saviour, so that they went out from
under the hand of the Syrians and the children of Israel
This significant
dwelt in their tents, as beforetime".
reference to the conquest of Damascus by the Assyrian
king is followed by another which throws light on the
" Nevertheless
of the
fortified city

phenomena

they
period
departed not from the sins of the house of Jeroboam, who
made Israel sin, but walked therein and there remained

religious

1
Ashtoreth and her golden
the grove also in Samaria".
calf continued to be venerated, and doves were sacrificed
to the local Adonis.

It

farther

is

not

whether

certain

than Damascus.

Adad-nirari

Possibly

all

penetrated
the states which

owed

allegiance to the king of that city became at once

The
willing vassals of Assyria, their protector.
tribute received by Adad-nirari from Tyre, Sidon, the

the

Omri (Israel), Edom, and Palastu (Philistia) may

have been gifted as a formal acknowledgment of his
suzerainty and with purpose to bring them directly
under Assyrian control, so that Damascus might be prevented from taking vengeance against them.
Meagre details survive regarding the reign of the
land of

next king, Shalmaneser

IV (781-772
the

B.C.).

Urartian

These

are,

however, supplemented by
inscriptions.
Although Adad-nirari boasted that he had subdued the
kingdom of Urartu in the north, he appears to have
1

A.'/.t, xiii, 5, 6.

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

440

done no more than

limit

its

southern expansion for a

time.

The Urarti were, like the Mitanni, a military aristocracy who welded together by conquest the tribes of the
1

and northern Highlands which several Assyrian

monarchs included in their Empire. They acquired the
elements of Assyrian culture, and used the Assyrian
Their god was named
script for their own language.
and
their
nation
called
Khaldia.
Khaldis,
they
During
the reign of Ashur-natsir-pal their area of control was
confined to the banks of the river Araxes, but it was
gradually extended under a succession of vigorous kings
towards the south-west until they became supreme round
the shores of Lake Van.
Three of their early kings were
and
Sharduris
Arame.
I,
Lutipris,
During the reign of Shamshi-Adad the Assyrians
came into conflict with the Urarti, who were governed at
eastern

the

time

by

Sharduris

"

II).

Ushpina of Nairi

The

Urartian

"

(Ishpuinis,

son

of

kingdom had extended

and bordered on Assyrian territory.

To the
west were the tribes known as the Mannai, the northern
enemies of the Medes, a people of Indo-European speech.
When Adad-nirari IV waged war against the Urarti,
their king was Menuas, the son of Ishpuinis.
Menuas
was a great war-lord, and was able to measure his strength
He had nearly doubled
against Assyria on equal terms.
rapidly

by conquest the area controlled by his predecessors.

Adad-nirari endeavoured to drive his rival northward, but
all

along the Assyrian frontier from the Euphrates to the

forced the outposts of Adad-nirari

Lower Zab, Menuas

to

retreat

The

short,

were

Urartian folk appear to have been of Hatti sfock

"broad

southward.

Assyrians, in

unable to hold their own.

*Thc masses

of the

heads", like their descendants, the modern Armenians.

THE AGE OF SEMIRAMIS

441

Having extended his kingdom towards the south,

Menuas invaded Hittite territory, subdued Malaria and
king to pay tribute. He also conquered
Towards the north and
the Mannai and other tribes.
north-west he added a considerable area to his kingdom,
compelled

its

which became as large as Assyria.

Menuas's capital was the city of Turushpa or Dhuspas
l
(Van), which was called Khaldmas after the national god.

For a century

it

was the

seat of Urartian administration.

buildings erected there by Menuas and his successors

became associated in after-time with the traditions of

The

Semiramis, who, as

Queen Sammu-rammat of

Assyria,

contemporary of the great Urartian conqueror.

Similarly a sculptured representation of the Hittite god
was referred to by Herodotus as a memorial of the

was

Egyptian king

Sesostris.

The strongest fortification at Dhuspas was the citadel,

which was erected on a rocky promontory jutting into
Lake Van. A small garrison could there resist a prolonged siege. The water supply of the city was assured
by the construction of subterranean aqueducts. Menuas
erected a magnificent palace, which rivalled that of the
Assyrian monarch at Kalkhi, and furnished it with the rich

He was
booty brought back from victorious campaigns.
a lover of trees and planted many, and he laid out gardens
which bloomed with brilliant Asian flowers. The palace
commanded a noble prospect of hill and valley scenery
on the south-western shore of beautiful Lake Van.
Menuas was succeeded by his son Argistis, who
ascended the throne during the lifetime of Adad-nirari
of Assyria.
During the early part of his reign he conducted military expeditions to the north beyond the river
1

It

is

uncertain whether this city or KulUni in north Syria

Itaiah, x, 9.

is

the Biblical Calno.

442

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

He afterwards came into conflict with Assyria,

Araxes.
and acquired more territory on its northern frontier.
He also subdued the Mannai, who had risen in revolt.
For three years (781-778 B.C.) the general of Shalmaneser IV waged war constantly with Urartu, and again
in 776 B.C. and 774 B.C. attempts were made to prevent
the southern expansion of that Power.
On more than
one occasion the Assyrians were defeated and compelled
to retreat.

Assyria suffered serious loss of prestige on account

of its inability to hold in check its northern rival.

Damascus
northern

rose

in

and had to be subdued, and

Hadrach was
greatly disturbed.

revolt

Syria was

visited in the last year of the king's reign.

Ashur-dan III (771-763 B.C.) occupied the Assyrian
throne during a period of great unrest.
was unable

He

His army had

on
broke
great plague
out in 765 B.C., the year in which Hadrach had again to
be dealt with.
On June 15, 763 B.C., there was a total
of
the
and that dread event was followed by
sun,
eclipse
a revolt at Asshur which was no doubt of priestly origin.
The king's son Adad-nirari was involved in it, but it is
not certain whether or not he displaced his father for a
In 758 B.C. Ashur-dan again showed signs of
time.
activity by endeavouring to suppress the revolts which
during the period of civil war had broken out in Syria.
Adad-nirari V came to the throne in 763 B.C.
He
to
in
in
cities.
had
deal with revolts
Asshur
other
Indeed
for the greater part of his reign he seems to have been
to attack Urartu.

his eastern

and southern

to operate instead

frontiers.

kept fully engaged endeavouring to establish his authority

within the Assyrian borders.

The

Syrian provinces re-

gained their independence.

During the

first

four years of his successor Ashur-

THE AGE OF SEMIRAMIS

nirari IV (753-746 B.C.) the army never
Namri was visited in 749-748 B.C., but it

443

left
is

Assyria.
not certain

whether he fought against the Urartians, or the Aramaeans

active during this period of Assyrian
In 746 B.C. a revolt broke out in the city of
decline.
Kalkhi and the king had to leave it.
Soon afterwards he
was
assassinated
and
none of his sons
he
died
perhaps

who had become

came

the

to

known

throne.

to the

Greeks

year

previously Nabu-natsir,

as Nabonassar,

was crowned king

of Babylonia.
Ashur-nirari

somewhat

Egypt

He

like

an

kept

his

IV appears to have been a monarch of

character to the famous Akhenaton of

idealist

army

at

for

whom

war had no

attractions.

home

rose in revolt one after

while his foreign possessions

another.
Apparently he had

dreams of guarding Assyria against attack by means of

He arranged one with a Mesopotamian
treaties of peace.
of
Mati-ilu
Agusi, who pledged himself not to go
king,
to war without the consent of his Assyrian overlord, and
it
is
possible that there were other documents of like
character which have not survived to us.
During his
v
leisure hours the king engaged himself in studious purIn the
suits and made additions to the royal library.
end his disappointed soldiers found a worthy leader in
one of its generals who seized the throne and assumed
the royal name of Tiglath-pileser.
Ashur-nirari IV was the last king of the Middle
Empire of Assyria. He may have been a man of high
character and refinement and worthy of our esteem,
although an unsuitable ruler for a predatory State.

(0642)

31

CHAPTER XIX
Assyria's

of Splendour

Age

Babylonian Campaign Urartian

Tiglath-pileser IV, the Biblical Pul
in North Syria
Battle of Two Kings and Flight of Shard uris
Conquest of Syro-Cappadocian States Hebrew History from Jehu to Mena-

Ambitions

hem

Israel subject to

Urartu's

Assyria

Damascus and Israel subdued

maneser and Hoshea
Sargon deports

Assyria

Baladan King of Babylonia

Power broken Ahaz's Appeal to

Babylonia united to Assyria Shal-

the

Egyptian

"Lost Ten Tribes"

Army

of Allies routed

Merodach
Ahaz and

Isaiah
Frontier Campaigns
Merodach Baladan overthrown Sennacherib
and the Hittite States Merodach Baladan's second and brief Reign Hezekiah and Sennacherib -Destruction of Assyrian Army Sack of Babylon
Esarhaddon A Second Semiramis Raids of Elamites, Cimmerians, Scythians,
and Medes Sack of Sidon Manasseh and Isaiah's Fate Esarhaddon conquers Lower Egypt Revolt of Assyrian Nobles Ashurbanipal.

WE

now

enter

upon the

last

and most

brilliant

phase of

the period of the Third or New

Assyrian
which
flourished Tiglath-pileser IV, the
Empire during
mighty conqueror ; the Shalmaneser of the Bible; "Sargon
civilization

the

Later ",

Israel

who

transported the "lost ten tribes*' of

Sennacherib, the destroyer of Babylon, and Esar-

who made Lower Egypt

an Assyrian province.
also meet with notable figures of Biblical fame, including Ahaz, Hezekiah, Isaiah, and the idolatrous Man-

haddon,

We

asseh.

Tiglath-pileser IV, who deposed Ashur-nirari IV, was

to the Babylonians as Pulu, which, some think,

known

was a term of contempt signifying "wild animal".

the Bible he

is

referred to as Pul, Tiglath-pilneser,

In

and

AGE OF SPLENDOUR

ASSYRIA'S
1

He came

Tiglath-pileser.
the end of April in

We

know nothing

745

445

to the Assyrian throne towards

and reigned until 727 B.C.

B.C.

regarding his origin, but

it

seems

clear

was not of royal descent. He appears to have

been a popular leader of the revolt against Ashur-nirari,
who, like certain of his predecessors, had pronounced
that he

It is significant to note in
pro-Babylonian tendencies.
this connection that the new king was an unswerving
adherent of the cult of Ashur, by the adherents of
which he was probably strongly supported.

Tiglath-pileser

combined

in

equal

measure

those

qualities of generalship and statesmanship which were

necessary for the reorganization of the Assyrian state and
At the beginning of
the revival of its military prestige.
his reign there was much social discontent and suffering.

The

national exchequer had been exhausted by the loss

of tribute from revolting provinces, trade was paralysed,
and the industries were in a languishing condition. Plun-

dering bands of Aramaeans were menacing the western

frontiers and had overrun part of northern Babylonia.

New

political confederacies in Syria kept the north-west

regions in a constant state of unrest, and the now powerful

Urartian kingdom was threatening the Syro-Cappadocian

had dreams of building up a great

world empire on the ruins of that of Assyria.
Tiglath-pileser first paid attention to Babylonia, and
extinguished the resistance of the Aramaeans in Akkad.
He appears to have been welcomed by Nabonassar, who
states as if its rulers

became

and he offered sacrifices in the cities of

Sippar had been
Babylon, Sippar, Cuthah, and Nippur.
as
on
a
occupied by Aramaeans,
previous occasion when
they destroyed the temple of the sun god Shamash which
was restored by Nabu-aplu-iddina of Babylon,
his vassal,

a Kings) xv, 19 and 29$ 9 Cfirdmcfa, xxvi", *O

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

446

Chaldaea, but he
and
impaled King Nabucapital, Sarrabanu,
destroyed
He proclaimed himself " King of Sumer and
ushabshi.
"
Akkad and " King of the Four Quarters ". The frontier
states of Elam and Media were visited and subdued.
Having disposed of the Aramaeans and other raiders,
the Assyrian monarch had next to deal with his most
powerful rival, Urartu. Argistis 1 had been succeeded
by Sharduris III, who had formed an alliance with the
north Mesopotamian king, Mati-ilu of Agusi, on whom
Ere long Sharduris
Ashur-nirari had reposed his faith.
from
southward
Malatia
and
pressed
compelled the north
Hittite
states, including Carchemish, to acknowSyrian
A struggle then ensued between
ledge his suzerainty.
Urartu and Assyria for the possession of the Syro-Cappa-

Tiglath-pileser

did

not

overrun

its

docian states.

At

this time

in the balance.

prestige

the reputation of Tiglath-pileser hung

If he failed in his attack on Urartu, his

would vanish

at

home and abroad and

Sharduris

might, after establishing himself in northern Syria,

Assyria and compel its allegiance.
Two courses lay before Tiglath-pileser.

He

invade
could

mountains and invade Urartu, or strike

north Syria, where the influence of Assyria

either cross the

at his rival in

had been completely extinguished. The latter appeared

him to be the most feasible and judicious procedure,
for if he succeeded in expelling the invaders he would at
to

the same time compel the allegiance of the rebellious

Hittite states.

In the spring of 743 B.C. Tiglath-pileser led his army

across the Euphrates and reached Arpad without meeting
with any resistance.
The city appears to have opened its
gates to

him although

who acknowledged

it

was

in the

Urartian sway.

kingdom of
Its

Mati-ilu,

foreign garrison

o
2

X
2

r*
-4

ASSYRIA'S

AGE OF SPLENDOUR

447

was slaughtered. Well might Sharduris exclaim, in the

words of the prophet, " Where is the king of Arpad ?
where are the gods of Arpad P" 1
Leaving Arpad, Tiglath pileser advanced to meet
Sharduris, who was apparently hastening southward to
attack the Assyrians in the rear.
Tiglath-pileser, however, crossed the Euphrates and, moving northward,

delivered an unexpected attack on the Urartian army in

fierce battle ensued, and one of its draQummukh.

matic incidents was a single combat between the rival

The tide of battle flowed in Assyria's favour, and
kings.

when evening was

the chariots and cavalry of

An attempt was
Urartu were thrown into confusion.
falling

King Sharduris, who leapt from his

and made hasty escape on horseback, hotly pursued in the gathering darkness by an Assyrian contingent
of cavalry.
Not until "the bridge of the Euphrates"
was reached was the exciting night chase abandoned.
Tiglath-pileser had achieved an overwhelming victory
Over
against an army superior to his own in numbers.
of
or
the
slain
taken
while
were
70,000
captive,
enemy
the Urartian camp with its stores and horses and followers
fell into the hands of the
triumphant Assyrians. Tiglathpileser burned the royal tent and throne as an offering to
Ashur, and carried Sharduris's bed to the temple of the
goddess of Nineveh, whither he returned to prepare a
new plan of campaign against his northern rival.
Despite the blow dealt against Urartu, Assyria did

made

to capture

chariot

not immediately regain possession of north Syria.

The
Mati-ilu
either
cherished
that
the
Sharduris
shifty
hope

would recover strength and again invade north Syria, or

that he might himself establish an empire in that region.
Tiglath-pileser had therefore to march westward again.
1

2 Khgij

xviii,

34 and

xix, 13.

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

448

For three years he conducted vigorous campaigns in "the

western land", where he met with vigorous resistance. In
740 B.C. Arpad was captured and Mati-ilu deposed and prob-

Two years later Kullani and Hamath

ably put to death.
and
the
which they controlled were included
districts
fell,
in the

Assyrian empire and governed by

Once
Assyria.
this time.

again

the

Hebrews came

Crown

into

officials.

with

contact

The Dynasty of Jehu had come to an end by

Its fall may not have been unconnected with

the trend of events in Assyria during the closing years

of the Middle Empire.

Supported by Assyria, the kings of Israel had become

powerful and haughty. Jehoash, the grandson of Jehu,
In
had achieved successes in conflict with Damascus.
of
was
the
son
unstable
Amaziah,
Judah
Joash,
strong
enough to lay a heavy hand on Edom, and flushed with

triumph then resolved to readjust his relations with his

overlord, the king of Israel.
Accordingly he sent a communication to Jehoash which contained some proposal
their political relations, concluding with the
offer or challenge, " Come, let us look one another in the
face ".
contemptuous answer was returned.

regarding

Israel sent to Amaziah king of Judah,

in Lebanon sent to the cedar that was
was
saying,
and
in Lebanon, saying, Give thy daughter to my son to wife
there passed by a wild beast that was in Lebanon, and trode down
the thistle.
Thou hast indeed smitten Edom, and thine heart
hath lifted thee up: glory of this, and tarry at home, for why
shouldest thou meddle to thy hurt, that thou shouldest fall, even
thou, and Judah with thee?
But Amaziah would not hear.
Therefore Jehoash king of
Israel went up; and he and Amaziah king of Judah looked one
another in the face at Beth-shemesh [city of Shamash, the sun god],
which belongeth to Judah. And Judah was put to the worse
before Israel and they fled every man to their tents.

Jehoash the king

The

of

thistle that

ASSYRIA'S

AGE OF SPLENDOUR

449

Jehoash afterwards destroyed a large portion of the

and plundered the temple and palace,
1
returning home to Samaria with rich booty and hostages.
wall of Jerusalem

Judah thus remained

a vassal state of Israel's.

Jeroboam, son of Jehoash, had a long and prosperous

About 773 B.C. he appears to have co-operated
reign.
with Assyria and conquered Damascus and Hamath. His
son Zachariah, the last king of the Jehu Dynasty of Israel,
came to the throne in 740 B.C. towards the close of the
Six
of Judah.
reign of Azariah, son of Amaziah, king

months afterwards he was assassinated by Shallum. This

" For
usurper held sway at Samaria for only a month.
Menahem the son of Gadi went up from Tirzah, and
came to Samaria, and smote Shallum the son of Jabcsh
2
in Samaria, and slew him, and reigned in his stead."
Tiglath-pileser was operating successfully in middle
c<
MeniSyria when he had dealings with, among others,
the city of the Samarians ", who
resistance was possible on the part of

himme (Menahem) of

No
paid tribute.
the
Menahem,
usurper,

who was

come the Assyrian conqueror,

probably ready to welby arranging an

so that,

he might secure his own position.

The Biblical
" And Pul the
is as follows
king of Assyria
came against the land and Menahem gave Pul a thou-

alliance,

reference

sand talents of

silver, that his

confirm the

in his

hand might be with him

hand.

And Menahem

to

exacted

kingdom
money of Israel, even of all the mighty men of wealth,
of each man fifty shekels of silver, to give to the king of
the

So the king of Assyria turned back, and stayed

Assyria.
Rezin of Damascus, Hiram of
not there in the land." 3
Tyre, and Zabibi, queen of the Arabians, also sent gifts
Aramaean
to Tiglath-pileser at this time (738 B.C.).
revolts on the borders of Elam were suppressed by
1

2 Kings9 xiv, 1-14.

*2KingS) xv, 1-14.

2 Ktngs,

xv, 19, 20.

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

450

Assyrian governors, and large numbers of the inhabitants

were transported to various places in Syria.
Tiglath-pileser next operated against the Median and
other hill tribes in the north-east. In 735 B.C. he invaded

Urartu, the great Armenian state which had threatened

the supremacy of Assyria in north Syria and Cappadocia.
King Sharduris was unable to protect his frontier or
hamper the progress of the advancing army, which pene-

Dhuspas was soon captured, but

Sharduris took refuge in his rocky citadel which he and

trated to his capital.

had laboured to render impregnable.

might of Assyria, for the
fortress could be approached on the western side alone
by a narrow path between high walls and towers, so that
his

predecessors

There he was

able to defy the

only a small force could find room to operate against the

numerous

garrison.

Tiglath-pileser had to content himself by devastating

He
the city on the plain and the neighbouring villages.

overthrew buildings, destroyed orchards, and transported

to Nineveh those of the inhabitants he had not put to
the sword, with all the live stock he could lay hands
on.

Thus was Urartu

it never
crippled and humiliated
former prestige among the northern states.
:

regained its
In the following year Tiglath-pileser returned to Syria.
The circumstances which made this expedition necessary

on account of its Biblical associations.

of
Menahem, king
Israel, had died, and was succeeded
his
son
Pekahiah.
"But Pekah the son of Remaliah,
by
a captain of his, conspired against him and smote him in
and he
Samaria, in the palace of the king's house,
1
killed him, and reigned in his room."
When Pekah
was on the throne, Ahaz began to reign over Judah.
Judah had taken advantage of the disturbed conditions

are of special interest

2 Kings, xv, 25.

AGE OF SPLENDOUR

ASSYRIA'S

451

The walls of Jeruindependence.

salem were repaired by Jotham, father of Ahaz, and a
Isaiah refers
tunnel constructed to supply it with water.
"
Go forth and meet Ahaz ... at the
to this tunnel
in Israel to assert its

end of the conduit of the upper pool

"

in the

highway of

the fuller's field

(Isaiah, vii, 3).

to deal with a powerful

Pekah had

party in Israel

which favoured the re-establishment of David's kingdom

Their most prominent leader was the proin Palestine.
phet Amos, whose eloquent exhortations were couched in
no uncertain terms. He condemned Israel for its idolatries, and cried
:

For thus saith the Lord unto the house of

and ye shall live. . Have ye offered unto me
.

Israel,

Seek ye me
and offer-

sacrifices

house of Israel ? But ye ha\ e

ings in the wilderness forty years,
borne the tabernacle of your Moloch and Chiun your images, the
1
star of
your god, which ye made to yourselves.

Pekah sought

to

orthodox party's
So he plotted with

the

extinguish

movement by subduing Judah.

Amos

Rezin 3 king of Damascus.

Thus

saith the

...

Lord.

I will

prophesied.

send a

fire

into the house of

Hazael, which will devour the palaces of Ben-hadad. I will break

also the bar of Damascus
and the people of Syria shall go
into captivity unto Kir.
The remnant of the Philistines shall
.

perish.

Tyre,

Edom, and

Ammon

2
also be punished.

would

Judah was completely isolated by the allies who

acknowledged the suzerainty of Damascus. Soon after
Ahaz came to the throne he found himself hemmed in on
every side by adversaries who desired to accomplish his
"At that time Rezin, king of Syria, and Pekah
fall.
.
came up to Jerusalem to war and they besieged
.

Amos>

v.

Amos)

i.

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

452

1
Ahaz, but could not overcome him."
Judah, however,
was overrun; the city of Elath was captured and restored
to Edom, while the Philistines were liberated from the
control of Jerusalem.
Isaiah visited Ahaz and said,

Take

heed, and be quiet; fear not, neither be faint-hearted

tails of these smoking firebrands, for the fierce anger

two

for the

of Rezin with Syria, and of the son of Remaliah.

Because Syria,
Ephraim, and the son of Remaliah, have taken evil counsel
against thee, saying, Let us go up against Judah, and vex it, and
us make a breach therein for us, and set a king in the midst of
even
the son of Tabeal: Thus saith the Lord God, It shall
it,
not stand, neither shall it come to pass. 2

let

The

unstable

Baal, and "made

Ahaz had sought

assistance

from the

his son to pass

through the fire, accordabominations of the heathen". 3 Then he

ing to the
resolved to purchase the sympathy of one of the great
Powers. There was no hope of assistance from cc the fly

of the rivers of Egypt", for

the Ethiopian Pharaohs had not yet conquered the Delta
" the bee that is in the land of
region, so he turned to
4
Assyria".
Assyria was the last resource of the king of
that

is

in the uttermost part

Judah.
So Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria,
saying, I am thy servant and thy son: come up and save me out of
the hand of Syria and out of the hand of the king of Israel, which
rise up against me.
And Ahaz took the silver and gold that was
found

in the

house of the Lord, and in the treasures of the king's

it for a
present to the king of Assyria.

house, and sent

And

the king of Assyria hearkened unto

Assyria went up

people of
1

it

him

against Damascus, and took

6
6
captive to Kir and slew Rezin.

8
*
2 Kings, xvi, 5.
2 Kings, xv,
Isaiah, vii, 3-7.
5 Kir was
probably on the borders of Elam.

it,

for the

4
3.
8

king of

and carried the

Isaiah, vii, 18.

2 Kings,

xvi,

7-9.

ASSYRIA'S

AGE OF SPLENDOUR

453

Tiglath-pileser recorded that Rezin took refuge in his

" a mouse ".
Israel was also dealt with.
city like
In the days of Pekah king of Israel came Tiglath-pileser king
of Assyria, and took Ijon and Abel-beth-maachah, and Janoah
and Kedesh, and Hazor, and Gilead, and Galilee, all the land of
Naphtali, and carried

them

captive to Assyria.

And Hoshea

the

son of Elah made a conspiracy against Pekah the son of Remaliah,

and smote him, and slew him, and reigned in his stead. 1

Tiglath-pileser recorded

"
:

They overthrew Paqaha

(Pekah), their king, and placed Ausi'a (Hoshea) over

He swept through Israel " like a hurricane ".
".

them

The

and the Arabians of the desert were also

subdued. Tribute was sent to the Assyrian monarch by
It was a proud
Phoenicia, Moab, Ammon, and Edom.
Philistines

day for Ahaz when he paid a visit to Tiglath-pileser at

Damascus. 2 An Assyrian governor was appointed to rule
over Syria and its subject states.
Babylon next claimed the attention of Tiglath-pileser.
Nabonassar had died and was succeeded by his son Nabunadin-zeri, who, after reigning for two years, was slain in
a rebellion.
The throne was then seized by Nabu-shumukin, but in less than two months this usurper was
assassinated and the Chaldaeans had one of their chiefs,
Ukinzer, proclaimed king (732 B.C.).
When the Assyrian king returned from Syria in 731
B.C. he invaded Babylonia.
He was met with a stubborn

Ukinzer took refuge

resistance.

in

his

capital,

Shapia,

which held out successfully, although the surrounding

country was ravaged and despoiled. Two years afterwards
Tiglath-pileser returned, captured Shapia, and restored
peace throughout Babylonia.
lon, which opened
1

its

He

was welcomed in Babyand he had himself

gates to him,

2 Kings, xv, 29, 30.

2 KingS)

xvi, IO.

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

454

proclaimed king of Sumer and Akkad.

The

Chaldaeans

paid tribute.
Tiglath-pileser had now reached the height of his
ambition.
had not only extended his empire in the
west from Cappadocia to the river of Egypt, crippled

He

Urartu and pacified

his

eastern

but

brought
union with Babylonia, the mother
land, the home of culture and the land of the ancient
He did not live long, however, to enjoy his final
gods.
triumph, for he died a little over twelve months after he
"took the hands of Bel (Merodach)" at Babylon.
He was succeeded by Shalmaneser V (727-722 B.C.),
who may have been his son, but this is not quite certain.
Little is known regarding his brief reign.
In 725 B.C. he
led an expedition to Syria and Phoenicia.
Several of the
vassal peoples had revolted when they heard of the death
into

Assyria

frontier,

close

of Tiglath-pileser. These included the Phoenicians, the

Philistines, and the Israelites who were intriguing with
either Egypt or Mutsri.

Apparently Hoshea, king of Israel, pretended when the

Assyrians entered his country that he remained friendly.
Shalmaneser, however, was well informed, and made
Hoshea a prisoner. Samaria closed its gates against him
although their king had been dispatched to Assyria.
The Biblical account of the campaign is as follows

"Against him (Hoshea) came up Shalmaneser king of

Assyria and Hoshea became his servant, and gave him
And the king of Assyria found conspiracy in
presents.
Hoshea
for he had sent messengers to So king of
1
and
Egypt,
brought no present to the king of Assyria,
;

In the

Hebrew

text this

Assyrian texts refer to

him

is called
Sua, Seven, and So, says Maspero. The
He has been identified
Sebek, Shibahi, Shabe, &c.

monarch
as

with Pharaoh Shabaka of the Twenty-fifth Egyptian Dynasty j that monarch may have
been a petty king before he founded his Dynasty. Another theory is that he was Seve,

AGE OF SPLENDOUR

ASSYRIA'S

455

he had done year by year ; therefore the king of

Assyria shut him up and bound him in prison.
as

"Then

came up throughout all

Samaria, and besieged it three

the king of Assyria

the land, and went

up

to

i
l

years.

Shalmaneser died before Samaria was captured, and

may have been assassinated. The next Assyrian monarch,
Sargon II (722-705 B.C.), was not related to either of his
two predecessors. He is referred to by Isaiah, 2 and is
the Arkeanos of Ptolemy. He was the Assyrian monarch
who deported the " Lost Ten Tribes".
"In the ninth year of Hoshea" (and the first of
" the
king of Assyria took Samaria, and carried
Sargon)
Israel

away

into Assyria, and placed them in Halah and

the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the

Habor by

in

Medes." 3

In

according to Sargon's record, "27,290

people dwelling in the midst of it (Samaria) I carried
all,

off".
(the Israelites) left all the commandments of the Lord
God, and made them molten images, even two calves, and
made a grove, and worshipped all the host of heaven (the stars),
and served Baal. And they caused their sons and their daughters

They

their

to pass through the fire, and used divination and enchantments,

and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke
him to anger. Therefore the Lord was very angry with Israel,
and removed them out of his sight there was none left but the
:

tribe of

Judah only.

And

the king of Assyria brought men from Babylon, and from

and
from Ava, and from Hamath, and from Sepharvaim,
Cuthah,
and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the children of
and they possessed Samaria, and dwelt in the cities thereof.
Israel
And the men of Babylon made Succoth-benoth, and the men
of Cuth (Cuthah) made Nergal, and the men of Hamath made
:

king of Mutsri, and still another that he was

Delta and not Shabaka.
1

3 King^

xvii,

3-5.

Isatah, xx,

i.

a petty
3

king of an Egyptian state in the

2 Kwgs<>

xvii, 6.

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

456

Ashima, and the Avites made Nibhaz and Tartak, and the Sepharites burnt their children in fire to Adram-melech and Anammelech, the gods of Sepharvaim,

the new settlers were slain by lions, and

of
the king
Assyria ordered that a Samaritan priest should
be sent to " teach them the manner of the God of the

number of

man was evidently an orthodox Hebrew,

them " how they should fear the Lord.
So they feared the Lord ", but also " served their own
This

land".

for he taught

gods
There
.

their
is

graven images'
no evidence to suggest that the
.

"Ten

Lost

Tribes", "regarding whom so many nonsensical theories

have been formed ", were not ultimately absorbed by the

among whom they settled between Mesopotamia

and the Median Highlands. 2 The various sections must
peoples

have soon

lost

touch with one another.

They were not

who were

united like the Jews (the people of Judah),

transported to Babylonia a century and a half

a

common

religious bond,

for although a

later,

by

few remained

Abraham's God, the majority of the Israelites

worshipped either the Baal or the Queen of Heaven.
The Assyrian policy of transporting the rebellious
inhabitants of one part of their empire to another was
intended to break their national spirit and compel them
to become good and faithful subjects amongst the aliens,
who must have disliked them. " The colonists," says
Professor Maspero, "exposed to the same hatred as the
original Assyrian conquerors, soon forgot to look upon
the latter as the oppressors of all, and, allowing their
present grudge to efface the memory of past injuries, did
faithful to

2 Kings,

The

xvii,

16-41.

people carried away would not be the whole of the inhabitants

only, one
would suppose, the more important personages, enough to make up the number 27,290
given above.

COLOSSAL WINGED AND HUMAN-HEADED BULL

AND MYTHOLOGICAL BEING
From doorway

in Palace

of S argon at Khorsabad': now

in British

Museum'

ASSYRIA'S

AGE OF SPLENDOUR

457

not hesitate to make common cause with them.

In time
of peace the (Assyrian) governor did his best to protect
them against molestation on the part of the natives, and
return for this they rallied round him whenever the
threatened to get out of hand, and helped him to
stifle the revolt, or hold it in check until the arrival of

in

latter

reinforcements.

Thanks

consolidated and

maintained without too

outbreaks in regions

far

to their help, the empire

many

removed from the

was

violent

capital,

and

beyond the immediate reach of the sovereign."

While Sargon was absent in the west, a revolt broke
out in Babylonia.
A Chaldaean king, Merodach Baladan
III, had allied himself with the Elamites, and occupied
Babylon. A battle was fought at Dur-ilu and the Elamites
retreated.

Although Sargon swept triumphantly through

the land, he had to leave his rival, the tyrannous Chaldasan,

in possession of the capital, and he reigned there for over
eleven years.
It was apparently
Trouble was brewing in Syria.
fostered by an Egyptian king
probably Bocchoris of Sais,
the sole Pharaoh so far as can be ascertained of the
Twenty-fourth Dynasty, who had allied himself with the
local dynasts of Lower Egypt and apparently sought to
extend his sway into Asia, the Ethiopians being supreme
in Upper Egypt.
An alliance had been formed to cast
off the yoke of Assyria.
The city states involved Arpad,
Hanno of Gaza
Simirra, Damascus, Samaria, and Gaza.
had fled to Egypt after Tiglath-pileser came to the relief
of Judah and broke up the league of conspirators by
capturing Damascus, and punishing Samaria, Gaza, and
other cities.
His return in Sargon's reign was evidently
connected with the new rising in which he took part.
The throne of Hamath had been seized by an adventurer,
1

Pausing of the Empires, pp. 200-1*

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

458

named

Ilu-bi'di, a smith.

The

Philistines of

the Arabians being strongly pro-Egyptian

Ashdod and
in

tendency,

were willing sympathizers and helpers against the hated

Assyrians.

Sargon appeared in the west with a strong army before

allies had matured their
He met the smith
plans.
of
Hamath
in battle at Qarqar, and, having defeated
king
Then he marched southhim, had him skinned alive.
ward.
At Rapiki (Raphia) he routed an army of allies.
Shabi (?So), the Tartan (commander-in-chief) of Pi'ru *
(Pharaoh), King of Mutsri (an Arabian state confused,
" like to a
perhaps, with Misraim = Egypt), escaped
Piru and
shepherd whose sheep have been taken ".
other two southern kings, Samsi and Itamara, afterwards
Hanno of Gaza was transported
paid tribute to Sargon.
to Asshur.
the

In 715 B.C. Sargon, according to his records, appeared

with his army in Arabia, and received gifts in token of
homage from Piru of Mutsri, Samsi of Aribi, and Itamara

of Saba.

Four years later a revolt broke out in Ashdod which

was, it would appear, directly due to the influence of

who had deposed BocAnother league was about to be formed

King Azuri of Ashdod had been deagainst Assyria.
posed because of his Egyptian sympathies by the Assyrian
governor, and his brother Akhimiti was placed on the
throne.
The citizens, however, overthrew Akhimiti, and
an adventurer from Cyprus was proclaimed king (711 B.C.).
It would appear that advances were made by the antiShabaka, the Ethiopian Pharaoh,

choris of Sais.

Those who,

like Breasted, identify

"Piru of Mutsri" with "Pharaoh

of

Egypt"

Piru, however, is subadopt the view that Bocchoris of Sais paid tribute to Sargon.
sequently referred to with two Arabian kings as tiibute payers to Sargon apparently after
Lower Egypt had come under the sway of Shabaka, the first king of the Ethiopian or

Twenty-fifth Dynasty.

ASSYRIA'S
Assyrians to

AGE OF SPLENDOUR

Ahaz of Judah.

459

That monarch was placed

He

knew that if the allies sucin a difficult position.

ceeded in stamping out Assyrian authority in Syria and
Palestine they

would

certainly depose him, but if

on the

other hand he joined them and Assyria triumphed, its

As Babylon
emperor would show him small mercy.
defied Sargon and received the active support of Elam,

and there were rumours of risings in the north, it must

have seemed to the western kings as if the Assyrian
empire was likely once again to go to pieces.
Fortunately for Ahaz he had a wise counsellor at this
time in the great statesman and prophet, the scholarly
The Lord spake by Isaiah saying, " Go and
Isaiah.
loose the sackcloth from off thy loins, and put off thy
shoe from thy foot. And he did so, walking naked and
And the Lord said, Like as my servant Isaiah
barefoot.
hath walked naked and barefoot three years for a sign
and wonder upon Egypt and upon Ethiopia; so shall the
king of Assyria lead away the Egyptians prisoners.
they (the allies) shall be afraid and ashamed of
1
Ethiopia their expectation, and of Egypt their glory."
"
Isaiah warned Ahaz
the
in
.

And

against joining
league,
the year that Tartan 2 came unto Ashdod (when Sargon
The Tartan "fought
the king of Assyria sent him)".

Ashdod and took

According to Sargon's
fled to Arabia, where
he was seized by an Arabian chief and delivered up to
The pro -Egyptian party in Palestine went
Assyria.
under a cloud for a period thereafter.
Before Sargon could deal with Merodach Baladan of
Babylon, he found it necessary to pursue the arduous task
of breaking up a powerful league which had been formed

against

record the Pretender of

against
1

him

in the north.

haiahy xx, 2-5.

(C642)

it".

Ashdod

The Syro-Cappadocian

Commander-in-chief,

haiah^ xx,

Hittite
i.

32

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

460

including Tabal in Asia Minor and Carchemish in

north Syria, were combining for the last time against
Assyria, supported by Mita (Midas), king of the Muskistates,

Phrygians, and
Urartu.

Rusas, son

of Sharduris

III,

king of

Urartu had recovered somewhat from the disasters

which it had suffered at the hands of Tiglath-pileser, and
was winning back portions of its lost territory on the
A buffer state had been
north-east frontier of Assyria.

formed

in that area

by Tiglath-pileser, who had assisted

Mannai to weld together the hill tribesmen between Lake Van and Lake Urmia into an organized

the king of the

ruler, remained faithful to Assyria

and consequently became involved in war with Rusas of

nation.

Iranzu,

its

Urartu, who either captured or won over several cities

of the Mannai.
Iranzu was succeeded by his son Aza,
and this king was so pronounced a pro-Assyrian that his
pro-Urartian subjects assassinated
throne Bagdatti of Umildish.

him and

set

on the

Soon after Sargon began his operations in the north

he captured Bagdatti and had him skinned alive.
The
his
of
was
revolt, however,
brother,
kept flying by
flag
Ullusunu, but ere long this ambitious man found it prudent to submit to Sargon on condition that he would

His
Assyrian vassal.
to
been
due
the
sudden change of policy appears to have
steady advance of the Median tribes into the territory of
retain

the

throne

as

faithful

Sargon conducted a vigorous and successful

campaign against the raiders, and extended Ullusunu's
area of control.
the Mannai.

The way was now

clear

to

Urartu.

In

714

B.C.

Sargon attacked the revolting king of Zikirtu, who was

supported by an army led by Rusas, his overlord.

fierce battle

was fought

in

which the Assyrians achieved

ASSYRIA'S

AGE OF SPLENDOUR

46 1

a great victory.
King Rusas fled, and when he found
that the Assyrians pressed home their triumph by laying

waste the country before them, he committed suicide,

according to the Assyrian records, although those of

Urartu indicate that he subsequently took part

struggle against Sargon.

The Armenian

in the

peoples were

compelled to acknowledge the suzerainty of Assyria, and

the conqueror received gifts from various tribes between

Lake Van and the Caspian Sea, and along the frontiers
from Lake Van towards the south-east as far as the
borders of Elam.

Rusas of Urartu was succeeded by Argistes II, who

He intrigued with
reigned over a shrunken kingdom.
states
neighbouring
against Assyria, but was closely
Ere long he found himself caught between
watched.
two fires. During his reign the notorious Cimmerians
and Scythians displayed much activity in the north and
raided his territory.

The

pressure of fresh infusions of Thraco-Phrygian

tribes into western Asia Minor had stirred Midas of the

Muski

to

co-operate

with

the Urartian

power

in

an

stamp out Assyrian influence in Cilicia, Capparevolt in Tabal in 718 B.C.

docia, and north Syria.
was extinguished by Sargon, but in the following year
attempt to

evidences were forthcoming of a more serious and widePisiris, king of Carchemish, threw off the
spread rising.
Before, however, his allies could hasten
Assyrian yoke.
to his assistance he

who deported

was overcome by the

vigilant Sargon,

a large proportion of the city's inhabitants

and incorporated it in an Assyrian province. Tabal reIn

volted in 713 B.C. and was similarly dealt with.
to
had
be
overcome. The inhabitants
712 B.C. Milid
"
Aramaean peoples settled
were transported, and " Suti
in

their

homes.

The king of Commagene, having

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

462
remained
Finally in

faithful,

709

received large extensions of territory.

Midas of the Muski-Phrygians was

B.C.

compelled to acknowledge the suzerainty of Assyria. The

northern confederacy was thus completely worsted and
broken up. Tribute was paid by many peoples, including
the rulers of Cyprus.

Sargon was now able to deal with Babylonia, which

about twelve years had been ruled by Merodach
Baladan, who oppressed the people and set at defiance
ancient laws by seizing private estates and transferring
them to his Chaldaean kinsmen. He still received the
active support of Elam.
Sargon's fifst move was to interpose his army between
those of the Babylonians and Elamites.
Pushing southAramaeans
on
he
the
the
eastern banks
subdued
ward,
of the Tigris, and drove the Elamites into the mountains.
Then he invaded middle Babylonia from the east. Merodach Baladan hastily evacuated Babylon, and, moving
for

southward, succeeded in evading Sargon's army. Finding

Elam was unable to help him, he took refuge in the
Chaldaean capital, Bit Jakin, in southern Babylonia.

Sargon was visited by the

priests of Babylon and Borand

hailed
as
the
saviour
of the ancient kingdom.
sippa,
He was afterwards proclaimed king at E-sagila, where

he a took the hands of Bel ". Then having expelled the

Aramaeans from Sippar, he hastened southward, attacked
Bit Jakin and captured it.
Merodach Baladan escaped
into Elam.
The whole of Chaldaea was subdued.

Thus "Sargon

the Later*' entered at length into full

possession of the empire of Sargon of

Akkad.

In Baby-

lonia he posed as an incarnation of his ancient namesake,

and had similarly Messianic pretensions which were no

doubt inspired by the Babylonian priesthood.
Under

him Assyria

attained

its

highest

degree of splendour.

ASSYRIA'S

He

AGE OF SPLENDOUR

463

recorded proudly not only his great conquests but

works of public utility: he restored ancient cities,

also his

irrigated vast tracts of country, fostered trade, and promoted the industries. Like the pious Pharaohs of Egypt
he boasted that he fed the hungry and protected the weak

against the strong.

Sargon found time during his strenuous career as a

conqueror to lay out and build a new city, called Dur" the
Sharrukin,
burgh of Sargon ", to the north of
It was completed before he undertook the
Nineveh.
Babylonian campaign. The new palace was occupied in
708 B.C. Previous to that period he had resided principally at Kalkhi, in the restored palace of Ashur-natsirpal III.

He

was a worshipper of many gods. Although he

have restored the supremacy of Asshur "which
had come to an end", he not only adored Ashur but
also revived the ancient triad of Anu, Bel, and Ea, and
" mother-cult " of
fostered the growth of the immemorial
Before he died he appointed one of his sons,
Ishtar.
Sennacherib, viceroy of the northern portion of the
He was either assassinated at a military review
empire.
claimed to

some

or in

frontier war.

following entry in an

Eponymy
According

soldier
killed

As much

eponym

is

suggested by the

list.

of Upahhir-belu, prefect of the city of

to the oracle of the Kulummite(s)
.

Amedu

the camp of the king of Assyria (and

him?), month Ab, day I2th, Sennacherib (sat on

(entered)

the throne). 1

The

fact that

Sennacherib lamented his father's sins

suggests that the old king had in

1

The Old Testament

Babylonia,

in the

T. G. Pinches,

p.

Light of

372.

some manner offended

the Historical Records

and Legends of Assyria and

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

464

Perhaps, like some of the Middle Empire

he
succumbed
to the influence of Babylon
monarchs,
" he
It is stated that
during the closing years of his life.
the priesthood.

was not buried

which suggests that the

were
denied
him, and that his
customary religious
lost soul was supposed to be a wanderer which had to eat
offal and drink impure water like the
ghost of a pauper
in

his house'',
rites

or a criminal.

The

task which lay before Sennacherib (705-680 B.C.)

was to maintain the unity of the great empire of his diswaged minor wars against the
tinguished father.

He

Kassite and

Muski and

Illipi tribes on the Elamite border, and the

Hittite tribes in Cappadocia and Cilicia. The

no longer of any importance, and

been extinguished, for ere the
states could recover from the blows dealt by the Assyrians
the Cimmerian hordes ravaged their territory.
Urartu
was also overrun by the fierce barbarians from the north.
It was one of these last visits of the
Assyrians to Tabal of
the Hittites and the land of the Muski (Meshech) which
the Hebrew prophet referred to in after-time when he
exclaimed
Kassites, however, were
the Hittite power had

Asshur
all

of them

Tubal, and

there and

is

her company: his graves are about him:

There is Meshech,
by the sword.

all

slain, fallen

her multitude: her graves are round about him: all

of them uncircumcised, slain by the sword, though they caused
all

their terror in the land of the living.

(E*ekiely xxxii.)

Sennacherib found that lonians had settled in Cilicia, and

he deported large numbers of them to Nineveh.
The
metal and ivory work at Nineveh show traces of Greek
influence after this period.

A
against

conspiracy was fomented in several states

Sennacherib when the intelligence of Sargon's

great

ASSYRIA'S

AGE OF SPLENDOUR

465

Egypt was concerned in it.

Tirhakah 1 ), the last Pharaoh of the
Ethiopian Dynasty, had dreams of re-establishing Egyptian
supremacy in Palestine and Syria, and leagued himself
with Luli, king of Tyre, Hezekiah, king of Judah, and
death was bruited abroad.

Taharka (the

others.

Biblical

Merodach Baladan> the Chaldaean

king,

whom

Sargon had deposed, supported by Elamites and Aramaeans,

was also a party to the conspiracy. u At that time Merodach Baladan, the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent
And Hezekiah
letters and a present to Hezekiah
was glad of them/' 2
Merodach Baladan again seized the throne of Babylon.
Sargon's son, who had been appointed governor, was
murdered and a pretender sat on the throne for a brief
period, but Merodach Baladan thrust him aside and
reigned for nine months, during which period he busied
himself by encouraging the kings of Judah and Tyre to
revolt.
Sennacherib invaded Babylonia with a strong
army, deposed Merodach Baladan, routed the Chaldaeans
and Aramaeans, and appointed as vassal king Bel-ibni, a
native prince, who remained faithful to Assyria for about
.

three years.
In 707 B.C. Sennacherib appeared in the west.
When
he approached Tyre, Luli, the king, fled to Cyprus. The

was not captured, but much of its territory was ceded

Askalon was afterwards reduced.
At Eltekeh Sennacherib came into conflict with an army
of allies, including Ethiopian, Egyptian, and Arabian
Mutsri forces, which he routed.
Then he captured a
number of cities in Judah and transported 200,150 people.
He was unable, however, to enter Jerusalem, in which
Hezekiah was compelled to remain "like a bird in a cage".
It appears that Hezekiah
"bought off" the Assyrians on

city

to the king of Sidon.

*
^

xxxvii, 9.

Isaiah, xxxix, I, 2.

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

466

occasion with gifts of gold and

silver and
jewels,
and
female
slaves.
costly furniture, musicians,
In 689 B.C. Sennacherib found it necessary to penetrate
Arabia.
Apparently another conspiracy was brewing, for
Hezekiah again revolted. On his return from the south
the
according to Berosus he had been in Egypt
Assyrian king marched against the king of Judah.
this

And when Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib was come, and that
he was purposed to fight against Jerusalem, he took counsel with
the princes and his mighty men to stop the waters of the fountains
which were without the city: and they did help him.
Why
should the kings of Assyria come and find much water ?
.

Sennacherib sent messengers to Jerusalem to attempt

" He wrote also
up the people against Hezekiah.

to stir

letters to rail

on the Lord

God

of

and to speak

Israel,

As

the gods of the nations of other

against him, saying,
lands have not delivered their people out of mine hand,
so shall not the

God

of Hezekiah deliver

his

people out

of mine hand.' 71

Hezekiah sent

his

at the time,

Jerusalem

servants

to

who was

Isaiah,

and the prophet

said to

in

them:

Thus shall ye say to your master. Thus saith the Lord, Be

not afraid of the words which thou hast heard, with which the
servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me.
Behold, I
will send a blast upon him, and he shall hear a rumour, and shall

return to his
in his

own

land; and I will cause

him

to

fall

by the sword

land. 2

own

According to Berosus, the Babylonian priestly historian,

camp of Sennacherib was visited in the night by
swarms of field mice which ate up the quivers and bows
and the (leather) handles of shields. Next morning the
the

army

fled.
1

2 Chronicle^

xxxii,

9-17.

2 L'*njr^ xix,

6, 7.

ASSYRIA'S
The
And

AGE OF SPLENDOUR

Biblical account of the disaster

is

467

as follows:

came to pass that night, that the angel of the Lord

and smote the camp of the Assyrians an hundred and
and five thousand: and when they arose early in the
morning, behold, they were all dead corpses. So Sennacherib king of
1
Assyria departed, and went and returned and dwelt at Nineveh.
it

went

out,
four score

may have broken

out in the camp, the

been
carried
infection, perhaps, having
by field mice.
was
stirred by the vision of the
Byron's imagination
broken army of Assyria.
pestilence

The
And
And

down like a wolf on the fold,

were gleaming with purple and gold ;
the sheen of their spears was like stars of the sea,
When the blue wave rolls nightly on deep Galilee.
Assyrian came
his cohorts

Like the leaves of the forest when summer is green,

host with their banners at sunset were seen;
Like the leaves of the forest when autumn hath blown,
That host on the morrow lay withered and strown.

That

For the Angel of Death spread his wings on the blast,

breathed on the face of the foe as he passed;
the eyes of the sleepers waxed deadly and chill,
their hearts but once heaved
and forever grew still!

And
And
And

And

there lay the steed with his nostril

all

wide,

But through it there rolled not the breath of his pride;

And the foam of his gasping lay white on the turf,

And

cold as the spray of the rock-beating surf.

And

there lay the rider distorted and pale,

the dew on his brow, and the rust on his mail;
the tents were all silent
the banners alone

With

And
The
And
And

the trumpet unblown.

lances uplifted

the

widows of Asshur

are loud in their wail,

the idols are broke in the temple of Baal;

1

2 Kings,

xix, 35, 36.

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

468

And

the might of the Gentile, unsmote by the sword,

like snow in the glance of the Lord.

Hath melted

Before this disaster occurred Sennacherib had to invade

Babylonia again, for the vassal king, Bel-ibni, had allied

himself with the Chaldaeans and raised the standard of

The

of Babylon was besieged and captured,

and its unfaithful king deported with a number of nobles
Old Merodach Baladan was concerned in the
to Assyria.
revolt.

city

and took refuge on the Elamite coast, where the

Chaldaeans had formed a colony.
He died soon after-

plot

wards.

Sennacherib operated in southern Babylonia and invaded Elam. But ere he could return to Assyria he was

opposed by a strong army of

including Babylonians,
Elamites, and Persians, led by
A desperate battle
son of Merodach Baladan.
allies,

Chaldaeans, Aramaeans,

Samunu,

was fought. Although Sennacherib claimed a victory, he

was unable to follow it up. This was in 692 B.C. A Chaldaean

named Mushezib-Merodach

seized the Babylonian

throne.
In 691 B.C. Sennacherib again struck a blow for Baby-

but was unable to depose Mushezib-Merodach.

His opportunity came, however, in 689 B.C. Elam had
been crippled by raids of the men of Parsua (Persia),
lonia,

and was unable

of Babylon.

with the Chaldaean king

Sennacherib captured the great commercial
to co-operate

Mushezib-Merodach prisoner, and dishim

to
Nineveh.
Then he wreaked his vengeance
patched
on Babylon. For several days the Assyrian soldiers looted
the houses and temples, and slaughtered the inhabitants
without mercy.
E-sagila was robbed of its treasures,
metropolis, took

images of deities were either broken in pieces or sent to

Nineveh: the statue of Bel-Merodach was dispatched to

Photo. Alan sen

f-

ASSAULT ON THE CITY OF ...ALAMMU (? JERUSALEM)

HY THE ASSYRIANS UNDER SENNACHERIB
The

besieging archers are protected by wicker screens

Marble Slab from

Kouyutijik {Nineveh}:

now

in British

Museum

ASSYRIA'S
Asshur so

who were

that he

AGE OF SPLENDOUR

469

might take his place among the gods

" The
city and its houses,"
" from foundation to
I de-

vassals of Ashur.

Sennacherib recorded,
stroyed them, I demolished them,

roof,

burned them with

fire
sacred
walls, gateways,
chapels, and the towers of
earth and tiles, I laid them low and cast them into the
Arakhtu." 1
" So
thorough was Sennacherib's destruction of the
I

689 B.C.," writes Mr. King, "that after several

years of work, Dr. Koldewey concluded that all traces
of earlier buildings had been destroyed on that occasion.
More recently some remains of earlier strata have been
recognized, and contract-tablets have been found which
date from the period of the First Dynasty.
Moreover,
a number of earlier pot-burials have been unearthed, but
city in

a careful examination of the greater part of the ruins has

added little to our knowledge of this most famous city

before the Neo-Babylonian period." 2

It

is

possible that Sennacherib desired to supplant

as a commercial metropolis by Nineveh.

Babylon
extended and

He

fortified that city,

surrounding

it

with two

walls protected by moats.

According to Diodorus, the
walls were a hundred feet high and about fifty feet wide.
Excavators have found that at the gates they were about

The water supply of the

hundred feet in breadth.
city was ensured by the construction of dams and canals,
and strong quays were erected to prevent flooding.
Sennacherib repaired a lofty platform which was isolated
by a canal, and erected upon it his great palace. On
another platform he had an arsenal built.
Sennacherib's palace was the most magnificent building
It was
of its kind ever erected by an Assyrian emperor.
a

Smith-Sayce, History of Stnnachetib, pp. 132-5.

History of Sumer and Akkad, p. 37.

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

470

lavishly decorated,
at its highest pitch

and

its

bas-reliefs

of excellence.

The

display native art

literary

remains of

the time also give indication of the growth of culture: the

It is
inscriptions are distinguished by their prose style.

evident that
in Assyria.

men of culture and refinement were numerous

The royal library of Kalkhi received many

additions during the reign of the destroyer of Babylon.

Like his father, Sennacherib died a violent death.

According to the Babylonian Chronicle he was slain in

"
a revolt by his son " on the twentieth day of Tebet
The revolt continued from the " 2oth of
(680 B.C.).
"
Tebet (early in January) until the 2nd day of Adar (the
middle of February). On the i8th of Adar, Esarhaddon,
son of Sennacherib, was proclaimed king.
Berosus states that Sennacherib was murdered by two
of his sons, but Esarhaddon was not one of the conThe Biblical reference is as follows " Sennaspirators.
dwelt at Nineveh.
And it came to pass, as
cherib
he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch (PAshur) his
god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer (Ashur-shar-etir)
his sons smote him with the sword
and they escaped
into the land of Armenia (Urartu).
And Esarhaddon
:

"

son reigned in his stead.

Ashur-shar-etir appears
to have been the claimant to the throne.
his

Esarhaddon (680-668 B.C.) was a man of different type

from his father. He adopted towards vassal states a policy
of conciliation, and did much to secure peace within the
empire by his magnanimous treatment of rebel kings who
had been intimidated by their neighbours and forced to
entwine themselves in the meshes of intrigue.
His wars
were directed mainly to secure the protection of outlying
provinces against aggressive raiders.
The monarch was strongly influenced by his mother,
Naki'a, a Babylonian princess who appears to have been

ASSYRIA'S

AGE OF SPLENDOUR

as distinguished a lady as

Indeed,

it

is

the famous

471

Sammu-rammat.

possible that traditions regarding her con-

tributed to the Semiramis legends.

But it was not only
due to her that Esarhaddon espoused the cause of the

He appears to be identical with

pro-Babylonian party.
the Axerdes of Berosus, who ruled over the southern
Apparently he had been apafter the destruction of
Sennacherib
pointed governor by
that
it
be
and
during his term of office in
may
Babylon,

kingdom

for eight years.

Babylonia he was attracted by its ethical ideals, and developed those traits of character which distinguished him

from

his

father

lonian princess,

and grandfather. He married a Babyand one of his sons, Shamash-shum-ukin,

was born in a Babylonian palace, probably at Sippar. He

was a worshipper of the mother goddess Ishtar of Nineveh
and Ishtar of Arbela, and of Shamash, as well as of the
national god Ashur.
As soon as Esarhaddon came to the throne he undertook the restoration of Babylon, to which many of the
In three years the city
inhabitants were drifting back.
resumed its pre-eminent position as a trading and industrial centre.
Withal, he won the hearts of the natives
by expelling Chaldaeans from the private estates which
they had seized during the Merodach-Baladan regime,
and restoring them to the rightful heirs.
A Chaldaean revolt was inevitable. Two of Merodach
Baladan's sons gave trouble in the south, but were routed
in battle.
One fled to Elarn, where he was assassinated
the other sued for peace, and was accepted by the diplomatic Esarhaddon as a vassal king.
Its Ethiopian
Egypt was intriguing in the west.
Taharka
Biblical
had
stirred up
(the
Tirhakah)
king,
An
Hezekiah to revolt during Sennacherib's reign.
" heard
who
had
ambassador
visited
Jerusalem
Assyrian
;

472

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

He sent messengers to
Let not thy God, in whom thou
trustest, deceive thee saying, Jerusalem shall not be given
into the hand of the king of Assyria.
Behold, thou hast
heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands
by destroying them utterly; and shalt thou be delivered?
Have the gods of the nations delivered them which my
fathers have destroyed, as Gozan, and Haran, and Rezeph,
and the children of Eden which were in Telassar ? Where
is the
king of Hamath, and the king of Arphad, and the
of
the city of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivah?" 1
king
Sidon was a party to the pro-Egyptian league which had
been formed in Palestine and Syria.
Early in his reign Esarhaddon conducted military
operations in the west, and during his absence the queenmother Naki'a held the reins of government. The Elamites regarded this innovation as a sign of weakness, and
invaded Babylon.
Sippar was plundered, and its gods
say concerning Tirhakah.

Hezekiah saying

carried away.

The

Assyrian governors, however, ultimately repulsed the Elamite king, who was deposed soon
after he returned home.
His son, who succeeded him,
restored the stolen gods, and cultivated good relations
with Esarhaddon,
There was great unrest in Elam at
this period: it suffered greatly from the inroads of Median

and Persian pastoral fighting folk.

In the north the Cimmerians and Scythians, who were
constantly warring against Urartu, and against each other,
had spread themselves westward and east. Esarhaddon
drove Cimmerian invaders out of Cappadocia, and they

swamped Phrygia.
The Scythian peril on the
however, of more pronounced
mountaineers had

allied
1

north-east frontier was,

character.

The

fierce

themselves with Median tribes

Isaiah^ xxxvii, 8-13.

ASSYRIA'S

AGE OF SPLENDOUR

473

and overrun the buffer State of the Mannai. Both Urartu

and Assyria were sufferers from the brigandage of these
Esarhaddon's generals, however, were able to deal
allies.
with the situation, and one of the notable results of the
pacification of the north-eastern area was the conclusion
of an alliance with Urartu.

The most serious situation with which the emperor

had to deal was in the west. The King of Sidon, who
had been so greatly favoured by Sennacherib, had espoused
the Egyptian cause.
He allied himself with the King of
Cilicia, who, however, was unable to help him much.
Sidon was besieged and captured; the royal allies escaped,
but a few years later were caught and beheaded.
The
famous seaport was destroyed, and its vast treasures deEsarhaddon replaced
ported to Assyria (about 676 B.C.).
it
a
called
new
Kar-Esarhaddon, which formed the
city
by
nucleus of the

new

Sidon.

believed that Judah and other disaffected States

were dealt with about this time.
Manasseh had sucIt is

Jerusalem when but a boy of twelve

appears to have come under the influence of

ceeded Hezekiah
years.

He

at

heathen teachers.
For he built up again the high places which Hezekiah his
father had destroyed; and he reared up altars for Baal, and made a
grove, as did Ahab king of Israel ; and worshipped all the host of

And he built altars for all the host

heaven, and served them.
of heaven in the two courts of the house of the Lord.
And he
.

made

through the fire, and observed times, and used

and
dealt with familiar spirits and wizards: he
enchantments,
much
wickedness
in the sight of the Lord, to provoke
wrought
him to anger. And he set a graven image of the grove that he
had made in the house, of which the Lord said to David, and to
Solomon his son, In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have
his son pass

chosen out of

all

tribes of Israel, will I put

1

2 Kings,

xxi, 3-7.

my name

for ever,

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

474
Isaiah

ceased to prophesy after Manasseh came to

According to Rabbinic traditions he was

the throne.
seized

by

his

enemies and enclosed

in the

hollow trunk

which was sawn through.

Other orthodox
" Manasseh
to have been slain also.
shed innocent blood very much, till he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another/ 11
It is possible that
there is a reference to Isaiah's fate in an early Christian
lament regarding the persecutions of the faithful "Others
had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover
of bonds and imprisonment they were stoned, they were
sawn asunder^ were tempted, were slain with the sword ". 2
There is no Assyrian evidence regarding the captivity of
Manasseh. " Wherefore the Lord brought upon them
of a

tree,

teachers appear

(the people of Judah) the captains of the host of the king

of Assyria, which took Manasseh among the thorns, and
bound him with fetters, and carried him to Babylon.
And when he was in affliction, he besought the Lord his
God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his
and he was intreated of
fathers, and prayed unto him
his
and
heard
him,
supplication, and brought him again
:

"3
It was, however, in
to Jerusalem into his kingdom.
keeping with the policy of Esarhaddon to deal in this
The Assyrian records
manner with an erring vassal.

include Manasseh of Judah (Menas6 of the city of Yaudu)

with the kings of Edom, Moab, Ammon, Tyre, Ashdod,
"
"
as
Gaza, Byblos, &c., and
twenty-two kings of Khatti
of
their
Hazael
to
overlord.
tribute
Esarhaddon,
payers

of Arabia was conciliated by having restored to him his

gods which Sennacherib had carried away.
Egypt continued to intrigue against Assyria, and Esar1

a Kings,

*2

xxi,

6.

Hebrews, xi, 36, 37.

may be that Manasseh was taken to Babylon during
See next chapter.

Chronicle^ xxxiii, 11-3.

Ashur-bani-pal's reign.

It

AGE OF SPLENDOUR

ASSYRIA'S
haddon resolved

475

to deal effectively with Taharka, the last

Ethiopian Pharaoh.
suffered a reverse

afterwards (673

In 674 B.C. he invaded Egypt, but

and had to retreat. Tyre revolted soon

B.C.).

Esarhaddon, however, made elaborate preparations for

his next campaign.
In 671 B.C. he went westward with
A detachment advanced to
a much more powerful army.
main
force meanwhile pushed
invested
and
The
it.
Tyre
on, crossed the Delta frontier, and swept victoriously as
south as Memphis, where Taharka suffered a crushing
That great Egyptian metropolis was then occupied
and plundered by the soldiers of Esarhaddon. Lower

far

defeat.

Egypt became an Assyrian province; the various petty

kings, including Necho of Sais, had set over them Assyrian
governors.

Tyre was

also captured.

When

he returned home Esarhaddon erected at the

1
Syro-Cappadocian city of Singirli a statue of victory, which
On this memorial the
the Berlin museum.
is now in
"
"
of
of
the
Egypt is depicted as a
kings
King
Assyrian
With one hand he pours out an oblation to a god;
giant.
in the other he grasps his sceptre and two cords attached
to rings, which pierce the lips of dwarfish figures representing the Pharaoh Taharka of Egypt and the unfaithful

King of Tyre.
In 668 B.C. Taharka, who had fled to Napata in
Ethiopia, returned to Upper Egypt, and began to stir up
Esarhaddon planned out another expedition, so
revolts.
that he

by

might shatter the last vestige of power possessed

But before he left home he found it neces-

his rival.

sary to set his

During

who

kingdom

from home the old Assyrian party,

emperor because of Babylonian sym-

his absence

disliked the

pathies,

in order.

had been intriguing regarding the succession to

1

Pronounce g

as in

gem,

33

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

476

According to the Babylonian Chronicle, "the

king remained in Assyria" during 669 B.C., "and he slew
with the sword many noble men".
Ashur-bani-pal was
the throne.

evidently concerned in the conspiracy, and it is significant

on behalf of certain of the con-

to find that he pleaded

The crown

spirators.

prince Sinidinabal was dead: per-

haps he had been assassinated.

At the feast of the goddess Gula (identical with Bau,
consort of Ninip), towards the end of April, in 668 B.C.,

Esarhaddon divided his empire between two of his sons.

Ashur-bani-pal was selected to be King of Assyria, and
Shamash-shum-ukin to be King of Babylon and the vassal
of Ashur-banipal. Other sons received important priestly
appointments.

Soon
haddon,

arrangements were completed Esarwas suffering from bad health, set out for

after these

who

He

died towards the end of October, and the

early incidents of his campaign were included in the
records of Ashur-bani-pal's reign.
Taharka was defeated

Egypt.

Memphis, and retreated southward to Thebes.

So passed away the man who has been eulogized as
"the noblest and most sympathetic figure among the
There was certainly much which was
Assyrian kings ".
at

attractive in his character.

He

inaugurated

many

social

reforms, and appears to have held in check his overbearTrade flourished during his reign. He did
ing nobles.

not undertake the erection of a

but

new

city, like his father,

won

the gratitude of the priesthood by his activities

He founded a new
as a builder and restorer of temples.

"house of Ashur"
temples in
last

Nineveh, and reconstructed several

His son Ashur-bani-pal was the
Babylonia.
at

great Assyrian ruler,

CHAPTER XX
The

Last Days of Assyria and Babylonia

Doom

Babylonian Monotheism

of Nineveh and Babylon

Ashur-bani-

Ceremony of "Taking the Hands oT

Assyrian Invasion of Egypt and Sack
of Thebes Lydia's Appeal to Assyria Elam subdued
Revolt of Babylon
Death of Babylonian King Sack of Susa Psamtik of Egypt Cimmerian*

pal and his Brother, King of Babylon

Bel" Merodach restored to E-sagila

crushed
Ashur-bani-pal's Literary Activities The Sardanapalus Legend
Last Kings of Assyria
Fall of Nineveh
The New Babylonian Empire
Necho of Egypt expelled from Syria King Jehoaikin of Judah deposed
Fall of Jerusalem and Hebrew Captivity
Zedekiah's Revolt and Punishment

Jeremiah laments over Jerusalem

The

Rise of Cyrus the Conqueror

Babylonia's Last Independent King

Persian Patriarch and Eagle Legend

Cyrus conquers Lydia Fall of Babylon

from Cyrus to Alexander the Great.

THE

Jews return to Judah

Babylon

burden of Nineveh .
The Lord is slow to anger, and
the Lord
great in power, and will not at all acquit the wicked
hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds
.

are the dust of his feet.

and drieth up

all

He

the rivers

rebuketh the sea, and maketh it dry,

Bashan languished!, and Carmel, and

He that dasheth in pieces

Lebanon languisheth.
The gates of the rivers shall be
before thy face.
And Huzzab shall be
opened, and the palace shall be dissolved.
led away captive, she shall be brought up, and her maids shall lead
the flower of

is

come up

her as with the voice of doves, tabering upon their breasts.

Draw thee waters for the siege, fortify thy strong holds go into
.

clay, and
shall the fire

tread the morter,

make

There

strong the brick-kiln.

devour thee; the sword shall cut thee off.

Thy
shepherds slumber,
king of Assyria: thy nobles shall dwell in
the dust: thy people is scattered upon the mountains, and no man
There is no healing of thy bruise; thy wound
gathereth them.
.

is

grievous:

all

that hear the bruit of thee shall clap the hands

477

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

478
over thee
tinually

For

upon

whom

The doom

of Babylon was also foretold:

Come down, and sit

stoopeth.
of
Babylon, sit on the ground:
virgin daughter
the
of
Chaldeans.
no throne,
Stand now
daughter

Bel boweth down,

Nebo

in the dust,

there

hath not thy wickedness passed con*

is

with thine enchantments, and with the multitude of thy sorceries,

wherein thou hast laboured from thy youth; if so be thou shalt be
Thou art wearied in
able to profit, if so be thou mayest prevail.

Let now the astrologers, the starthe multitude of thy counsels.

gazers, the monthly prognosticates, stand up, and save thee from
these things that shall come upon thee.
Behold, they shall be as

Thus shall they be unto

thou hast laboured, even thy merchants, from
thy youth: they shall wander every one to his quarter; none shall

stubble

the fire shall burn them.

thee with

whom

2
save thee.

Against a gloomy background, dark and ominous as

a thundercloud, we have revealed in the last century of

Mesopotamia!! glory the splendour of Assyria and the

The ancient civilizations ripened
beauty of Babylon.
Kings still revelled in
quickly before the end came.
Cities
resounded
and
with " the noise of
luxury.
pomp
a whip, and the noise of the rattling of the wheels, and
of the pransing horses, and of the jumping chariots. The

horseman

lifteth

up both the bright sword and the

glitter-

3
valiant men are in scarlet/'
But
ing spear.
the minds of cultured men were more deeply occupied
.

The

than ever with the mysteries of

life

and

creation.

In the

temples, and observatories, philosophers and

were shattering the unsubstantial fabric of immemorial superstition
they attained to higher conceptions of the duties and responsibilities of mankind ; they

librarieSj the

scientists

i,

ii,

and
3

iii.

Nahuni)

2
iii,

Isaiah, xivi, I; xlvii, 1-15.

2,

3*,

ii,

3.

THE LAST DAYS OF

ASSYRIA

479

conceived of divine love and divine guidance; they discovered, like Wordsworth, that the soul has

An

Of possible

obscure sense

sublimity, whereto
faculties she doth aspire.

With growing

One of the last kings of Babylon, Nebuchadrezzar,

recorded a prayer which reveals the loftiness of religious
thought and feeling attained by men to whom graven
images were no longer worthy of adoration and reverence
men whose god was not made by human hands
Lord of

eternal prince!

all

being!

Whose

king whom thou lovest, and

name thou hast proclaimed

As was

pleasing to thee,

As

for the

Do

thou lead aright

Guide him

his life,

in a straight path*

1 am the prince, obedient to

The creature of thy hand;
Thou hast created me, and

With dominion

Thou

over

hast entrusted

all

people

me.

to thy grace,
Lord,
thou dost bestow on

According

Which

thee,

All people,

Cause

And
The
And

me

to love thy

create in

my

supreme dominion,

heart

worship of thy godhead

grant whatever is pleasing to thee,
Because thou hast fashioned my life. 1

The " star-gazers

"

had become

scientists, and foretold

of
intellectual
every sphere
eclipses
activity great
men were sifting out truth from the debris of superstition.
It seemed as if Babylon and Assyria were about to cross
:

in

Goodtpced'i

Hittory of th

Babylonians and Assyrians,

p.

348,

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

480

new age, when their doom was sounded

was
shattered for ever. Nineveh perished
power
with dramatic suddenness: Babylon died of" senile decay ".
When, in 668 B.C., intelligence reached Nineveh that
Esarhaddon had passed away, on the march through
Egypt, the arrangements which he had made for the succession were carried out smoothly and quickly.
Naki'a,
the queen mother, was acting as regent, and completed
the threshold of a

and

their

her lifework by issuing a proclamation exhorting all loyal

subjects and vassals to obey the new rulers, her grandsons,

Ashur-bani-pal, Emperor of Assyria, and Shamash-shumPeace prevailed in the capital,

ukin, King of Babylon.
and there was little or no friction throughout the pro-

new rulers were appointed to administer the States

Arvad and Ammon, but there were no changes else-

vinces:

of

where.

Babylon welcomed its new king a Babylonian by

and the son of a Babylonian princess. The ancient
kingdom rejoiced that it was no longer to be ruled as a
province; its ancient dignities and privileges were being
But one great and deep-seated grievpartially restored.
ance remained.
The god Merodach was still a captive in
the temple of Ashur.
No king could reign aright if
Merodach were not restored to E-sagila. Indeed he
could not be regarded as the lord of the land until he
had "taken the hands of Bel".
The ceremony of taking the god's hands was an act
of homage.
When it was consummated the king became
the steward or vassal of Merodach, and every day he
appeared before the divine one to receive instructions and
worship him. The welfare of the whole kingdom depended on the manner in which the king acted towards
the god. If Merodach was satisfied with the king he sent
if he was
blessings to the land
angry he sent calamities.

birth

THE LAST DAYS OF

A pious

and

faithful

ASSYRIA

481

monarch was therefore the protector

of the people.
This close association of the king with the god gave
the priests great influence in Babylon.
They were the

power behind the throne. The

house were placed in their hands

destinies

of the royal

;
they could strengthen
the position of a royal monarch, or cause him to be deking who
posed if he did not satisfy their demands.
the
without
over
priestly party on his
reigned
Babylon

side occupied an insecure position.

Nor could he

secure

the co-operation of the priests unless the image of the

god was placed in the temple. Where king was, there

Merodach had to be also.

Shamash-shum-ukin pleaded with his royal brother
and overlord to restore Bel Merodach to Babylon. Ashurbani-pal hesitated for a time; he was unwilling to occupy
a less dignified position, as the representative of Ashur,
than his distinguished predecessor, in his relation to the

At

length, however, he was prevailed

upon to consult the oracle of Shamash, the solar lawgiver,
The god was accordingly asked
the revealer of destiny.
" take the hands of Bel " in
if Shamash-shum-ukin could

southern kingdom.

Ashur's temple, and then proceed to Babylon as his repreIn response, the priests of Shamash informed
sentative.
the emperor that Bel Merodach could not exercise sway
as sovereign lord so long as he remained a prisoner in a
city which was not his own.

Ashur-bani-pal accepted the verdict, and then visited

Ashur's temple to plead with Bel Merodach to return to
"Let thy thoughts'*, he cried, "dwell in
Babylon.

Babylon, which in thy wrath thou didst bring to naught.

Let thy face be turned towards E-sagila, thy lofty and

Return to the city thou hast deserted for

divine temple.
Merodach lord of the
a house unworthy of thee.

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

482
gods,

issue

thou

the

command

to

return

again

to

Babylon.

Thus

did Ashur-bani-pal make pious and dignified

submission to the will of the priests.
favourable reof
from
received
Merodach
when
was,
course,
sponse

addressed by the emperor, and the god's image was carried

back to E-sagila, accompanied by a strong force. Ashurbani-pal and Shamash-shum-ukin led the procession of
priests

and

served

at

soldiers,

and elaborate ceremonials were ob-

each city they passed, the

local

gods being

do homage to Merodach.
welcomed
the deity who was thus restored
Babylon

carried forth to

to his temple after the lapse of about a quarter of a

century, and the priests celebrated with unconcealed satis-

and pride the ceremony at which Shamash-shumukin " took the hands of Bel ". The public rejoicings
were conducted on an elaborate scale. Babylon believed
that a new era of prosperity had been inaugurated, and
the priests and nobles looked forward to the day when
the kingdom would once again become free and independent and powerful.
faction

Ashur-bani-pal (668-626

made arrangements to
His
regarding Egypt.

B.C.)

complete his father's designs

Tartan continued the campaign, and Taharka, as has been
The beaten Pharaoh
stated, was driven from Memphis.
returned to Ethiopia and did not again attempt to expel
the Assyrians.
He died in 666 B.C. It was found that
some of the petty kings of Lower Egypt had been intriguing with Taharka, and their cities were severely dealt
with.
Necho of Sais had to be arrested, among others,
but was pardoned after he appeared before Ashur-bani-pal,

and sent back to Egypt as the Assyrian governor.

Tanutamon, a son of Pharaoh Shabaka, succeeded
Taharka, and in 663 B.C. marched northward from Thebes

THE LAST DAYS OF

with a strong

army.

He

ASSYRIA

captured

Memphis.

483
It

is

Necho was

slain, and Herodotus relates that his

In 66 1 B.C. Ashurson Psamtik took refuge in Syria.
bani-pal's army swept through Lower Egypt and expelled
Tanutamon fled southward, but on this
the Ethiopians.
occasion the Assyrians followed up their success, and
Its
besieged and captured Thebes, which they sacked.
nobles were slain or taken captive.
to
the
According
prophet Nahum, who refers to Thebes as No (Nu-Amon
= city of Amon), " her young children also were dashed
in pieces at the top of all the streets: and they (the
Assyrians) cast lots for her honourable men, and all her
1
Thebes never again
great men were bound in chains'
Its treasures were transported to
recovered its prestige.
Nineveh. The Ethiopian supremacy in Egypt was finally
extinguished, and Psamtik, son of Necho, who was

believed

appointed the Pharaoh, began to reign as the vassal of

Assyria.

When
Asia

the kings on the seacoasts of Palestine and

Minor found

that

they could no longer look to

Egypt for help, they resigned themselves to the inevitable,

and ceased to intrigue against Assyria. Gifts were sent to
Ashur-bani-pal by the kings of Arvad, Tyre, Tarsus, and
Tabal. The Arvad ruler, however, was displaced, and his

But the most extraordinary deto Nineveh of emissaries from

was
the
visit
velopment
who
of
Lydia,
figures in the legends of
Gyges, king
This monarch had been harassed by the CimGreece.
son set on his throne.

merians after they accomplished the fall of Midas of

Phrygia in 676 B.C., and he sought the help of AshurIt is not known whether the Assyrians operated
the
Cimmerians in Tabal, but, as Gyges did not
against
send tribute, it would appear that he held his own with

bani-pal.

hum)

iii,

8-n.

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

484

the aid of mercenaries from the State of Caria in south-

western Asia Minor.

The Greeks of

Cilicia,

and the

Achaeans and Phoenicians of Cyprus remained faithful to

Assyria.

Elam gave trouble in 665 B.C. by raiding Akkad, but

army repulsed the invaders at Dur-ilu and
on
to
The Elamites received a crushing
Susa.
pushed

the Assyrian

defeat in a battle on the banks of the River Ula.

Teumman was
placed on his

King
and a son of the King of Urtagu was
throne.
Elam thus came under Assyrian
slain,

sway.

The most

surprising and sensational conspiracy against

Ashur-bani-pal was fomented by his brother Shamashshum-ukin of Babylon, after the two had co-operated
No doubt the priestly party
peacefully for fifteen years.

were deeply concerned in the movement, and

the king may have been strongly influenced by the fact
that Babylonia was at the time suffering from severe
depression caused by a series of poor harvests. Merodach,
it was
according to the priests, was angry
probably
that
the
he
because
was
punishing
people
argued
they
had not thrown off the yoke of Assyria.
at E-sagila

The temple
upon

drawn
Ere Ashur-

treasures of Babylon were freely

to purchase the allegiance of allies.

bani-pal had any knowledge of the conspiracy his brother

had won over several governors in Babylonia, the Chaldaeans, Aramaeans and Elamites, and many petty kings in
Palestine and Syria: even Egypt and Libya were prepared
to help him.
When, however, the faithful governor of

Ur was

approached, he communicated with his superior

Erech, who promptly informed Ashur-bani-pal of the
The intelligence reached Nineveh like
great conspiracy.
at

a bolt from the blue.

The

with sorrow and anguish.

emperor's heart was filled

In after-time he lamented in

THE LAST DAYS OF

an inscription that his " faithless
"
favours he had shown him.

ASSYRIA
brother

"

485

forgot

the

Outwardly with his

lips

he spoke friendly things, while inwardly his heart plotted

murder."
In 652

B.C.

Shamash-shum-ukin
to

by forbidding Ashur-bani-pal
gods in the cities of Babylonia.

precipitated the crisis

make offerings to the

He

thus declared his

independence.
War broke out simultaneously. Ur and Erech were
besieged and captured by the Chaldseans, and an Elamite

army marched

to the aid of the King of Babylon, but it

was withdrawn before long on account of the unsettled
The Assyrian armies swept
political conditions at home.
and
in the south were
the
Chaldaeans
through Babylonia,
before
completely subjugated
Babylon was captured.
That great commercial metropolis was closely besieged
for three years, and was starved into submission.
When
the Assyrians were entering the city gates a sensational

Shamash-shum-ukin, the rebel king,

happening occurred.

shut himself up in his palace and set fire to it, and

perished there amidst the flames with his wife and chil-

Ashur-bani-pal was
1
in 647 B.C. proclaimed King Kandalanu of Babylon, and
reigned over it until his death in 626 B.C.

dren, his slaves and

all his

treasures.

Elam was severely dealt with. That unhappy country

was terribly devastated by Assyrian troops, who besieged
and captured Susa, which was pillaged and wrecked. It
was recorded afterwards as a great triumph of this campaign that the statue of Nana of Erech, which had been
carried off by Elamites 1635 years previously, was recovered and restored to the ancient Sumerian city. Elam's
power of resistance was finally extinguished, and the
country fell a ready prey to the Medes and Persians, who
1

Ptolemy's Kincladanu*.

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

486

soon entered into possession of it. Thus, by destroying

a buffer State, Ashur-bani-pal strengthened the hands of
the people who were destined twenty years after his death
to destroy the Empire of Assyria.
The western allies of Babylon were also dealt with,

and

it

may be

that at this time

Manasseh of Judah was

taken to Babylon (2 Chronicles , xxxiii, 1 i), where, howThe Medes and the Mannai in
ever, he was forgiven.
the north-west were visited and subdued, and a

new

alli-

ance was formed with the dying State of Urartu.

Psamtik of Egypt had thrown off the yoke of Assyria,

and with the assistance of Carian mercenaries received
from his ally, Gyges, king of Lydia, extended his sway

He made

southward.
a princess of

its

royal

peace with Ethiopia by marrying

line.

Gyges must have weakened

army by thus assisting Psamtik, for he was severely

defeated and slain by the Cimmerians.
His son, Ardys,
his

appealed to Assyria for help.

Ashur-bani-pal dispatched
an army to Cilicia. The joint operations of Assyria and
Lydia resulted in the extinction of the kingdom of the
Cimmerians about 645 B.C.
The records of Ashur-bani-pal cease after 640 B.C.,
so that

during

we

are unable to follow the events of his reign

its last

fourteen years.

Apparently peace prevailed

The

everywhere.
great monarch, who was a pronounced
adherent of the goddess cults, appears to have given himself up to a life of
Under the
indulgence and inactivity.

name Sardanapalus he went down to tradition as a sensual

Oriental monarch who lived in great pomp and luxury, and
perished in his burning palace when the Medes revolted
against him.

It is

evident, however, that the memory of

to the Sardanapalus

more than one monarch contributed

legend, for Ashur-bani-pal had lain nearly twenty years in

his grave before the
siege of Nineveh took place.

<

Jg

^^

11

U
5

t/3

<

-S

THE LAST DAYS OF

ASSYRIA

487

" the
referred to as
great and noble
and
he
to
have
been
the
appears
Asnapper",
emperor who
settled the Babylonian, Elamite, and other colonists " in
In the Bible he

the

is

of Samaria". 1

cities

He

erected at Nineveh a magnificent palace, which

was decorated on a lavish scale. The sculptures are the

productions of Assyrian art, and embrace a wide

battle scenes, hunting scenes, and
variety of subjects
elaborate Court and temple ceremonies.
Realism is
finest

combined with a delicacy of touch and a degree of

the artistic productions of the
originality which raises
period to the front rank

among

the artistic triumphs of

antiquity.

Ashur-bani-pal boasted of the thorough education

which he had received from the tutors of his illustrious

Esarhaddon.

In his palace he kept a magnificent

thousands of clay tablets on which
contained
library.
the classics of Babylonia.
and
translated
inscribed
were

father,

It

To

the scholarly zeal of this cultured monarch is due the

preservation of the Babylonian story of creation, the Gilgamesh and Etana legends, and other literary and religious

Most of the

products of remote antiquity.

in the British

Museum

literary tablets

were taken from Ashur-bani-paFs

library.

are no Assyrian records of the reigns of Ashurwho erected a small

sons, Ashur-etil-ilani
bani-pal's
the
to
Nebo at Kalkhi
and
reconstructed
temple
palace

There

two

and Sin-shar-ishkun, who is supposed to have perished in

Nineveh. Apparently Ashur-etil-ilani reigned for at least
six years, and was succeeded by his brother.

year after Ashur-bani-pal died, Nabopolassar,

who

was probably a Chaldaean, was proclaimed king at Babylon.

According to Babylonian legend he was an Assyrian general
1

E*ra,

iv,

10.

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

4 88

who had been

sent southward with an

the advance of invaders

from the

army

to

oppose

sea.

Nabopolassar's
sway at first was confined to Babylon and Borsippa, but
he strengthened himself by forming an offensive and defensive alliance with the

had married to

his son

Median

king,

whose daughter he

Nebuchadrezzar.

He strengthened

the fortifications of Babylon, rebuilt the temple of

Mero-

dach, which had been destroyed by Ashur-bani-pal, and

waged war successfully against the Assyrians and their
allies

in

Mesopotamia.
B.C. Nineveh fell, and Sin-shar-ishkun
may
have burned himself there in his palace, like his uncle,
Shamash-shum-ukin of Babylon, and the legendary Sardanapalus. It is not certain, however, whether the Scythians
or the Medes were the successful besiegers of the great

About 606

"Woe to the bloody city! it is all full

Assyrian capital.
of lies and robbery", Nahum had cried. "... The gates
of the rivers shall be opened, and the palace shall be dissolved.
Take ye the spoil of silver, take the spoil
.

of gold.
of hosts." 1
.

Behold,

am

against thee, saith the

Lord

According to Herodotus, an army of Medes under

Cyaxares had defeated the Assyrians and were besieging
Nineveh when the Scythians overran Media. Cyaxares

and went against them, but was defeated.

Then the Scythians swept across Assyria and Mesopotamia, and penetrated to the Delta frontier of Egypt.
Psamtik ransomed his kingdom with handsome gifts.
At length, however, Cyaxares had the Scythian leaders
slain at a banquet, and
then besieged and captured
Nineveh.
Those of its
Assyria was completely overthrown.
nobles and priests who escaped the sword no doubt
raised the siege

m^

iii

and

ii.

THE LAST DAYS OF

Some may have found

escaped to Babylonia.
in Palestine

ASSYRIA

489

refuge also

and Egypt.

Necho, the second Pharaoh of the Twenty -sixth

Egyptian Dynasty, did not hesitate to take advantage of
In 609 B.C. he proceeded to recover the
Assyria's fall.
Asiatic
long-lost
possessions of Egypt, and operated with
an army and fleet.
Gaza and Askalon were captured.
the
Josiah,
grandson of Manasseh, was King of Judah.
" In his
days Pharaoh-nechoh king of Egypt went up
against the king of Assyria to the river Euphrates: and
king Josiah went against him; and he (Necho) slew him
l
at Megiddo."
His son, Jehoahaz, succeeded him, but
was deposed three months later by Necho, who placed
another son of Josiah, named Eliakim, on the throne>
u and turned his name to
2
The people were
Jehoiakim".
heavily taxed to pay tribute to the Pharaoh.

When Necho pushed

northward towards the Euphrates

he was met by a Babylonian army under command of

Prince Nebuchadrezzar. 3 The Egyptians were routed at

Carchemish

in

605

B.C.

(Jeremiah, xvi, 2).

In 604 B.C. Nabopolassar died, and the famous NebuHe lived

chadrezzar II ascended the throne of Babylon.
to be one of its greatest kings, and reigned for over forty

was he who built the city described by Herodotus (pp. 219 et seq.\ and constructed its outer wall, which
enclosed so large an area that no army could invest it.
Merodach's temple was decorated with greater magnificence than ever before.
The great palace and hanging
were
this
erected
by
gardens
mighty monarch, who no
doubt attracted to the city large numbers of the skilled
artisans who had fled from Nineveh.
He also restored
at other cities, and made
temples
generous gifts to the
years.

It

H Kings,

xxiii, 29.

Nebuchadrezzar

is

Ibid.,

more

33-5.

correct than Nebuchadnezzar*

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

490

Captives were drafted into Babylonia from various

and employed cleaning out the canals and as farm

priests.

lands,
labourers.

The trade and industries of Babylon flourished greatly,

and Nebuchadrezzar's soldiers took speedy vengeance on
" The
roving bands which infested the caravan roads.
king of Egypt
" came not

crushing defeat at Carchemish,

for the king
again any more out of his land
of Babylon had taken from the river of Egypt unto the
1
river Euphrates all that pertained to the king of Egypt."
", after his

Jehoiakim of Judah remained faithful to Necho until he

was made a prisoner by Nebuchadrezzar, who " bound
him in fetters to carry him to Babylon ", 2 He was after"And Jehoiakim became
wards sent back to Jerusalem.
his (Nebuchadrezzar's) servant three years: then he turned
and rebelled against him." 3
Bands of Chaldseans, Syrians, Moabites, and Ammonites were harassing the frontiers of Judah, and it seemed
to the king as if the Babylonian power had collapsed.
Nebuchadrezzar hastened westward and scattered the
raiders before him.
Jehoiakim died, and his son Jehoiof
Nebua
achan,
youth
eighteen years, succeeded him.
chadrezzar laid siege to Jerusalem, and the young king
submitted to him and was carried off to Babylon, with
"all the princes, and all the mighty men of valour, even
ten thousand captives, and all the craftsmen and smiths:
none remained save the poorest sort of the people of the
land". 4
Nebuchadrezzar had need of warriors and workmen.
Zedekiah was placed on the throne of Judah as an
He remained faithful for a few years,
Assyrian vassal.
but at length began to conspire with Tyre and Sidon,
1

2 Kings, xxiv, 7.

8 2

a
*

Kingi^ xxiv,

I.

2 Chronicle^ xxxvi, 6.
2 %'"*&> xx v > 8-15.

THE LAST DAYS OF

ASSYRIA

491

Ammon in favour of Egyptian suzePharaoh

rainty.
Hophra (Apries), the fourth king of
the Twenty-sixth Dynasty, took active steps to assist the
" Zedekiah rebelled
conspirators, and
against the king of
Moab, Edom, and

Babylon".
Nebuchadrezzar led a strong army through Mesopotamia, and divided it at Riblah, on the Orontes River.
One part of it descended upon Judah and captured
Lachish and Azekah.
Jerusalem was able to hold out
for about eighteen months.
Then " the famine was sore
in the city, so that there was no bread for the people of
the land.
Then the city was broken up, and all the men
of war fled, and went forth out of the city by night by
way of the gate between the two walls, which was by the
Zedekiah attempted to escape, but was
king's garden."
captured and carried before Nebuchadrezzar, who was at
Riblah, in the land of Hamath.

And

the king of Babylon slew the sons of Zedekiah before his

Then he put out the eyes of Zedekiah; and the king
eyes.
of Babylon bound him in chains and carried him to Babylon and
.

put him in prison

till

the day of his death. 2

The

majority of the Jews were deported to Babylonia,

where they were employed as farm labourers. Some rose
to occupy important official positions.
A remnant escaped
to

Egypt with Jeremiah.

The AssyJerusalem was plundered and desolated.

" burned the house of the Lord and the
king's
" brake
house, and all the houses of Jerusalem ", and

rians

down

all

lamented

How

Jeremiah

doth the city

she become as a

sit

Jeremiah^

was full of people! how is

was great among the nations, and

solitary, that

widow! she

that

(C042)

round about ".

the walls of Jerusalem

lii,

3.

hrcmiah,

Hi,

4-11.

34

MYTHS OF BABYLQN1A

492

how is she become tributary! She

and her tears are on her cheeks: among
all her lovers she hath none to comfort her: all her friends have
dealt treacherously with her, they are become her enemies.
Judah is gone into captivity because of affliction, and because
princess

among

weepeth sore

the provinces,

in the night,

of great servitude
she dwelleth among the heathen, she findeth
no rest: all her persecutors overtook her between the straits.
:

Jerusalem remembered in the days of her affliction and of her

1
miseries all her pleasant things that she had in the days of old.
.

Tyre was besieged, but was not captured.

Its

king,

however, arranged terms of peace with Nebuchadrezzar.

"
of the
the " Evil Merodach

Amel-Marduk,

Bible,

the next king of Babylon, reigned for a little over two

He released Jehoiachin from prison, and allowed
years.

him

to

live

the royal palace.

Berosus relates that
lived a dissipated life, and was slain by his

in

Amel-Marduk

brother-in-law, Nergal-shar-utsur,

who

reigned two years

(559-6 B.C.). Labashi-Marduk, son of Nergal-shar-utsur,

followed with a reign of nine months.
He was deposed
by the priests. Then a Babylonian prince named Nabuna'id (Nabonidus) was set on the throne.
He was the

His son Belshazzar

independent king of Babylonia.
appears to have acted as regent during the latter part of

last

the reign.

Nabonidus engaged himself actively during his reign

(556-540 B.C.) in restoring temples. He entirely reconstructed the house of Shamash, the sun god, at Sippar, and,
towards the end of his reign, the house of Sin, the moon
god, at Haran. The latter building had been destroyed
by the Medes.
The religious innovations of Nabonidus made him
exceedingly
carried
1

away

throughout Babylonia, for he

the gods of Ur, Erech, Larsa, and Eridu,

unpopular

The Lamentations of Jeremiah y

i,

1-7.

Jeremiah^

lii,

31-4.

THE LAST DAYS OF

ASSYRIA

493

and had them placed in E-sagila. Merodach and his

priests were displeased: the prestige of the great god was
threatened by the policy adopted by Nabonidus.
As an
inscription composed after the fall of Babylon sets forth
Merodach " gazed over the surrounding lands
lookt
a
for
after
his
one
own
heart,
ing
righteous prince,
5

who should

take his hands.

He

called

by name

Cyrus."

Cyrus was a petty king of the shrunken Elamite

province of Anshan, which had been conquered by the
He claimed to be an Achaemenian that is a
Persians.
descendant of the semi-mythical Akhamanish (the Achaemenes of the Greeks), a Persian patriarch who resembled
the Aryo-Indian Manu and the Germanic Mannus. Akhamanish was reputed to have been fed and protected in
childhood by an eagle- -the sacred eagle which cast its
shadow on born rulers. Probably this eagle was remotely
Totemic, and the Achaemenians were descendants of an
ancient eagle tribe. Gilgamesh was protected by an eagle,
as we have seen, as the Aryo-Indian Shakuntala was by
vultures and Semiramis by doves. The legends regarding
the birth and boyhood of Cyrus resemble those related
regarding Sargon of Akkad and the Indian Kama and
t

Krishna.
as his overlord Astyages, king
revolted against Astyages, whom he
defeated and took prisoner. Thereafter he was proclaimed

Cyrus acknowledged

of the Medes.

He

King of the Medes and Persians, who were kindred peoples

of Indo-European speech.
The father of Astyages was
When
Cyaxares, the ally of Nabopolassar of Babylon.
this

powerful king captured Nineveh he entered into pos-

session of the northern part of the Assyrian Empire, which

extended westward into Asia Minor to the frontier of the

Lydian kingdom

he also possessed

hirftself

of Urartu

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

494

(Armenia).
Lydia had, after the collapse of the Cimmerian power, absorbed Phrygia, and its ambitious king,
Alyattes, waged war against the Medes. At length, owing
offices of Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon and
of
the Medes and Lydians made peace
Cilicia,
Syennesis
in 585 B.C.
Astyages then married a daughter of the
ruler.
Lydian
When Cyrus overthrew Cyaxares, king of the Medes,
Croesus, king of Lydia, formed an alliance against him
with Amasis, king of Egypt, and Nabonidus, king of
Babylon. The latter was at first friendly to Cyrus, who
had attacked Cyaxares when he was advancing on Babylon
to dispute Nabonidus's claim to the throne, and perhaps
to win it for a descendant of Nebuchadrezzar, his father's
It was after the fall of the Median Dynasty that
ally.
Nabonidus undertook the restoration of the moon god's
temple at Haran.
Cyrus advanced westward against Croesus of Lydia
before that monarch could receive assistance from the
he deintriguing but pleasure-loving Amasis of Egypt
feated and overthrew him, and seized his kingdom (547-

to the

good

Then, having established himself as supreme

ruler in Asia Minor, he began to operate against Babylonia.
In 539 B.C. Belshazzar was defeated near Opis.
Sippar
546

B.C.).

soon afterwards.

Gobryas, then
advanced upon Babylon, where Belshazzar deemed himOne night, in the month of Tammuz
self safe.
fell

Belshazzar the king

lords,

Cyrus's

made

general,

a great feast to a thousand of his

and drank wine before the thousand.

Belshazzar, whiles he

tasted the wine, commanded to bring the golden and silver vessels
which his father Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of the temple

which was in Jerusalem; that the king, and his princes, his wives,
and his concubines, might drink therein.
They drank wine,
and praised the gods of gold, and of silver, of brass, of iron ? of
.

<
W

C
1
g

THE LAST DAYS OF

ASSYRIA

495

wood, and of stone. ... In that night was Belshazzar the king
of the Chaldeans slain. 1

On

the

6th of

Tammuz

the investing

army under

Gobryas entered Babylon, the gates having been opened

by friends within the city. Some think that the Jews
favoured the cause of Cyrus.
It is quite as possible,
however, that the priests of Merodach had a secret understanding with the great Achsemenian, the "King of kings".
few days afterwards Cyrus arrived at Babylon.

slain, but Nabonidus still lived, and

Perfect order prevailed
he was deported to Carmania.

Belshazzar had been

throughout the

which was firmly policed by the

and there was no looting. Cyrus was

city,

Persian soldiers,

welcomed as a deliverer by the priesthood. He <c took

the hands" of Bel Merodach at E-sagila, and was pro-

claimed " King of the world, King of Babylon, King of

Sumer and Akkad, and King of the Four Quarters ".

Cyrus appointed his son Cambyses as governor of

Babylon.
Although a worshipper of Ahura-Mazda and
Mithra, Cambyses appears to have conciliated the priesthood. When he became king, and swept through Egypt,
he was remembered as the madman who in a fit of passion
It is possible, however, that he
slew a sacred Apis bull.
performed what he considered to be a pious act he may
have sacrificed the bull to Mithra.
:

The Jews

also

welcomed Cyrus.

They yearned

for

their native land.

By the rivers of Babylon,

when we remembered Zion.

we

there

We

yea, we wept,
our
harps upon the
hanged
sat

down,

willows in the midst thereof. For there they that carried us away
captive required of us a song; and they that wasted us required of
How shall
us mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion.

we

sing the Lord's song in a strange land?

1

Daniflt

v,

ft

sty.

If I forget thee,

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

496

hand forget her cunning.

my tongue "cleave to the roof of
1
not
prefer
Jerusalem above my chief joy.

Jerusalem,

remember
I

my

let

If I do not

right

thee, let

my mouth;

Cyrus heard with compassion the cry of the

if

captives.

Now

in the first
year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word
Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord
stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing,
saying, Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia, The Lord God of heaven

of the

me all kingdoms of the earth; and he hath charged me

him an house at Jerusalem, which is* in Judah. Who is

hath given
to build
there

among you

of

all his

people? his

God

be with him, and let

build the house of

him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and

the Lord God of Israel (he is the God) which is
In 538

B.C.

saw through

the

first

party of Jews

tears the hills of

steps to reach

Mount

Zion.

in Jerusalem. 2

who were

set free

home, and hastened their

Fifty years later Ezra led

back another party of the faithful. The work of restoring

Jerusalem was undertaken by Nehemiah in 445 B.C.
The trade of Babylon flourished under the Persians,

and the influence of its culture spread far and wide.

Persian religion was infused with new doctrines, and their
deities were given stellar attributes.
Ahura-Mazda became identified with Bel Merodach, as, perhaps, he had
previously been with Ashur, and the goddess Anahita
absorbed the attributes of Nina, Ishtar, Zerpanitu m and
,

"mother deities^.
Another "Semiramis" came into prominence.

other Babylonian

was the wife and

sister

died she married Darius

This

of Cambyses.
I,

After Cambyses
like
who,
Cyrus, claimed to

He had to overthrow a pretender,

be an Achaemenian.
but submitted to the demands of the orthodox Persian
1

Psalms, cxxxvii, 1-6.

Ezra,

i,

1-3.

THE LAST DAYS OF

ASSYRIA

497

party to purify the Ahura-Mazda religion of its Babylonian

innovations.
Frequent revolts in Babylon had afterwards
to be suppressed.
The Merodaoh priesthood apparently
suffered loss of prestige at Court.
According to Herodotus, Darius plotted to carry away from E-sagila a great
" twelve cubits
statue of Bel
high and entirely of solid
"
He, however, was afraid to lay his hands upon
gold ".
it".

Xerxes, son of Darius (485-465

for revolting,
his disasters in Greece,

Babylon

when

B.C.),

punished
them of

intelligence reached

by pillaging and partly destroying

"
the temple.
killed the priest who forbade him to
move the statue, and took it away/' 1 The city lost its

He

and was put under the control of a governor.

It, however, regained some of its ancient glory after the
burning of Susa palace, for the later Persian monarchs
resided in it
Darius II died at Babylon, and Artaxerxes
II promoted in the city the worship of Anaitis.
When Darius III, the last Persian emperor, was overthrown by Alexander the Great in 331 B.C., Babylon
welcomed the Macedonian conqueror as it had welcomed
Alexander was impressed by the wisdom and
Cyrus.
accomplishments of the astrologers and priests, who had
become known as " Chaldaeans", and added Bel Merodach
to his extraordinary pantheon, which already included
Amon of Egypt, Melkarth, and Jehovah. Impressed by
the antiquity and magnificence of Babylon, he resolved to
make it the capital of his world-wide empire, and there
he received ambassadors from countries as far east as
India and as far west as Gaul.
The canals of Babylonia were surveyed, and building
No fewer than
operations on a vast scale planned out.
ten thousand men were engaged working for two months
reconstructing and decorating the temple of Merodach,

vassal king,

Herodotu^

i,

1835 Strabo, xvi,

I,

5; and Arrian^ vii, 17.

MYTHS OF BABYLONIA

498

which towered to a height of 607 feet. It looked as if

Babylon were about to rise to a position of splendour
unequalled in its history, when Alexander fell sick, after
attending a banquet, and died on an evening of golden
splendour sometime in June of 323 B.C.

One

can imagine the feelings of the Babylonian priests

and astrologers as they spent the last few nights of the
emperor's life reading "the omens of the air"
taking

note of wind and shadow, moon and stars and planets,

seeking for a sign, but unable to discover one favourable.

Their hopes of Babylonian glory were suspended in the

balance, and they perished completely when the young
emperor passed away in the thirty-third year of his life.
For four days and four nights the citizens mourned in
silence for Alexander and for Babylon.
The ancient city fell into decay under the empire of
I had been
governor of Babylon,
of
Alexander's
break-up
empire he returned
" None of the
to the ancient metropolis as a conqueror.

the Seleucidae.

and

Seleucus

after the

persons who succeeded Alexander", Strabo wrote, "attended to the undertaking at Babylon"
the reconstruction
of Merodach's temple. " Other works were neglected,
and the city was dilapidated partly by the Persians and

by time and through the indifference of the Greeks,

particularly after Seleucus Nicator fortified Seleukeia on
partly

the Tigris."

Seleucus drafted to the city which bore his name the

The remnant
great bulk of the inhabitants of Babylon.

which was left behind continued to worship Merodach

and other gods after the walls had crumbled and the great
temple began to tumble down.
Babylon died slowly, but
at length the words of the Hebrew prophet were fulfilled:
1

Strabo, xvi, 1-5.

THE LAST DAYS OF

The

cormorant and the bittern

the raven shall dwell in

to the

it.

kingdom, but none

ASSYRIA

shall possess

They

it;

499

the owl also and

shall call the nobles thereof

shall be there,

and

all

her princes shall

be nothing.
And thorns shall come up in her palaces, nettles and
brambles in the fortresses thereof: and it shall be an habitation of

The wild beasts of the desert shall

dragons, and a court for owls.
meet with the wild beasts of the island, and the satyr shall
cry to his fellow: the screech owl also shall rest there, and find for

also

herself a place of rest. 1

1

ffatah, xxxiv,

I-A.

INDEX
{/owe! Sounds:
in

/*<?;

/,

as

#,

as in palm a, AS in late', it, almost like u in fur; e,

<>, as In shor'e; */, at> in
?, as in sigh
ull\ it, as in
\

in tne\

A, Aa, Ai, Sumerian names of moon,

Ea as, 31.
.. 301;
Aa, the goddess, consort of Shamash,
100.

57,

sacrifice,

50;

period of migration from Ur, 131,

association of with Amorites,
245
246; conflict with Amraphcl (Ham;

murabi) and his allies, 246, 247;

Babylonian monotheism in age of,
160; Nimrod and in Koran, 166,
167, 349, 35_o(a-ke'ans),

the Celts and,

Crete and Egypt, 378
377
Pelasgians and, 393 ; the Cyprian and
in

Assyria, 484.

Achsemenian

73-

Addu
1

syria,

nvn'ian),

Cyrus

(ad'ad-ni-ra'ri),

of As-

362, 363.

Adad-nirari III, 396.

Adad-nirari IV, King of Assyria, Babylonian influence in court of, 419; as
**
husband of his mother", 420; innovations of, 421 ; Kalkhi library,

422;

"synchronistic history", 423;

as "saviour"
of Israel, 438, 439; Urartu problem,

Nebo worship, 435,436;

439 44

as form of

(ad'dii),

Merodach,

60.
(a-do'nis),

Tammuz and myth

of, 83, 84; antiquity of myth of, 84;

blood of in river, 85; the boat or
of, 90, 103; "the Garden of,
171, 172; slain by boar, 294, 304.
Afghans, skull forms of, 8.

chest

Ages, the mythical, Tammuz as ruler

of one of the, 83, 84; Greek flood
the Indian
legend and, 195, 196
and Celtic, 196; in American myths,
198; Babylonian and Indian links,
199; in Persian and Germanic myvarious systems
thologies, 202, 203
compared, 310 ct sea.
Agni (ag'nee), Indian fire and fertility
god, 49; Nusku and, 50; links with
;

(a-ke?

called an, 493 ; Daiius I claims to

be an, 496. See Akhamani^h.
Adad (ad'ad), deities that link with, 35,
57, 261, 395; in demon war, 76.

Adad-nirari

<

Aclueans
;

y, as in

"first wife" of a demon, 67;

the shining jewel of, 185.
Adapa (a'da-pa), the Babylonian Thor,

Adonis

Abraham, 12; the Isaac

a in /a/*;
;

Adam,

72,

Aah, Egyptian name of moon, 301.

Abijah (a-b! jah), King of Judah, 402,

like
s

Adad-nirari V, 442.

Adad-shum-utsur (ad'ad-shilm-ii'tsur),
King of Babylonia, as overlord of
Assyria, 370.

Tammuz, 94;

eagle as, 168, 169;

Nergal and, 304 the goat and, 333 ;
Melkarth and, 346.
Agriculture, mother worship and, xxix,
xxx cults of Osiris-Isis and Tammuz - Ishtar, xxxi ; early Sumerians
and, 2 ; in Turkestan and Egypt, 6 ;
;

early civilizations and, 14 ; Herodotus

on Babylonian, 21, 22 ; irrigation and
river floods, 23, 24, 26; deities and

Tammuz - Adonis
weeping ceremonies, 82

water supply, 33

myth, 85;

et seq.\ Nimrod myth, 170; demand

for harvesters in Babylonia, 256.

Agum
272

Agum

(a'giim),

Kassite kings named,

et sen.

the Great, Kassite king, recovers

INDEX

502
from

Mitanni

Merodach

and

his

Amaziah, King of Judah, 448, 449.

Amel-marduk (a'mel-mar'duk), "Evil

Ahab, King of Israel, 405-7, 408, 473.

King of Judah, fire ceremony
sundial of and
practised by, 50;
eclipse record, 323, 450; relations

Merodach ", King of Babylon, 492.

Amenhotep III (a-men-hS'tep) of Egypt,

spouse, 272.

Ahaz,

with Assyria, 452, 453, 459.

Ahaziah

King of

(a-ha-zi'ah),

Israel,

408-10.

and ring symbol

Ahiir'a Maz'da, eagle

347 Ashur and, 355 ; Cambyses

and, 495; identified with Merodach,
496 reform of cult of, 497.
Air of Life, Breath and spirit as, 48, 49.
of,

Akhamanish (a-kha-man'ish), the Persian Patriarch, 493; Germanic Mannus and Indian Manu and, 493 eagle
;

and, 493.

Akhenaton

belief and, 329.

See Amurru.
Amorites, Land of.
Amorites, Sargon of Akkad and, 125-7;
in pre- Hammurabi Age, 217; Sun
cult favoured by in Babylon, 240;
Moon cult of in Kish, 241 ; blend of
in Jerusalem, 246; raids of, 256; as
allies of Hittites,
284, 363, 364;
" mother
Philistines and, 380;
right"
amongst, 418.
the
sea
Amphitrite,
goddess, 33.

Amraphel
et seg.

respondence of,
Assyrian
King's relations with, 285; Aton
attitude of to
of, 338, 422;
mother worship, 418, 419.

Akkad

Its racial and geo(ak'kad).

graphical significance, I ; early name
of Uri or Kiuri, 2; early history of,

Amurru

(am'iir-ru), land of Amorites,

127; Sargon and Naram Sin in, 127-9;
Gudea of Lagash trades with, 130;
Elamite overlordship of, 248.
Amurru, the god called, Merodach and

Adad-Ramman

Akkad, City of, Sargon of, 125 et seg.;

Naram-Sin and, 128, 129; in Hammurabi Age, 256; observatory at,
Also rendered Agade.
321.
Akkadians, characteristics of, 2; culture
of Sumerian, 2, 3, 13; the conquerors
of Sumerians, 12.
Aku, moon as the "measurer", 301.

(ana-hi'ta), Persian goddess,

identified with Nina-Ishtar, 496.

An'akim,
and,

(a-ktir'gal),

King

of Lagash,

son of Ur-Nina, 118.

Alban, the British ancestral giant, 42.
Aleppo (a-lep'po), Hadad worshipped
411.

Alexander the Great, Southern Babylonia in age of, 22, 23; his vision of
Tiamat, 151; myths of, 164; the
eagle and, 167; Gilgamesh and, 172;
water of life, 185, 186; Brahmans
and, 207, 208; welcomed in Babylon, 497; Pantheon of, 497; death of,
498.

Algebra, Brahmans formulated,

Allatu

(al'la-tU).

289.

See Eresh-ki-gaL
tempest and nightmare

Alu (a'Ki), the,

demon, 65, 68, 69.
Alyat'tes, King of Lydia, war against
Medes, 494; Median marriage al..

liance, 494.

A'ma, the mother goddess,

57, 100.

" sons of Anak

n,

",

the Hittites

12.

Anatu (an-a'tu), consort of Anu, 138.

Anau, Turkestan, civilization of and the
Sumerian, 5; votive statuettes found
at, 5-

,.

at,

and, 316.

Anahita

et seq.

Akurgal

Biblical,

131, 246,

247.

cult

the

Hammurabi,

(am'ra-phel),

identified with

(a-khen-a'ton), foreign cor-

280

109

280; Tushratta's appeals to, 282.

wife of, 221 ; the " world soul"

Amon,

totems, annual sacrifice of,

294; in Babylonia and China, 295.
Andiomeda (an-drom'e-da), legend of,

Ancestral

152.

Angus, the

Irish love god, 90, 238.

Animal forms of gods, 134, 135.

Animism, xxxiii
spirit groups and
gods, 35, 294 et seq.; fairies and elves
relics of, 79, 80
stars and planets as
;

"

ghosts, 295, 304; star worship, 317;

Pelasgian gods as Fates, 317.
Annie, Gentle", the Scottish wind

hag, 73Annis, Black, Leicester wind hag, 73,

101.

An'shan, Province of, Sargon of Akkad

conquers, 127; Cyrus, King of, 493.
An'shar, the god, in group of elder
deities, 37; Anu becomes like, 124;
in Creation legend, 138 et seq, ; Ashur
a form of, 326, 354; as " Assoros",
328; as night sky god, 328; identified

INDEX
with Polar

330, 331 ; as astral

Satyr (goat-man), 333; Tammuzand,
333; his six divinities of council, 334.
Anthat (anth'at), goddesses that link
star,

with, 268.

Anthropomorphic gods, the Sumerian,

134-6.

Ann

(a'nii),

god of the sky, demons as

messengers

of,

34, 77

in early triad,

35, 36; among early gods, 37; Brahma

and, 38; links with Mithra, 55; other
gods and, 53, 57; as father of demons,

63

solar

and lunar

attributes of, 53,

55; wind spirits and, 72, 73, 74; in

demon war, 76; as father of Isis, 100;
Ur-Nina and, 116; as father of Enlil,
124; as form of Anshar, 125, 328;
high priest of and moon god, 130;
during Isin Dynasty, 132; in Creation
legend, 138 et seq. ; Merodach directs
decrees of, 149; Etana and eagle in
heaven of, 166; in Gilgamesh legend,

173 et seq.\ in Deluge legend, 190

et

seq.\ planetary gods and, 304; zodiacal

" field
of", 307; the star spirits and,

318; as Anos, 328; as the "high

head ", 334; Sargon II and, 463.
See Anshan.
An'zan.

Apep

(a 'pep),

demon,

the

Egyptian serpent

46, 156.

Aphrodite (af-ro-dl'te), boar lover of

slays Adonis, 87 ; lovers of, 103 ; the
"bearded" form of, 267, 301; birds
and plants sacred to, 427; as a fate,
427, 433; legends attached to, 437.
Apil-Sin (a'pil-sin), King, grandfather of

Hammurabi,
Apis bull
49;
495of,

from breath

sacrifices to Mithra,

(ap'sii-rish'tu), god of the

deep, like Egyptian Nu, 37, 64; as
enemy of the gods, 38 ; Tiamat and,
106; in Creation legend, 138 et seq.\

Apsu-Rishtu

reference to by Damascius, 328.

Apuatu (a-pii'a-tu) (Osiris) as the Patriarch, xxxii.

Arabia,

of, 359; called

"Suti",
"Achlame",
"Arimi",
"Khabiri", and "Syrians", 360;
and
as
allies of
the, 367;
Assyria

Hittites, 377, 378; state of

Damascus

founded by, 390; Ashur-natsir-pal III

and, 398, 399; "mother worship"
and, 434; as opponents of sun worship, 445; settled in Asia Minor, 461.
Archer, the Astral, Ashur, Gilgamesh,
and Hercules as, 336, 337; robed
with feathers, 344; Ashur and San-

dan
Ardat

as, 352.
Lili (ar'dat

li-li),

demon

lover,

68.

Ardys, King of Lydia, Assyria helps,

486.
Ares, Greek war god, as boar slayer of
Adonis, 87, 304.
Argistis I (ar'gist-is), King of Urartu,
campaigns of, 441, 442, or, Argistes.
Argistis II of Uiartu, raids of Cimmerians and Scythians, 461.
Arioch (a'ri-ok), the Biblical, WaradSin as, 247, 248.

Arithmetic, finger counting in Babylonia

and India, 310; development of, 312.
Ark, in flood legend, 191 et seq.
Aries money, Babylonian farm labourers
received, 256.

Armenia, Thunder god of, 261, 395;

goddess Anaitis in, 267. See Urartu.
Armenians, the use of cradle board by,

Armenoid Race,

the, in Semitic blend,

10; in Asia Minor, Syria, and Europe,
1 1,
262 ; traces of in prehistoric

u,

Egypt,

263, 264; in Palestine, 12;

culture of, 315.

Arnold, Edwin,

Arpad

(ar'pad)

xxii.

in

reign

of

pileser IV, 446, 447.

Arrow, a symbol of lightning

Tiglath-

and

fer-

337; Ashur's and the goddess

See Archer, the
Neith's, 337 n.

tility,

moon worship

mother ghost

sea of death with, 180 et seq.

Aramoe'ans, migrations

4, 5; ancestors of, 283.

242.

(a-pis), inspiration

Cambyses

503

Arad Ea (ar-ad-e'a), "ferryman" ot

Hades water, 34; Gilgamesh crosses

in, 52;
in, 70; in Zu bird

74, 75; invaded

owl a
myth,

by Naram

Sin, 129;
Etana myth in, 166, 167; water of
life myth, 186; Sargon II and
kings
of, 458; Sennacherib in, 466.
Arabians, the, of Mediterranean race, 7;
Semites of Jewish type and, 7, 10;
12.
?
prehistoric migrations of,

Astral,

Art, magical origin of, 288.

Artaxerxes, 497.
Artemis (ar'te-mis), the goddess, lovers
slain by, 104; as wind hag, 104; the

"

Great Bear" myth and, 296.

Artisan gods, Ea, Ptah, Khnumu, and
Indra

as, 30,

INDEX

504
Aruru

(ar'u-ru),

the mother goddess,

100, 1 60, 420; assists Merodach to

create mankind, 148; in Gilgamesh

legend, 172 et seq.

Aryans

(a'ri-ans),

Mitannians

as,

269,

270; Kassites and, 270.

Asa, King of Judah, burning at grave
of> 35J images destroyed by, 403;
appeal for aid to Damascus, 404;
death of, 407.
Asari (a-sa'ri), Merodach as, and Osiris,
159-

Ash'dod, Cyprian King of, 458, 459.

Ashtoreth (ash-to'reth), Ishtar and, 100;
103; goddesses that link
with, 267; worship of at Samaria, 439;
also rendered Ash'ta-roth.
Ashur (a'shur), Asura theory, 278; as
" water
Aushar,
field", the "Holy
One", and Anshar, 326; the Biblical
lovers of,

" Ashir" and

patriarch, 327;
CappaBrahma and, 328 as
docia, 327
Creator, 329; bull, eagle, and lion
identified with, 330; connected with
sun, Regulus, Arcturus, and Orion,
;

"spouse of, 355; a Baal, 355; earthquake destroys temple of, 363; Shalmaneser I obtains treasure for, 366;
Esarhaddon builds temple to, 476;
Sennacherib murdered in temple of,

Ahuza Mazda and, 496.

Asskur^ the Biblical Patriarch.

See

4jro;

Ashur-bani-pal (a'shur-ban'i-pal), discovery of library of, xxii, xxiii ; doctors and, 231, 232; worship of Ashur
and Sin, 353; Merodach restored to
Babylon by, 481, 482; Egyptian campaign, 482; sack of Thebes, 483;
emissaries from Gyges of Lydia visit,

483;

Shamash -shum-ukin's

revolt

484; suicide of Shamashshum-ukin, 485; Lydia aided by, 486;

Sardanapalus legend, 486 the Bibliagainst,

cal

"Asnapper", 487; palace

A'shur-dan'

of,

487.

I, of

Assyria, 370.
Ashur-dan III, reign of, 442.

Ashur-danin-apli (a'shur-dan-in'apli),
volt of in Assyria, 414, 415.
Ashur-elit-ilani (a'shur-e'lit-il-a'ni),
of Assyria, 487, 488.

re-

King

331; King and, 331; Isaiah's parable,

331; as bull of heaven, 334 ; winged
disk or "wheel" of, 334, 335; standard of as "world spine", 335; the
archer in "wheel", 335; despiritualization theory, 335, 336; the solar
archer as Merodach, Hercules, and
Gilgamesh, 336; the arrow of, 337;

Ashur-natsir-pal I (a'shur-na'tsir-pal) of

Babylonian deities and, 337; Babylonian and Persian influences, 338 ;

as god of fertility, &c., 339; Assyrian
civilization reflected by, 340; as corn
god and war god, 340; the Biblical
Nisroch, 341; the eagle and, 343;
Ezekiel's references to life wheel, 344

442, 443Ashur-uballit (a'shur-u-bal-lit), King of

Assyiia, Egypt and, 281, 282, 285;
conquests of, 284; grandson of as
King of Babylon, 284; Arabian desert
trade route, 360.

346; Indian
wheel symbol, 346, 347; Persian
wheel or disk, 347; wheels of Shamash
et

seq,\

and
347

fire

cult and,

Ishtar, 347; the Egyptian Ankh,

Hittite winged disk, 347, 348 ;

Sandan and, 347, 348; Attisand, 348;

Ea like Merodach, 348; aided
by fires and sacrifices, 351; disk a
symbol of life, fertility, &c., 351; the
lightning arrow, 352 temples of and
son of

worship of, 352; close association of

with kings, 352, 353; association of
with moon god, 353; astral phase of,
354; Jastrow's view, 354; Pinches on

Merodach and
patriarch,

Osiris links, 354; as

corn god, &c., 354, 355;

Assyria, 369.
Ashur-natsir-pal

III,

his

"reign

of

conquests and atrocities of, 397, 398; Babylonians overawed by, 399; death of, 401.
terror

'',

396

Ashur-nirari

IV

(a'shur-ni-ra'ri),

last

king of Assyria's "Middle Empire",

Asia Minor,

hill

god

of,

136; prehistoric

alien pottery in, 263.

the sun god as, 329; in Lagash

chariot, 330.
"Ass of the East", horse called in

Ass,

.. Babylonia, 270.
As'shur, City of, Ashur the god of, 277;
Mitanni king plunders, 280; imported
beliefs in, 327 ; Biblical reference to,
339; development of god of, 355;
Merodach's statue deported to, 469.
As'shur, the Biblical Patriarch of AsSee Ashttr.
syria, 276, 277, 327.
Assyria, excavations in, xix et seq.\

Amorite migration to, 217; Hammurabi kings as overlords of, 241,

419; Thothmes III corresponds with

INDEX
king of, 276; Biblical reference to
rise of, 276, 277; Aryan names of
early kings of, 278; Mitanni kings as
overlords of, 279, 280; Semitized by
279; in Tell-el-Amarna
282; rise of after fall of
Mitanni, 284; struggles with Babylonia for Mesopotamia, 284-6; 361 et
seq.\ the national god, Ashur, 326 et

Amorites,

letters, 281,

seq.

tians

Isaiah's reference to, 340; Egypand Hittites allied against, 366,

368 Old Empire Kings, 366 et seq. ;

Babylonia controls, 370: character
of, 372-5; periods of history of, 375;
at close of Kassite period, 380; end
of Old Empire, 386; Second Empire
fi
39 * *t seq.\ sculpture of and
Sumerian, 401 mother worship in,
;

420 et seq.\ Urartu's struggle with,

440-2 ; end of Second Empire, 443
Third Empire, 444 et seq.\ Egypt
becomes a province of, 475 ft sea.\
last king of, 487; fall of Nineveh, 488;
Cyaxares lules over, 493.
;

Astarte (as-tar'te), lovers of, 103; animals of on Lagash vase, 120; goddesses that link with, 267; Semiramis

and, 425.
Astrology, basal idea

in Babylonian,
317; Babylonian and Grecian, 318 et

seq.\ literary references to, 325.

Astrology and astronomy, 287 et seq.

See Stars Planets > and Constellations.
Astronomers, eclipses foretold by in late
Assyrian period, 321, 322.
,

Astronomy, Merodach

fixes stars, &c.,

Creation legend, 147, 148; discovery that moon is lit by sun, 148 n. ;
Mythical Ages and, $iQetseq. , theory

in

Greek origin of, 319 et seq.\ precession of the equinoxes, 320, 320 n. ;
observatories,
Assyro - Babylonian
320-2; Hittites pass Babylonian discoveries to Europe, 316; in late Assyrian and neo- Babylonian period, 479,
of

480.

Astyages

(as-ty'a-jez).

King

Medes, Cyrus displaces, 493 ;

a Lydian princess, 494.
Asura fire (a-shoo'ra), in the sea,

of the
wife of

50, 51.
(at-ar-ga'tis), the goddess,
legend of origin of, 28; as a bi-sexual

Atargatis

Derceto and, 277, 426,

427; Nina and, 277, 278.

deity, 267;

Ate

(a'te),

267.

mother goddess

of Cilicia,

505

Athaliah (ath-a-ll'ah), Queen,

409; reign of, 413; Joash crowned,
413; soldiers slay, 413, 414.
Athena (ath^'na), indigenous goddess of
Athens, 105 ; goat and, 337.
Athens, imported gods in, 105.
ot Judah,

Atmospheric deities, Enlil, Indra," Ram" air of life

man, &c., as, 35;
from,
48, 49.

Akhenaton's god, the goddess

and, 419, 422.
Attis (at'tis), the Phrygian god, Tarnmuz and, 84; death of, 87; as lover
of Cybele, 103, 104; deities that link

Aton,

Mut

267; as Jupiter, 305; Ashur

with,

and, 354-5 ; symbols

Au'-Aa, Jah as Ea, 31.

of,

348.

Australia, star myths in, 296, 300.

Axe, the double, symbol of god, 348.
Azag-Bau (a'zag ba'u), legendary queen
of Kish, 114; humble origin of, 115.
Azariah (az-a-rl'ah), King of Judah,

449-

moon god

Baal, the

as, 51; shadowy

100; Ashur as, 355; worship of the Phoenician in Israel, 406.
Baal-clag'on, the god, symbols of, 32.
Ba'asha, King of Israel, 403; Damascus
aids Judah against, 404, 405.
Ba'a-u, the Phoenician mother goddess,

spouse

of,

150.

Babbar (bab'bar), sun god, 125; Nin

Girsu

and,

132;

of

Sippar,

See Shamash.
Babylon, in early Christian

German

xvii;

Isaiah

literature,

excavations

foretells

doom

240.

at,

113,

of,

xxiv;
114,

478; sack of by Gutium, 129; political rise of, 217 et seq.\ early history
of, 218; Greek descriptions of late
city of, 219 et seq.\ "hanging gardens" of, 220; date of existing ruins
of, 222;
marriage market of, 224,
225; sun worship in, 240; the Lon-

don of Western Asia, 253

Merodach from Mitanni

return of
to,

272

observatory at, 321; destruction of

by Sennacherib, 468, 469; restored
by Esarhaddon, 471 ; Ashur-bani-pal
restores Merodach to, 461, 482;
Shamash-fiiim-ukin's revolt in, 484,
485 Belshazzar's feast in, 494, 495 ;
;

Xerxes
Persians, 496;
Merodach's temple in, 497;
Alexander the Great in, 497, 498;

under

pillages

the

INDEX

506
under empire ot Seleucidse,
slow death of, 498, 499.
Babylonia, excavations
religion

xxviii,

of,

in,

498;

xix et seq. ;
debt of

xxxi;

modern world to, xxxv; early divisions of, I et seq.\ harvests of, 21,
22; the two seasons of, 23, 24; rise
of empire of, 133; Amorite migration into, 217; Golden Age of, 253;
Hittite invasion of, 259; Tell-el-

Amarna

letters

281

and,

early

struggles with Assyria, 284-6; star

et seq. ; ancestor wormyths of, 290
ship in, 295 ; beginning of arithmetic
in, 310 et scq.'j Kassites and Meso-

Merodach as, 34 ; Enlil as the

"elder", 35; demons as "beloved
sons" of, 63; Zu bird strives to be,
74 ; in demon war, 77 ; as son of Ea,
I39> decapitated to create mankind,
148 Etana visits heaven of, 166 ; in
Gilgamesh legend, 172; in flood
" field"
legend, 190 et seq.\ Zodiacal
of, 307; Sargon II and the "elder",

Bel, the,

463Bel'-Kap-Ka'pii, King of Babylonia, as

overlord of Assyria, 419.
Bel-nirari (bel'-ni-ra'ri), King of Assyria,
285, 286.
Bel-shum-id'din, last Kassite king, 371.

"the Howler", enemy

Germanic corn god, 95.

potamia, 358, 359, 361 eiseq. ; Arabian

desert route, 360 ; influence of Hittites
in, 364, 366, 368 ; Assyria controlled
by, 37O; Kassite dynasty ends, 370-1 ;

Beli (ba'le),

compared with Assyria, 371-5; Tig-

Belshaz'zar,

lath-pileser I and, 385 ; Ashur-natsirpal III overawes, 399; Shamshi-

Adad VII

subdues, 414, 415; Tiglathpileser IV, the "Pulu" of, 444-6;

Esarhaddon and, 471-6; Neo-BabyIonian Age, 478 et seq.\ Alexander
the Great and, 497.
Baghdad railway, following ancient
trade route, 357, 357 ti.
Balder, the Germanic god, Gilgamesh
and, 184; new age of, 202, 203.
Ba-neb-tet'tu, Egyptian god, 29.
Barley, husks of in Egyptian preDynastic bodies, 6.
Barleycorn, John, Nimrod and Icelandic god
Barleycorn and, 170,

Belit-sheri (bel-it-sh^'ri), sister of

muz, in Hades, 98, 117.

throw

of,

oi

Tam-

King of Babylon, over494, 495.

Beltane Day, fire ceremony of, 50.

Beltu (bal'tii), the goddess, 36, IOO.
Ben-ha'dad I, King of Damascus, as
overlord of Judah and Israel, 404.

Ben-hadad II, Ahab defeats twice, 406,

407; murder of by Hazael, 410.
Ben-hadad III, Assyrians overcome,
438, 439-

Beowulf (ba-6-wulf ), brood of Cain

in,

80; Scyld myth, 92, 93; sea monsters,

152; mother-monster in like Sumerian
and Scottish, 154, 155.
Ber, "lord of the wild boar", Ninip
as, 302.
Bero'sus, 27, 30, 83, 148, 164, 170, 198,

466,470,492.

171.

Barque of Ra, sun as and the Babylonian "boat", 56, 57.

Basques, the, language ot and the
Sumerian, 3 shaving customs of, 4.
;

Bast, the Egyptian serpent mother, 76.

Ba'ta, the Egyptian tale of, 85.
Bats, ghosts as, 65.
Battle, the EverlaOing, 65.

Bau (ba'ii), mother goddess, 100; Gula

and Ishtar and, 116; in Kish, 114,
126, 127; associated with Nin-Girsu,

116; Tiamat and, 150; doves

and, 428 ; creatrix and, 437.
Bear, as a clan totem, 164.
Bearded gods, the Sumerian, 135, 136,
137; Egyptian customs, 136.
"Beare, the Old Woman of", as the
115,

eternal goddess, 101,

102.

Pehistun, rock inscription

at, xx.

Bhima

(bhee'ma), the Indian, like Gil-

gamesh and Hercules, 187.

Birds, as ghosts and fates, 65; owl as
mother's ghost, 70; demons enter the,
71; Sumerian Zu bird and Indian
Garuda, 74, 75, 168, 169; in Germanic legends, 147 n.', as symbols of
169; birth eagle, 168, 169,
171; imitation of and musical culture,
238; associated with goddesses, 423
et seq.\ fairies as, 429.
See Doves>
Eagle^ Raven^ Swan, Vulture^ Wryfertility,

neck.

Birth, magical aid for, 165; straw girdles,

serpent skins, eagle stones, and magical plant, 165.

Bi-sexual deities, Nannar,

Ishtar, Isis,

and

Ha pi

Nina and Atargatis

moon

as,

as,

god,

161, 162'

277,

278;

INDEX
Mcrodach and Ishtar change forms,
299; Venus both male and female,
299; mother body of moon father,
299; Isis as a male, 299.

Bitumen, Mesopotamia^ wells of,

Blake, W., double vision, 336.

507

Bull, offered to sea god, 33; Ninip as

the, 53, 302, 334; of Mithra, 55;
the winged, 41, 65; Osiris as, 85,
89, 99; Tammuz as, 85; Attis and
the, 89; Enlil as, 159; of Ishtar in

25.

Gilgamesh myth, 176; seers wrapped

in skin of, 213; Horus as, 301, 302;
as sky god, 329; Ashur as, 334; the

Blood, as vehicle of life, 45, 47, 48;

inspiration from, 48; corn stalks as,
55; sap of trees as, 47.
Boann (bo'an), Irish river and corn
goddess, 33.
Boar, offered to sea god, 33; demon
Set as, 85 ; Babylonian Ninshach as,
86; Adonis slayer as, 86, 87; Alt is

lunar, 135, 334.

Burial customs, cremation ceremony,
49, 50, 350; "house of clay", 56;
*'
houses" and charms for dead, 206,
207, 212; Palaeolithic and Neolithic,
207; the Egyptian, 209; religious

slain by, 87; Diarmid slain by, 87;

the Irish " green boar", 87; the

need for ceremonies, 208, 209; Sumerian like early Egyptian, 211, 214;

Totemic theory, 293, 294; Ninip-Ber

priestly fees,

as lord of the wild, 302; Nergal as,

304; Ares as, 304; Ninip and Set as,
315 the Gaulish boar god and Mer-

hooks and weapons in graves, 212;

why dead were clothed, 213; honey

cury, 316, 317.

Boghaz-K6i (bog-haz'-keui), prehistoric
pottery at, 5 ; Hittite capital, 262 ;

214, 215; burnings at Hebrew graves,

350, 351.
"
Buriats, the,
calling back" of ghosts
by, 69, 7 5 earth and air elves of,

mythological sculptures near, 268;

Winckler cuneiform tablets from, 280,

210,

21 1

food, fish-

in coffins, 214; disturbance of bones,

105.

Burkans (boor'kans), "the masters",

367.

Bones, why taken from graves, 214;

Shakespeare's curse, 215.
Borsippa (bor'sip-pa), observatory at,
321.
Botta, P. C., excavations of, xix, xx.
Bracelet, the wedding, Ishtar's, 98; the
Hindu, 98;*.
Brahma, the Indian god, like Ea, 27;

spirits or elves of Siberians, 105.

I (bur'na-biir'i-ash), Kas-

Burnaburiash
site

king, 274.

Burns, Robert, 72; the John Barley coin

myth, 170.
Burrows, Professor, Cretan snake and

dove goddess, 430.

Byron, star lore, 325.

Anu

and, 38; wife of, 101; eagle as,

Ashur and, 328.
Brahmans, algebra formulated by, 289 ;
Assyrian teachers and, 352.
Breath of Apis bull, inspiration from,
169;

Cailleach (kal'yak), the Gaelic, a wind

hag, 73; as eternal goddess, 101.
Calah (ka'lah), the Biblical. See Kalklii.
Calendar, the early Egyptian, 14; the

Babylonian, 305.

49-.

Britain,

the

ancestral

Tammuz myth
"

giant

of,

42

Cambyses

(kam-bl'sez),

as

King

of

85; birth girdles

"
Island of the Blessed of,

Babylon, 495 sacrifice of Apis bull

to Mithra by, 495; wife of a Semi-

Brown, Robert, on Babylonian culture

Canaan, Abraham arrives in, 245 tribes

in, 245, 246; Elamite conquest of,
247, 248, 249; first reference to

in,

165 ;
203; in Egypt and Persia, 357.
Brood of Tiamat, in Creation legend,
in,

141.

in India,

199,

200, 308, 309, 310,

318, 322,

Brown Race,

the.

See Mediterranean

(biid'ha),

Babylonian teachers

Race.

Buddha

like, 42.

Budge, E. Wallis, on oldest companies

ofBabylonian and Egyptian gods, 36,
37-

(0642)

ramis, 496.
;

Israelites in, 379.

Canaanites, Hittites identified with, 266.
Canals of Ancient Babylonia, 22, 23.
Cappadocia, Cimmerians in, 472.
Captivity, the Hebrew, Chebar river

(Kheber canal) at Nippur, 344.

Carchemish (kar'k^mish), German railway bridge and Hittite wall at, 357 . ;
Hittite city state of, 395; revolt of,
35

INDEX

508

461; Nebuchadrezzar defeats Pharaoh

Necho

at,

489.

Caria

(kar'i-a), assists Lydia against

Cimmerians, 484; mercenaries from
in Egypt, 486.
Cat, sun god as, 329.

Caucasus, the, skull forms

in, 8.

Cave dwellers, the

Palestinian, 10.
Celtic goddesses, of Iberian origin, 105.
Celtic water demon myths, 28.
Celts, Achseans and, 377.
Ceres (se-rez), 103.

Chaldse'ans, Babylonian priests called,

222, 497 ; in Hammurabi Age, 257
history of, 390 ; Aramaeans and, 390;
Judah's relations with, 408; Meio-

dach Baladan King of, 457 et seq*

revolt of against Esarhaddon, 471

revolt of against Ashur-bani-pal, 484;

Nabo-polassar King of Babylon, 487.

Charms, the burial, 206; ornaments as,
211; the metrical and poetic development, 237-9.

Chedor-laomer

(ched'or-la'o-mer),

the

Biblical, 247, 248.

Chellean (shel'le-an)

Pollux myths in Australia, Africa, and

Greece, 300; Tammuz and Orion,
301; months controlled by, 305; signs
of Zodiac, 305 ;
Babylonian and
modern signs, 308; the central,
northern, and southern, 309; "Fish
of the Canal" and "the Horse",
the

"Milky Way

identi", 309
318; Biblical and
literary references to, 324, 325; the

309

fied before planets,

"Arrow",

"Eagle",

"Vulture",

"Swan", and "Lyra", 336,

Copper, Age of in Palestine, 1 1
use

337.
;

first

12; in Northern Mesopotamia,

Gudea of Lagash takes from

of,

25
El am, 130.
Corn child god, Tammuz and Osiris as,
$9 90; Surgon as, 91 the Gei manic
Sc> Id or Scef, 92, 93, 04
Frey and
;

flints, in

Palestine,

10.

Cherubs, the four-faced, 344.

Child god, Tammuz and Osiris as the,
89, 90; Sargon of Akkad as, 91
Germanic Scyld or Sceaf as, 92, 93.

Children, stolen by hags and fairies, 68;

in mother worship, 107, 108.
China, spitting customs in, 47; dragons
of, 152; ancestor worship in, 295.

Chinese, language of and the Sumerian,

3-

Chronology, inflated dating and Berlin

system, xxiv, xxv.

thunder god of, 261; Ate, goddess of, 267; Hittite Kingdom of,
395; loniansin, 464; in anti-Assyrian
league, 473
Ashur-bani-pal expels

Cilicia,

*>

Cimmerians from, 484, 486.

Cimmerians, raids of in Asia Minor, 461,
464; Esarhaddon and, 472; Gyges
of Lydia and, 483, 484, 486 ; Lydians
break power of, 486.
Clans, Totemic names and symbols of,
293-

Clepsydra, a Babylonian invention, 323.

Clothing, magical significance of, 212;
the reed mats and sheepskins in graves,
213; the bull skin, 213; the ephod
and prophet's mantle, 213, 214,

Comana

Zu bird, 74; why

animal forms were adopted, 289; the
" Great Bear" in various
mythologies,
295, 296, 309; the Pleiades, 296,
297; Pisces as "fish of Ea", 296;
the "sevenfold one", 298, 300;
Merodach's forms, 299; Castor and

Constellations, the

(ko-ma'na), Hittite city

ot,

395.

Heimdal as, 94.

Corn Deities, as river and

fish

gods and

goddesses, 29, 32, 33.

Corn god, moon god as, 52; Mithra as,
55; the thunder god as, 57, 340;
Tammuz and Osiris as, 81 et seq.\

Khonsu as, 90; Frey and Agni as,

94; fed with sacrificed children, 171.
Corn goddess, Isis as, 90; fish goddess
as, 117.

Cow

goddesses,

Hathor

as,

Nepthys,

Isis,

and

99, 329.

Creation, local character of Babylonian

conception, xxix; of mankind at
Eridu, 38; legend of, 134, i$%etseq.\
night as parent of day, 330.
Creative tears, 45 et seq.

Creator gods, Ea and Ptah as, 30;

eagle god as, 169.
Creatress, the goddess Mama as, 57;
Aruru as, 100, 148; forms of, 437.
Cremation, traces of in Gezer caves, 1 1 ;
the ceremony of, 49 not Persian or
;

Sumerian, 50; in European Bronze

Age, 316; Saul burned, 350; Sardanapalus legend, 350.
Crete, chronology or, xxv, 114; no
temples, xxxi; women's high social
status in, 16}
Dagon's connection
with, 33 ; prehistoric pottery in, 263 ;

INDEX

Assyria, 407; Judah and Israel allied

against, 408; murder of Ben-hadad
II, 410; Palestine subject to, 414;

Hyksos trade with, 273; Achaeans

invade, 376, 377; Philistine raiders
from, 379; dove and snake sacred
dove goddess not Babyin, 430;

Israel overcomes, 449; conquered by

Adad-nirari IV, 438, 439.
Damik-ilishu (dam-ik-il-i'shu), last king

lonian, 433, 434.

Crocodile god of Egypt, 29; sun god
as, 329.
Croesus of Lydia, Cyrus defeats, 494.
Cromarty, the south-west wind hag or,

of Isin

(dam'ki-na), wife of Ea, 33, 34;

attendants of, 63; as mother
of Ea, 105 ; as mother of Enlil, 139;
1
Zerpanitu" and, 160; association of
with moon, 436; creatrix and, 437.
Damu (da'mu), the fairy goddess of

73-

Cushites, Biblical reference to, 276.

(ku'thah), Nergal, god of, 54;
annual fires at, 170; the Underworld

dreams, 77, 78.

Cuthah

216;

Danavas

205; demon legend

of, 215,
of in Samaria, 455, 456.
Legend of Creation", 215,

216.

Danu

(sy-ax'ar-es), Median King,

Nineveh captured by, 488; ally of

Cyaxares

lover of,

Dari'us

103,

Cyprus, dove goddess not Babylonian,

433> 434J dove goddess of, 426, 427,
43 3> 4345 Ashur-bani-pal and, 484.
Cyrus, Merodach calls, 493 the Patriarch of, 493 the eagle tribe of, 493
Astyages defeated by, 493; EgyptoLydian alliance against, 494; Nabonidus and, 494 Croesus of Lydia

overthrown by, 494; fall of Babylon,

the King of Babylonia,
494, 495
495; welcomed by Jews, 495; rebuilding of Jerusalem temple, 496.
5

Dadu (da'dii), Ramman as, 57.

Dagan (da'g'an), the Babylonian,
131

iden-

Nippur temple

of,

under Isin Dynasty, 132.

Dagda

(dag'da),
33, 238.

the

Irish

corn god,

Dagon (dag'on), Jah and Ea as, 31

Dagan and, 31, 32; as a fish and

corn deity, 32 ; Baal-dagon and, 32

offering of mice to, 32, 33.

Daguna

(dag'ii-na),

Dagon and Dagan

and, 31.
Daityas (dait'yas), the Indian, like BabyIonian demons, 34.

Damascius, on Babylonian

deities, 328.

Aramaean state of, 390;

and Judah subject to, 195, 396;

Damascus,
Israel

Asa's appeal to, 404; conflict with

claims to be Achaemenian,

plots

against

Merodach

cult,

Darius II, death of at Babylon, 497.

Darius III, Alexander the Great overthrows, 497.
j

Dasa

I,

497-

like

(da -mi), the Irish goddess, 268.

or Daos, the shepherd, Tammuz

496;

with Ea, 31

Indian,

as, 83, 86.

(ky-bc'le), Attis

104, 267,

tical

the

Daonus

Nabopolassar, 493.

Cybele

(dan'avas),

Babylonian demons, 34.

Dancing, the constellations, 333.
Danes, haivest god as patriarch of, 92.
Daniel, Nebuchadrezzar's "fiery furnace", 349.

men

"Cuthean

Dynasty, 133.

Damkina
demon

Cronos, as the Destroyer, 64; Ninip

and Set and, 315.
Cuneiform writing, earliest use of, 7.

city of,

509

(da'sa), the

Indian, as "foreign

devil ", 67,

Dasyu (dash'yoo) the Indian, as

,

* *

foreign

devil", 67.

Date palm, in Babylonia, 25.

David, the ephod used by, 213, 214,
388.
the, Nergal lord of, 56; ghosts
of searching for food, 70, 71; Osiris
lord of, 86; charms, weapons, and
food for, 206; "houses" of, 206-8;
spirits of as warriors and fishermen,
212.
Death, eagle of, 168; the Roman, 169;

Dead,

Hercules and, 170.

Death, the sea of, in Gilgamesh epic,
178 et seq.
Death, the stream of, 56.
Deer, associated with Lagash goddess,
1

20.

the local, 43, 44; food and

water required by, 44; the mead of,
45; early groups of in Egypt and
Sumeria, 105, 106; made drunk at
banquet, 144.
Deluge Legend, Smith translates, xxii
See Flood Lcgettds.

Deities,

INDEX
Demeter (d<f-m*'ter), the goddess, Poseidon as lover of, 33, 103.
Demons, the Babylonian Ocean, 34;
gods as, 35, 62, 135; Enlil lord of,
35, 63; Tiamat and Apsu as, 37, 38,
64; Tiamat's brood, 140, 141, 214,
215; "ceremonies of riddance", 58;

427; Ishtar and Gula and, 427, 428;

associated with temples and homes,
428; in Gilgamesh epic, 428; deities
identified with, 429; ravens and, 429;
sacred at Mycenae, 430; snakes and
in Crete, 430; sacred among Semites

and

as sources of misfortune, 60; in images,

61; the winged bull, &c., 65; the
"will-o'-the-wisp", 66, 67; Ann as

430; Egyptian lovers

pigeon lore in England,
Ireland, and Scotland, 431; fish and,
Totemic theory, 432 el seg. ;
432

father of, 63, 60; as lovers, 67, 68;

Adam's first wife Lililh, 67; ghosts

antiquity of veneration of, 433, 434 ;

sacrificed in Israel, 439 ; the Persian

215; penetrate everywhere, 71,

72; as pigs, horses, goats, &c., 71;
Set pig of Egypt, 85 ; as wind hags,
72, 73; the Zu bird, 74; Indian eagle,
166; association of with gods, 76; the
serpent mother one of the, 74-6 ; the
as, 69,

Jinn, 78; as composite monsters, 79;

the Teutonic Beli, 95; in mythology
and folk lore, 151 et seq. the Gorgons,
159; King of Cuthah's battle against,
214, 215; disease germs as, 234.
;

De Morgan,

pottery finds by, 263.

Derceto (der-k^'to), fish goddess, Semiramis and, 277, 418, 423; mermaid
form of, 426; Atargatis legend, 426,
427; dove symbol
attached to, 437.

of,

432; legends

De

Sarzec, M., xxiii.,

of Ishtar", poem, 95 et seq.
Destroyer, the, "World Mother" as,
xxx, 100; Ninip as, 53; goddess Ninsun as, 57; Enlil and Nergal as, 62,
^3, 303; Egyptian and Indian deities
as, 63, 85, 157, 336; Cronos as, 64;

" Descent

"Shedu"

65; Set" boar as,

85; Babylonian boar god as, 86;
eagle as, 168, 169; "winged disk"
as, 336; sun as, 336; Thor, Ashur,
Tammuz, and Indra each as, 340.
Diarmid, the Celtic, Tammuz-Adonis
and, 84, 87; water of life myth, 186,
187; Totemic boar and, 293.
Dietrich (det'rech *ch' as in loch) as
the thunder god, 74, 164.
bull as^

Diodo'rus, on Babylonian star lore, 309.

Disease, Nergal the god of, 53, 54 ;
goddess of, 77; demons of, 60, 63, 77.
Divorce, in Babylonia, 227.
Doctors, laws regarding, 230, 231 ;
Herodotus on, 231 ; Assyrian king
and, 231, 232.
Doves, goddesses and, 418; Semiramis
protected after birth by, 424; goddess
of Cyprus and, 426; Aphrodite and,

Hittites,

and, 431;
;

eagle legend and, 493.

Dragon, the, of Babylon, 62; in group

of seven spirits, 63; Tiamat as the
female, 38, 64; Tiamat as ocean, 15,
" fire
"
as
drake",
worm", &c., 151;
"Ku-pu" of Tiamat, 147; heart of,

147 n. ; liver vulnerable part of, 153;

the male, 156 (see Apsit)\ Biblical
references to, 114, 157, 158; EurAsian variations of myth of, 151, 152;
well of at Jerusalem, 152; the Egyptian, 156; Sutekh as slayer of, 157;
Merodach as slayer of (see Alerodach).
Drake, the Fire, the Babylonian, 66, 67;

dragon as, 151.

Dreams, the fairy goddess of, 77, 78.
Drink traffic, women monopolized

in

Babylonia, 229.
Drinking customs, religious aspect of,
45; inspiration from blood, 48; the
gods drunk at Anshar's banquet, 144.

Dungi
ters

(diin'gi),

King

of as rulers,

shipper,

of Ur, 130; daugh130; an Ea wor-

131.

Dyaus (rhymes with "mouse"), displaced by Indra, 302.

Dying gods, the eternal goddess and
the,

101 et seq,\ death a change of

form, 305.

Ea

(a'a),

god of the deep, Ashur-bani-

pal and, xxii, xxiii; a typical Babylonian god, xxviii, xxix, 27; Cannes
and, 27, 30; as world artisan like
Ptah and Indra, 30; connection of
with sea and Euphrates, 28, 29, 39;
as sea-demon, 62 ; names of, 30, 39 ;
fish and corn god, 32; Dagon,
Poseidon, Neptune, Frey, Shony, &c.,
and, 31, 33; Dagon and Dagan, 31;
Ea as Dagan at Nippur, 131; as Ya,
or Jah, of Hebrews, 31; Totemic
fish of, 294; Indian Varuna and, 31,
34, 209; wife of as earth lady, 33;

as

INDEX
wife of as mother, 105; Anu and, 34;
Enlil and, 35 ; demons of, 35, 63
in early triad, 36, 37, 463 ; Indian
;

Vishnu and, 38; as dragon slayer, 38,

140, 153, 157; Adapa, son of, a

demon

slayer, 72, 73; in

demon

war,

as "great magician", 38, 46;

and, 40, 50, 51, 53; solar
attributes of, 50, 51, 53; food supply

77

moon god

and, 43; beliefs connected with, 44;

Nusku as messenger of, 50; Nebo a

form

303, 435; gods that link

with, 57, 58; as form of Anshar, 125;
family of including Merodach and
of,

Tarn muz, 72, 73, 82; daughter

of,

117; Merodach supplants, 158; Enlil

as son of, 139; Ashur as son of, 348;

planetary gods and, 304; worshipped

at Lagash, 116; earliest form of, 134;
under Ism Dynasty, 132; in Creation
legend, 138 et seq. astral "field" of,
147, 307; constellations and, 296;
Merodach directs decrees of, 149;
;

Etana and eagle

visit

heaven

in flood legend, 190 et seq.

166;
as Aos,

of,

328; the goat and, 333; as "high

head", 334; Sargon II and, 463.
Ea-bani (a'a-ba'ni), 41, 42; ghost of as
" wind
gust ", 48, 49; goat demi-god,
135; lured from the wilds, 173; as
ally of Gilgamesh, 174; Ishtar's woo-

511

Earth children, elves and dwarfs as,

292, 292 n.
Earth spirits, males among father worshippers, 105; the Egyptian, Teutonic,

and

Aryan, and Siberian, 105; elves

fairies as, 294, 295.

Ecclesiastes t
1

80.

Ecke

Eclipse foretold by Assyrian and Baby^

Ionian astronomers, 321, 322; the
Ahaz sundial record, 323; Babylonian
records of, 324; in reign of Ashur-

dan

III, 442.

Ecliptic,

when

20,

135; in Etana myth,

165; in

166, 167; in Alexander

the Great legend, 167 ; in Scottish

folk tale, 167, 168; as soul carrier,

168; Roman Emperor's soul and, 169;
Hercules and, 170, 349; Gilgamesh
protected at birth by, 171; Persian

patriarch protected at birth by, 493;

the Totemic theory, 293, 493; wheel
of life and, 346, 347; Ashur and

Horus and, 343

wings of on Ashur

disk, 351, 352.

Eagle stone, as a birth charm, 165.
Eagle tribe, the ancient, 493.

Eannatum

(a' an -na' turn),

King

of

Lagash, a great conqueror, 118, 119;

rules Ur and Erech, 1 19 ; works of,
119;

mound

burial in period of, 214.

divided, 322.

Edinburgh, the giant Arthur

of,

164.

Edom, Judah and,

402, 409, 448 ; tribute from to Assyria, 439.

Education, in Hammurabi Age, 251.
Egg, the, goddess Atargatis born of, 28,
426; thorn as life in, 352.
Egypt, agricultural festivals in, xxxi;
debt of modern world to, xxxv ; prehistoric agriculture in, 6; Mediterranean lace in, 7 ; early shaving
customs, 5, 9, 10 ; theory copper first
used in, 12; social status of women

16; early gods of and Sumerian,

creative tears of deities
37
lunar worship in, 52 ; god
45

26, 36,

Nimvodmyth,

Tyrolese storm demon,

(eck-a),

74.

in,

Indian Garuda eagle, 74, 75, 165,

166, 168, 169, 330, 346, 347; the
lion headed as Nin-Girsu (Tammuz),

of the Harper",
Sea Lady" and, 179,

"Lay

of the

"Song

176; death

177; ghost of invoked by Gilgamesh, 183, 184.

Eagle, the, Sumerian Zu bird and

stone wor-

ship and, 52.

ing, 174, 175; slaying of Ishtar's bull,

of, 176,

moon and

Earth worship,

of,

and goddess cults in, 105; Great

Mother Nut of, 106; at dawn of
Sumerian history,
bearded
114;
deities of,
136; dragon of, 156;
"
Lay of Harper" and Sumerian
"Song of Sea Lady", 178, 179;
flood legend of, 197 ; feast of dead
in, 206 ; burial customs and Sumeriari,
209-14; Hyksos invasion and Hittite
raid on Babylon, 259; culture debt of
to Syria, 275; prehistoric Armenoid
invasion

of,

r,

263

foreign pottery, 263

prehistoric black
;

Totemism

in,

292-5, 432-3 Syrian empire of lost,

284; fairies and elves of, 294; Pharaoh
displaces gods in, 295; doctrine ot
mythical ages in, 315; the phoenix,
330; the "man in the sun", 336:
Neith as a thunder goddess, 337,
337 77. ; Ankh symbol, 347 ; influence
of Hittitesin, 364; wars with Hittites,
365, 366; Cretans and sea raiders,
;

INDEX

512

Hebrews and, 388; "mother

378;

right", in, 418; sacred pigeons in,

428; fosters revolt against Sargon II,
457; Pharaoh and Pirn of Mutsri,

458 and
of, 465;

Sennacherib defeats army

intrigues against Assyria,

465, 471 ; as Assyrian province, 475;
Ashur-bani-pal and, 482, 484; Assyrian yoke shaken off, 486; Scythians
on frontier of, 488; after Assyria's
fall, 489
Hophra plots against Nebuchadrezzar II, 491.
El'ah, King of Israel, 405.
El am, prehistoric pottery of, 5, 263;
copper from, 130; British influence
* n > 357>
taravan routes of, 361.
Elamites, relations with early Sumerians,
ill; defeated by Eannatum of Lagash,
Il8; raid on Lagash by, 121 ; Sargon
of Akkad defeats, 127; Ur dynasty
;

overthrown by, 131; in Hammurabi

Age, 217; conquests of Warad-Sin
and Rim-Sin, 217; King Sin-muballit's struggle with, 242, 243; Medes
and, 244; King of and Abraham,
driven from
247 ; in Syria, 247
;

Babylonia, 249; in Kassite period,

274, 370, 380, 381 ; connection of
with early Assyria, 278; struggle for
trade expansion, 361 et seg.\ Babylonian raid, 369; during Solomon
period, 391 ; Esarhaddon and, 472
Ashur-bani-pal subdues, 484, 485.
Elisha, call of Jehu, 409, 410; call of
Hazael, 410, 411.
Elves, the Babylonian, 67; as lovers,
68; origin of conception of, 79, 80,
292 ; like Indian Ribhus and Siberian
;

the European,
"masters", 105;
Egyptian, and Indian, 294; human
bargains with, 294, 295.
Enannatum I (en-an-na'tum) of Lagash,
defeats

Umma force,

Enannatum

II,

King

119.
of Lagash, last of

Ur-Nina's

line, 120.
the ancestral

giant of, 42
spitting customs in, 47; return of
dead dreaded in, 70, 7 on.; Black
Annis, the wind hag, 73, 101 ; fairies

England,

and elves of, 80, 186; the "fire

drake" of, 151; "Long Meg" a
hag of, 156; "Long Tom" a giant

En'lil,

god

Indian Shiva, 38;

deities

of,

36;

37;

like

that

link

with, 35, 57, 271, 272; as destroyer,

62, 63; "fates" as sons of, 80; Ur
Nina worshipped, 116; as son of
Anu, 124; as son of Ea, 139; Ninip
as son and father of, 53, 158, 302;

during
"field"
decrees

Isis
of,

of,

Dynasty, 132; astral

147; Merodach directs
149; as corn god, 159;

monotheism of cult of, 161 ; temple

of as "world house "r 35, 332; as
bull and "high head", 334; Etana
heaven
See Bel.
in

of,

166; also rendered Ellil.

King of Isin, a
usurper like Sargon, 133.
En-Mersi (en-m^r'si), a form of Tam-

Enlil-bani (en'lil-ba'ni),

muz, 116.
Enneads, the Babylonian and Egyptian,
36.

Entemena(en-te'men-a),Kingof Lagash,
Umma subdued by, 119, 120 ; famous
silver vase of, 120; worshipped as a
god, 257, 258.

Kphod, the, used by David, 213, 214.

Ephron the Hittite, 12.
Equinoxes, piecession of, where law of
discovered: Greeceor Babylonia? 320,
320 ., 322.
Erech, Anu god of, 34; gods of become flies and mice, 41 destroying
sun goddess of, 57
Ur-Nina and,
116; under Lagash, 119; an ancient
capital, 124, 125; rise of after Akkad,
129 moon god at, 130 in Gilgamesh
;

172 et Sf</.; in revolt against

Ashur-bani-pal, 484; Nabonidus and,
492.
Eresh-ki-gal (eresh-hi'gal), goddess of
death, 53 ; Nergal husband and conqueror of, 53, 54, 204, 205, 303 ; as
" Fates" as sons
a Norn, 77;
of, 80;
as wife of Enlil, 80; Germanic hag
like, 95; punishment of Ishtar by,
epic,

96, 97; as destroyer, 100.

Eridu (/ri-du), once a seaport, 22, 25,
38; Ea the god of, 27; sanctity of,
38, 39-

Eros,

Greek love god,

y

90.

Ea

Nippur and elder Bel,

332; sacked by Sennacherib, 468;

gods of Ur, Erech, Larsa, and Eridu

See Ea.
of

demons, 35; spouse

early group of deities,

E-sagila (*?-sag i-la), Merodach's temple,

221 ; Hammurabi and, 252; in Kassite
Age, 274; as symbol of world hill,

of, 156; pigeon lore in, 431.

Enki (an'ki), "lord of the world ",

as, 31.

lord of
in

INDEX
Xerxes
in, 492, 493
Alexander the Great
;

pillages,

repairs,

497
497

decay of, 498.

Esarhaddon (e'sar-had'don), character
of, 470; Babylonian wife of, 471;
Egypto-Syrian league against, 471,
472; Queen Nakia regent of, 472;
alliance with Urartu, 473; sack of
Sidon, 473; Manasseh's revolt, 474;
invasion of Egypt, 475; revolt in
Assyria, 476; successors chosen by,
476'; death of, 476.
Esau, Hittite wives of, 266.

Zu bird myth and,

" Plant of Birth
",
quest of the
with
164,
165;
flight
eagle to
heavens, 165, 166.
Eternal goddess, the, husbands of die
annually, 101 et seq.

Etana
74-6

(tf-ta'na),

Ethnology, folk beliefs and, xxvi.

Euphrates, the river, 22; as "the soul
of the land", 23; rise and fall of, 24;
as the creator, 29.

Europe, lunar worship

invasion

of,

in, 52;

Armenoid

264.

Evans, Sir Arthur, pottery finds by, 263.

Evil eye, the, 235, 236.

"Evil Merodach", King of Babylon,

492.
Evolution, in Babylonian religion, xxxiv.
Ezekiel, on fire-worshipping ceremony,
50; Tammuz weeping, 82; on ethnics
of Jerusalem, 246; on Ilittite characteristics, 266; Assyria the cedar,
340, 341; the wheel of life symbol,

344

ft seq.

Ezra, return of Jewish captives with,

496.

Face

paint, for the dead, 206; why

used for dead, living, and gods, 212.
Fafner dragon, 156.
Fairies, the Babylonian, 67; origin of,
79, 80; green like other spirits, 186;
the European, Egyptian, and Indian,
294; human bargains with, 294, 295;

birds as, 429.

Farm labourers,

scarcity of in Babylonia,

256.
Farnell, Dr., on pre-Hellenic religion,
104; on racial gods in Greece, 105.
n. , 430;
Fates, the birds as, 65, 147
, 427
as servants of Anu, 77; moon as chief
of the, 301; oldest deities as, 317;
on St. Valentine's Day, 430; Aphro*
dite and Ishtar as, 433.
.

Anu as, 38; Ramman-Hadad as, 57; Apsu, the chaos

demon as, 64; Osiris as, 99; shadowy

Father, the Great,

spouse

of,

nomadic people and,

by Hatti, xxx, 268,

100;

105; worshipped
420.

Father and son conflict

;
younger god
Ninip and Enlil,
Merodach and Ea, Indra and Dyaus
myths, 158; Osiris and Horus, 159;
in astral myths, 302, 303, 304, 305,

displaces

elder,

348.

Feast of Dead, 206.

Fig tree, in Babylonia, 25.
Finger counting, in Babylonia and India,
311 et seq.
Finn-mac-Coul (finn'mac-cool), as hero
and god, 87, 87 n. 88 n. ; as mother
,

slayer, 153, 154; Beowulf

and, 155; as a "sleeper", 164, 394;

monster

water of life myth, 186, 187.

Finns, language of and the Sumerians,
3; of Ural-Altaic stock, 4.
fire and
Fire, as vital principle, 50, 5 1
water ceremonies, 50, 51; the everlasting fire in the sea, 50, 51; the
\

Babylonian "Will-o'-the-wisp", 66;

Eagle and, 169; the May Day, 348;
ceremony of riddance, 349; Babylonian burnings, 348; Nimrod'* pyre,
349> 35; Tophet, 350; royal burnings in Israel and Judah, 350, 351.
Fire drake, the Babylonian, 66, 151.
Fire gods, the Babylonian and Indian,
49First born, sacrifice of, 50.

Fish deities, Sumerian

Brahma and Vishnu

Ea and Indian

in
as, 27, 28
Eur-Asian legends, 28 ; Sumerian and
connection of with
Egyptian, 29
;

corn, 29, 32; goddess of Lagash, 117;

Western Asian fish goddesses, 277,
418, 423, 426; dove symbol of, 431,
432; Totemism and, 294.
Flies, gods turn to, 41.
Flood legend, the Babylonian, 24, 55,
190 et seq.\ the Greek, 195; the
Indian, xxvi, 196; the Irish, 196;
the Egyptian, 197 ; the American,
197, 198; the Biblical, 198, 199.
Folk cures, the ancient, 61, 231, 232-4.

Folk

lore,

mythology and, xxv, xxxiv,

42, 151 et seq.,

xxvi.

189; ethnology

Food of death, 44.

Food of the gods, 44,

in,

INDEX
Food
1 '

supply, religion and the, 42, 43.

the Babylonian and
,

Foreign devils
Indian, 67.

Four quarters,

the, in

astronomy, 307;

lunar divisions, 323.

Fowl, inspiration from blood of, 48.

France, skull forms in Dordogne valley,
8; Syrian railways of, 357.
Frazer, Professor, xxv; "homogeneity
of beliefs", xx vi; Adonis garden, 171,

and enemies of the living, 295 ; worship of, 295; Orion and Jupiter as,
305Giants, the British Alban, 42; the Babylonian, 71? graves of, 296.
Gibil (gi'bil), fire god, Nusku and, 353.
Gilgamesh (gil'ga-mesh), the Babylonian
Hercules, 41; revelation of ghost to,
48, 49, 183, 184; quest of, 164; birth

legend

Tatnmuz myth, 95, 1 16, 204.

Freyja (frl'ya), the Germanic eternal
goddess, 102; lovers of, 102.
Frigg, Germanic goddess, lovers of, 103.

of, 171; eagle rescues, 171;

lord of Erech, 172; coming of Eabani, 173; Ishtar's fatal love of, 174;
" La Belle Dame
Sans Merci", 174,
175; Ishtar spurned by, 99, 176;
Ishtar's bull slain, 176; death of Eabani, 176; quest of Water of Life and
Plant of Life, 177; the mountain tunnel
and Sea of Death, 178; song of the

Frode

Sea Lady,

Hercules and Melkarth, 348;

on Semiramis legend, 424, 425.
172;

(fri), the Germanic patriarch and

corn god, 33, 93, 94; links with

Frey

(fro'de).

See Frey.

Gabriel, Abraham rescued from

rod's pyre by, 349, 350.

Gaga

(ga'ga),

Gallu (gal

messenger
as

of

"

Nim-

Anshar, 143.

foreign devil ", 65-7.

Gandash (gan'dash), Kassite king, 271.
Ganga (gang'a), the Indian goddess, as
lii),

lover, 68.

king's
" Garden

of Adonis", 171, 172.

'Gardens, the Hanging, of Babylon, 220.
Garstang, Professor, on fall of Hatti and

god

cult,

268; on Totemic Adonis

boar, 293, 294; Hittite

348.

Sandan

disk,

cures, 232, 233.

Gira (gi'ra), the god, 42.

Girru (gir'rii), the fire god, 49.
Gish Bar, the fire god, 49.
Goat, inspiration from blood

demons enter

Ganida (gar-ood'a), Indian eagle god,

Zu bird and, xxvi; myth of, 74, 75;
Etana eagle and, 165; sons of, 166;
identified with Agni, Brahma, Indra,
Yama, &c., 168, 169; wheel of life
and, 346, 347.
Gauls, Hittite raiders like the, 261 ;
gods of and the Babylonian, 316, 317.
Germ theory, anticipated by Babylonians,
61, 234.

Germany, double-headed eagle

the Baghdad railway, 357.
Gezer cave dwellings, 10;

178, 179; reaches Pirnapishtim's island, 180; ancestor's revelation to and magic food, 182; plant
of life, 183; Earth Lion robs, 183;
Germanic gods and heroes and, 184,
185; flood legend revealed to, 190 et
seq.; Tammuz and, 210; Ashur and,
336 ; Persian eagle and, 493.
Gillies, Dr. Cameron, on Scottish folk

of,

68;

cremation

n.

of,

48;

71; on Lagash
vase, 120; the six-headed, 332; the
satyr or astral goat man, 333; the
white kid of Tammuz, 85, 333; the
Arabic "kid" star, 333; associated
the,

with Anshar, Agni, Varuna, Ea, and

Thor, 329, 333, 334; forehead symbol
of like Apis symbol, 334; Minerva's
shield has skin of, 337.
Goblin, the Babylonian, 66.
God, the Dead, grave of Osiris, 296;

and

also alive

God

in various forms, 297.

cult, fusion of

with goddess

cult,

105.
at

once mothers, wives, and

of gods, 99, 101, 436;

practised in,
"wind gusts" as, 48, 49; associated with demons, 60, 215, 216;
as birds, 65; as death bringers, 69,
295 ; the terrible mothers, 69; where
dreaded and where invoked, 69, 70;

Goddesses,
daughters

Babylonian "night prowlers", 70;

food required by, 70, 212, 213;
Ishtar's threat to raise, 215; King of
Cuthah and, 215, 216; as "Fates"

the Semiramis legend, 417 et seq.

Gods, Babylonian and Egyptian groups,
36, 37; the younger and elder, 149;
why Sumerian were bearded, 135-7.

Ghosts,

husbands of die annually, 101

et seq.\

102; of Mediterranean racial tribes, 105; Ishtar as

*'
La Belle Dame Sans Merci", 174-6;
lovers of various,

INDEX
Goodspeed, Professor, on early astronomy, 321, 322.
Gorgons, the, Tiamat and, 159.
Graves, charms and weapons in, 206;
as houses of dead, 206, 208; of gods
and giants, 296.
Great Mother, the, forms of, 36; Hittiteand Sumerian forms, 267; Anaitis,
Ate, Cybele, Ishtar, Isis, Astarte,
Ashtoreth, and Atargatis, 267; Kadesh,
Anthat,, and Danu, 268.
Greece, spitting customs in, 46, 47;
blood drinking in, 48 wanton goddesses of, 104; imported gods in, 105;
dragon myths of, 151, 152; eagle
connected with birth and death in,
;

the Japanese, 206; the

of.
See
Nergal and Eresh-ki-gal.
Hags, of storm, marsh and mountain

as primitive goddesses: the Scottish,

64, 87; the Babylonian, 68, 71, 72,
73, 185; the Germanic, 72, 73, 95.

See Annie, Annis, Beowulf, Mothers,

and Tiamat.
evidence from early graves and

I lair,

sculptures, 4, 9, 10.
Hamath, Hitlite city

Israel
of, 395;
overcomes, 449; Ilu-bi-di, the smith
king of, 457, 458.
Hamites, Biblical reference to, 276.

Hammurabi

(ham'mu-ra'bi), Dagan as
Sin-mubaUit father
31
of, 133; pantheon of, 134, 254; the
Biblical Amraphel, 131, 246, 247;
"
"
"
"

168; flood legend of, 195, 196;

11
Island of Blessed", 203; star myths
of, 300; Babylonian culture reached
through Hittites, 306; doctrine of

creator of,

worlds ages, $iQtt sfq.

forms

beliefs in,

318

pre-Hellenic
84, 104, 317; astrology in,

et seq.;

astronomy

316, 319
period, 386;

in,

et seq.; in pre- Phrygian

Green, a supernatural colour, 186.

'Grey Eyebrows", a Gaelic hag, 87;

myth of, 101.

Gudea (gii'de-a), King

of Lagash, sculpbuildings, and trade of, xxiii,

129, 130; bearded gods of, 136.

tures,

Gula

(goo'la),

mother goddess,

Bau and, 116; feast of, 476.

Gungunu (giin'gun-u), King of Ur,
Guns, called after giants

100;

128,

129,

132.

"Long Meg"

264; demons and,

307.

and

Ammurapi

247, 248; Rim Sin, the

Elamite, and, 249 ; character of, 249-

55

code

of,

god Nebo ignored

of, 2,

222, 223

by, 303

legal

ft seq.

the,

Amorites

and, 217, 218; early Amorite kings

of Sippar, 241, 242; schools and correspondence during, 252; Kassites
first appear
Sealand
during, 255;
Dynasty in, 257 ; late kings of, 257,

258; Hittite raid at close of, 25860 ; Assyria during, 279, 419; astro-

nomy in,
Hanuman

300.

the
Indian
(han'u-man),
god, Bhima and, 187; like

Gilgamesh, 188, 189.

Hapi

(ha'pi),

deity,

Nile

god,

bi-sexual

161.

Haran, Abraham's migration from Ur

to, 131, 245; Ashur and Sin worshipped at, 353 Nabonidus's temple
;

Gyges

(gy'jes),
saries of visit

Hadad,

Khammurabi

monkey

and "Long Tom", 156.

Gutium (gu'tium), northern mountaineers,

Hammurabi Dynasty,

fusion of races in, 393.

Greeks of Cilicia, Ashur-bani-pal and,

See lonians.
484.

Roman, 207;

Babylonian king and queen

King of Lydia, emisNineveh, 483, 486.

Ramman

as, 57, 261, 411.

racial affinities,

Iladdon, Dr., Achoean

377-

Hades, Ishtar receives water of life in,

44; Tammuz spends winter in, 53,
98; Indian "land of fathers", 56;
land of no return, 58; descent of
" Island of the
Ishtar
et
to,

Blessed ",

95
seq.\
180 et seq.

Babylonian
the Celtic, 203 ;
conception of, 203
the Greek, Germanic, Indian, and
Egyptian, 204; the grave as, 206;
;

to Sin at, 494.

Haiper, Professor, 321.

Harvest deities, fish forms of, 29, 32;
river and ocean gods as, 33; the
pre-Hellenic, 84; the Egyptian, 85.
Harvest moon, the, crops ripened by,
52-

Hathor

(hat'hor), the fish goddess and,

29; Ishtar and, 57, 99.
Hathor-Sekhet, the destroyer, 157, 197.

Hatshepsut (hat-shep'soot), Queen of

Egypt, 16; Sumerian queen earlier
than,

115.

dominant tribe of Hittites,

246; of Armenoid race, 262; as Great

Hatti

(hat'ti),

INDEX

i6
Father worshippers, 260
and, 269.

Hattusil

I (hat-too'sil),

Mitannians

spine", 332; Anshar, Ann, Enlil, Ea,

Merodach, Nergal, and Shamash as,

King of Hittites,

334-

Hindus, Mediterranean race represented

Hattusil

Hittite king, Egyptian

II,
treaty, 366; influence of in Babylonia,

364, 368
rite

marriage treaty with

among,

Amo-

Hiram,

king, 418.

Cretan racial types,

ship

of,

of,

Hebrews

offer

women prominent

cakes

106, 107.
in Canaan, 379;

under David and Solomon, 388, 389;

Pharaoh Sheshonk plunders, 391
kingdoms of Judah and Israel, 401
et seq. ; in late Assyrian period, 448
et seq.
See Israel xnAJudah.
Heimdal (him'dal), as patriarch and
world guardian, 93; Tammuz and
Agni like, 94; Nin-Girsu of Lagash

264; prehistoric culture

thunder god of and linking
deities, 261, 268; Merodach carried
oft' by, 261; fusion of
god and goddess
cults by, 267, 268; relations with
Mitannians and Kassites, 270-2, 282,
258,

of,

116.

like,

Hercules, Gilgamesh and, 41, 164,

172; as dragon slayer, 152; eagle as
soul of, 170, 349; burning of, 171;
of Cilicia and deities that link with,

358; Subbi-luliuma, the conqueror,

283; conquest of Mitanni, 284; Babylonian culture passed to Greece by,
306, 316; the winged disk of, 347,
Ashur cult and, 355
348
Syria
after expansion of, 363; King Mursil,
364; influence of in Egypt and Babylonia, 364; wais of Seti I and Rameses
II against, 364, 365; alliance with
P^gypt, 366; early struggle with As;

syria,

336; astral arrow

of,

380;

381

337; Melkarth

and, 348.

Nebo as, 303.

the
Germanic
(her 'mod),
Patriarch, 93; Gilgamesh and, 184.
Herodotus, on Babylonian harvests, 21,
22; on Babylonian burial customs,
214; description of Babylon, 219 et

Hermes

(h^r'mez),

Hermod

seq.

on Babylonian marriage market,

224, 225 ; on doctors and folk cures,

231, 232; on origin of Nineveh, 277;
on Egyptian Totemism, 293, 432
on pre- Hellenic beliefs, 317; on
Semiramis legend, 425; on fall of
Assyria, 488.
Heth, children of, Hittites as, 246.
Hezekiah (hez-e-ki'ah), 21, 340; Merodach-Balad conspiracy, 465; destruction of Assyrian army, 466, 467;
Esarhaddon and, 471, 472.
Hierap'olis, Atargatis goddess of, 267.
;

"

259,

263

261; Merodach and, 316; Ashur and,

of,

M world
High Heads ", symbols and

among,

Hebrews, dealings
Jerusalem, 246
earliest referwith, 246, 266, 267
ences to in Egypt and Babylonia,

in wor-

Philistines
as overlords of, 379, 380, 386, 387;
as allies of Egypt and Tyre, 388;

Hebrews,

Solomon's

xxx, 420; racial types in confederacy

of, n, 12, 246, 265, 266; doubleheaded eagle of, 168; in ethnics of

Israel oppressed by, 412.

106;

King

Hit, the bitumen wells of, 25.

Hittites, the father worshippers

8.

enter the, 71.

Hazael (haz'a-el), King of Damascus,
410; Shalmaneser III defeats, 411;

to,

astronomer,

320, 321.
of Tyre, as

of,

ally, 388, 389.

Hawk, demons

Heaven, Queen

Greek

the

discoveries

Hawes, Mr., on Cretan chronology,

xxv

8.

Hipparchus,

as overlords

Nebuchadrezzar

defeats,

late period of

citystates of

395;

Muski

367, 368;

Empire of, 386;

Hamath and Carchemish,

Shalmaneser

"mother

right

III

and,

414;

among", 418; con-

nection of with Urartu, 440 w.; combination against Sargon II, 459, 460;
Biblical reference to Tabal and Meshech, 464.

Horse, sea god as a, 33 demons enter

the, 71 ; domesticated in Turkestan,
271; introduction of to Babylonia
and Egypt, 270, 271; sacrificed by
Aryo-Indian and Buriats, 271, 309;
;

constellation of, 309.

Horns
tears

(ho'rus),
of,

45;

god of Egypt, creative

as

the

sun,

Saturn,

and Mars, 300, 304; the

" elder" and
"younger", 302; as
the "opener", 304; "world soul"

Jupiter,

many forms
Tammuz, 305; Ninip and, 316;

conception and, 304; has

like

INDEX
"winged disk"

336;

of,

(ho-she'a),

King of

Israel, 453,

294; Gilgamesh myth in,

187-9; Babylonian culture in, 199,
200, 313; face paint of gods in, 211;
jungle-dwellers' conception of "Self
Power", 291, 304; star myths of,
296; early astronomers of, 300; lunar

Hotherus (hoth'erus), Gilgamesh and,

184, 185.

"House

of Clay", the grave called,

56; 206-8.
Hraesvelgur (hra'svel-gur), Icelandic

Human

72.

zodiac of, 309; constellations identified

before planets in, 318; horse sacrifice
sun and moon marriages in,
in, 309
306; doctrine of World's Ages in, 310

sacrifices, the

May Day, 50.

mother", xxxii; in
Sumerian, Indian, and Egyptian
mythologies, 106, 304, 305; Kingu
becomes lover of Tiarnat, 106 sun
as offspring and spouse of the moon,
See
301; Adad-nirari IV as, 420.
Father and son conflict.

"Husband

of his

152.

(hik'sos), Egypt invaded by,

259; Mitannians and, 270; horse introduced into Egypt by, 271 theories

Hyksos

regarding, 271 ; trading relations of

with Crete and Persia, 273; period
of expulsion of, 275.

and Egyptians
9; goddesses of, 105;

Iberians, the, Sumerians

congeners

of,

folk tales of, 156.

Ibis,

demons enter
wind hag

Iceland,
a god

of,

the, 71.

73; Barleycorn

of,

I7O.

Idols, spirit of

god

or

demon

in,

6i;

gods of taken prisoners, 62.

Idun(ee'doon), Germanic goddess, lovers
of,

02.

Igigi (i'gig-i), spirits of heaven, 34, 149.

smith king of Hamath, 457,

458.
Immortality, quest of Gilgamesh, 177;
Song of the Sea Lady, 178, 179;
Lay of the Harper, 179; Pir-napishtim and Gilgamesh, 181 et seq. Ea-

Ilu-bi'di,

bani's

revelation,

lonian

Paradise,

183-4; no Baby203,

210,

211;

Brahmans ask Alexander the Great

for, 208; Egyptian Ra and Osirian
doctrines, 209.

Sumerian myths in, xxvi, xxvii;

BrahmaMediterranean race in, 7
Vishnu and Ea, 27; Babylonian flood

India,

myth

in, 27, 28,

196;

demons of and

the Babylonian, 34; mother ghost in,

69; Garuda eagle and Sumerian Zu
bird, 74, 75, 165-9, 330; wedding

"finger counting" at prayer

.; deities connected with goat

et seq.]
in, 31
in,

Hydra, as Dragon,

fairies of,

454Host of heaven, 305.

wind demon,

bracelet of and Ishtar's, 98, 98;;.;

" mothers" and "
eternal
dying gods"
in, 101; Ribhus the "elves" of, 105;

the eagle

and, 343.

Hoshea

"man

333;

in the

eye"

belief,

335> 336; cult of "late invaders" of,

338; fire cult in, 346; Solomon's trade

"

with, 389, 390; Jehoshaphat's fleet,

408; swans as love messengers in, 429.

Indo-Europeans", Mitannians as, 269,

270.

god of India, a world

Ptah, 30; Anu's
messengers like Maruts of, 34 Enlil
and, 35; Ramman, Iladad, Thor,
c,, and, 57, 261, 340; in Garuda

Indra

(ind'ra),

artisan like

Ea and

dies
75
101; various
as slayer of father, 158,
169; Paradise of like

myth,

74,

Tammuz,

thunder horn

annually like
forms of, IOI;
302; eagle as,
Odin's,

209;

238.
Insects, gods as, 296.
Inspiration, derived from sacred juice,
45; from drinking blood, 48; from
incense and breath of Apis bull, 49.
Inundation, the Babylonian, 24.
Inverness, the "sleeper" and fairy

mound

of,

of,

164.

lonians, deported from Cilicia to Nineveh, 464.

Iranian sun god, Sumerians and, 55
56.

god and river goddess

customs in, 47;
238; spitting
"
"
of souls in, 70, 70 n.
calling back
Anu a wind hag, 73 ; Tammuz-Diar-

Ireland, the corn

of, 33,

mid myth in, 85, 87; Angus, the love

god of, 90, 238, 428 .; the eternal
goddess

of,

101,

"moruach" (worm)
legend

of,

196; the

102,
of,

268;
151;

Hades

pig as devil in, 293;

world's ages in, 310 et
of culture of, 315, 316;
of, 317; pigeon lore in,

of,

the
flood

203;

doctrine of
origin
giant gods
431.

scq.\

INDEX

5 i8

Iron, in northern Mesopotamia, 25; used

in folk cures, 236.
Irrigation, in early Sumeria, 23, 39.
Isaac, forbids Jacob to marry a Hit the,
266.
Isaiah, 21; doom of Babylonia, 113,
4995 "worm" of, the dragon, 151;
use of Babylonian symbolism by, 331,
341; "satyrs" referred to by, 333;
on Assyria the Destroyer, 340; on
Tophet, 350; reference to Jerusalem's

water supply, 451; warns Ahaz, 459;

destruction of Sennacherib's army,
466; tradition of murder of, 474.
Ishbi-Urra (ish'bi-oor'ra), King of Isin,
132.
Ishtar (ish'tar), Isis cult and, xxxi;

hymn

18-20; Beltu and, 36; water of

given to, 44 as earth goddess,
53; identical with Hathor, 57; in
demon war, 76; as "Queen of
Heaven", 81, 106, 107; lamentation
to,

life

of for Tammuz, 86, 88, 98; in Sargon

of Akkad myth, 91; descent of to

Hades poem, 95 et seq.; magical

ornaments of, 96; punishment of, 96,
97; rescue of, 98; Belit-sheri associated with, 98; as love goddess, 99;
temple women of, 99, 106, 107; ab-

worship and, 240; Dynasty of Pashe,

380.

goddess of Egypt, Ishtar cult

and, xxxi; fish goddess and, 29; as
Nile goddess, 33 ; creative tears of,
45; mourning of for Osiris, 83, 99;

Isis (1'sis),

as daughter, wife, sister, and mother

of Osiris, 99; as corn goddess, 90; as
serpent goddess, 150; as bi-sexual
deity, 161; male form of, 299; the
star of, 296, 300; address of to different forms of Osiris, 297.
" Island of
the Blessed ", in Gilgamesh
epic, 1 80 et seq.} the Greek and
Celtic, 203.
Isiacl, first Egyptian reference to,

379;

subject to Damascus, 396; separation

of from Judah, 401 */ seq.\ Abijah's
victory over, 402, 403 ; first conflict
with Assyria, 407; tribute to Shalmaneser III, 411, 412; Assyria as

"saviour"

414, 438, 439; god421; Aramaeans and

mother worship in, 434; war with
Judah, 448; Tiglath-pileser harries,
453; the lost ten tubes, 455, 456.
of,

dess cult in,

"Jack and

Jill", the

Sumerian lunar,

53-

sorbs other goddesses, loo, 117, 277,

496; as daughter of Ann and Nannar,

"Jack with a Lantern", the Baby-

IOO; as mother of Tammuz, 100; the

loversof, 103, 126, 174-6; likeTiamat,
106; under Isin Dynasty, 132; links

Jacob, personal ornaments as charms

to, 2li; marriage of, 266.
Jah, the Hebrew, Ea as, 31; Dagon

with Indian and Egyptian goddesses,

157; Damkina and, 160; as a bisexual deity, 161 ; in Etana legend,
166; in Gilgamesh legend, 172-7; in
flood legend, 193, 194; Frey's bride
and, 204; threat to raise dead, 213;
sh goddesses and, 117, 277; Nineveh image of sent t/> Egypt, 280; star
f>
295 ; changes star forms with

Merodach, 299; month of, 305; wheel

symbol of, 347; Nineveh temple of
destroyed, 363; worshipped by Nebuchadrezzar

I,

382; cult of in Assyria,

420; Semiramis and, 425; as a Fate,

433; moon god and, 436; Creatrix
and, 437; worshipped by Sargon II,
463; worshipped by Esarhaddon, 471;
Persian goddess and, 496.
Ishtarate (ish-tar-a'te), "Ishtars", goddesses in general called, 100.
Isin, Dynasty of, 131; early kings of,
132 et scq.y last kings of, 133; sun

lonian, 66.

as, 31;

as dragon slayer, 157;

mono-

theism, 160.
Japan, the Hades

of, 206.
Jastrow, Professor, on Ea, 29, 30, 435;

on culture and lacial fusion, 42; on

fire and water ceremonies, 51; on
moon names, 52; on female conservatism, 107, 179, 180; on burial
customs, 208; on Nebo, 303, 435;
on Greek and Babylonian astrology
and astronomy, 319^ seq. ; on Anshar,
Ashir, and Ashur, 354.
Jehoahaz (je-hf/a-haz), King of Judah,
414 ; Necho deposes, 489.
Jehoash (je-ho'ash), King of Israel, 448,
449Jehoiachin(je-hoi'a-chin), King of Judah,
carried to Babylon, 490.

Jehoiakim (je-hoi'a-kim), King of Judah,

489, 490, 492.

Jehoram

(je-ho'ram),

burning at grave

King of Judah, no

of,

350.

INDEX
Jupiter, the planet, Ramman and Hadad
as, 57; Merodach creates, 147; Mero-

Jehoshaphat (je-hosh'a-phat), King of

Judah, 407 ; navy of wrecked, 408.
Jehu (je'hu), King, of Israel, Elisha
calls,
409, 410; tribute to Shalmaneser III, 411, 412; mother wor-

dach as, 296; Horus as, 300, 302;

associated with sun and moon, 301 ;
as ghost of sun, 305; as "bull of

ship in reign of, 421, 434.

Jeremiah, liver as seat of life, 48; on
mother worship, 1 06, 107, 421;

Pharaoh Necho, 489.

(jer-o-bo'am), revolt of, 402;

Abijah defeats, 402, 403; an ally of

Jeroboam

Jupiter- Belus,

of

opens
360;

that link

Kali (ka'lee), the Indian goddess, goat

sacrificed to, 48.

Kalkhi (kal'khi), excavations at, xix, xx

headcapital of Shalmaneser I, 367

466;

quarters of Ashur-natsir-pal III, 398;

description of, 399, 400; library at,
422, 470; religious revolt at, 422;
Sargon II and, 463 ; temple to Nebo
at, 487.
Karduniash
(kar-doon'i-ash),
Babylonia called, 273.
Kama (kar'na), Indian hero: like Sar-

the racial blend which

of, 9;
produced, 10 tt seq.
Jews, Cyrus welcomed in Babylon by,
495 return pf to Jerusalem, 496.
Jezebel (jez'e-bel), Queen, 406; miuder
not

gon

of

Akkad,
Nippur

126.

as capital of, 218; in

as agriculturists, 256; Aryans associated with,
270; Mitannians, Hyksos and, 270,
271, 272, 273; Babylonia consoli-

Kassites,

Hammurabi Age, 255;

410.
Jinn, the Aiabian, 78.
of,

Joash (jo'ash), King of Judah, concealment of in childhood, 413; coro-

dated by, 274, 393; early Assyrian

kings and, 279; in Tell-el-Amarna
letters, 281; and Mesopotamian question, 358; Arabian desert trade route,
360; dynasty of ends, 370, 371 Sennacherib and the mountain, 464.
Keats, John, 112; "La Belle Dame

nation of, 413, 414.

Johns, Mr., on Aryans in early Assyria,
278, 279.
of Israel,

408,

409; Jehu murders, 410.

Josiah (jo-sl'ah), King of Judah, Necho

and, 489.

Sans Merci" and Ishtar, 174.

Kengi (Wn'gi), early name of Sumer,

(j6'tham), King of Judah, 451.

Judah, subject to Damascus, 396; separation of from Israel, 401 ct $eq.\

Jotham

Khammurabi (kham-mu-ra'bi),
See Hammurabi.

revolts against, 409; defeated

448; Damascus and Israel

Khani

Israel,

plot against, 451; Ahaz appeals to

Assyria, 452; Sennacherib deports

Kharri

(kha'ni).
(khar'ri),

2.

247.

See Mitanni.
Mitannians called;

perhaps "Arya", 269.

See Haiti and ffittites.
See Hittites.

K hatti.

prisoners from, 465 ; in Esarhaddon's

reign, 474; Pharaoh Necho in, 489;
the Captivity, 491 ; return of captives,

496.

route,

with, 268.

captives to, 496.

Jewellery, the magic, Ishtar's, 96, 98.
Jewish type, Akkadians of, I, 2; Arabs

Edom

'

285;

murder of, 361.

Kadesh (ka'desh), goddesses

Assyrian ambassador visits, 471, 472; sack of by

Nebuchadrezzar II, 490, 491 ; Cyrus
and rebuilding of, 496; return of

by

Ashur-uballit, 284,
desert trade

Arabian

King

as, 221, 317.

-

cord from, 323; "Queen of Heaven"

worshipped in, 421; wall of destroyed
by Jehoash, 449; new wall and water
supply of, 451; siege of by Senna-

(jo'ram),

Merodach

Kadasbman - Kharbe (kad ash man

khar'be), King of Babylon, grandson

at, 152; "father" of Amorite,

" mother" of
Hittite, 246
eclipse re-

Joram

Jupiter-Amon, 317.

well"

465,

301

astrology, 318.

Assyria, 449.
Jerusalem, the "new", xvii; Palaeolithic collection at,
10;
"dragon

cherib,

Nin-Girsu (Tammuz)

month

of, 305 ; Attis as,

305; as "face voice of light" and
"star of bronze", 314, 315; in

Jeremias, Dr. Alfred, on precession of

equinoxes, 320 ;/.

301;

light",
as,

Kheta.

Khnumu (knoo'moo),
i

Ea compared

the Egyptian god,

to, 30.

INDEX

520
Khonsu

(kon'soo),

Tammuz

a healer

like, 90,

94.
Kid, sacrificed to Tammuz, 85, 333;
star called by Arabs, 333.

King, L. W., Creation tablets, xxiv, 29;

211; on "Cuthean Legend of Creation", 215, 216; on seven gods as
one, 298; on Sennacherib's sack of
Babylon, 469.
Kings, worship of, in Hammurabi Age,
242, 257, 258; burning of, 350, 351;
Ashur's association with, 352.
Kingu (kin'goo), in Creation Legend,
as son and lover of Tiamat, 106 ; stiis

Tiamat to avenge Apsu, 140; exalted

by Tiamat, 140; overcome by Merodach, 145, 146.
Kish, early dynasty of, 114; legendary
queen of, 114, 115; Entemena's sack
of, 120; Sargon and, 125, 126; goddess of, 126, 127; kings and gods of,
241.

Kishar (ke'shar), the god,

in

group

of

elder deities, 37, 138.

Kneph, the Egyptian air god, 49.
Koran (ko'ran), Etana eagle myth in,
166, 167; Nimrod agricultural myth
in,

170; water of

life

legend

in,

186;

Abraham and Nim rod's pyre, 349.

Kudur Mabug (ku'dur mab'ug), Elamite
King of Sumer, 242, 243 the Biblical
;

Chedor-laomei, 247, 248.

Kuiri (kil'i-ri), early name of Akkad, 2.
Kurds (koords), the, use of cradle board
by. 4> 5? of Mediterranean race, 8;
Mitannians as ancestors of, 270, 283.
Kurigalzu II (ku'ri-gal'zu), King of
Babylonia, 285.
Kurigalzu III, Kassite king, wars with

Elam and
Kuta
Kutu

Assyria, 362.
and Kiitha. See Cuthah.
128,
(kii'tii), the men of,

264.

Labartu (la-bar'tli), the, a mountain

hag, 68; as a luck spirit, 77.
Labashi - Marduk (la'ba - shi - mar'diik ),
of Babylonia, 492.
Belle Dame Sans Merci", Ishtar

King

(lach-a'mii), goddess, in Crea-

tion legend, 37, 138, 143.

(lach'mu), god, in

Lachmu

legend, 37, 138,

115

Creation

143.

(la'gash), city of, early rulers of,

it scq.\ deities of, 116-8; rela-

Lagash

of in

Hammurabi Age,

Lakshmi

243.

Also

(laksh'mee), the Indian eternal

mother, 101.

Lamassu

(la'mas-su), the

winged

bull,

65-

the sacrificed, inspiration from

Lamb,
blood

Land

of,

48.

in early Sumeria, 26; of

Babylonia, 229, 230.
Lang, Andrew, on Cronos, 64; on
father and son myth, 1 58 on Greek

laws,

star lore, 319.

Dr., Sumcnan psalms, 96

on Ninip and Enlil, 158; on
doves and goddesses, 428.
Language, race and, 3; Sumerians,
Chinese, Turks, Magyars, Finns, and
Basques compared, 3.
Larsa (lar'sa), sun god chief deity of, 40;
revolt against Isin, 132; Rim-Sin,

Langdon,
et seq.

king of, 133; rise of sun cult of, 240;

Elamite kings of, 242; the Biblical
Ellasar, 247; Nabonidus and, 492.
Laurin (law'reen), the Germanic elfin
lover, 68.

Law

courts, in Hammurabi Age, 223.

Layard, Sir A. H., discoveries of, xix
et seq.
Ashur symbols, 343; description of Kalkhi, 399-401.
;

"Lay
4

of the Harper", the Sumerian

of the Sea Lady" and, 178,

'Song
179.

from, 130.
Leicestershire

wind hag, 73.

Library, Shalmaneser III founded at
Kalkhi, 422.
Libyans, the, shaving customs of, 9.
water of, 44, 45; the plant of,
44; blood and sap and, 45; liver as
seat of, 48; habits of and modes of

Life, the

thought, 51.

as, 174, 175.

Lachamu

Lead, in northern Mesopotamia, 25.

Lebanon, Gudea of Lagash gets timber

See Gutium.

"La

Umma, 118-20; site of at

20; revolution in, 120; Urukagina, the reformer of, 121-4; sack
of, 124; Gudea, King of, 129; sculptures, buildings, and trade of, 130;
bearded god of, 135, 136; burning
tions with

Tello,

Light on head, Merodach's, 145.

Lna

or Li'lu, the demon, 67.

"Adam's first wife", 67; Indian

Li'lith,

Surpanaka

like, 67.

manufactured
Linen,
Egypt, 14.

in

prehistoric

INDEX
Lion god, Nergal as

Merodach sheds blood

the, 54.

Lions, associated with mother goddess,

1

20.

Liver, the, as seat of life, 48; dragon's

vulnerable part, 153.
Loftus, W. K., xx.
Loki, the Germanic god, taunts god-

desses regarding lovers, 102, 103; god

Barleycorn and, 170.
the English giantess,
"Long Meg",
"
"
I
Long Tom and, 156.
5$i !5 6
the
Tom",
giant, guns called,
"Long
;

156.

Love charms and love lyrics,

Love goddess, Ishtar as, 99,
the inconstancy
103, 104.
Lovers, the

of,

demon,

99

et

238.
175, 176;
seq.> 102,

67, 68.

Lucian (loosh'yan), Serniramis legend,

4 2 5Lucifer, Babylonian king as, 331.
Luck, spitting to secure, 46 et seq.\
spirits of, 77.

Lugal-zaggisi (lu'gal-zag'gi-si), King of

Umma, sack of Lagash by, 123, 124;
gods of, 124; Kish captured by, 124;
Erech capital of emphe of, 124, 125;
supposed invasion of Syria by, 125.

Lulubu (lul'ii-bii), mountaineers, 128.

Lunar chronology, solar chronology
" Four
pieceded by, 312;
Quarters",
323. 324zodiac, the original, 309.
Lycia, god had wife in, 221.
Lydia, emissaries from to Ashur-bani-

Lunar

483; helps Egypt against Assyria, 486; alliance with Egypt against
Cyrus, 494.
pal,

Ma, the goddess, serpent form

of,

76;

Tiamat and, 150; goddess of Com ana,

267.

Magic and poetry, 236

521

et seg.

Magician, the great, Ea as, 38.

Magyars, language of and the Sumerian,

Mahabharata, the (maha'bha"rata), 67,

68; the various Indrasin, 101;
myth in, 126; eagle myth, 166;

Kama
Bhima

Gilgamesh in, 187; Naturalism

and Totemism in, 291, 292, 293; the
like

"wheel of life" in, 346-7; the Shakuntala legend in, 423, 424.
Mama (ma'ma), the mother goddess, 57,
267; as Creatrix, 100.
Man, creation of, 38; Ea desired, 148;

for,

148; Be-

rosus legend, 148, 149, 150,

Man bull, the winged, 65.
Manasseh, King of Judah, idolatries
f 473 5 legend of Isaiah's end, 474 ;
captivity
486.

of,

Manishtusu
Sargon

I,

474; Ashur-bani-pal and,

(m'an-ish-tu'sii), successor of

empire

of,

127.

Mannai

(man'nai), state of, 473, 486.

(man'oo), the Indian patriarch,

Manu

like Babylonian Noah, 27 ; the fish

and flood myth, 27, 28, 196.
Mara (ma'ra), the European demon of

nightmare, 69.

Marduk

See Merodach.
(mar'duk).
Marduk-balatsu-ikbi (mar'duk-bal'atsuik-bi), King of Babylonia, defeat of
by Shamshi-Adad VII, 415, 416.
Marduk-bel-usate (mar'duk-bel-u-sa'te),
revolt of in Babylonia, 408, 409.
'
zakir - shum (mar duk - za- kir '-

Marduk

shum), King of Babylonia, 408;

vassal of Assyria, 409.

Mari (ma'ri), king of Damascus, as the

Ben Hadad

Biblical

III, 438, 439.

Marriage contracts, in Hammurabi code,

225 et set].
Marriage market of Babylon, the, 224,
225.

Marriage of deities, the Hittite, 268.

Mars, Horus as, 300, 304; month of,
305; as "bronze fish stone", 314;
the Gaulish mule god as, 316; in
astrology, 318.

Mars, Nergal, wolf planet of pestilence,

as,

301, 303, 316.

Mars, the planet, boar slayer of Adonis

in sun and moon group,
as, 87 ;
301.

Maruts (mar'oots), the Indian, like

Anu's demons, 34, 64.
Mashi (ma'shi), the mountain of, in
Gilgamesh epic, 177, 178.
Maspero, Professor, on antiquity of
Hittites, 264; on Assyrian colonists,
456.

"Masters, the", Buriat earth and

air

spirits, 105.

Mati-ilu (ma'ti-i'lu), of Agusi, relations

of with Assyria and Urartu, 443, 446,
447 ; overthrow of by Tiglath-pileser

IV.
Mattiuza

May

King of Mitanni,
283; as Hittite vassal, 284.

(mat-ti-ii'za),

flight of,

Day,

fire

ceremonies

of, 50.

INDEX

522
Mead, of the gods, 45

blood

as,

48

eagle steals, 74.

Measurer, the,

moon

as, 52.

Medes, Hi; in Hammurabi Age, 244;

Sargon II and, 460; Ashur-bani-pal
and, 486; and fall of Nineveh, 488;
Scythians and, 472, 488; alliance of
with Lydia, 494; Cyrus as King of,
493-

Race,

the,

Basques a

variation of, 3; Sumerians and protoEgyptians of, 7 8 ; Cretans of, 8 ;

Ripiey traces in Asia, 8, 9, n; in

Africa and Europe, 9; "cradle "of,

39 ; Tammuz- Adonis myth and, 85
mother worship and status of women
;

104, 105, 108, 420 tt seq.\ in

Hittite confederacy, 266; the Biblical

in,

Cushites and Hamites and, 276.

Medusa, Tiamat and, 159.
Meg, Long. See Long Mfg.
Melkarth (mel'karth), children sacrificed
to,

171; Hercules and, 348; burning

of,

349.

Memphis (mem'phis),

Assyrians fight
Ethiopians at, 475, 483.
Men, in worship of mother goddess,
107, 108.

Menahem

and brood of captured

slain,

by, 146; eats "Ku-pu" of Tiamat,

147, 147/7., 153; forms earth and
sky, 147, 328; creates stars of Zodiac,
147 ; lunar and solar decrees of, 148;

other deities and, 34, 35, 38, 149, 158,

159, 298, 299, 303, 316, 336, 337,
348, 354, 420; hymn to, 149, 150,
161
as Tammuz, 158; Osiris and,
159, 298, 354; Perseus and, 159;
Nimrod and, 167, 277, 343; temple
of, 221 ; Hammurabi Age kings and,
241-2, 252 ; Hittites carry off image
of, 261, 262, 269, 272; Kassites and,
272, 274, 372 complex character of,
298, 299; stars of, 296, 299, 300, 305;
Jupiter form of as sun ghost, 305
Nebo and, 303, 435; month of, 305;
goddesses and, 221, 299, 316, 420;
world hill and, 332 ; as " high head",
334; Ashurand, 336, 337, 348, 354;
image at Asshur, 468, 469 ; "restoration of, 481 482 ceremony of taking
hands" of, 480, 481; Cyrus and,
493, 495; Ahura Mazda and, 496;
Darius I and, 497; Xerxes pillages
temple of, 497; Alexander the Great
;

Mediterranean

Tiamat

and, 497; late worship

(men'a-hem), King of Israel,

pays tribute to Assyria, 449.

Meneptah (men-e'ta or men'e-ta

of,

498.

Merodach Baladan (mer'o-dach bal'adsecond

an), King of Babylon, 457
;

),

King

reign of, 465

death

of,

468

sons of

of Egypt, relations of with Hittites,

378; sea raiders defeated by, 378,
379Menuas (men'ii-as), King of Urartu,
440; conquests of, 441.
Mercury, the planet; in sun and moon

and Esarhaddon, 471.

Mesopotamia, present-day racial types
in, 8; Assyria and Babylonia struggle

301; Nebo as, 301, 302;

voice of
305; the "face
"
"
lazuli

Messenger of gods, Sumerian Nusku

and India Agni as, 50; Papsukel as,

group,

month

of,

star, 314;
lapis
light ", 314;
the Gaulish boar god as, 316, 317;

in astrology, 318.

Mermaids, the Babylonian,

Mermer (mer'mer), a name

Ramman, 303.
tion of

crea-

mankind, xxix, 148; Dam-

kina and, 34; Enlil as older Bel than,

35; Ea and, 38; water of life belief,

44; Nusku as messenger of, 50; in

demon war, 77; brothers and sister
of, 82; Zamama of Kish and, 126;
134; Anshar's appeal to in
Creation legend, 142; the avenger,
143; proclaimed king of the gods,
144; weapons and steeds of, 145;
rise of,

97; Gaga as, 143.

Metals, the northern Mesopotamia, 25.
Mexico, the terrible mother ghost of,
69.

34.

of Nebo and

Merodach (mer'6-dach), the god:

to control, 286, 381, 382, 384; unaer

Kassites, 358, 360, 361 ; atrocities of
Ashur-natsir-pal III in, 397.

Meyer, Professor Kuno, 101, 102.

Micah, the prophet, 405, 406.
Mice, the golden, Dagon offering of,
s ftSi 4 1
as destroyers
3 2 33 J
of Sennacherib's army, 466.
>

Midas
gon

g\

>

(ml'das), King of Phrygia, SarII and, 460, 462.

Arabia and
Asia Minor, 10, II, 12; the Canaanitic or Amorite, 217;
Median and
Iranian, 244; the Phoenician, 244,
245; of Abraham and Lot, 245, 246;

Migrations, earliest from

of Hittites to Palestine, 246;

pre-

INDEX
evidence of, 263;
338; Aramaean, 359, 360,
376-8; Achaean, 376-8; the Moslem,
377; the "Bedouin peril", 392;
effects of on old empires, 393.

historic

pottery

cults and,

Milky Way,

the, 309.
of in

husks

Egyptian preDynastic bodies, 6.

Minerva, Neith and, 337.
Mitanni (mi-tan'ni), Mitra, Indra, &c.,
Millet,

gods of, 55, 269; rise of kingdom

268 ; Kurds descendants of people

of,
of,

270; Egypt and, 270, 271, 279, 282,

358, 359; Kassites and Hyksos and,
270, 271, 273; Assyria subject to,
270, 279; Merodach's image in, 272;
in Tell-el-Amarna letters, 281; concultural
quered by Hittites, 283, 284 ;
influence of, 316; Assyria occupies,

Moon

523
goddess, the, 53.

Moses, in Koran water of life story, 186.

Mother, the Great, agriculturists and,
xxx ; as source of food supply, xxxii

destroying goddesses as, 57 ; Tiamat

as, 64, 1 06, 140, 157; the serpent as,
74-6; the Gaelic Hag as, 87; Ishtar
100, 157; Nut of Egypt as, 100,
106; the Aryo-Indian Sri-Lakshmi
as, 101 ; lovers of die yearly, IOI et
sty.', human sacrifices to, 104; worship of in Jerusalem, 106; women as
as,

offerers to,

Ashur and, 338

Cambyses

sacrifices

Apis bull to, 495.

Mitra (mit'ra), Aryo-Indian god, Shamash and, 54; association of with rain,
55; Sumerians and, 55, 56; identified
with Yama, 56, 201 ; links with Agni
and Tammuz, 94; in Mitanni, 55,
269.

Moab, Judah and, 402.

custom of, 46.
gods and, 45.
Moloch, the god, fire ceremony and,

Mohammed,
Moisture of

spitting

life,

children sacrificed to, 171.

to ensure increase, 47.
Mongolians, the, Sumerians unlike, 3, 4 ;
elves of, 105; Hittites and, 265 266.
Monotheism, in Creation legend, 149;
Babylonia, 160, 161.

50;

Money, spat on

Mons Meg,

the, water worship and worship

of 4S> S 1 J Nannar (Sin), god of, 40;
origin of in sea fire, 50, 5 1 ; as source
of fertility and growth, 52 ; consort

Moon,

of,

demon, 85

53; Mitra and Varuna

as regulators of, 54; goblet of, 75;
in demon war, 76; devoured by pig

god of as

father of Isis,

100; In-sexual deity of, 161, 299,

301; as a planet, 301; forms of god
of, 297, 298; Venus and, 314; in
astrology, 318; the "four quarters
of"
See Nannar and
3 23
3 2 4Sin.

(0642)

16

lions,

296 ; Semiramis legend and, 436, 437.

See Mother Worship.
Mother demons, in Sumerian and Anglofolk

tales,

Neolithic

153;

origin of, 156.

Mother ghost, the terrible, in Western
Asia, India, and Mexico, 69; Buriats
plead with, 69, 70.
"Mother of Mendes'', the, Egyptian
fish

and corn

U 7"Mother

deity, 29;

Nina and,

Hittiles and, 418;

succeeds through, 496.
Mother worship, in Mediterranean
racial areas, 104, 105; in Semiramis
Age, 417 et seq.\ Queen Tiy and,
434 ; goddesses as mother, wife, and
daughter of god, 436 ; Sargon II and,
463; Esarhaddon and, 471; Ashurbani-pal and, 486; Artaxerxes pro-

Darius

right",

motes, 497.
Mothers, the twin,

Isis

and Nepthys

as,

99.

Moulton, Professor, on Indian conception of conscience, 54 on Mithraism,

;

201.

156.

and family

of,

deer, and wild goatb of, 120; at creation of mankind, 148 ; as star Sirius,

Scottish

367-

Mithra (mith'ra), the Persian god; attributes of, 54, 55

Sumerian gods
an d, 55> 5 J eagle as, 168, 169;

106-8; Kish queen and,

Lagash form

114;

Mountain gods, Enlil and the, 35.

" Mountain of the West
", Olympus
332 ; temples as symbols of, 332.

as,

Mountains, as totems, 291, 292.

Mouse, god as a, 296.
Mulla, Gaulish mule god, as Mars, 316.
Mulla (mul'la), the "Will-o'-the-wisp",
66 et scq.
Miiller, Max, on lunar chronology, 312.

Mummu (miim'mii), plots with Apsuand

Tiamat, 139, 140; overcome by Ea,
140, 142.

Mummu-Tiamat,

or Tiawath.

Sec Tut-

mat<

36

INDEX

524

"self power", 291; Sumerian and

Indian beliefs, 291, 292, 304, 328,
329; Totemism and, 293 tt seq.\
various co-existing forms of deities,

Mursil (mUr'sil), King of Hittites, 364;

conquests of Egypt, 364.
Music, magical origin of, 238.
Muski (moosh'kee), overlords of Hit-

380; Hittites freed from yoke

386; Thraco- Phrygian kingdom
395; Assyrians fight with, 397;

297-

tites,

of,

of,

the Biblical Meshech, 464.

MUt, Egyptian cult of, 105, 418; Aton

Mysticism, the "lord of many existences", 297, 299; Osiris as father,

husband, son,
c., 297; Babylonian
and Egyptian, 297, 298; forms of
Horus, 300, 304; "world soul" conception, 304; father and son gods

Anshar and Anu

and "self power", 328; Ashur and
Brahma, 328.
identical, 304, 305;

(na-bo'nid-us),

King of Baby-

as
of,

305; Semiramis inscription, 419, 422;

mother worship and, 434; spouse of,
436; small Kalkhi temple of, 487.

Nebuchadrezzar

I (ne-bu-chad-rez'zar)
of Babylonia, 380; conquests of, 381;
power of, 382.

Nebuchadrezzar
of, 220, 489;

(na'bu).

489, 490.
Sais, Assyrian governor in
Egypt, 475; Ashur-bani-pal and, 482;

thunderbolt, 337 tt.

Neolithic Age, See Stone Age^ the Late.
Neolithic folk tales, 156.

Nepthys (nep'thys) mourning

disease,

goddess of Erech, 124,

statue of 1635 years in Elam,

(na'na),

moon

god, origin of
name of, 52; consort and children of,
53; as father of Isis, IOO; as a bisexual deity, 161, 299; cult of in
(nan'nar),

Kish, 241; as bull of heaven, 334;

Ishtar and, 436.
See Moon and Sin.
Naram-Sin (na'ram-sin), King of Akkad,

famous

stele of, 128; great

empire

of,

129; pigtails worn by enemies of, 265.

Naturalism, xxxiii; the conception of

for Osiris,

83; laments with Isis for Osiris, 99;

as joint mother of Osiris, 99; as serpent goddess, 150.
Neptune, connection of with Ea, Dagon,
&c., 33; the horn of, 238.
Nereids (ne'rc-ids), the, 33; the Baby-

480.

Nannar

Egyptian

palace, in;
restoration of Jews, 496.
Neith, Egyptian cult of, 105; her arrows
of fertility, 337;
"shuttle" of a

See

488.
Naki'a, queen mother of Ksarhaddon,
470; reigns in absence of Esarhaddon,
472; coronation of Ashur-bani-pal,
(nam'tar), demon of
smites Ishtar in Hades, 97.

(ne'heb-ka'u),

serpent goddess, 150.

Nehemiah in the Susan

Nadab (na'dab), King of Israel, 403.

Nahum, the doom of Nineveh, 477, 478,

125;
485.

by Ethiopians, 483.

Neheb-Kau

Nabu-aplu-iddin (na'bu-ap-lu-id'din),

Namtar

Hanging Gardens

fiery furnace of,

Necho of

See Nebo.

King of Babylon, 408.

Nabu-na'id, King of Babylonia.

II,

349;
monotheistic hymn of, 479; Egyptians
routed by, 489; King of Judah captured by, 490; takes Jews captive,

slain

,493-

Nana

436;

Mermer-Ramman, 303; month

Necho, the Pharaoh, Asiatic campaigns

of, 489; rout of by Nebuchadrezzar,

Nabo-pol-as'sar, King of Babylon, 487;

alliance of with Mcdes, 488; fall of
Nineveh, 488; Cyaxares the ally of,

Kabu

Mer-

Merodach

491, 492.

religious innovations of, 492,

relations with Cyrus, 494, 495,

lonia,

493 J

pal's library, xxii, xxiii, 303; as

cury, the messenger, 302;

and Ea and, 303, 435,

and, 419.
Mutallu (mii'tal'lii), Hittite king, wars
of with Rameses II, 365, 366.

Nabonidus

Navigation, Sumerians and, 2.

Nebo (na'bo), protector of Ashur-bani'

lonian, 34; as demon lovers, 68.

Nergal (ner^gal), solar god of disease,
53; as King of Hades, 53, 54; Yama
and, 56; as Destroyer, 62, 63, 303;
like Teutonic Beli, 95; as form of
Merodach, 160; conflict with Ereshki-gal, 205; as planet Mars, 303;
Horus and Ares and, 304; like Agni,
304; Osiris and Tammuz and, 304;
month of, 305 ; as " high head", 334;
worship of in Samaria, 455,

INDEX
Nergal-shar-utsur
lonia, 492.

Nidaba

King of Baby-

Ninus, king, legendary founder of Nineveh, 277, 424; Semiramis and, 424,

goddess of Lugal-

425.
Nin'yas, son of Semiramis, 426.
Nippur (nip'pur), Enlil god of, 35;
Ninip the Destroyer advances against,
53; Ramman, Hadad or Dadu and,

(ti'tstir),

(ni'da-ba),

zaggisi,

124.

Nightmare, Babylonian demon

of,

68,

69.

Nimrod, eagle myth regarding, 167;

170;
John
agricultural myth of,
170^. ; the
Biblical
mighty hunter", 276; as
Ni-Marad (Merodach), 277, 343; the
fires of, 350; Asshur and, 354.
Nimrud. See Kalkhi.
Barleycorn
"

Nina

and,

170,

the fish goddess, Ishtar

too; at Lagash, 117, 118, 327;
Derceto and Atargatis and, 277;
goddess of Nineveh, 327, 423; creatrix
and, 437 ; Persian Anahita and, 496.
Nineveh, excavations at, xix; called
(ni'na),

as,

after

Nina,

fish

goddess, 100, 423;

King Ninus and, 424;

Biblical re-

ference to origin of, 276, 277 Semiramis legend of origin of, 277
plundered by King of Mitanni, 280;
;

observatory at, 321; Ashur and, 354;

palace of Ashur-natsir-pal III at, 399;
lonians deported from Cilicia to, 464
as Babylon's rival, 469 ; Esarhaddon's
;

Ashur temple

at,

52 5

476

Nahum's

pro-

phecy, 477, 478; Ashur-bani-pal's

palace and library at, 487; fall of,
488; Scythian legend, 488.
Nin-Girsu(nin-gir'su), the god of Lagash,
Ninip and Tammuz and, 53, 115,
*i6* 333; Ur-Nina and, 117, 118;
Urukagina, the reformer, and, 121
et set/. ; famous silver vase from temple
of, 120; lion -headed eagle of, 120;
Gudea's temple to, 130; Shamashand
Babbar arid, 132; development of,
135; eagle of, 168; Merodach and
Zamama and, 126, 241.
(nin'ip, or Nin'ib), as Nirig and
identidestroying sun, 53;

Ninip

Zamama

during Isin Dynasty,

legend, 190 et set/.;
father and son myth, 158, 302; as
bull god and boar god, 302, 334;
month of, 305; the boar and, 315;
as Kronos and Saturn, as elder and
younger Horus, 316.
Nin'-shach, Babylonian boar god, 86.
Nin'-sun, as destroying goddess, 57,
fied with, 126;
132; in flood

100.

Nin'tU, the Babylonian serpent mother,

76; Tiamat and, 150.

57; Ur-Nina and, 116, 117; Lugalzaggisi and, 124;

Ur moon god

at,

130; Ea's temple at, 131; Isin kings

from, 132, 133; Kassites showed
preference for, 21$; observatory at,
321; Kheber (Chebar) canal near,
344as Ninip and destroying
See Ninip.
Nisroch, the Biblical, Ashur as, 343,

Nirig

(ni'rig),

sun, 53.

470.

Njord (nyerd), the Eddie sea god, 33.

Noah, the Babylonian, 27.
Nii, the Egyptian god, the crocodile as,
29; Sumerian form of, 36, 37; vaguer
than Nut, 106.

Nudimmud

(nu'dim-miid).

See Ea.

Nusk'u, the god, as fire deity, 49, 50,

51; as messenger of gods, 50, 53;
connection of with sea fire, 50, 51;
association of with sun and moon
gods, 50, 353; identified with Nirig

and Tammuz, 354.

Nut (noo'it), the Egyptian goddess, 36 ;
Tiamat as, 37; as mother of Osiris,
101;

Nu

vaguer than, 106.

Oak, Saul buried under, 350;

association of with thunder gods, 350.

Oannes (6-an'nes), as Ea, 27, 30.
Odin (o'din), 64; lovers of wife of, 103;

Gilgamesh and, 184, 185; the mythiAges and, 202 Paradise of like

cal

Indra's, 209.

Olympus, the Babylonian, 332.

Omri, King of Israel, 405.
Opener, the, Ilorus as, 302.

See

Apuaia and Patriarch.

Opis, Kish swayed by,

114; King of
captured by Eannatum of Lagash,
119; Entemena's sack of, 120.

Ops, 103.
as form of
Nin-Girsu and Tammuz
as form of the sun, 305.

Ori'on, the

Constellation,

Osiris, 297;

as, 301 ;
Orion, the Greek giant, origin

Osiris (5-sl'ris),
of, xxxi, 81.

of,

45.

Tammuz cult arid cult

Yama and Gilgamesh

and, xxxii; as god of the Nile, 33;

INDEX

S 26

a " dangerous

Pelasgians, the, Sumerian kinship with,

9; Achaeans and, 393.

creative tears of, 45; as

", 63; as patriarch, 52, 82, 83,
04, 86, 90; weeping for, 83, twin

god

mourn

goddesses

99;

for,

Pennsylvania, University

Adonis

myth, 83, 84; oiigin of, 84; blood of

in Nile, 85; swine associated with,
85; as the lunar babe, 89; as child,
husband, brother, and father of Isis,
&c., 99, 297; as son with two
mothers, 99; Nut as mother of, 101
Paradise of, 209 fusion of Ptah with

50; Yama of
India and Gilgamesh, and Yima of,
200, 20 1 ; the mythical Ages of, 202;
eagle symbol of great god of, 347,
493; Ashur cult and, 355; Britain
and Russia in, 357; Cyrus King of,

Isis star

haiah, 114.

Ox, the wild,

75

in eagle

and serpent myth,

Palaeolithic

Age,

skull

forms

of

in

France, 8; Palestine in, 10.

Palestine, early races in, 10; Palaeolithic
finds in, 10; cave dwellers of, 10, 11;
in empire of Naram Sin, 129; Abraham's wanderings in, 245; tribes he

found in, 245, 246; Elamites in,

248, 249; Necho's campaigns in,
Pan, Ea-bani and, 1 35 ; the pipes of,
Pantheon, the National, during

247,
489.
238.
Isin

Dynasty, 132.
Pap-sukal (pap-su'kal), messenger of
gods, rescues Ishtar from Hades, 97.
childless
Paradise,
ghosts excluded
from, 71 ; the Indian, Germanic, and
Egyptian, 209; Babylonian beliefs,
210.
See Hades.
Patesi (pa'te-si), priest king, I.
Patriarch, the, Apuatu as, xxxii; Sargon

of

Akkad

as,

xxxiii,

91

Yama

as,

200; Osiris and Tammuz

as, xxxii, 82, 86, 90, 297; Scyld or
Sceaf as, 92 ; Yngve, Frey, Hermod,
and Heimdal as, 93; the mythical
"sleepers" and, 164; Nimrod as,
170, 277, 354; Gilgamesh as, xxxii,
200; Mitra as, 201; the Biblical
Asshur, 276, 327, 354; King Ninus
of Nineveh and, 424, 425; the Persian
xxxii,

;
religion of and Babylonian influence, 496.
Persian Gull, early Sumerians traded on,
2; Eridu once a port on, 22.

493

Petrie,

xxv,

76.

56,

and Cyrus, 493.

Paul, Mars' hill sermon of, 59, 60.
Pekah, King of Israel, 450, 451 ; Assyrian king overthrows, 453.

expedition

stone circle

159, 164.
Persia, fire worship in,

in

Meg's

Ionian, 53; as lover of Adonis, 90.

Perseus, legend of, 152; the Babylonian,

ence to

"

Persephone (per-sef'on-e), the Baby-

and, 296; the

grave of, 296; makes Isis a male, 299;
Nergal and, 304; in star lore, 315;
backbone symbol of world mountain,
332 Merodach and Ashur and, 354.
Osiris-Sokar, Merodach like, 299.
Owl, as ghost of sorrowful mother, 65
Arabian belief regarding, 70; refer-

"

Penrith,
Long
near, 156.

Seb and, 264;

of,

xxiv.

of,

Professor

212;

Flinders, dating of,

alien pottery in Egypt
263 ; on Egypt's culture

found by,
debt to Syria, 275.
" Piru"
Pharaoh,
theory, 458, 458 n.
Philistines,

the, their
"

god Dagon,

32,

"
33
way of an ancient trade route,
357; invasion of Palestine by, 379;
as overlords of Hebrews, 379, 380;
civilization of,
Hittites and, 386
387, 403, 405; a*, vassals of Damascus, 414; tribute from to Assyria,
;

439Phoenicians, Baau, mother goddess of,

150; traditional racial cradle of, 244
appearance of on Mediterranean coast,

245; Melkarthjgod

of,

346; as

allies

of

Hebrews, 388.
Phrygia, thunder god of, 261; Cybele
and Attis of, 267; Muski and, 395;
King Midas of, 460; Cimmerians
overrun, 472; Lydia absorbs, 494.
Picts,

why

they

painted

themselves,

2X2.

demon

in, 71; sacrificed to Tamassociated with Osiris, 85 ;

sacrifice of to cure disease, 236; totemic significance of, 293; as the

Pig,

muz, 85

in Egypt and Britain, 293;

Ninip as boar god, 302,
See Doves.
Pigeons.
" world tree " and
Pillar
worship,
41
world spine", 334.
Pinches, Professor, on Ea, Ya or Tah,
and Dagan, 3 1 ; on Babylonian Willo'- the
-wisp , 66; on Babylonian

devil

* '

INDEX
boar god, 86 on flocks of Tammuz,
93; on Creation hymn, 149, 150; on
Babylonian monotheism, 160; on
,*

names of Hammurabi, Tidal, &c.,

248; on Merodach as Nimrod, 277;
on Nebo and Ramman, 303; on
Ashur worship, 352, 353 on Nusku
and Tammuz, 353, 354; on Ashur,
Merodach, and Osiris, 354; on the
;

sacred doves, 427.

Pir-na-pish'tim, the Babylonian

Noah,

27 ; sun god and, 55 > Gilgamesh's

journey to island of, 177, 178, 180;
revelation of, 181, 182; the flood
legend of, 190 et $eq.\ the Indian
Yama and, 200; the Persian Yima
and, 201.
deities

Planets,

identified

with,

296;

Merodach as Jupiter and Mercury,

299; Venus female at sunset and
male at sunrise, 299; when gods
were first associated with, 300; Horus
identified with three, 300; the seven

included sun and moon, 301 ; Jupiter

" bull of
as
light", 301; the "bearded
Aphrodite" and Ishtar, 301; Ninip
(Nirig) and Horus as Saturn, 302;

Nebo and Merodach as Mercury,

303; Nergal and Horus as Mars, 303,
304; in doctrine of mythical Ages,
$i$etseq. ; the Babylonian and Greek,
316; in astrology, 318.
Plant of Birth, Etana's quest for, 164.
Plant of Life, Gilgamesh's quest for, 164,
177Plato, the dance of the stars, 333.
Pleiades (pli'a-dez), the.
See Constel-

Babylonian astrology, 318.

Poetry, magical origin of, 236 et seq.
Poets, inspired by sacred mead, 45.
Polar star, as "world spike", 332;
Lucifer as, 331, 332.
Pork, tabooed by races, 293.
Poseidon (po-sl'don), 64, 105.

arrangements,

in

Hammurabi

Age, 251.
Pottery, linking specimens of in Turke-

Elam, Asia Minor, and Southern

Europe, 5, 263.
Prajapati (praja'pati), the Indian god,
stan,

creative tears of, 45.

the,

mother goddesses

as,

En-we-dur-an-ki of Sippar, 42 ;
the sorcerer's spell, 46; Dudu of
Lagash, 120; as rulers of Lagash,
12 1 ; and burial ceremonies, 208, 209;
fees of cut down by reformer, 210,

Priests,

21

1 ;

289.
Pritha

as patrons of culture, 287, 288,

mother

(preet'ha),
126.

of

Indian

Kama,

Prophecy, blood - drinking ceremony

and, 48; breath of Apis bull and,
49.

Prophets, clothing

of,

213, 214.

Psamtik (sam'tik), Pharaoh of Egypt

under Assyrians, 483; throws off
Assyrian yoke, 486.
(ta), the Egyptian god, Ea compared to, 30; cult of and mother
worshippers, 105; deities that link

Ptah

with, 263, 264.

Pul, Assyrian king called in Bible, 444.

Pumpelly expedition,
coveries
Punt, the

of,

5,

Turkestan

dis-

263.
"cradle"
of, as

6,

land
of
Mediterranean race, 39.
Purusha (pur-ush'a), the Indian chaos
giant, 429.

Quarters, the four. See Four quarters.

Queen of Heaven, the, Ishtar as, 81;
descent of to Hades, 95 et seq. ; Bau-

Gulaas, 116; Etana and eagle legend

and, 1 66; Ashur worshipped like,
352; Jehu worshipped, 412, 421.
Queen of Kish, the legendary AzagBau, 114; humble origin

lations.

Pleistocene (plist'o-sen) Age, the, Palestinian races of, 10.

Pliny, on the "Will-o'-the-wisp", 67.
Plutarch, the Osirian bull myth, 89; on

Postal

527

Preservers,
100.

Ra

(ra or ra), the

of, 115.

Egyptian god, as chief

of nine gods, 36; creative tears of, 45,

"
334; creative saliva of, 46; the "Eye
of blinded and cured, 46; as a de-

63; in flood legend, 197;

Paradise of, 209; Osiris and, 297; as
old man, 314; as cat, ass, bull, ram,
stroyer,

and crocodile, 329.

Races, languages and, 3; the Sumerian
problem, 3; shaving customs of, 4;
the Semitic blend, 10; culture profusion of, 42; god and
See Argoddess cults and, 105.
menoids Mongolians, Mediterranean
Race Semites, Sumerians.
Rain gods, Enlil, Ramman, Indra, &c.,

moted by
%

as > 35> 57 i

Mitraand Varuna

as, 55.

INDEX
Rainy season in Babylonia, 24.
Ram, sun god as, 329; Osiris as,

Risley, Mr., on Naturalism in India,

291.
Rivers, worship of, 44; life principle in,

85.

the Indian demi-god, demon

lover of, 67; colour of, 186.
Rdmdyana (ram -ay 'an -a), the, 67; eagle

Rama,

myth in, 166.

Rameses I (ram'e-sez or

48; created by Merodach, 149.

Robin Good fellow, the Babylonian, 66.

Roman
ra-me'ses),

it-

tites

and, 364.
II, of Egypt, wars of in Syria,
365; the Ilittite treaty, 366; Hittites
aided by Aramreans against, 378.
Rameses III, sea raiders scattered by,

Rameses

379; Philistines, and, 379.

Ramman (ram'man), the atmospheric
and thunder god, 57 ; in Zu bird
myth, 74; in demon war, 76; a hill

god, 136; Merodach and, 159, 160;

in flood legend, 192 et seq.\ deities
that link with, 261; called Mermer
like Nebo, 303; month of, 309.
Rams, offered to sea god, 33.

Rassam, Hormuzd, xx, xxiii.

Ravens, demons enter the, 71; in folk
cures, 234; as unlucky birds, 429.
Rawlinson, Sir Henry, xx, xxi.
Rebekah, Hittite daughters-in-law of,
266, 267.

Reed
tim

hut,

Ea

in, 190,

revelation to Pir-napish191; and reeds in graves,

29.

(reph'a-im), the, Hittites and,

II, 12.

Lilith

sonnet, 67.

Rudra

(rood'ra), the Indian god, 64.

Rusas
!

(rii'sas),

King

of Urartu, Sargon

II routs, 460, 461.

Russia, the double-headed eagle of, 168;

Persian and Armenian questions, 357.
Russian Turkestan, early civilization of
and the Sumerian, 5.

Isis serpent formed from, 45;

magical qualities of, 46.
murder of
Samaria, building of, 405
Jezebel in, 410; Assyrians capture,
455 J "ten tribes" deported, 455;
Babylonians settled in, 456.
Sammu-rammat
(sam 'mu ram mat),
Queen of Assyria, as Semiramis, 417,
437, 438; a Babylonian, 418; high
status of, 419;
relation to Adadnirari IV, 419, 420; innovations of,

Saliva,

Queen Nakia

Rhea, 103.
Rhone, the river, dragon of, 152.
Ribhus (rib'hus), the elves of India, 105.
Ridgeway, Professor, on the Acha?ans,
377-

Rim-Anum

(rim-an'um),

Hammurabi Age,

revolt of in

c.,

Erech and Ur restored by, 256.

Sandan (san'dan), the god, 261; Agni
and Melkarth and, 346 winged disk
;

348.

Also tendered Sandes.

Sandstorms, the Babylonian, 24.

of plants, vitalized by water of

Sap

of with

life,

45-

Sarah, Abraham's

Saraswati

Brahma,

wife,

6,

(sa-ras'wa-tee),

wife

of

lor.

Sardanapalus (sar-dan-a-pa'lus), palace

burning of, 350; Ashur-bani-pal and,
486, 487, 488.
of Akkad, as Patriarch, xxxiii;
the Patriarch -Tarn muz myth of, 91,

437; humble origin

as, 35, 57, 395-

Rim-Sin, struggle

470, 471.

Sargon

242.

(rim'mon), Enlil, Tarku,

like,

Samsu-iluna (sam-su-il-u'na), King, son

of Hammurabi, slays Rim-Sin, 249;
Kassites appear in reign of, 255;

of,

Rezin, King of Damascus, 449; Pekah

plots with, 451; Tiglath-pileser IV
and, 453.

Rimmon

421; mother worship and, 423, 436;

213.

Reformer, the first historic, Urukagina

of Lagash, 121 et scq.
Rehoboam (re-ho-bo'am), subject to
Egypt, 402.
Rem, the Egyptian god of fish and corn,

Rephaim

burial customs, 207.

Rome, the death eagle of, 169.

Rose Garden, the Wonderful, 68.
Dante Gabiiel, the
Rossetti,

Babylon, 217;
Hammurabi reduces power of, 249;
to
death
put
by Samsu-iluna, 249, 256.
Rim'ush. See Urumush.
Professor
W. Z., on MediterRipley,
ranean racial types in Asia, 8.

of

like

Indian

of,

Kama

125; legend
stoiy, 126;

Ism
of,
127;
133; Gilgamesh legend and,
171, 172; Sargon II an incarnation
Enlil-bani of

empire
like,

of,

462.

Sargon

II,

King

of Assyria, excavations

INDEX
xx; "Lost Ten Tribes"
deported by, 455 Merodach Baladan
revolt, 457; Syrian revolts against,
458, 459; tribute from Piru of Mutsri,
458; Piru and Pharaoh, 458 n. ; Isaiah
warns Ahaz regarding, 459; Hittites
and, 460; Urartu crippled by, 460,
461 ; Merodach Baladan ejected by,
462 ; Messianic pretensions of, 462 ;
Dur-Sharrukin built by, 463; deities
worshipped by, 463; assassination of,

at city of,

463, 464.
Saturn, the planet,

Horus

as, 300, 302;

group, 301; Ninip
(Nirig) as, 301 ; as ghost of elder god,
302; month of, 305; the "black",
3H. 3*5; in astrology, 318.
Satyrs, the dance of at Babylon, 114,

in

sun and

moon

333Saul, the ephod ceremony, 213, 214;

cremation of, 350.
Saushatar (sa-U-sha'tar), King of Mitanni, Assyria subdued by, 279, 280.

Sayce, Professor, on Dagon-Dagan

problem, 32; on Daonus and Tammuz, 83; on Hittite chronology, 264;
on star worship, 317; on the goat
Hittite winged disk,
god, 332, 333;
347, 348, 428.
^
Sceaf or Scef, "the sheaf", Tammuz
and the Germanic myth of, 91, 92,
93, 210.

Schliemann, pottery finds by, 263.

Schools, in Hammurabi Age, 251.
Scorpion man and wife, in Gilgamesh
epic, I77i 178.

"

70; "calling back belief

south-west wind a hag like

in,

70 .;
Babylonian, 73 ; fairies and elves of,
80, 1 86; Tammuz-Diarmid myth of,
85; Diarmid a love god of, 87; the
eternal goddess of, 101; "the Yellow
"
Muilearteach of, 151; slain by Finn
as Merodach slays Tiamat, 151 ; great
eel story of, 152;
mother-monster

in,

sleepers"

in,

n.

427

belief,

394; "death thraw"

doves and ravens, 429;

pigeon lore in, 431.

Scott, Sir Walter, the

Taghairm

cere-

mony, 213.
See Sceaf.
Scyld.
Scythians, raids of in

Western Asia,

461; Esarhaddon and, 472;

Nineveh, 488.
Sea demon, Ea as a, 62.
Sea fire, 50, 51.

fall

of

Sea giants, the Babylonian, 34.

Sea goddess, Ea's spouse as, and earth
lady, 34.

Sea gods, Ea, Dagon, Poseidon, Neptune, Shony, and Njord as, 33.

"Sea Lady",

the,

Sabitu,

in

Gil-

gamesh epic, 178, 179; Germanic

hag and, 184, 185; the Indian Maya
like,

88.

Sea of Death, in Gilgamesh epic, 178

ft stq.

Sealand, Dynasty of in Hammurabi Age,

257; in Kassite Age, 274, 275.
Seasonal changes, evil spirits cause, 65.
Seasons, the, of Babylonia, 23, 24.
Sebek (seb'ek), Egyptian crocodile god,
as a weeping deity, 29.
Sekhet (se'khet), the Egyptian goddess,
Ishtar and, 57.
Seleucid Period, Lagash occupied

in,

243-

Seleucus

Scotland, the sea god of, 33; spitting

"
customs in, 47 ; the " Great Mother
a
return
of
dead
demon, 64;
in,

dreaded

529

ceremony, 213; folk cures in, 232,

233; pig as the devil in, 293; May
day solar belief in, 348; the "seven

Sumerian lore in, 153; giant lore of,

164, 317; Etana-like eagle myth of,
167, 168; John Barleycorn, the Icelandic god Barleycorn and Nimrod,
water of life myths
170, I70w,, 171
of, 1 86, 187; dark tunnel stories of,
189; Pictish customs in, 212; the
Gunna, 213; seers and bull skin
;

I, 498.
Seieukeia, rival city to Babylon, 498.
" Self
power ", xxxiii ; conception of in
stage of Naturalism, 291; the "world

soul" conception, 304; Anu a form

" world soul
328; the
", 328; gods
as phases of, 329 stars as phases of,
of,

33.

Semiramis
founder

(sem-ir'a-mis),

of

Queen,

as

277; Queen
Sammu - rammat as, 417; mother
worship and, 423, 434; birth legend
like Shakuntala's, 423, 424; as representative of mother goddess, 425
buildings and mounds of, 425, 426;
Persian connection, 427, 433; dove
symbol of, 431, 432 ; origin of legend
Urartu and, 441; Queen
of, 437, 438
Nakia and, 471; wife of Cambyses

Nineveh,

See Sammu-rammat.
like, 496.
Semites, Akkadians were, 2 ; the racial

INDEX

530

blend of, 9 et seq.\ influence of on

Sumerian gods, 135, 136, 137.
Sennacherib (sen-nak'er-ib), King of
Assyria, 463; wars of in Elam and
Asia Minor, 464; lonians deported
to
Nineveh by, 464; Mcrodach
Baladan's second reign, 465; army of
"
destroyed by
angel of the Lord",
466, 467; death of Merodach Baladan, 468 ; destruction of Babylon by,
468, 469; murder of, 470; Nakia,
Babylonian wife of, 471.
Sergi, Professor, on Syrian and Asia

Minor

races,

11,

267.

Serpent, Isis makes from saliva of Ra,

45 J i n g rou P f seven spirits, 63 ; the
world, 150; dragon as, 157, 158;
totcrnic theory, 293, 296; in Crete,
430.

Serpent charms, as fertility and birth

charms, 150, 165.
Serpent worship, 77.
the mother

Serpents,

in

of,

Zu

bird

myth, 74, 75; the Babylonian and

Egyptian, 74-6, 150.
Sesostris (se-sos'tris), Hittite god identified with, 441; Semiramis and, 426.
as the
'Set, as boar demon, 46, 85, 293
dragon, 156; as thunder god, 261,
;

I (set'ee), of Egypt, struggle of

with Hittites, 364.
Seven, the demons in groups of, 34.
"Sevenfold One", 298; constellations

Seti

et stq.\ Tammuz as, 304, 317.

sleepers", the, 394.
Seven spirits, the, dragon, &c., in, 63;
the daughters of Anu, 68; the sex-

as,

300

"Seven

less, 71.

Shabaka

King of Egypt,
So and, 454 n.

(sha'ba-ka),

the Biblical

Shakespeare, "Jack" the fairy, 66;

Tiamat-like imagery in, 151; "sea
devils", 152; grave inscription of,
214, 215 j astrology references, 324,
3*5-

Shakuntala

(sha

koon 'ta

lah),

birth

legend of like Semiramis's, 423, 424

Persian eagle legend and, 493.
Shallum (shal'lum), revolt of at Samaria, 449.
Shalmaneser I (shal-manV-ser), of
Assyria, a great conqueror, 363;
western and northern expansion,
366; Kalkhi capital of, 367.
;

Shalmaneser III, referred to in Bible,

401; attacks on Aramaeans and Hit-

tites,
407; Ahab of Israel rights
against, 407; authority of in Babylonia, 408, 409; defeat of Hazael of
Damascus, 411; tribute from Jehu of

Israel, 411,

412; conquests

of,

414;

revolt of son against, 414; death of,

415 ; Babylonian culture, 422; library
of at Kalkhi, 422.

Shalmaneser IV, of Assyria, reign of,

439; Urartu wars of, 442.
Shalmaneser V, imprisons Hoshea of
Israel, 454, 455.

(&ham'ash), Semitic name of

sun god, 40; Babbar Sumerian name
of, 54, 240; Mitra and Varuna and,
54; as god of destiny, 55; Mithra and,
55, 56; sun as "boat of the sky",

Shamash

57;

56,

consort and attendants of,

57, 100; local

importance

of,

58; in

eagle and serpent myths, 75, 76; in

demon war, 76 ; development of, 132
in Gilgamesh legend, 172 et seq.\ as
an abstract deity, 240, 241; oracle
of pleads for Merodach, 272; month
of> 35; as the "high head", 334;
"water sun" of, 334; the wheel
;

symlx)! of, 347

Aramaeans destroy

temple of, 445; worshipped by Esarhaddon, 471; oracle of and Ashurbani-pal, 481; Nabonidus and, 492.
Shamash shum ukin (sham 'ash shumu'km), King of Babylon, 471, 476,
480; restoration of Merodach, 480,
481 revolt of against Ashur-bani-pal,
484; bums himself in palace, 485.
Shamshi-Adad VII (sham'shi-ad'ad),
King of Assyria, 414; civil war, 415;
conquests of, 415, 416; culture in
reign of, 423; rise of Urartu, 440.
See Attshar.
Shar, the god.
Shar Apsi, "King of the Deep", Ea
-

as, 28, 29.

"Shar

"King

Kishshate",

-World", Assyrian

of

the

363, 370.
Sharduris III (shar'du-ris), of Urartu,
routed by Tiglath-pileser IV, 446, 447.
title,

of

Shaving customs, significance of, 4;

Arabians and Libyans, &c., 9; why
Sumerian gods were bearded, I35~7-

Shedu

(sha'du), the destroying bull, 65;

as household fairy, 77.
skin of in graves, 213.
Sheep,
Shepherd, the divine, Tammuz as, 53.
Sheshonk (shi&h'ak), Pharaoh of Egypt,

alliance with

Solomon, 388; Hebrews

spoiled by, 391, 402,

INDEX
Shinar, the Biblical,

(Hammurabi)

of,

1 1

1,

247; Amraphel

131.

See Sheshonk.
Shishak.
Shiva, the Indian god, Bel Enlil like,
38; the Sumerian Ninip like, 53;

and Ra like, 63 ; in " dying

Indra" myth, 101.
Shony (shon'ee), sea god of Scottish
Osiris

Hebrides, 33.
the Egyptian god, created from

Shii,

Shubari (shu-ba'ri) tribes, 284.

Shurippak' or Shurruppak', city

of, in

flood legend, 190, 191, 243.

back"

conspiracy against NebuchadII, 491; tribute of to Adadnirari IV, 439; Tyre and, 388, 392;
Israel an ally of, 406; in league
against Esarhaddon, 472; destruction

Sidon,

rezzar

of, 473Siegfried (seeg'freed), "birds of

to,

Fate"

65; the "Regin" dragon,

156, 164.
See Zodiac.
Signs of the Zodiac.
Sigurd (see'goord), link with Merodach
"
"
as dragon slayer, 147 n. ; the Fafner

dragon, 156, 164.

Sin, desert of, called after
52

moon

god,

moon

god, 51, 52; consort and

Shamash, Mitra, and
Varuna chastise, 54, 55; in demon
war, 76, 77; as father of Isis, 100;
as form of Merodach, 160; month of,
305; Ashur worshipped with, 353;

Sin, the

children

of,

53;

Nabonidus as worshipper of, 494.

See Moon and Nannar.
Sinai, mountains of, called after moon
god, 52.
Sin-iksha (sin-ik'sha).

King of Ism, 133.

Sin-magir (sin ma'gir), King of Isin,
133-

Sin-muballit
father

of

(sin-mti-bariit),

Hammurabi,

132,

King,
242;

struggle of with Elamites, 243.

Sin-shar-ish'kun, last King of Assyria,

487.

Sippar (sip'par), sun god chief deity of,

40; a famous priestly teacher of, 42;
goddess of assists Merodach to create
mankind^ 148; rise of sun cult of, 240;
first Amoritic king of, 241; Esarhad-

don

Skull forms, language and, 3 ; of Mongolian, Ural-Altaic, and Mediterranean peoples, 3, 4; Kurdish and
Armenian treatment, 4, 5; of early

Egyptians and Sumerians, 7

Palaeolithic

et $eq.\

still

survive, 8; persistence
of, 8; broad heads in Western Asia,

Egypt, and India,

8,

9; the Semitic,

plunders, 472.

" Self Power "

of,
Sky, conception of
292; god of, 31; goddesses of, 36, 37.
Sleeper, the divine, Angus, the Irish,

and Tammuz,

See Susa.

Siberia, elves of, 105; "calling

of ghosts in, 69, 70.

sang

295

10.

saliva, 46.

Shushan.

Sirius, the star, Teutonic giant as,

goddess Isis as, 296.

90.

Sleepers, the seven, the Indras as, 101;

Thomas the Rhymer, Finn, Napoleon,
and Skobeleff as, 164; as spirits of
fertility, 164; Tammuz and, 210.
Smith, Professor Elliot, on Sumerian
origins, 7 ; on origin of Semites, IO ;
on conquest by Akkadians of Sumerians, 12; on first use of copper, 12;
on early Egyptian invasion of " broad

heads", 263, 264.

Smith, George, career and discoveries
of, xxi-iii; "Descent of Ishtar", 95
et seq.

Smith, Professor Robertson, on Ataron life-blood be^atis legend, 28;

liefs,
47; on agricultural weeping
ceremony, 83.
Snakes, doves and, Cretan goddess and,
430So, King of Egypt, Shabaka and other
kings and, 454, 454 n,
Sokar, a composite monster god, 135.
Sokar (sok'ar), Egyptian lord of fear, 63.
ally of Egypt and Tyre,
388, 389; sea trade of with India,
389, 390; Babylonia during period of,
391; Judah and Israel separated after
death of, 401, 402.
Soma (s6'ma), source of inspiration, 45.
Song of the Sea Lady, in Gilgamesh epic,

Solomon, King,

178, 179.
of the land",

"Soul

as the, 23.
Souls, carried to

river

Euphrates

Hades by

eagle, 1 68.
Spells on water, 44; layers of punished,
233-

Spinning, in Late Stone Age,

14.

"air" and "breath" as, 48,

49; gods evolved from, 60; the good
and evil, 58, 63, 77, 78, 236; the

Spirits,

Gorgons, 159; periodic liberation

of,

INDEX

532

65; the "calling back" belief, 69,

70; penetrate everywhere, yi, 72; of
luck and fate, 77, 236; elves, Rib-

and Burkans

hus,

as, 105.

Spitting customs, in Asia, Africa, and

Europe, 46, 47.
as god of, 53.
Spring sun, tbe, Tammuz
Sri, tbe Indian eternal mother, 101.
Stars, the, great beauty of in Babylonia, 24; "Will-o'-the-wisps" as,

67; Zu bird and, 74; Merodach fixes

Signs of the Zodiac, 147; the "stations" of Enlil and Ea, 147; animals
and myths of the, 289; in various
local mythologies, 290 ; the
host
as totems, 295
as
of heaven ", 294
ghosts, 295, 304; in mythologies of
Greeks,
Teutons,
Aryo- Indians,
Egyptians, &c., 295, 296, 319, 320;
star of Osiris, 296; Ishtar myths, 295,
299; Merodach as Regulus and Capella, 299; bi-sexual deities and the,
299; early association of Isis with,
300; three for each month, 307, 308,
309; the "divinities of council", 309;
the doctrine of mythical Ages and, 310
et stq.\ popular
worship of, 317; as
4 '

"

of

birth-ruling divinities , 318; spirits

associated with gods, 318; in

Indian Vedas and "Forest Books",

Biblical references to,
324;
literary references to, 325; Anshar
as the Pole star, 330; Isaiah and
Polar star myth, 331
Polar star as
"the kid", 333; in Ashur ring
symbol, 344.

318;

Steer,

moon god

as the, 52, 135.

Stone Age, the Late, pottery of in

Turkestan, Elam, Asia Minor, and
Europe, 5 ; origin of agriculture in, 6;
in Palestine,

10; racial blending in

ii; civilization in, 13

Egypt in,
tt seq.\ refined faces of

men

of, 15.

Stone worship, moon worship and, 52;

Ninip the bull god and, 53.
Storm demons, the Babylonian Shutu
and Adapa legend, 72, 73; the EuroSee Wind hags.
pean, 72, 73.
Strabo, on Babylonian works of Alexander, 498; on Semiramis legend,
425.
girdle, a birth charm, 165.
Subbi-luliuma (sub'bi-lu-li-d'ma), Hittite king, conquests of, 283, 363.
Sumer, or Sumeria (shoo'mer and sum a'ri-a), its racial and geographical

Straw

significance, i; early name of Kengi,

2; agriculture in at earliest period, 6;

culture of indigenous, 6, 7;

women's

high social status in, 1 6, 17 ; Eridu a

seaport of, 22; surplus products and
trade of, 25 ; gods of like Egyptian,
26, 36, 37; modes of thought and
habits of life in, 51 the Great Mother
;

Tiamat

106; early history of, 109

se<j. ;
principal cities of, no; the
of
Shinar", in; why gods
"plain
of were bearded, 135, 136, 137;
burial customs of like early Egyptian,
211, 214; cities of destroyed in Hammurabi Age, 243; the Biblical Shinar
of,

<?/

is, 247 ; stars in primitive religion of,

289; Naturalism and the Zi, 291;
sculpture of compared with Assyrian,

401.

Sumerian goddesses,

laciai

origin

of,

105.

AkSumerians, characteristics of, 2

kadians adopted culture of,._2, 3;
unlike the Chinese, 3 ; Mongolian
;

3; language of
agglutinative like those of Chinese,
Turks, Magyars, Finns, and Basques,
Ural-Altaic racial theory, 4;
3;
shaving customs of, 5; of Mediterranean or Brown Race, 7 ; congeners
of prehistoric Europeans, 9; Arabs
affinities of doubtful,

and Egyptians and, 9, 10; conquered

by Akkadians, 12; survival of culture
and language of, 13; in early Copper
Age, 12, 13; pious records of kings
of, 112; how history of is l>eing restored, 113; the earliest dates, 114;
end of political power of, 217; as

early astronomers, 300.

Sumu-abum

(su'mu -a'bum),
Amoritic king, 241.

early

Sumu-la-ilu (su mu'la-i'lu), early King

of Hammurabi Age, 241; capture of
Kish by, 241, 242; Assyrian king
claims descent from, 419.
Sun, origin of in sea fire, 50, 51; seasonal worship of, 53, 240; Mitra and
of, 54 ; as "boat
of the sky", 56; as a planet, 301; as
**. ; in
astrology,
bridegroom, 306, 306
" man in "
the, 335, 336.
318; the

Varuna as regulators

of, Ninip, Nirig, and Ncrgal

53. 54, 33; Babbar as, 54; as
Judge of living and dead, 54 ; as seer

Sun, god
as,

links between
and Varuna, 54, 55

of secret sin, 54, 55

Sham ash,

Mitra,

INDEX
Ninip and Nin-Girsu, and Babbar
and Shamash, 132; Tammuz as, 158;
forms of, 297, 298; Horus as the,
300; as offspring and spouse of moon,
301; Orion as a manifestation of, 305

animals identified

with,

329,

330;

symbols of, 335, 336.

Sundial, a Babylonian invention, 323;
of Ahaz, 323.
Sun god, Shamash as, 40; centres of,
See Shamash.
40.

Sun goddess,
tite,

the Babylonian and Hit-

57.

Surpanakha (sur-pa'nak-ha), the Indian

demon, like Lilith, 67.
Susa, prehistoric pottery of, 5 ; capital
of Elam, in; Hammurabi Code discovered at, 222 ; burning of Persian
palace

at,

497.

Sutarna II (su-tar'na), King of Mitanni,

283; deposed by rival, 284.
Sutekh (siit'ekh), as tribal god, 156; as
dragon slayer, 157; Hittite thunder
and fertility god and, 261.
(sii'ti), the, Aramaean robbers, 285,
359. 360; settled in Asia Minor, 461.

Suti

Svip'dag, Gilgamesh and, 184, 185.

Swan, Irish love god as, 428 .; love

messenger

in India, 429.

Swan maidens,

as lovers, 68.

Swine, offerings of to sea god, 33

mons enter,

71

sacrificed to

de-

Tammuz,

associated with Osiris, 85

Gaelic
Hag's herd of, 87 ; sacrifice of to cure
disease, 236; Ninip as boar god,

85

302.

Symbolism, forehead symbol of Apis

bull and Sumerian goat, 334; "high
heads'*: Anshar, Anu, Enlil, Ea,
Merodach, Nergal, and Shamash,
334; symbols of "high heads", 334;
*
woi Id
the
world spine
and
' '

'

334; the "water sun" of

Shamash, 334; Ashur's winged disks
" man in
" wheels
or
", 334 et seq.
the sun" in Assyria, Egypt, and
India, 335, 336; Blake's "double
vision", 336; the arrow symbol,
337; "shuttle" of Neith a thunderbolt, 337 .; Assyria the cedar, 340,
341; Isaiah and Ezekiel use Babytree",

lonian and Assyrian, 341; the eagle,

343i 344 ; Ezekiel's wheels and fourfaced cherubs, 344 et seq. ; wheels or
disks of Hittites, Indians, &c., 347,
348; the double axe, 348; the Ashur

533

arrow, 351, 352; the "dot within

the circle" and egg thorn, 352.
Syria, broad heads in, 8 ; early races in,
n; supposed invasion of by Lugalzaggisi,
125; Sargon of Akkad's
in, 127; hill god of, 136;
sheepskin burials in, 213; culture of
higher than Egypt at end of Hyksos

empire

Age, 275.
Tabal

Hittite Cilician king395; Shalmaneser III subdues king of, 414; Sargon II conquers,
460, 461; Biblical reference to, 464;
tribute from to Ashur-bani-pal, 483.
Tablets of Destiny, the, Zu bird steals,
74; Tiamat gives to Kingu in Crea(ta-bal'),

dom

of,

tion

legend, 141, 145;

takes from Kingu, 146;

ceives,

Merodach
Ninip

re-

158.

Taharka

(ta-har'ka), King of
anti- Assyrian revolt, 465;

Egypt, in

intrigues
against Esarhaddon, 471; Esarhaddon's invasion of Egypt, 475; flight

475, 476; death of, 482.

Osiris and, xxxi, 8i; variations of myths of, xxxii ; blood of in
river, 47, 48; as the shepherd and
spring sun, 53; spends winter in

of,

Tammuz,

Hades, 53; links with Mithra, 55,

94; son of Ea, 82; Belit-sheri, sister
of,~98; Ishtar, mother
101 ; worship of among

and lover
Hebrews,

of,

82,

106, 107; as "the man of sorrows",

the true and faithful son ", 93 ;
as the patriarch, 82; Sargon of Akkad

88

;"

links with Adonis,

Diarmid, and pre- Hellenic
83, 84; blood of in river, 85;

myth and, 91;

Attis,
deities,

"

kid and sucking pig of, 85 ; as

steer
of heaven", 85; Nin-shach, boar god,
as slayer of, 86; Ishtar laments for,
86; month of wailings for, 87-9; why
Ishtar deserted, 99, 103; as the love
god, 87; dies with vegetation, &c., 87,
88 ; sacred cedar of, 88 ; in gloomy
Hades, 89; return of like Frode
(Frey), 95; as the slumbering corn
child, 89, 90, 91; Teutonic Scyld or

Sceaf and, 92, 93; Frey,

Hermod,
Heimdal like, 93; as world
like
Heimand
guardian
demon-slayer
dal and Agni, 94; as the healer like
Khonsu, 94 Ishtar visits Hades for,

and

96, 97, 98; refusal to leave Hades,

98; like Kingu in Tiamat myth, 106;

INDEX

534

Nin-Girsu, or En-Mersi, of Lagash

a form of, 116, 120; Nina and Belitsheri and, 117; Sargon myth like
Indian Kama story, 126,437; Zamama,
Merodach, Ninip and, 53, 126, 158,
241, 302, 305; as elder god, 159;
Etana and Gilgamesh and, 164; as
patriarch and sleeper, 164; eagle of,
120, 1 68; Nimrod myth, 170; John
Barleycorn and, 170; Gilgamesh and,
171, 172, 210; in Gilgamesh epic,
176; Nebo and, 303, 435; Adonis
slain by boar god of \var, 304; planetary deities and, 301, 304; forms of
like Horus, 305; astral links with
Merodach and Attis, 305; Ashur and,
337, 340, 348; identified with Nusku,

the

saliva of,

279.

as, 35; Dietrich as

Thor, 74; in Baby-

Zu and Indian Garuda myths,

75, 169; in demon war, 76; Mero-

lonian
74,

dach as, 144; Hercules as, 171; horn

and hammer of, 238; the Hittite, 260;
the Amorite, Mitannian, Kassite, and
Aryan, 261; Plan of Egypt a, 263,
264.

Thunder goddess, the Egyptian Keith

a, 337
Thunderstone,

weapon of Merodach
and Ramman, 144, 159, 160.
Tiamat (ti'a-nmt), like Egyptian Nut,
37; in group of early deities, 64; the
*'
brood" of, 64, 65; as Great Mother,

Nebo, 436;

Taylor, J. E., xx.

Tears, agricultural weeping ceremonies,

82 tt se</.
Tears of deities, the

Sumerian moon god

Thunder god, Ramman, Hadad or

Dadu, and Enlil as, 35, 57; Indra

of, 395.

(tash'mit), spouse of
creatrix and, 437.

46;

(thSth'mes), of Egypt,
wars against Mitanni, 275 ; correspondence of with Assyrian king, 276,

Asia Minor thunder god,

Tashmit

Ashur,

340.

301.
Thothmes III

king, Assyrians expelled from Memphis by, 482, 483; defeat of, 483.
35> 57, 261, 395.
Tarsus, Hittite city

334;

like,

Tanutamon (ta-nut'amon), Ethiopian

(tar'kii),

333,

Thorkill (th6r'kill), the Germanic, Gilgamesh and, 185.

Thoth (thOth or ta-hoo'tee), the Egyptian
god, as chief of Ennead, 36; curative

&c., 354; as Anshar, En Mersi, and

Nin-Girsu, 333; doves and, 428 n.

Tarku

and,

goat

Tammuz, and Indra and,

fertilizing, 29; the

in Creation legend, 138; plots

1 06;
with Apu and Mummu, 139; as

Tefnut (tef nut), the Egyptian goddess,

created from saliva, 46.
Tell-el-Amarna letters, historical evi-

Avenger of Apsu, 140; exalts Kingu,

141; Anu and Ea fears, 142; Merodach goes against, 144; slaying of,
"
"
146; Merodach divides
Ku-pu of,

cieative, 45, 46.

dence from, 280

ct

*<y.

site,

243.
Temples, the houses of gods, 60.
Teshub or Teshup (tesh'ub), thunder
god of Armenia, 261; as a Mitannian

god, 269; in Tell-el-Amarna

letters,

282, 395.

Teutonic sea-fire belief, 51.

Thebes, sack of by Assyrians, 483.
Theodoric (toyd'rik or the-od'o-rik),
the Goth, myths of, 164.
Thomas the Rhymer, as a "sleeper",
164.

Thompson, R. Camptiell, 34, 39, 72,

76, 234, 235, 238, 239.

Ramman and Dadu or Hadad as,

57; Dietrich as, 74, 164; the hammer
of, 238; deities that link with, 261;

Thor,

the dragon's heart,

147 w.j
of forms sky and earth, 147;
followers of "fallen gods", 150; as

147;

Assyrian

king's letter, 284, 285.

Tello (tello'), I^agash site, 120; archaic
forms of gods, 135; mound of, Lagash

body
j

'

good and

origin of

evil,

150; bene-

ficent forms of, 150; as the dragon

of the deep, 151 ; Gaelic sea monster

and, 151 Alexander the Great sees,

151; the Scottish "eel" and, 151;
" brood of " in
Beowulf> 151; vulnerable part of, 153; Ishtar and, 157;
;

the Gorgons and, 159; in Germanic

legend, 202; grave demons and, 215?
reference to by Damascius, 328. (Also

"
rendered
Tiawath".)
Tiana (ti-an'i), Hittite city

of, 395.
Tibni, revolt of in Israel, 405.
Tidal (ti'dal), Saga on Hittite connections of, 264, 265; Tudhula of the

Hittites as, 247, 248.

Tiglath-pileser I (tig'lath pi-le'ser), of
Assyria, 382; conquests of, 383, 384.

INDEX
" Pul

",
Tiglath-pileser IV, the Biblical
444; Babylonian campaign of, 445,
446; Sharduris of Urartu defeated by,
446, 447; Israel, Damascus, and

tribute to, 449 ; destruction

ot Urarti capital, 450; appeal of Ahaz
to, 451, 452; Israel punished by, 453;

Tyre pay

Babylon welcomes, 453; triumphs

454-

of,

"

the bestower
22; as
of blessings ", 23 ; rise and fall and
length of, 24.
Tiy, Queen, in Tell-el-Amarna letters,

Tigris, the river,

283; Semiramis like, 418; At on and

Mut worship, 419; mother worship
and, 423.
Toothache, Babylonian cure of, 234,
235-

Totems,
trees,

names
294;

the

164;

bear,

and animals

mountains,

292, 293 ; surand, 293; the fish of Ea and,

eating the in Egypt, 295;
as,

doves, snakes, crocodiles, &c., as,

432, 433; Persian eagle, 493.
Trade routes, Babylonia and Assyria
struggle for, 286; the ancient, 356;
Baghdad and other railways following,
357 ; ancient Powers struggled to
control, 358;
Babylon's route to
Egypt, 359; Arabian desert route
opened, 360; route abandoned, 361;

Elam's caravan roads, 361 struggle

for Mesopotamia, 361 ft stq.\ Babylon's trade with China, Egypt, &c.,
;

37 1 372.
Transmigration of souls, 315.
" Tree of Life
", Professor Sayce on the
Babylonian, 39.
Tree worship, Tammuz, Adonis and
Osiris and, 88; Ashur and, 339;
Ezekiel on Assyria's tree, 340, 341.
Trees, in Babylonia, 24, 25; sap as the
"blood" of, 47; as totems, 291,
293Trident,

535

86; in Indian legends, 187, 188; in

Scottish folk tales, 189.

Turkestan, early civilization of and the

Sumerian, 5; did agriculture originate
in? 6; prehistoric painted pottery in,
263.

Turkey, great Powers and, 357; language of and Sumerian, 3.

Turks, of Ural-Altaic stock, 4.
Tushratta (tiish'rat-ta), King of Mitanni, 280; correspondence of with
Egyptian kings, 282 et seq,\ murder
283.
goddesses, Ishtar and Belitsjieri,
98, 99; Isis and Nepthys, 99.
Tyr, the Germanic god, mother of a
demon, 64.
Tyre, relations with Sidon and Hebrews,
388, 389, 392 ; tribute of to Adadof,

Twin

from to Tiglath449; King Luli and As-

nirari IV, 439; gifts

pileser IV,

465; Esarhaddon and, 474, 475;

from to Ashur-bani-pal, 483;
conspiracy against Nebuchadrezzar II,
491, 492.
Tyrol, the demon lover of, 68; wind
hags of, 74.
syria,

tribute

Uazit

(oo'az-it),

Egyptian serpent god-

dess, 150.

Umma

(oom'ma), city of, Lagash and,

118; captured by Eannatum, 118;
crushing defeat of by Entemena,
119, 1 20; king of destroys Lagash,
123, 124.

Ur,

Nannar, moon god

moon god

Baal

murabi Age, 242

the

Merodach,

lightning,
144.

weapon

of

Tritons, the, 33.

Tudhula

(tud'hu-la), a Hittite king,

identified with Biblical Tidal, 247,

248; forms of

Tukulti-Ninip

name
I

of,

264, 265.

(tu-kul'ti-nin'ip),

of

Assyria, 308, 369.

Tukulti-Ninip III, 396.
Tunnel, the dark, in Gilgamesh epic,
178; Germanic land of darkness, 185;
in Alexander the Great myth, 185,

of,

40; the

51; antiquity of,

52 ; Lagash king sways, 1 19 ; empire
of, 130; moon god of supreme, 130;
Abraham migrates from, 131, 245;
revolt of with Larsa against Isin, 132;
moon god of in Kish, 241; under
Elamite kings of Larsa in Hamof,

Abraham's migra-

tion from, 245; Chaldaeans and, 391;

revolt against Ashur-bani-pal, 484;

Nabonidus and, 492.

(oo'ra), god of disease, 77*
Ural-Altaic stock, Turks and Finns of,
Sumerians and, 4.
Urartu (ur-ar'tii), combines with Phrygians and Hittites against Sargon II,
460; as vassal state of Assyria, 461;
rise of kingdom of, 395; god and

Ura

Adad -nirari and,

culture of, 440;
440; ethnics of, 440 w.j capital of,

INDEX
t

goddess of Egypt, 1 68 } as protectors^

of Shakuntala, 423, 424.

Sharduris oNtputed by TiglathIV, 446, 44V 450 J allian

$trgon II, 460

state oj Asstm, 461; Cim
3tad Scythians raw, 461, 464;

fittites against

medians
Sermachemj's mu\ddrcrs\ escape to,
470 \ in Bgarhadflpn's aeign, 472 ;
Assyfcn alliance With, '473, 486;

Wales, pig as the devil

in, 293.
Sin, struggle of with Babylon,
the
Biblical
217;
Arioch, 247, 248.

^Warad

See Erech.
and distribution of in

control

..

kipgt ot, 493.

early nkme of-Akkad, 2.

......
Cyaxa|es
i

Worshipped

blague

of,

-nin'ip),

fnysteriols death

Uruk

essence of

$ting of Lagash,

Vur-ni'na\

(lir'ul).

See

ing
King
l

7, 210.

o/

5,

Stone Age, 14.

ionics, the agricultural,

ducecj,

Sumerian name of |n god/

in folk cures, 234.

ives, 212.

histor/,

127.

(xi'tii),

44, 45, 51.

Gaelic fcgends, 186, 187; in Indian

by, 122, 210, 21 1 ; fall of, 123,

Uruniush (ur'u-mush), Akkadian

Utu

life in,

Is and demons, 27 et seq.

Water Vf Life, Gilgamesh's quest of,
177 iX&gr.; itt Alexander the Great
6; in Kfran legend, 1 86^ .iff
myth,

of,

Urukagina* (ur-u-kag'in-a
Lagash, j&jrst reformer
12 1; taxes and temple

peror,

24; corn deities and,

jihylonia, 23,

82

et seq.

thd Egyptian god Rem, 29.

Wells, worship *f, 44.

Westminster AcUbey,

Long Meg and,

156.

55-

Wheel

of Life,Mie, Ashur, 334 et seq. ;

Ezekiel' slreforenees to, 344 et seq. ; in

Valentine, St., mating d&y of,

Variima, the Indian god, links with EaOafcues, 31, 34;

Persian, and
Indian,
Hittite Mythologies,
346-8; in Indian
mythology, 346, 347,; the sun" and
" dot within the circle and
the, 34f

Babylontn,

sga, fire of,

Shamash the sun god

50, 51 ;
asand, 54
;

sociation of with rain, 55; Sumerian

links with, 55, 56; worshippers of

buried dead, 56 ; no human beings in

Paradise of, 209; attire of deities in
Paradise of, 212; the goat and, 333.
Vas'olt, Tyrolese storm demon, 74.
Vayu (va'yu), Indian wind go<J^$5.

Vedas

(vay'das), astrojiofiay of the, 318.

V^UHSjAs goddess, 17, 296; lovers of,

10?.

Venus, the planet, Ishtar as, 296;

female at sunset and male at sunrise,
299; in sun and moon group, 301$
rays of as beard, 301;

claimer", 314;

moon, 314;

as the

" Pro-

connection of with

in astrology, 318, 324.

Vestal virgins, 228, 229.

Vishnu (vish'noo), the Indian god, like
Ea, 27; Ea like, 38; eagle giant as
vehicle of, 75; Sri or Lakshmi wife
of, 101; sleep of on world serpent,
150; eagle and, 169, 347.
'
Vital spark ", the, fire 0^49.
Voice, the pure, in Sumerian spell,
Vulture, as deity ot fertility, 429, 430 ;
the Persian eagle legend and, 493 j

rn,

352;

Ahum

Mazda's, 355.

^Merodach, 22 ij Amon's

Huntsmen,

wife,

the, Asiatic gods as,

35 64.
4

Will-o'-the-wisp ",

the

Babylonian

and European, 66, 67.

Winckler, Dr. Hugo, Semitic migrations, 10; on Mitannian origins, 268,
269; Boghaz-K6i tablets found by,
280, 367.

Wind, the south-west, demon

Babylonia and Europe, 72, 73.

Wind

gods, Vayu, Enlil,

of

Ramman,

in

&c.,

as, 35-

Wind

hags, Babylonia Shutu, Scottish

Annie, English Annis, Irish Anu, 73;
Icelandic Angerboda, 73; Tyrolese
_.,
" wind
brewers", 74; Artemis as one
of the, 104.
Winds, the seven, as servants of Mero-

dach, 145.

Wine

seller who became queen, 114,

115; the female, 229.
Wolf, Nergal-Mars as the, 303.
Women, as rulers in Egypt and Baby-

INDEX
Ionia,
17; treatment of in early
times, 15; Nomads oppressors of, 16;
exalted by Mediterranean peoples, 16;
Sumerian laws regarding, 16, 17; the
1 6,

Sumerian language
1

worship,

of, 17; in

06-8; social status

position of in

of,

229.
hill, in Babylonian, Indian, and
Egyptian mythologies, 332.
World serpent, in Eur-Asian mytho-

World

Zachariah, King of Israel, 449.

muz

identified

Tarnwith

(zam'bi-a),

King of

Isin, 133.

Zedekiah, King of Judah, conspiracy

against Babylonia, 490; punishment
of, 491; the captivity, 491.
"
m
Zerpanitu (zar-pa'nit-u ), mother god1

dess, 100; as "Lady of the Abyss",

1 60; as Aruru, 1 60; Persian
goddess

Zeus

(to rhyme with mouse] , the god,

as sea-god's brother, 33; in Adonis
myth, 90; an imported god, 105; in
father and son myth, 158; eagle of,
1 68; deities that link with, 261; the

star called, 332.

the, 332; the "world

tree" and, 334; Ashur standard as,

tree,

"
symbol of world spine",

the,

dragon

334as, 151; the

legend

of the, 234, 235.

Wryneck, goddess and

the,

427

Xerxes, Meiodach's temple pillaged by,

497-

Ya, the Hebrew,

Ea

as, 31.

Yama

(ya'ma), Osiris and Gilgamesh

and, xxxii; Mitra and, 56; eagle as,
169; Gilgamesh and, 200; the Paradise of, 209.
Yng've, the Germanic patriarch, 93.
Yiigas, the Indian doctrine of, Baby-

lonian origin

126;

and, 496.

Soul, the Brahmanic, 304, 328,

" World
spike ",
" World
spine",

Worm,

of,

Merodach, 241.

329-

World

traits

Zambia

logies, 151.

World

Hammurabi

Zamama (za-ma'ma), god of Kish,

108;

Hammurabi Code, 224

seq.; the marriage market, 224,

225; drink traffic monopolized by,

(za'bi-um), king

in

Age, 242,

goddess

et

537

Zabium

of,

310

et seq.

Zi

" Great Bear"

myth and, 296.
(zee'), the Sumerian manifestation of
life, 291,- "Sige the mother" as Ziku,
328 n.

Zimri, revolt of in Israel, 405.

Zoxiiac, Signs of the, 147, 301, 305;
Babylonian origin of, 306; Hittites,
Phoenicians, and Greeks and, 306;
stars of as "Divinities of Council",
309; division of, 307; the fields of
Ea, Anu, and Bel, 307; three stars
for each month, 307-9; the lunar in
various countries, 309; when signs of

were

Zu

fixed, 322.

bird,

of,

Zuzu

Garuda eagle and, xxvi; myth

74;>

(zti'zil), King of Opis, captured by

Eannatum of Lagash, 119.