RIVAL PANTHEONS AND REPRESENTATIVE DEITIES
Why Different Gods were Supreme at Different Centres--Theories
regarding Origin of Life--Vital Principle in Water--Creative Tears
of Weeping Deities--Significance of widespread Spitting
Customs--Divine Water in Blood and Divine Blood in Water--Liver as
the Seat of Life--Inspiration derived by Drinking Mead, Blood,
&c.--Life Principle in Breath--Babylonian 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 Deities--Varuna
and Shamash Hymns compared--The Female Origin of Life--Goddesses of
Maternity--The Babylonian Thor--Deities of Good and Evil.
In dealing with the city cults of Sumer and Akkad, consideration must
be given to the problems involved by the rival mythological systems.
Pantheons not only varied in detail, but were presided over by
different supreme gods. One city's chief deity might be regarded as a
secondary deity at another centre. Although 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 have been strongly
influenced by city politics. To hold a community in sway, it was
necessary to recognize officially the various gods worshipped by
different sections, so as to secure the constant allegiance of all
classes to their rulers. Alien deities were therefore associated with
local and tribal deities, those of the nomads with those of the
agriculturists, those of the unlettered folks with those of the
learned people. Reference has been made 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
a city folk against a 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 gods of walled-round Erech
To flies had turned and buzzed in the streets;
The winged bulls of walled-round Erech
Were turned to mice and departed through the holes.
Ea-bani was attracted to Erech by the gift of a fair woman for wife.
The poet who lauded him no doubt mirrored public opinion. We can see
the slim, shaven 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.
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 type of foreign settlers in the land. No doubt
the city 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 speculative ideas. "Nowhere", remarks Professor Jastrow,
"does a high form of culture arise without the commingling of diverse
ethnic elements."
We must also take into account the influence exercised by leaders of
thought like En-we-dur-an-ki, the famous high priest of Sippar, whose
piety did much to increase the reputation of the cult of Shamesh, the
sun god. The teachings and example of Buddha, for instance,
revolutionized Brahmanic religion in India.
A 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. To secure the prosperity of the
State, it was considered necessary to render homage unto whom homage
was due at various seasons and under various circumstances.
The religious attitude of a particular community, therefore, must have
been largely dependent on its needs and experiences. The food supply
was a first consideration. At Eridu, as we have seen, it was assured
by devotion to Ea and obedience to his commands as an instructor.
Elsewhere it might happen, however, that Ea's gifts were restricted or
withheld by an obstructing force--the raging storm god, or the
parching, pestilence-bringing deity of the sun. It was necessary,
therefore, for the people to win the favour of the god or goddess who
seemed most powerful, and was accordingly considered to be the
greatest in a particular district. A rain god presided over the
destinies of one community, and a 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 reputation won by a particular god throughout
Babylonia would depend greatly on the achievements of his worshippers
and the progress of the city civilization over which he presided.
Bel-Enlil's fame as a war deity was probably due to the political
supremacy of his city of Nippur; and there was probably good reason
for attributing to the sun god a pronounced administrative 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 esteem.
In accounting for the rise of distinctive and rival city deities, we
should also consider the influence of divergent conceptions regarding
the origin of life in mingled communities. Each foreign element in a
community had its own intellectual life and immemorial tribal
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 in character. In
cities, however, where official religions were formulated, foreign
ideas were more apt to be imposed, especially when embraced by
influential teachers. It is not surprising, 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 of life". He
fertilized parched and sunburnt wastes through rivers and irrigating
canals, and conferred upon man the sustaining "food of life". When
life came to 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 troubling the living. Even the
gods required water and food; they were immortal because they had
drunk 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--
"Hail! lady, may the well give me of its waters, so that I may
drink."
The goddess of the dead commanded her servant to "sprinkle the lady
Ishtar with the water of life and bid her depart". The sacred water
might also be found at a confluence of rivers. Ea bade his son,
Merodach, to "draw water from the mouth of two streams", and "on this
water to put his pure spell".
The worship of rivers and wells which prevailed in many countries was
connected with the belief that the principle of life was in moisture.
In India, water was vitalized by the intoxicating juice of the Soma
plant, which inspired priests to utter prophecies and filled their
hearts with religious fervour. Drinking customs had originally a
religious significance. It was believed in India that the sap of
plants was influenced by the moon, the source of vitalizing moisture
and the hiding-place of the mead of the gods. The Teutonic gods also
drank this mead, and poets were inspired by it. Similar beliefs
obtained among various peoples. Moon and water worship 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 properties. When
the Indian creator, Prajápati, wept at the beginning, "that (the
tears) which fell into the water became the air. That which he wiped
away, upwards, became the sky."[50] The ancient Egyptians believed
that all men were born from the eyes of Horus except negroes, who came
from other parts of his body.[51] The creative tears of Ra, the sun
god, fell as shining rays upon the earth. When this god grew old
saliva dripped from his mouth, and Isis mixed the vitalizing moisture
with dust, and thus made the serpent which bit and paralysed the great
solar deity.[52]
Other Egyptian deities, including Osiris and Isis, wept creative
tears. Those which fell from the eyes of the evil gods produced
poisonous plants and various baneful animals. Orion, the Greek giant,
sprang from the body moisture of deities. The weeping ceremonies in
connection with agricultural rites were no doubt believed to be of
magical potency; they encouraged the god to weep creative tears.
Ea, the god of the deep, was also "lord of life" (Enti), "king of the
river" (Lugal-ida), and god of creation (Nudimmud). His aid was
invoked by means of magical formulae. As the "great magician of the
gods" he uttered charms himself, and was the patron of all magicians.
One spell runs as follows:
I am the sorcerer priest of Ea...
To revive the ... sick man
The great lord Ea hath sent me;
He hath added his pure spell to mine,
He hath added his pure voice to mine,
He hath added his pure spittle to mine.
_R.C. Thompson's Translation._
Saliva, like tears, had creative and therefore curative qualities; it
also expelled and injured demons and brought good luck. Spitting
ceremonies are referred to in the religious literature of Ancient
Egypt. When the Eye of Ra was blinded by Set, Thoth spat in it to
restore vision. The sun god Tum, who was linked with Ra as Ra-Tum,
spat on the ground, and his saliva became the gods Shu and Tefnut. In
the Underworld the devil serpent Apep was spat upon to curse it, as
was also its waxen image which the priests fashioned.[53]
Several African tribes spit to make compacts, declare friendship, and
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
descendants of Mohammed spit to cure diseases. Mohammed spat in the
mouth of his grandson Hasen soon after birth. Theocritus, Sophocles,
and Plutarch testify to the ancient Grecian customs of spitting to
cure and to curse, and also to bless when children were named. Pliny
has expressed belief in the efficacy of the fasting spittle for curing
disease, and referred to the custom of spitting to avert witchcraft.
In England, Scotland, and Ireland spitting customs are not yet
obsolete. North of England boys used to talk of "spitting their sauls"
(souls). When the Newcastle colliers held their earliest strikes they
made compacts by spitting on a stone. There are still "spitting
stones" in the north of Scotland. When bargains are made in rural
districts, hands are spat upon before they are shaken. The first money
taken each day by fishwives and other dealers is spat upon to ensure
increased drawings. Brand, who refers to various spitting customs,
quotes _Scot's Discovery of Witchcraft_ regarding the saliva cure for
king's evil, which is still, by the way, practised in the Hebrides.
Like Pliny, Scot recommended ceremonial spitting as a charm against
witchcraft.[54] In China spitting to expel demons is a common
practice. We still call a hasty person a "spitfire", and a calumniator
a "spit-poison".
The life principle in trees, &c., as we have seen, was believed to
have been derived from the tears of deities. In India sap was called
the "blood of trees", and references to "bleeding trees" are still
widespread and common. "Among the ancients", wrote Professor 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 purple to the sea, supposed with blood
Of Thammuz yearly wounded.
_Paradise Lost_, i, 450.
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."[55]
In Babylonia the river was regarded as the source of the life blood
and the seat of the soul. No doubt this theory was based on the 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: "My liver is poured upon the earth for the
destruction of the daughter of my people", meaning that her life is
spent with grief.
Inspiration was derived by drinking blood as well as by drinking
intoxicating liquors--the mead of the gods. Indian magicians who drink
the blood of the goat sacrificed to the goddess Kali, are believed to
be temporarily possessed by her spirit, and thus enabled to
prophesy.[56] Malayan exorcists still expel demons while they suck the
blood from a decapitated fowl.[57]
Similar customs were prevalent in Ancient Greece. A woman who drank
the blood of a sacrificed lamb or bull uttered prophetic sayings.[58]
But while most Babylonians appear to have believed that the life
principle was in blood, some were apparently of opinion that it was in
breath--the air of life. A man died when he ceased to breathe; his
spirit, therefore, it was argued, was identical with the
atmosphere--the moving wind--and was accordingly derived from the
atmospheric or wind god. When, in the Gilgamesh epic, the hero invokes
the dead Ea-bani, the ghost rises up like a "breath of wind". A
Babylonian charm runs:
The gods which seize on men
Came forth from the grave;
The evil wind gusts
Have come forth from the grave,
To demand payment of rites and the pouring out of libations
They have come forth from the grave;
All that is evil in their hosts, like a whirlwind,
Hath come forth from the grave.[59]
The Hebrew "nephesh ruach" and "neshamah" (in Arabic "ruh" and "nefs")
pass from meaning "breath" to "spirit".[60] In Egypt the god Khnumu
was "Kneph" in his character as an atmospheric deity. The ascendancy
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 prophetic
trance. The gods were also invoked by incense. In the Flood legend the
Babylonian Noah burned incense. "The gods smelled a sweet savour and
gathered like flies over the sacrificer." In Egypt devotees who
inhaled the 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 worshippers, like those of the Indian Agni,
believed that fire, the "vital spark", was the principle of life which
was manifested by bodily heat. The Aryan fire worshippers cremated
their dead so that the spirits might be transferred by fire to
Paradise. This practice, however, did not obtain among the fire
worshippers of Persia, nor, 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 disease. Possibly
the fire-purification ceremonies resembled those which were practised
by the Canaanites, and are referred to in the Bible. Ahaz "made his
son to pass through the fire, according to the abominations of the
heathen".[61] Ezekiel declared that "when ye offer your gifts, when ye
make your sons to pass through the fire, ye pollute yourselves with
all your idols".[62] In _Leviticus_ it is laid down: "Thou shalt not
let any of thy seed pass through the fire to Moloch".[63] It may be
that 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, Sarah's first-born. The 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 Agni, was also the "messenger of the gods". When
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) burned
constantly; it was "bound and confined", but could not be
extinguished. Fed by water, this fire, it was believed, would burst
forth at the last day and consume the universe.[64] A similar belief
can be traced in Teutonic mythology. The Babylonian incantation cult
appealed to many gods, but "the most important share in the rites",
says Jastrow, "are taken by fire and water--suggesting, therefore,
that the god of water--more particularly Ea--and the god of fire ...
are the chief deities on which the ritual itself hinges". In some
temples there was a _bit rimki_, a "house of washing", and a _bit
nuri_, a "house of light".[65]
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 prevalent. The most enduring influence
in Babylonian religion was the early Sumerian; and as Sumerian modes
of thought were the outcome of habits of life necessitated by the
character of the country, they were bound, sooner or later, to leave a
deep impress on the minds of foreign peoples who settled in the Garden
of Western Asia. It is not surprising, therefore, to find that
imported deities assumed Babylonian characteristics, and were
identified or associated with Babylonian gods in the later imperial
pantheon.
Moon worship appears to have been as ancient as water worship, with
which, as we have seen, it was closely associated. It was widely
prevalent throughout Babylonia. The chief seat of the lunar deity,
Nannar or Sin, was the ancient city of Ur, from which Abraham migrated
to Harran, where the "Baal" (the lord) was also a moon god. Ur was
situated in Sumer, in the south, between 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 an exceedingly remote period. At any rate, the excavations
conducted there have afforded proof that it flourished in the
prehistoric period.
As in Arabia, Egypt, and throughout ancient Europe and elsewhere, the
moon god of Sumeria was regarded as the "friend of man". He controlled
nature as a fertilizing agency; he caused grass, trees, and crops to
grow; he increased flocks and herds, and gave human offspring. At Ur
he was exalted above Ea as "the lord and prince of the gods, supreme
in heaven, the Father of all"; he was also called "great Anu", 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 is believed to be a corruption of "Zu-ena", which
signifies "knowledge lord".[66] 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, 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 scattered darkness and reduced the
terrors of night. His spirit inhabited the lunar stone, so that moon
and stone worship were closely associated; it also entered trees and
crops, so that moon worship linked with earth worship, as both linked
with water worship.
The consort of Nannar was Nin-Uruwa, "the lady of 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 appears to have
been seasonal in its earliest phases. No doubt the sky god Anu had his
solar as well as his lunar attributes, which he shared with Ea. The
spring sun was personified as Tammuz, the youthful shepherd, who was
loved by the earth goddess Ishtar and her rival Eresh-ki-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 among the shades.[67] But the burning summer sun was symbolized as
a 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 Tammuz.
Nergal, another solar deity, brought disease and pestilence, and,
according to Jensen, all misfortunes due to excessive heat. He was the
king of death, husband of Eresh-ki-gal, queen of Hades. As a war god
he thirsted for human blood, and was depicted as a mighty lion. He was
the chief deity of the city of Cuthah, which, Jastrow suggests, was
situated beside a 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 deity. He was a god of Destiny, the lord of the
living and the dead, and was exalted as the great Judge, the lawgiver,
who upheld justice; he was the enemy of wrong, he loved righteousness
and hated sin, he inspired 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.[68]
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 _Mahabharata_" 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."[69]
In Persian mythology Mitra, as Mithra, is the patron of Truth, and
"the Mediator" between heaven and earth[70]. 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 Persia. Mithraic sculptures depict the deity as a
corn god slaying the harvest bull; on one of the monuments "cornstalks
instead of blood are seen issuing from the wound inflicted with the
knife".[71] The Assyrian word "metru" signifies rain[70]. As a sky god
Mitra may have been associated, like Varuna, with the waters above the
firmament. Rain would therefore be 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" in the night, and
commanded Pir-napishtim, "Enter into the midst of thy ship and shut thy
door". The solar deity thus appears as a form of Anu, god of the sky and
upper atmosphere, who controls the seasons and the various forces of
nature. Other rival chiefs of city pantheons, whether lunar,
atmospheric, earth, or water deities, were similarly regarded as the
supreme deities who ruled the Universe, and decreed when man should
receive benefits 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 Babylonians--the Semitic Shamash, the Sumerian
Utu--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, righteousness, and law with Shamash. We seem to trace in the
sublime Vedic hymns addressed by the Indian Aryans to Mitra and Varuna
the impress of Babylonian religious thought:
Whate'er exists within this earth, and all within the sky,
Yea, all that is beyond, King Varuna perceives....
_Rigveda_, iv, 16.[72]
O Varuna, whatever the offence may be
That we as men commit against the heavenly folk,
When through our want of thought we violate thy laws,
Chastise us not, O god, for that iniquity.
_Rigveda_, vii, 89.[73]
Shamash was 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.
All, whoever they be, are in thy care....
He who takes no bribe, who cares for the oppressed,
Is favoured by Shamash,--his life shall be prolonged.[74]
The worshippers of Varuna and Mitra in the Punjab did not cremate
their dead like those who exalted the rival fire god Agni. The grave
was the "house of clay", as in Babylonia. Mitra, who was identical
with Yama, ruled over departed souls in the "Land of the Pitris"
(Fathers), which was reached by crossing the mountains and the rushing
stream of death.[75] 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 god Ra, whose barque sailed over the heavens by day and
through the underworld of darkness and death during the night. The
consort of Shamash was Aa, and his attendants were Kittu and Mesharu,
"Truth" and "Righteousness".
Like the Hittites, the Babylonians had also a sun goddess: her name
was Nin-sun, which Jastrow renders "the annihilating lady". At Erech
she had a shrine in the temple of the sky god Anu.
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 Ra. She was similarly the goddess of maternity, and is depicted in
this character, like Isis 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 as the 'mother' of all things".[76]
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 pantheon, but was identified with Enlil at Nippur. As a
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, Indra, and 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 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
prolonged and made prosperous, for the land of death 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 Isocrates: "Those 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 harsher
titles: to the first class both private persons and states erect
altars and temples; the second is not worshipped either with prayers
or burnt sacrifices, but in their case we perform ceremonies of
riddance".[77]
The Sumerians, like the Ancient Egyptians, developed their deities,
who reflected the growth of culture, from 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. A better
understanding of the character of Babylonian deities will therefore be
obtained by passing the demons and evil spirits under review.