As in other countries, so too in Babylonia, the official and the popular
religion were not in all respects the same. In the popular faith older
superstitions and beliefs still lingered which had disappeared from the
religion of the state or appeared in it in another form. The place of the
priest was in large measure taken by the sorcerer and the magician, the
ceremonies of the public cult were superseded by charms and incantations,
and the deities of the official creed were overshadowed by a crowd of
subordinate spirits whose very existence was hardly recognized among the
more cultured classes. The Babylonian was inordinately superstitious, and
superstition naturally flourished most where education was least.
The official creed itself was an artificial amalgamation of two different
currents of belief. The Babylonian race was mixed; Sumerian and Semite had
gone to form it in days before history began. Its religion, therefore, was
equally mixed; the religious conceptions of the Sumerian and the Semite
differed widely, and it was the absorption of the Sumerian element by the
Semitic which created the religion of later days. It is Semitic in its
general character, but in its general character alone. In details it
resembles the religions of the other Semitic nations of Western Asia only
in so far as they have been influenced by it.
The Sumerian had no conception of what we mean by a god. The supernatural
powers he worshipped or feared were spirits of a material nature. Every
object had its _zi_, or “spirit,” which accompanied it like a shadow, but
unlike a shadow could act independently of the object to which it
belonged. The forces and phenomena of nature were themselves “spirits;”
the lightning which struck the temple, or the heat which parched up the
vegetation of spring, were as much “spirits” as the _zi_, or “spirit,”
which enabled the arrow to reach its mark and to slay its victim. When
contact with the Semites had introduced the idea of a god among the
Sumerians, it was still under the form of a spirit that their powers and
attributes were conceived. The Sumerian who had been unaffected by Semitic
teaching spoke of the “spirit of heaven” rather than of the god or goddess
of the sky, of the “spirit of Ea” rather than of Ea himself, the god of
the deep. Man, too, had a _zi_, or “spirit,” attached to him; it was the
life which gave him movement and feeling, the principle of vitality which
constituted his individual existence. In fact, it was the display of vital
energy in man and the lower animals from which the whole conception of the
_zi_ was derived. The force which enables the animate being to breathe and
act, to move and feel, was extended to inanimate objects as well; if the
sun and stars moved through the heavens, or the arrow flew through the
air, it was from the same cause as that which enabled the man to walk or
the bird to fly.
The _zi_ of the Sumerians was thus a counterpart of the _ka_, or “double,”
of Egyptian belief. The description given by Egyptian students of the _ka_
would apply equally to the _zi_ of Sumerian belief. They both belong to
the same level of religious thought; indeed, so closely do they resemble
one another that the question arises whether the Egyptian belief was not
derived from that of ancient Sumer.
Wholly different was the idea which underlay the Semitic conception of a
spiritual world. He believed in a god in whose image man had been made. It
was a god whose attributes were human, but intensified in power and
action. The human family on earth had its counterpart in the divine family
in heaven. By the side of the god stood the goddess, a colorless
reflection of the god, like the woman by the side of the man. The divine
pair were accompanied by a son, the heir to his father’s power and his
representative and interpreter. As man stood at the head of created things
in this world, so, too, the god stood at the head of all creation. He had
called all things into existence, and could destroy them if he chose.
The Semite addressed his god as Baal or Bel, “the lord.” It was the same
title as that which was given to the head of the family, by the wife to
the husband, by the servant to his master. There were as many Baalim or
Baals as there were groups of worshippers. Each family, each clan, and
each tribe had its own Baal, and when families and clans developed into
cities and states the Baalim developed along with them. The visible form
of Baal was the Sun; the Sun was lord of heaven and therewith of the earth
also and all that was upon it. But the Sun presented itself under two
aspects. On the one side it was the source of light and life, ripening the
grain and bringing the herb into blossom; on the other hand it parched all
living things with the fierce heats of summer and destroyed what it had
brought into being. Baal, the Sun-god, was thus at once beneficent and
malevolent; at times he looked favorably upon his adorers, at other times
he was full of anger and sent plague and misfortune upon them. But under
both aspects he was essentially a god of nature, and the rites with which
he was worshipped accordingly were sensuous and even sensual.
Such were the two utterly dissimilar conceptions of the divine out of the
union of which the official religion of Babylonia was formed. The popular
religion of the country also grew out of them though in a more unconscious
way. The Semite gave the Sumerian his gods with their priests and temples
and ceremonies. The Sumerian gave in return his belief in a multitude of
spirits, his charms and necromancy, his sorcerers and their sacred books.
Unlike the gods of the Semites, the “spirits” of the Sumerian were not
moved by human passions. They had, in fact, no moral nature. Like the
objects and forces they represented, they surrounded mankind, upon whom
they would inflict injury or confer benefits. But the injuries were more
frequent than the benefits; the sum of suffering and evil exceeds that of
happiness in this world, more especially in a primitive condition of
society. Hence the “spirits” were feared as demons rather than worshipped
as powers of good, and instead of a priest a sorcerer was needed who knew
the charms and incantations which could avert their malevolence or compel
them to be serviceable to men. Sumerian religion, in fact, was
Shamanistic, like that of some Siberian tribes to-day, and its ministers
were Shamans or medicine-men skilled in witchcraft and sorcery whose
spells were potent to parry the attacks of the demon and drive him from
the body of his victim, or to call him down in vengeance on the person of
their enemy.
Shamanism, however, pure and simple, is incompatible with an advanced
state of culture, and as time went on the Shamanistic faith of the
Sumerians tended toward a rudimentary form of polytheism. Out of the
multitude of spirits there were two or three who assumed a more commanding
position than the rest. The spirit of the sky, the spirit of the water,
and more especially the spirit of the underground world, where the ghosts
of the dead and the demons of night congregated together, took precedence
of the rest. Already, before contact with the Semites, they began to
assume the attributes of gods. Temples were raised in their honor, and
where there were temples there were also priests.
This transition of certain spirits into gods seems to have been aided by
that study of the heavens and of the heavenly bodies for which the
Babylonians were immemorially famous. At all events, the ideograph which
denotes “a god” is an eight-rayed star, from which we may perhaps infer
that, at the time of the invention of the picture-writing out of which the
cuneiform characters grew, the gods and the stars were identical.
One of the oldest of the Sumerian temples was that of Nippur, the modern
Niffer, built in honor of Mul-lil or El-lil, “the lord of the
ghost-world.” He had originally been the spirit of the earth and the
underground world; when he became a god his old attributes still clung to
him. To the last he was the ruler of the _lil-mes_, “the ghosts” and
“demons” who dwelt in the air and the waste places of the earth, as well
as in the abode of death and darkness that lay beneath it. His priests
preserved their old Shamanistic character; the ritual they celebrated was
one of spells and incantations, of magical rites and ceremonies. Nippur
was the source and centre of one of the two great streams of religious
thought and culture which influenced Sumerian Babylonia.
The other source and centre was Eridu on the Persian Gulf. Here the spirit
of the water was worshipped, who in process of time passed into Ea, the
god of the deep. But the deep was a channel for foreign culture and
foreign ideas. Maritime trade brought the natives of Eridu into contact
with the populations of other lands, and introduced new religious
conceptions which intermingled with those of the Sumerians. Ea, the patron
deity of Eridu, became the god of culture and light, who delighted in
doing good to mankind and in bestowing upon them the gifts of
civilization. In this he was aided by his son Asari, who was at once the
interpreter of his will and the healer of men. His office was declared in
the title that was given to him of the god “who benefits mankind.”
Two strongly contrasted streams of religious influence thus flowed from
Nippur in the north of Babylonia and from Eridu in the south. The one
brought with it a belief in the powers of darkness and evil, in sorcery
and magic, and a religion of fear; the other spoke of light and culture,
of gods who poured blessings upon men and healed the diseases that
afflicted them. Asari was addressed as “he who raises the dead to life,”
and Ea was held to be the first legislator and creator of civilized
society.
How far the foreign influence which moulded the creed of Eridu was of
Semitic origin it is impossible to say. Semitic influences, however, began
to work upon Sumerian religion at a very early date. The Semite and the
Sumerian intermingled with one another; at first the Semite received the
elements of culture from his more civilized neighbor, but a time came when
he began to give something in return. The result of this introduction of
Semitic and Sumerian beliefs and ideas was the official religion of later
Babylonia.
The “spirits” who had ranked above the rest now became gods in the Semitic
sense of the term. Mul-lil of Nippur became the Semitic Baal or Bel, the
supreme lord of the world, who governs the world below as well as the
world above. He it was who conferred empire over mankind upon his
worshippers and whose ministers and angels were the spirits of popular
belief. Ea wanted but little to become a true god; his name remained
unchanged and his dominion extended to all waters whatever, wherever they
might be. His son Asari passed into Merodach, the patron-deity of Babylon,
who, when his city became the capital of Babylonia, took the place of Bel
of Nippur as the supreme Bel. As in Greek mythology the younger Zeus
dethroned his father, so in Babylonia the younger Bel of Babylonia
dethroned the older Bel of Nippur.
Similarly, Anu, the spirit of the sky, became the Semitic Sky-god Anu,
whose temple stood at Erech. Ur, on the western bank of the Euphrates, was
dedicated to the Moon-god under the name of Sin, like Harran in
Mesopotamia; Larsa was dedicated to the Sun-god. When Borsippa became a
suburb of Babylon its presiding deity became at the same time the minister
and interpreter of Merodach under the title of Nabium or Nebo “the
prophet.” The Semitic god everywhere took the place of the Sumerian
“spirit,” while those among the “spirits” themselves who had not undergone
the transforming process merged in the three hundred spirits of heaven and
the six hundred spirits of earth. They formed the “hosts of heaven,” of
whom Bel was the lord.
But Semitic belief necessitated the existence of a goddess by the side of
the god. It was, indeed, a grammatical necessity rather than a theological
one; the noun in the Semitic languages has a feminine as well as a
masculine gender, and the masculine Bilu or Bel, accordingly, implied a
female Belit or Beltis. But the goddess was little more than a grammatical
shadow of the god, and her position was still further weakened by the
analogy of the human family where the wife was regarded as the lesser man,
the slave and helpmeet of her husband.
One goddess only escaped the general law which would have made her merely
the pale reflection of the god. This was Istar. Istar was an independent
deity, owing no allegiance to a husband, and standing on a footing of
equality with the gods. But this was because she had once been one of the
chief objects of Sumerian worship, the spirit of the evening star. In the
Sumerian language there was no gender, nothing that could distinguish the
goddess or the woman from the god or man, and the “spirits,” therefore,
were indifferently of both sexes. Moreover, the woman occupied an
important place in the Sumerian family; where the Semitic translation
speaks of “man and woman” the Sumerian original makes it “woman and man.”
To the Sumerian mind, accordingly, the female “spirit” was as powerful as
the male, acting independently and possessing the same attributes. Hence
it was that in taking Istar over from their Sumerian predecessors the
Semitic inhabitants of Babylonia took over at the same time a goddess who
was the equal of a god.
Among the mixed population of Babylonia, with its mixed culture and
language and religion, the character and position of Istar underwent but
little change. But when the conquerors of Sargon of Akkad and his
predecessors carried the civilization of Babylonia to the West, Istar
assumed a new form. Among the Canaanites she became Ashtoreth with the
feminine termination, and was identified with the Moon, the consort and
reflection, as it were, of Baal the Sun-god. But even so, the existence,
of an independent goddess by the side of Baal seemed strange to the
Semitic imagination, and among the Semites of Southern Arabia she was
transformed into a male god, while the Moabites made her one with the god
Chemosh. Even among the learned classes of Semitic Babylonia it was
whispered that she was of both sexes, a goddess when imaged in the evening
star, a god when visible in the star of the morning.
Closely connected with the worship of Istar was that of Tammuz. Tammuz
among the Sumerians appears to have been the “spirit” of the rivulets and
waters of spring, and his name signified literally “the son of life” or
“of the spirit.” But among the Semites he became the young and beautiful
shepherd, the beloved of Istar, slain by the boar’s tusk of winter, or, as
others held, of the parching heats of the summer. He symbolized the fresh
vegetation of the spring and the Sun-god who called it forth. Once each
year, in the sultry heats of June, the women wept and tore their hair in
memory of his untimely death, and Istar, it was said, had descended into
Hades in the vain hope of bringing him back to life. One of the most
famous of Babylonian poems was that which told of the descent of Istar
through the seven gates of the underground world, and which was chanted at
the annual commemoration of his death. At each gate, it is said, the
goddess left behind her some one of her adornments, until at last she
arrived stripped and naked before the throne of the goddess of the
infernal world. The poem was composed at a time when astronomical
conceptions had laid hold of the old mythology, and the poet has
interwoven the story of the waning and waxing of the moon into the ancient
tale.
The world was generally believed to have originated out of a watery chaos,
and to float, as it were, upon the deep. This belief was derived from
Eridu, where it was also taught that the deep surrounded the earth like
the coils of a serpent.
But other ideas about the origin of things prevailed elsewhere. Inland it
was supposed that the firmament of heaven rested on the peak of a
mountain—“the mountain of the East,” or “of the World,” as it was commonly
called—where the gods lived in an Olympus of their own and the stars were
suspended from it like lamps. The firmament was regarded as a kind of
extinguisher or as the upturned hull of one of the round coracles that
plied on the Euphrates. Other ideas again were prevalent in other parts of
the country. Thus at Eridu the place of “the mountain of the World” was
taken by a magical tree which grew in the midst of the garden of Eden, or
“plain” of Babylonia, and on either side of which were the mouths of the
Tigris and Euphrates. It is probably to be identified with the tree of
life which figures so frequently in the sculptures of Assyria and on the
seal-cylinders of Chaldea, but it may be the tree of knowledge of which we
hear in the old Sumerian texts, and upon which “the name of Ea was
written.” At all events it is “the holy tree of Eridu,” of whose “oracle”
Arioch calls himself “the executor.”
The sun, it was believed, rose and set from between the twin mountains
whose gates were guarded by men with the bodies of scorpions, while their
heads touched the skies and their feet reached to Hades. The scorpion was
the inhabitant of the desert of Northern Arabia, the land of Mas, where
the mountains of the sunset were imagined to be. Beyond them were the
encircling ocean and the waters of Death, and beyond these again the
island of the Blest, where the favorites of the gods were permitted to
dwell. It was hither that Xisuthros, the Chaldean Noah, was translated for
his piety after the Deluge, and it was here, too, that the flower of
immortality blossomed.
For the ordinary mortal a very different fate was reserved. He had to
descend after death into the underground world of Hades, where the spirits
of the dead flitted about like bats in the darkness, with dust only for
their food. It was a land of gloom and forgetfulness, defended by seven
gates and seven warders, who prevented the dead from breaking forth from
their prison-house and devouring the living under the form of vampires.
The goddess Allat presided over it, keeping watch over the waters of life
that bubbled up under her golden throne. Before her sat the shades of the
heroes of old, each crowned with a shadowy crown and seated on a shadowy
throne, rising up only that they might salute the ghost of some human
potentate who came to join them from the upper world. In later days, it is
true, brighter and higher conceptions of the after life came to prevail,
and an Assyrian poet prays that his King, when he dies, may pass away to
“the land of the silver sky.”
The various cosmological speculations and beliefs of ancient Chaldea were
collected together in later times and an attempt made to combine them into
a philosophical system. What this was like we learn from the opening lines
of the epic which recounted the story of the Creation. In the beginning,
we are told, was the chaos of the deep, which was the mother of all
things. Out of it came first the primeval gods, Lakhum and Lakhamu, whose
names had been handed down from the Sumerian age. Then came An-sar and
Ki-sar, the Upper and Lower Firmaments, and, lastly, the great gods of the
Semitic faith, Anu, Bel of Nippur, and Ea. All was ready at last for the
creation of the present heavens and earth. But a struggle had first to be
carried on between the new gods of light and order and Tiamat, the dragon
of the “Deep,” the impersonation of chaos. Merodach volunteered the task;
Tiamat and her demoniac allies were overthrown and the sky formed out of
her skin, while her blood became the rivers and springs. The deep was
placed under fetters, that it might never again break forth and reduce the
world to primeval chaos; laws were laid down for the heavenly bodies,
which they were to keep forever and so provide a measure of time, and the
plants and animals of the earth were created, with man at the head to rule
over them. Though man was made of the dust, he was, nevertheless, the
“son” of the gods, whose outward forms were the same as his.
It is not to be supposed that this philosophizing of the old myths and
legends made its way beyond the circle of the learned classes, but the
myths and legends themselves were known to the people and served instead
of a cosmology. The struggle between Tiamat and Merodach was depicted on
the walls of the temple of Bel at Babylon, and the belief that this world
has arisen out of a victory of order over chaos and anarchy was deeply
implanted in the mind of the Babylonian. Perhaps it goes back to the time
when the soil of Babylonia was won by the cultivator and the engineer from
wild and unrestrained nature.
Babylonian religion had its sacred books, and, like the official
cosmology, a real knowledge of them was probably confined to the priests
and educated classes. But a considerable part of their contents must have
been more widely known.
Some of the hymns embodied in them, as well as the incantations and
magical ceremonies, were doubtless familiar to the people or derived from
current superstitions. The work in which the hymns were collected and
procured, and which has been compared with the Veda of India, was at once
the Bible and the Prayer-book of Chaldea. The hymns were in Sumerian,
which thus became a sacred language, and any mistake in the recitation of
them was held to be fatal to the validity of a religious rite. Not only,
therefore, were the hymns provided with a Semitic translation, but from
time to time directions were added regarding the pronunciation of certain
words. The bulk of the hymns was of Sumerian origin, but many new hymns,
chiefly in honor of the Sun-god, had been added to them in Semitic times.
They were, however, written in the old language of Sumer; like Latin in
the Roman Catholic Church, that alone was considered worthy of being used
in the service of the gods. It was only the rubric which was allowed to be
written in Semitic; the hymns and most of the prayers were in what had
come to be termed “the pure” or “sacred language” of the Sumerians. Each
hymn is introduced by the words “to be recited,” and ends with _amanû_, or
“Amen.”
The religious services were incessant. Every day the sacrifice was
offered, accompanied by a special ritual, and the festivals and fasts
filled up each month of the year. There were services even for the night
as well as for the day. The new moons were strictly observed, and the
seventh day was one of solemn rest. The very name Sabattu or “Sabbath” was
derived by the native etymologists from the Sumerian words _sa_, “heart,”
and _bat_, “to end,” because it was “a day of rest for the heart.” Not
only were there Sabbaths on the seventh, fourteenth, twenty-first, and
twenty-eighth days of the month, there was also a Sabbath on the
nineteenth, that being the end of the seventh week from the first day of
the previous month. On these Sabbaths no work was permitted to be done.
The King, it was laid down, “must not eat flesh cooked at the fire or in
the smoke; must not change his clothes; must not put on white garments;
must not offer sacrifices; must not drive in his chariot; or issue royal
decrees.” Even the prophet was forbidden to practise augury or give
medicine to the sick.
From time to time extraordinary days of public humiliation or thanksgiving
were ordered to be observed. These were prescribed by the government and
were generally the result of some political crisis or danger. When the
Assyrian empire, for instance, was attacked by the nations of the north in
the early part of Esar-haddon’s reign, public prayers and fasts “for one
hundred days and one hundred nights” were ordained by the “prophets” in
the hope that the Sun-god might “remove the sin” of the people and stave
off the threatened attack. So, again, when Assur-bani-pal had suppressed
the Babylonian revolt and taken Babylon after a long siege, he tells us
that “at the instance of the prophets he purified the mercy-seats and
cleansed the processional roads that had been polluted; the wrathful gods
and angry goddesses he appeased with special prayers and penitential
psalms.”
The temple was erected on ground that had been consecrated by libations of
wine, oil, and honey, and was a square or rectangular building enclosing
an open court, on one side of which was a _ziggurat_, or “tower.” The
tower was built in successive stages, and in the topmost stage was the
shrine of the god. Each “tower” had a name of its own, and was used for
astronomical purposes. It corresponded with “the high-place” of Canaan; in
the flat plain of Babylonia it was only by means of a tower that the
worshipper could “mount up to heaven” and so approach the gods. Herodotus
states that the topmost story of the tower attached to the temple of Bel
Merodach at Babylon contained nothing but a couch and a table.
The image of the god stood in the innermost shrine or Holy of Holies of
the temple itself. In front of it was the golden table on which the
shew-bread was laid, and below was the _parakku_, or “mercy-seat,”
whereon, according to Nebuchadnezzar, at the festival of the new year, “on
the eighth and eleventh days, the king of the gods of heaven and earth,
Bel, the god, seats himself, while the gods of heaven and earth reverently
regard him, standing before him with bowed heads.” It was “the seat of the
oracles” which were delivered from it by the god to his ministering
priests.
In front of the shrine was an altar cased in gold, and another altar stood
in the outer court. Here also was the great bason of bronze for
purificatory purposes, which was called “the deep,” and corresponded with
the “sea” of Solomon’s temple. Like the latter, it sometimes stood on the
heads of twelve bronze oxen, as we learn from a hymn in which the
construction of one of these basons is described. They were supposed to
represent the primeval “deep” out of which the world has arisen and on
which it still floats.
The chapel found by Mr. Hormund Rassam at Balawât, near Nineveh, gives us
some idea of what the inner shrine of a temple was like. At its north-west
end was an altar approached by steps, while in front of the latter, and
near the entrance, was a coffer or ark in which two small slabs of marble
were deposited, twelve and one-half inches long by eight wide, on which
the Assyrian King Assur-nazir-pal in a duplicate text records his erection
of the sanctuary. It is not surprising that when the Nestorian workmen
found the tablets, they believed that they had discovered the two tables
of the Mosaic Law.
The temple sometimes enclosed a Bit-ili or Beth-el. This was originally an
upright stone, consecrated by oil and believed to be animated by the
divine spirit. The “Black Stone” in the kaaba of the temple of Mecca is a
still surviving example of the veneration paid by the Semitic nations to
sacred stones. Whether, however, the Beth-els of later Babylonian days
were like the “Black Stone” of Mecca, really the consecrated stones which
had once served as temples, we do not know; in any case they were anchored
within the walls of the temples which had taken their place as the seats
of the worship of the gods. Offerings were still made to them in the age
of Nebuchadnezzar and his successors; thus we hear of 765 “measures” of
grain which were paid as “dues to the Beth-el” by the serfs of one of the
Babylonian temples. The “measure,” it may be stated, was an old measure of
capacity, retained among the peasantry, and only approximately exact. It
was calculated to contain from 41 to 43 _qas_.
The offerings to the gods were divided into sacrifices and meal-offerings.
The ox, sheep, lamb, kid, and dove were offered in sacrifice—fruit,
vegetables, bread, wine, oil, and spices where no blood was required to be
shed. There were also sin-offerings and heave-offerings, when the offering
was first “lifted up” before the gods. A contract dated in the
thirty-second year of Nebuchadnezzar tells something about the parts of
the animals which were sacrificed, though unfortunately the meaning of
many of the technical words used in it is still unknown: “Izkur-Merodach,
the son of Imbriya, the son of Ilei-Merodach, of his own free will has
given for the future to Nebo-balasu-iqbi, the son of Kuddinu, the son of
Ilei-Merodach, the slaughterers of the oxen and sheep for the sacrifices
of the king, the prescribed offerings, the peace-offerings (?) of the
whole year—viz., the caul round the heart, the chine, the covering of the
ribs, the …, the mouth of the stomach, and the …, as well as during the
year 7,000 sin-offerings and 100 sheep before Iskhara, who dwells in the
temple of Sa-turra in Babylon (not excepting the soft parts of the flesh,
the trotters (?), the juicy meat, and the salted (?) flesh), and also the
slaughterers of the oxen, sheep, birds, and lambs due on the 8th day of
Nisan, (and) the heave-offering of an ox and a sheep before Pap-sukal of
Bit-Kiduz-Kani, the temple of Nin-ip and the temple of Anu on the further
bank of the New Town in Babylon.” The 8th of Nisan, or March, was the
first day of the festival of the New Year.
The hierarchy of priests was large. At its head was the _patesi_, or
high-priest, who in the early days of Babylonian history was a civil as
well as an ecclesiastical ruler. He lost his temporal power with the rise
of the kings. But at first the King was also a _patesi_, and it is
probable that in many cases at least it was the high-priest who made
himself a king by subjecting to his authority the _patesis_ or priestly
rulers of other states. In Assyria the change of the high-priest into a
king was accompanied by revolt from the supremacy of Babylonia.
With the establishment of a monarchy the high-priest lost more and more
his old power and attributes, and tended to disappear altogether, or to
become merely the vicegerent or representative of the King. The King
himself, mindful of his sacerdotal origin, still claimed semi-priestly
powers. But he now called himself a _sangu_ or “chief priest” rather than
a _patesi_; in fact, the latter name was retained only from antiquarian
motives. The individual high-priest passed away, and was succeeded by the
class of “chief priests.” Under them were several subordinate classes of
temple servants. There were, for instance, the _enû_, or “elders,” and the
_pasisû_, or “anointers,” whose duty it was to anoint the images of the
gods and the sacred vessels of the temple with oil, and who are sometimes
included among the _ramkû_, or “offerers of libations,” as well. By the
side of them stood _asipu_, or “prophet,” who interpreted the will of
heaven, and even accompanied the army on its march, deciding when it might
attack the enemy with success, or when the gods refused to grant it
victory. Next to the prophet came the _makhkhû_ or interpreter of dreams,
as well as the _barû_, or “seer.”
A very important class of temple-servants were the _kalî_, or
“eunuch-priests,” the _galli_ of the religions of Asia Minor. They were
under a “chief _kalû_,” and were sometimes entitled “the servants of
Istar.” It was indeed to her worship that they were specially consecrated,
like the _ukhâtu_ and _kharimâtu_, or female hierodules. Erech, with its
sanctuary of Anu and Istar, was the place where these latter were chiefly
to be found; here they performed their dances in honor of the goddess and
mourned over the death of Tammuz.
Closely connected with the _kalî_ was a sort of monastic institution,
which seems to have been attached to some of the Babylonian temples. The
_Zikari_, who belonged to it, were forbidden to marry, and it is possible
that they were eunuchs like the _kalî_. They, too, were under a chief or
president, and their main duty was to attend to the daily sacrifice and to
minister to the higher order of priests. In this respect they resembled
the Levites at Jerusalem; indeed they are frequently termed “servants” in
the inscriptions, though they were neither serfs nor slaves. They could be
dedicated to the service of the Sun-god from childhood. A parallel to the
dedication of Samuel is to be found in a deed dated at Sippara on the 21st
of Nisan, in the fifth year of Cambyses, in which “Ummu-dhabat, the
daughter of Nebo-bel-uzur,” whose father-in-law was the priest of the
Sun-god, is stated to have brought her three sons to him, and to have made
the following declaration before another priest of the same deity: “My
sons have not yet entered the House of the Males (_Zikari_); I have
hitherto lived with them; I have grown old with them since they were
little, until they have been counted among men.” Then she took them into
the “House of the Males” and “gave” them to the service of the god. We
learn from this and other documents that the _Zikari_ lived together in a
monastery or college within the walls of the temple, and that monthly
rations of food were allotted to them from the temple revenues.
The ordinary priests were married, though the wife of a priest was not
herself a priestess. There were priestesses, however, as well as female
recluses, who, like the _Zikari_, were not allowed to marry and were
devoted to the service of the Sun-god. They lived in the temple, but were
able to hold property of their own, and even to carry on business with it.
A portion of the profits, nevertheless, went to the treasury of the
temple, out of whose revenues they were themselves supplied with food.
From contracts of the time of Khammurabi we gather that many of them not
only belonged to the leading families of Babylonia, but that they might be
relations of the King.
Wholly distinct from these devotees of the Sun-god were the female
hierodules or prostitutes of Istar, to whom reference has already been
made. Distinct from them, again, were the prophetesses of Istar, who
prophesied the future and interpreted the oracles of the goddess. One of
their chief seats was the temple of Istar at Arbela, and a collection of
the oracles delivered by them and their brother prophets to Esar-haddon
has been preserved. It is thus that he is addressed in one of them: “Fear
not, O Esar-haddon; the breath of inspiration which speaks to thee is
spoken by me, and I conceal it not. Thine enemies shall melt away from
before thy feet like the floods in Sivan. I am the mighty mistress, Istar
of Arbela, who have put thine enemies to flight before thy feet. Where are
the words which I speak unto thee, that thou hast not believed them? I am
Istar of Arbela; thine enemies, the Ukkians, do I give unto thee. I am
Istar of Arbela; in front of thee and at thy side do I march. Fear not,
thou art in the midst of those that can heal thee; I am in the midst of
thy host. I advance and I stand still!” It is probable that these
prophetesses were not ordained to their office, but that it depended on
their possession of the “spirit of inspiration.” At all events, we find
men as well as women acting as the mouth-pieces of Istar, and in one
instance the woman describes herself as a native of a neighboring village
“in the mountains.”
The revenues of the temples and priesthood were derived partly from
endowments, partly from compulsory or voluntary offerings. Among the
compulsory offerings were the esrâ, or “tithes.” These had to be paid by
all classes of the population from the King downward, either in grain or
in its equivalent in money. The “tithe” of Nabonidos, immediately after
his accession, to the temple of the Sun-god at Sippara was as much as 5
manehs of gold, or £840. We may infer from this that it was paid on the
amount of cash which he had found in the treasury of the palace and which
was regarded as the private property of the King. Nine years later
Belshazzar, the heir-apparent, offered two oxen and thirty-two sheep as a
voluntary gift to the same temple, and at the beginning of the following
year we find him paying a shekel and a quarter for a boat to convey three
oxen and twenty-four sheep to the same sanctuary. Even at the moment when
Cyrus was successfully invading the dominions of his father and Babylon
had already been occupied for three weeks by the Persian army, Belshazzar
was careful to pay the tithe due from his sister, and amounting to 47
shekels of silver, into the treasury of the Sun-god. As Sippara was in the
hands of the enemy, and the Babylonian forces which Belshazzar commanded
had been defeated and dispersed, the fact is very significant, and proves
how thoroughly both invaders and invaded must have recognized the rights
of the priesthood.
Tithe was also indirectly paid by the temple-serfs. Thus in the first year
of Nergal-sharezer, out of 3,100 measures of grain, delivered by “the
serfs of the Sun-god” to his temple at Sippara, 250 were exacted as
“tithe.” These serfs must be distinguished from the temple-slaves. They
were attached to the soil, and could not be separated from it. When,
therefore, a piece of land came into the possession of a temple by gift
and endowment, they went along with it, but their actual persons could not
be sold. The slave, on the other hand, was as much a chattel as the
furniture of the temple, which could be bought and sold; he was usually a
captive taken in war, more rarely a native who had been sold for debt. All
the menial work of the temple was performed by him; the cultivation of the
temple-lands, on the contrary, was left to the serfs.
It is doubtful whether the “butchers,” or slaughterers of the animals
required for sacrifice, or the “bakers” of the sacred cakes, were slaves
or freemen. The expression used in regard to them in the contract of
Izkur-Merodach quoted above is open to two interpretations, but it would
naturally signify that they were regarded as slaves. We know, at all
events, that many of the artisans employed in weaving curtains for the
temples and clothing for the images of the gods belonged to the servile
class, and the gorgeousness of the clothing and the frequency with which
it was changed must have necessitated a large number of workmen. Many of
the documents which have been bequeathed to us by the archives of the
temple of the Sun-god at Sippara relate to the robes and head-dresses and
other portions of the clothing of the images which stood there.
A considerable part of the property of a temple was in land. Sometimes
this was managed by the priests themselves; sometimes its revenues were
farmed, usually by a member of the priestly corporation; at other times it
was let to wealthy “tenants.” One of these, Nebo-sum-yukin by name, who
was an official in the temple of Nebo at Borsippa, married his daughter
Gigîtum to Nergal-sharezer in the first year of the latter’s reign.
The state religion of Assyria was a copy of that of Babylonia, with one
important exception. The supreme god was the deified state. Assur was not
a Baal any more than Yahveh was in Israel or Chemosh in Moab.
He was, consequently, no father of a family, with a wife and a son; he
stood alone in jealous isolation, wifeless and childless. It is true that
some learned scribe, steeped in Babylonian learning, now and then tried to
find a Babylonian goddess with whom to mate him; but the attempt was
merely a piece of theological pedantry which made no impression on the
rulers and people of Nineveh. Assur was supreme over all other gods, as
his representative, the Assyrian King, was supreme over the other kings of
the earth, and he would brook no rival at his side. The tolerance of
Babylonian religion was unknown in Assyria. It was “through trust in
Assur” that the Assyrian armies went forth to conquer, and through his
help that they gained their victories. The enemies of Assyria were his
enemies, and it was to combat and overcome them that the Assyrian monarchs
declare that they marched to war. Cyrus tells us that Bel-Merodach was
wrathful because the images of other deities had been removed by Nabonidos
from their ancient shrines in order to be gathered together in his temple
of Ê-Saggil at Babylon, but Assur bade his servants go forth to subdue the
gods of other lands, and to compel their worshippers to transfer their
allegiance to the god of Assyria. Those who believed not in him were his
enemies, to be extirpated or punished.
It is true that the leading Babylonian divinities were acknowledged in
Assyria by the side of Assur. But they were subordinate to him, and it is
difficult to resist the impression that their recognition was mainly
confined to the literary classes. Apart from the worship of Istar and the
use of the names of certain gods in time-honored formulæ, it is doubtful
whether even a knowledge of the Babylonian deities went much beyond the
educated members of the Assyrian community. Nebo and Merodach and Anu were
the gods of literature rather than of the popular cult.
But even in Babylonia the majority of the gods of the state religion was
probably but little remembered by the mass of the people. Doubtless the
local divinity was well known to the inhabitants of the place over which
he presided and where his temple had stood from immemorial times. Every
native of Ur was doubtless a devoted adorer of Sin, the Moon-god, and for
the inhabitants of Babylon Bel-Merodach was the highest object of worship.
But the real religion of the bulk of the population consisted in charms
and magic. The Babylonian was intensely superstitious, the cultivated
classes as much so as the lowest. Sorcery and divination were not only
tolerated by the priests, they formed part of the religious system of the
state. Prophets and diviners and interpreters of dreams served in the
temples, and one of the sacred books of the priesthood was a collection of
incantations and magical rites. Among the people generally the old
Shamanistic faith had never been eradicated; it was but partially overlaid
with the religious conceptions of the Semite, and sorcery and witchcraft
flourished down to the latest days of Babylonian history.
The gods and goddesses were believed to utter oracles and predictions
through the lips of inspired men and women. Figures of winged bulls and
serpents were placed at the entrance of a building to prevent the demons
of evil from passing through it. Before the gates of Babylon
Nebuchadnezzar “set up mighty bulls of bronze and serpents which stood
erect,” and when Nabonidos restored the temple of the Moon-god at Harran
two images of the primeval god, Lakhum, were similarly erected on either
side of its eastern gate to “drive back” his “foes.” These protecting
genii were known as _sêdi_ and _kurubi_, the _shédim_ and _cherubim_ of
the Old Testament. _Sédi_, however, was a generic term, including evil as
well as beneficent genii, and the latter was more properly classed as the
_lamassi_, or “colossal forms.” The whole world was imagined to be filled
with malevolent spirits ever on the watch to attack and torment mankind.
The water that was drunk, the food that was eaten, might contain a demon,
whom it would be necessary to exorcise. The diseases that afflict our
bodies, the maladies that prey upon our spirits, were all due to the
spirits of evil, and could be removed only by the proper incantations and
charms. Madness and epilepsy were more especially the direct effect of
demoniac possession. The magician alone knew how to cure them; and the
priest taught that his knowledge had first been communicated to him by the
god Ea through his interpreter, Merodach. Books were written containing
the needful formulæ and ritual for counteracting the malevolence of the
evil spirits and for healing the sick. Pure or “holy” water and the number
seven were regarded as endowed with mysterious power in the performance of
these magical rites; thus magical threads were ordered to be bound seven
times round the limbs of the sick man, with phylacteries attached to them
on which were inscribed “sentences from a holy book.”
It was at night-time that the spirits of evil were more especially active.
It was then that vampires escaped from the bodies of the dead or from the
realm of Hades to suck the blood of the living, and that the nightmare lay
upon the breast of its victim and sought to strangle him. At the head of
these demons of the night was Lilat, the wife of Lil, “the ghost;” from
the Babylonians she was borrowed by the Jews, and appears in the book of
Isaiah under the name of Lilith.
The demons were served by a priesthood of their own. These were the
wizards and witches, and the sorcerers and sorceresses, with whom were
associated the public prostitutes, who plied their calling under the
shadow of night.
It was then that they lay in ambush for the unwary passenger, for whom
they mixed deadly philters which poisoned the blood. They were devotees of
Istar, but the Istar they worshipped was a wholly different goddess from
the Istar of the official cult. She was a goddess of witchcraft and
darkness, of whom it was said that she “seized” on her victim “at night,”
and was “the slayer of youths.” She it was who was dreaded by the people
like the witches and “street-walkers,” who ministered before her, and
against whom exorcisms of all kinds were employed. To guard against her
and her agents, small images of Lugal-gira and Allamu, the teraphim of the
Babylonians, were made and placed to the right and the left of the door
that they might “tear out the hearts of the wicked” and “slay the witch.”
The Fire-god, moreover, was invoked that he might destroy the ministers of
wickedness, and figures of the witch or wizard were moulded in wax and
melted in the fire. As the wax dissolved, so, it was prayed, might “the
wizard and witch run, melt, and dissolve.”
The exorcisms had to be repeated by the victims of witchcraft. This is
clear from the words which come at the end of each of them: “I, So-and-so,
the son of So-and-so, whose god is So-and-so and goddess So-and-so, I turn
to thee, I seek for thee, I kiss thy hands, I bow myself under thee.
Consume the wizard and the witch; annihilate the lives of the sorcerer and
the sorceress who have bewitched me. Then shall I live and gladden thy
heart.”
In strange contrast to these utterances of popular superstition are the
hymns and prayers that were addressed by the cultivated Babylonian to the
gods of the official creed. They were gods of light and healing, who
punished, indeed, the sins of the wicked, but were ready to listen to the
petitions of the penitent and to forgive them their transgressions.
Bel-Merodach was “the merciful one who raises the dead to life,” and Ea
was ever on the watch to send aid to suffering humanity and foil the
demons who warred against man. Here, for example, are some extracts from
one of those penitential psalms whose authors seem to have sprung from
Eridu and which formed part of the Babylonian Bible long before the age of
Abraham:
The heart of my lord is wroth; may it be appeased!
May the god whom I know not be appeased!
May the goddess whom I know not be appeased!
May both the god I know and the god I know not be appeased!…
O lord, my sins are many, my transgressions are great!…
The sin that I sinned I knew not,
The transgression I committed I knew not.…
The lord in the wrath of his heart has regarded me,
God in the fierceness of his heart has revealed himself to me.…
I sought for help, and none took my hand;
I wept, and none stood at my side;
I cried aloud, and there was none that heard me.
I am in trouble and hiding; I dare not look up.
To my god, the merciful one, I turn myself, I utter my prayer;
The feet of my goddess I kiss and water with tears.…
The sins I have sinned turn into a blessing;
The transgressions I have committed let the wind carry away!
Strip off my manifold wickednesses as a garment!
O my god, seven times seven are my transgressions; forgive my sins!
O my goddess, seven times seven are my transgressions; forgive my sins!
To the same early period belongs a hymn to the Moon-god, originally
composed for the services in the temple of Ur, the birthplace of Abraham,
and afterward incorporated in the sacred books of the state religion. It
is thus that the poet speaks of his god:
Father, long-suffering and full of forgiveness, whose hand upholdeth the
life of all mankind!…
First-born, omnipotent, whose heart is immensity, and there is none who
may fathom it!…
In heaven who is supreme? Thou alone, thou art supreme!
On earth, who is supreme? Thou alone, thou art supreme!
As for thee, thy will is made known in heaven, and the angels bow their
faces.
As for thee, thy will is made known upon earth, and the spirits below kiss
the ground.
At times the language of the hymn rises to that of monotheism of a pure
and exalted character. That a monotheistic school actually existed in one
of the literary circles of Babylonia was long ago pointed out by Sir Henry
Rawlinson. It arose at Erech, an early seat of Semitic influence, and
endeavored to resolve the manifold deities of Chaldea into forms or
manifestations of the “one god,” Anu. It never made many converts, it is
true; but the tendency toward monotheism continued among the educated part
of the population, and when Babylon became the capital of the country its
god, Merodach, became not only a Bel or “Lord,” but the one supreme lord
over all the other gods. Though the existence of the other gods was
admitted, they fell, as it were, into a background of shadow, and the
worshipper of Merodach, in his devotion to the god, almost forgot that
they existed at all. The prayers of Nebuchadnezzar are a proof how narrow
was the line which divided his faith from that of the monotheist. “To
Merodach my lord,” he says, “I prayed; I began to him my petition; the
word of my heart sought him, and I said: O prince, thou that art from
everlasting, lord of all that exists, for the king whom thou lovest, whom
thou callest by name, as it seems good unto thee, thou guidest his name
aright, thou watchest over him in the path of righteousness! I, the prince
who obeys thee, am the work of thy hands; thou hast created me and hast
entrusted to me the sovereignty over multitudes of men, according to thy
goodness, O lord, which thou hast made to pass over them all. Let me love
thy supreme lordship, let the fear of thy divinity exist in my heart, and
give what seemeth good unto thee, since thou maintainest my life.”
The man who could thus pray was not far from the kingdom of God.
APPENDIX: WEIGHTS AND MEASURES
In the preceding pages the equivalence of the _qa_ in modern English
measures has been given in accordance with the calculations of Dr. Oppert.
Other scholars, however, would assign to it a different value, identifying
it with the Hebrew _qab_ and making it equal to about two litres. This,
indeed, seems to have been its value in the age of Abraham, but in the
later days of Babylonian history a different system certainly prevailed.
WEIGHTS.
360 se ("grains") 1 shekel
60 shekels 1 maneh (_mana_)
60 manehs 1 talent
The silver maneh was equivalent to £9, the shekel being 3s., while the
gold maneh was ten times its value. The maneh was originally a weight more
than one kind of which was in use: (1) The heavy maneh of 990 grammes; (2)
the light maneh of 495 grammes; (3) the gold maneh (for weighing gold) of
410 grammes; and (4) the silver maneh of 546 grammes. At Sippara, however,
the heavy maneh weighed 787 grammes; the light maneh, 482 grammes; and the
gold maneh, 392 grammes; while the standard maneh fixed by Dungi weighed
980 grammes. The maneh of Carchemis contained 561 grammes.
MEASURES OF CAPACITY.
1 _qa_ (Heb. _qab_) 1.66 litres
1 _pi_ or ardeb (Heb. 36 _qas_
homer)
1 _bar_ (Heb. se’ah) 60 _qas_
1 homer in Assyria 60 _qas_
1 _gur_ (Heb. kor) 180 _qas_
In the Abrahamic age other systems were in use in Babylonia according to
which the _gur_ sometimes contained 360 _qas_ and sometimes 300 _qas_.
The tonnage of ships was reckoned by the _gur_.
MEASURES OF LENGTH.
1 _uban_ or 16.6 millimetres
finger-breadth (divided
into 180 parts)
30 finger-breadths 1 _ammat_ or cubit (498
mm.)
2 cubits 1 great cubit (996 mm.)
6 great cubits 1 _qanu_ or reed
2 reeds 1 _gar_
60 _gars_ 1 _soss_ or stade
30 _sosses_ 1 _kasbu_ or parasang (21
kilometres)
2 _kasbus_ 1 great _kasbu_
SUPERFICIAL MEASURES.
In the Abrahamic age 180 _se_ were probably equivalent to 1 _gin_, 60
_gin_ to one _sar_ or “garden,” 1,800 _sar_ to 1 feddân (_padânu_) or
“acre.” The latter was called _bur-gan_ in Sumerian, or “10 acres,” to
distinguish it from a smaller acre, which contained only 180 _sar_.
Time was reckoned by the _kasbu_ or “double hour,” and in early times the
weight was divided into three watches of 2 _kasbus_ or 4 hours each. The
months were originally lunar, and consisted of 30 days, an intercalary
month being inserted in the calendar every six years. The zodiac was
divided into 360 degrees.
Mathematics were based upon a sexagesimal system, sixty, called the
_soss_, being the unit. The _ner_ was equivalent to 10 _sosses_ and the
_sar_ to 6 _ners_.
INDEX
Adoption, by the Sun-god, 36;
its prevalence in Babylon, 37;
concerning slaves, 38 ff.;
a way to citizenship, 41
Ainsworth, on coast-line formation, 2
Allat, goddess of under-world, 242;
in temples, 247
Amen, used in hymns, 245
Amorites, the, women, 18, 191;
colonies, 187 ff.;
position of, 189;
freedom of worship, 191-193;
country, 220
Apprentices, case of slaves, 71
Arad-Samas, position of his two wives, 27
Aramaic, taught in schools, 56
Architecture, features of Babylonian, 9, 10;
use of bricks, 90, 137;
character of, 91;
plans of houses, 92;
foundations, 92;
decorations, 93, 94;
dwellings of poor, 95;
stair-cases, 95
Army. _See under_ “State”
Artists, position of, 166
Ashtoreth. _See_ Istar
Assur, worship of, 256
Assyrians, compared with Babylonians, 8;
in regard to women, 18;
slave law among, 78;
slave contract, 79, 80;
features of architecture, 93;
gardens of, 95;
land, 123;
contracts, 124;
land measurements, 125;
money interest, 156;
coinage, 157;
medicine, 164;
military character of government, 172;
taxes, 175;
army, 181;
navy, 183;
letters, 217;
religion, 255
Astrology, 60;
letters relating to, 219
Baal worship, 233-234
Babylonia, its importance and situation, 1;
the increase of land, 2;
and its culture, 6;
various nationalities, 7;
Chaldean associations, _ibid._;
Kassite influence, 7, 8;
the inhabitants, 9;
trade, _ibid._, 107;
architecture, 9;
writing, 10;
mode of burial, 10, 11;
cosmogony, 11;
fertility, 11, 12;
features of family life, 13 ff.;
dowry and divorce, 20 ff.;
polygamy, 27;
matrimony, 29;
inheritance, 31;
adoption, 36 ff.;
citizenship, 41;
names, 45 ff.;
literature, 52-54;
burial, 62-66;
slavery, 67 ff.;
labourers, 82 ff., 148;
manners and customs, 90 ff.;
manufactures, 107 ff.;
house property, 118-120;
land, 120 ff.;
money-lending, 157 ff.;
bankers, 151;
barristers, 161;
government, 168 ff.;
army, 177 ff.;
law, 95 ff.;
letter-writing, 208 ff.;
religion, 231 ff.
Balawât, description of shrine at, 247
Bankers, firms of, 127;
and money-lending, 151 ff.
Barbers, position of, 105
Beating the bounds, custom of, 121
Bedâwin, as shepherds, 82;
wages of, 86
Beer-houses, 113
Bel, “The Illumination of Bel,” 60
Bel-Katsir, a plea set aside, 28;
his adoption, 37
Bel-Merodach and sonship, 36, 168, 169;
hymns and prayers, 260
Berachiel, his action for adoption, 38, 39
Berossus, origin of Babylon, 1
Bethels in shrines, 248
Bitumen, use of, 90;
prices of, 147
“Black Stone” of Mecca, 248
Borsippa, University at, 54;
“The Epic of the Creation,” 55
Branding in the sole, 44
Brick-makers, importance of, 137, 138
Burial, method of Babylonian, 10, 62 ff.;
place of, 62;
cemeteries, 62;
rites of, 63;
tombs, 64
Canaanitish Women, legal status, 19
Cape of Good Hope, 45
Carchemish, importance of, 156;
maneh of, 159
Carpenters, 134
Cemeteries, 62
Chaldea, the origin of, 7
Chariots for army, 178
Circumcision, 47
Clay-tablets, use of, 51
Colonies of Amorites, 187
Concubines, allowed, 25;
purchaseable, 26
Cosmetics, wide use of, 105
Cosmological beliefs, 243
Cremation, practised, 62
Cuneiform writing, 49;
use of clay, 50, 209;
chapters, 52;
origin, 209
Custom-house, place of, 111
Customs:
manner of building, 90 ff.;
furniture, 96 ff.;
dress, 99 ff.;
the cylinder, 102;
beards, 104, 105;
cosmetics, 105
Cylinder, worn on arm, 102;
designs on, 103;
patterns of, 103
Death, belief about, 242
Divorce, among Babylonians, 20-25;
position of divorced wives, 28;
instances, 196, 197
Doctors. _See under_ “Medicine”
Dowry and divorce, 19 ff.;
penalties, 26;
reasons of divorce, _ibid._
Dress, many varieties of, 99;
priest’s, 101;
poor person’s, 101;
women’s, 102;
seal cylinder, 102
Duty, on sheep, 111;
levy of, 113
Ea, the god of Eridu, 3, 260;
founder of law, 195;
the spirit, 232;
the temple of, 236;
Semitic influence, 237
Ebers Papyrus on medicine, 163
Eclipses mentioned, 219
Education:
a curious procedure, 44;
naming, _ibid._;
schooling, 47 ff.;
bodily exercises, 48;
cuneiform writing, 47;
writing materials, 50, 51;
books, 52;
kinds of literature, 52;
school buildings, 54;
class education, 55;
dead languages taught, 56;
philology, 57;
history, 58;
other studies, 59
Egibi, the banker, 127, 152
Egyptian influence on religion, 233
El-lil, the god of Nippur, 3
Eridu, a seaport of primitive Chaldea, 2;
a great centre, 3, 4;
its god, 3;
its origin, 4;
its temple, 236
Exorcisms, form of, 260
Family life among Semites, 13;
equality of sexes, 14
Farmers, tenure, 84, 85
Fasts and feasts prescribed, 246
Footstool, 96
Furniture, scanty but artistic, 96
Gardens, largely used, 94, 127
Gem-cutting, art of, 103
Gods and goddesses, relation of king to, 169 ff.
Grain, varying prices of, 142, 145;
as exchange, 144;
store-house, 206
Gudea, priest-king of Lagas, 90;
works of, 93, 94;
a vase of, 97;
dress, 102;
deification of, 169
Guilds for traders, 141
Hades, belief about, 242
Herodotus, quoted on Babylonian fertility, 11;
on prostitution, 30
History, the favourite study, 58
Hit, bitumen procured from, 90
“House of Cereals,” the, 206
House-property, value of, 114;
lease of, 115;
payment for, 116;
a lawsuit, 118-120
Hymns, Sumerian origin, 244;
Amen, 245;
hymns and prayers to Bel, 260
Ideograph, or picture-writing, 236
Inheritance, laws of, 31;
private ownership, 32;
testaments, _ibid._;
the will of Sennacherib, 35;
the theory of adoption, 36;
disputes, 42
Iron, general use of, 136
Irrigation, necessity of, 88
Istar, the goddess, significant changes, 13, 14;
the priestesses of, 16, 17;
land of temple of, 126;
independence of, 239;
as Ashtoreth, 240;
story of, _ibid._;
prophetesses of, 252;
the Istar of witchcraft, 259
Ivory, large trade in, 136
Jews, position of, in Babylonia, 68;
colonists, 190
Judges, appointment of, 197;
trials before, 199
Juries, existence of, 198
Kassites, their dynasty, 7;
effect of conquest in Babylonia, 171
Khalutê, battle of, 53
Khunnatu, 72
Khammurabi, letters of, 210 ff.
Ki-makh, or cemetery, 62
King. _See under_ “State”
Labourers, classes of, 82;
farmers, 84;
wages, 85, 86, 148-150;
songs of, 87
Land, value of, 120 ff.;
rent of, 121;
in Assyria, 123 ff.
Law, the study of, 59;
early origin, 195;
judges, 197;
case of foreigners, 198;
trials, 199;
careful procedure, 201;
punishments, 205;
bail, 206;
prisons, _ibid._
Layard, his discovery of a lens, 51
Letter-writing no modern invention, 208;
material used, 209;
cuneiform writing and its advantages, 210;
early examples, 211 ff.;
Assyrian, 216 ff.;
private letters, 225;
sealing, 228;
noticeable features, 229, 230
Literature, place of, 52;
poetry, 165
Maneh. _See_ “money-lending”
Marriage ceremonies among Babylonians, 29;
among Israelites, 30;
permitted degrees, 31
Medicine, early use, 162;
Egyptian influence, 163;
court physicians, 164;
in Assyria, 164;
doctors’ letters, 218
Metals, use of, 131;
where found, 132;
method of working, 132;
copper, 133;
prices for, 147
Money-lending, a lucrative profession, 151;
a coin currency, 152;
repayments, 153;
rate of interest, 153, 154;
securities, 155;
Assyrian interest, 156;
standard of coins, 158;
fixed values, 160
Monotheism in hymns, 262
Moon-god, temple of, 2;
cult of, 257;
hymn to, 261
Murasu, the firm of, 161
Music and its cultivation, 166
Naming a child, 44;
and a god, 45;
reasons for changes, 46
Nebo-akhi-iddin, contract of, 75
Nebuchadnezzar’s army, 181
Nergal, the Lord of the Dead, 65
Nidinti, case of the slave in, 70
Nineveh, letters in library at, 216
Nippur, excavations at, 3;
its god, _ibid._;
its origin, 4;
the temple, 236
Nublâ, a law case, 15;
her slave, 71;
apprenticing a slave, 141
Oannes. _See_ “Ea”
Oracles, in writing, 48
Palms, high prices, 127
Paradise, origin of, 95
Partnerships, frequent, 127;
with women, 128;
form of deeds of, 128, 129;
terms of, 129
Peters, Dr., quoted, 66
Philology cultivated, 57, 58
Phœnicians, 183
Physical exercises, 48, 52
Pilasters, use of, 91
Poets, position of, 165
Polygamy, among Babylonians, restricted, 27;
but possible, 27, 28
Porcelain, trade in, 137
Portents, the study of, 59, 60
Postal system established, 104;
extensive use, 228
Priest, dress of, 101;
classes of, 249;
eunuch-priests, 250;
marriage, 252
Prisons, 206
Professions:
bankers, 151;
barristers, 161;
doctors, 162;
poets, 165;
musicians, 165, 166;
artists, 166
Property, a legal point relating to, 23;
a woman’s power, _ibid._;
disputes, 42;
temple prop, 255
Prostitution in Babylonia, 30, 252
Punishments, legal. _See_ “Law”
Qubtâ, and her slave, 70
Quddâ, and his slave, 70
Rab-mugi, or court-physician, 164
Rab-saris, office of, 176
Rab-shakeh, or vizier, knowledge of language, 57;
office of, 176
Religion, letters relating to, 223;
popular superstition, 231, 257;
twofold influence in official creed, _ibid._;
Sumerian and Semitic conceptions compared, 232;
Shamanism, 235;
ideograph, 236;
the centres and their influence, 236, 237;
Semitic influence, 237 ff.;
Istar, 239;
Tammuz, 240;
the origin of things, 241;
various beliefs, 242;
Hades, 242;
cosmological, 243;
sacred books, 244;
hymns, 244, 260;
numerous services, 245;
temples, 246;
sacrifices, 248;
hierarchy, 249;
temple revenues, 253, 255;
witchcraft, 259;
exorcisms, 260;
monotheism, 263
Rimanni-Bel, a slave’s adoption cancelled, 40
Sabbath, origin of word, 245;
customs, _ibid._
Sacred books, 244
Sacrifices, various kinds, 248
Sandals used, 100, 101
Sargon, his empire, 5, 6;
a tradition of, 83;
houses in time of, 92;
dress, 101;
survey of land, 122;
carpenters’ trade under, 134
Satraps, or governors, 176
Schools, 47 ff.;
buildings, 54;
dead languages taught, 56;
subjects of study, 56 ff.
Scribes, the position of, 161
Semites, connection with Sumerians, 4 ff.;
influence on religion, 231, 237;
Semitic conception of deity, 233;
the goddess, 238
Sennacherib’s will, 35;
garden, 94, 95
Shamanism of the Sumerians, 235
Sheep, largely kept, 109;
a contract, 111;
duty, _ibid._;
market, 112
Shekel, 158
Ships, character of, 185
Sippara, situation of, 113;
letters found at, 214
Slaves, position of, 67, 68;
classes of, 68;
price of, 69, 70, 75;
law regarding, 69;
apprentices, 71;
privileges, 71;
restrictions, 74;
emancipation of, 77, 78;
in Assyria, 78, 79
Songs of peasants, 87, 88
Spelling, correctness of, 230
State:
theocratic character, 168;
relation of sovereign to God, 169-171;
the Western Empire, 171, 172;
contrasts in Assyria, 172;
aristocracy, 173, 174;
taxes, 175;
officials, 176-177;
divisions of army, 177-182;
chariots, 178;
developments, 180;
Assyrian army, _q.v._;
under Nebuchadnezzar, 181;
navy, 183;
merchant boats, 184;
character of ships, 185;
Amorite colonies, 187;
immunities, 194
Stables, letters relating to, 222
Stars, worship of, 62
Stela of the Vultures, 105
Stone used for decoration, 93
Stone-cutters, perfect work of, 135
Streets, character of, 112, 113
Stucco, largely used, 92
Sumerians, race influence, 4;
influence on Semites, _ibid._;
marriage law, 25;
marriage ceremony, 29;
dictionaries, 50;
language taught, 56;
law for slaves, 69, 81, 82;
text-book on farming, 84;
beardless, 104;
law as to barbers, 105;
weights, 158;
deification of Sumerian kings, 170;
code of law, 195;
influence on religion, 231;
Sumerian conception of a god, 232;
no moral nature, 234;
Shamanism, 235;
Tammuz, 240;
hymns, 244
Sun, belief about, 242
Superstition, popular, 231, 257
Surveyors, importance of, 123
Tables, fashion of, 97
Tablets of Tel-el-Amarna, 7;
the use of clay, 10
Talent, 158
Tammuz, worship of, 240, 251
Tapestries, 107
Taxes, nature of, 175;
immunity from, 194
Tel-el-Amarna tablets, quoted, 7, 19;
ladies’ letters, 48, 215;
other letters, 209;
points of letter-writing, 229
Temples, construction of, 246;
temple ministers, 251;
revenues of, 253
Tiglath-pileser, his gardens, 94
Tithes paid, 253
Tombs. _See_ “Burial”
Trades, 107 ff.;
woollen, 108;
partnerships, 127;
carpenters, 135;
stonecutters, 135;
iron-smith, 136;
ivory carvers, 136;
porcelain-makers, 137;
brick-makers, 137;
vintners, 139
Tsarpî, an Assyrian prefectess, 18
Tylos, island of, 108
Ubaru, contract of, 85
Under-world, belief in an, 64
Ur of the Chaldees, foundation of the town, 2;
its moon-god, 2;
its connection with Nippur, 3;
a custom with daughters, 14;
comparative prices, 147, 148;
hymn used at, 261
Ustanni, an interesting contract, 73
Vases, plentiful and various, 97
Weights. _See_ Appendix
Will, an example of a, 32;
an heiress, 34;
the document of Sennacherib, 35;
disputes, 42
Wine, manufacture of, 139, 140;
letters relating to, 221
Women:
family, legal and religious status in Babylonia, 14 ff.;
in Assyria, 18;
in Canaan, 19;
divorce, 20;
dowries, 20;
traders, 24;
a superior slave, _ibid._;
concubines, 26;
testatory rights, 29;
legal forms of matrimony, 29;
prostitutes, 30;
adoption, 37;
dress, 102;
as trade partners, 128
Wool, manufacture of, 107 ff.;
looms, 108
Writing materials, 50, 51.
_See also_ “Letter-writing”
Yahveh, name known in Babylonia, 227
FOOTNOTES
1 Researches in Assyria, Babylonia, and Chaldea (1838), p. 131 _sqq._
2 In certain cases the wife seems to have had the power of claiming
alimony from her husband, though we do not know what were the
circumstances which were held sufficient to justify the claim. Thus,
in the third year of Nabonidos, “Nahid-Merodach, the son of
Samas-baladhu-iqbi, voluntarily granted his wife Ramûa and his son
Arad-Bunene four _qas_ of food and three _qas_ of beer daily, as
well as fifteen manehs of wool, one _pi_ of sesame, one _pi_ of
salt, and sixty _qas_ of sweetmeats each year,” with the provision
that the grant should never be cancelled or willed away. The son,
however, is included in the gift, and it is possible, therefore,
that Ramûa was little more than a concubine.
3 A similar case, in which, however, it is a testatrix who hands over
her property to her son during her lifetime, is recorded in a deed
dated at Babylon the 10th day of Sivân, in the second year of
Nabonidos. The deed is as follows: “Gugûa, the daughter of Zakir,
the son of a native of Isin, has voluntarily sealed and delivered to
her eldest son, Ea-zir-ibni, her dowry, consisting of one maneh
which is in the keeping of Nebo-akhi-iddin, the son of Sula, the son
of Egibi; 35 shekels which have been mortgaged to Tabnea, the son of
Nebo-yusallim, the son of Sin-sadunu, and 20 shekels which are due
from Tasmetum-ramat, the daughter of Arad-Bel, the son of Egibi, as
well as a field producing 48 _qas_ of seed on the canal of Kish. As
regards the maneh and 56 shekels belonging to Gugûa, which, in the
absence of her eldest son, Ea-zir-ibni, she has divided between her
younger sons, Nebo-akhi-bullidh, Nergal-ina-esi-edher,
Itti-Samas-baladhu, and Ninip-pir-_utsur_, Ea-zir-ibni shall have no
claim to them. Gugûa has delivered to Ea-zir-ibni, her eldest son,
one maneh, now in the hands of Nebo-akhi-iddin, 55 shekels in the
hands of Tabnea, 50 shekels in the hands of Tasmetum-ramat, and a
field bearing 48 _qas_ of seed. As long as Gugûa lives, Ea-zir-ibni
shall give his mother Gugûa, as interest upon the property, food and
clothing. Gugûa shall alienate none of it out of affection or will
it away. Ea-zir-ibni shall not be disturbed in his possession.” The
names of three witnesses are attached to the deed, which was “sealed
in the presence of Babâ, the daughter of Nebo-zir-lisir, the son of
Egibi.”
4 Journal of the American Oriental Society, xviii., p. 167.
5 We hear, however, of a “little girl of six years of age” being sold
for 17 shekels in the thirteenth year of Nabonidos, but she was
doubtless an orphan.
6 Xxiii. 14.
7 See above, p. 23 f.
8 Schliemann, Ilios, pp. 471, 472. Mr. Head shows that the maneh in
question is identical with the Babylonian silver maneh of 8,656
grains troy, or 561 grammes, though the latter is now more usually
fixed at 546 grammes.
9 In the Assyrian texts the term for “prison” is _bit kili_, of which
_kisukku_ is also given as a synonym.
10 Our learned author has been misled in this paragraph by the utterly
erroneous copy and translation of Father Scheil. The letter reads
“To Sin-iddinnam from Hammurabi. The goddesses of Emutbalim which
are assigned to thee, the troops under the command of Tnuhsamar will
bring to thee in safety. When they reach thee, with the troops which
thou hast destroy the people, and the goddesses to their dwellings
let them bring in safety.”—CR.