BUILDINGS AND LAWS AND CUSTOMS OF BABYLON
Decline and Fall of Sumerian Kingdoms--Elamites and Semites strive
for Supremacy--Babylon's Walls, Gates, Streets, and Canals--The
Hanging Gardens--Merodach's Great Temple--The Legal Code of
Hammurabi--The Marriage Market--Position of Women--Marriage brought
Freedom--Vestal Virgins--Breach of Promise and Divorce--Rights of
Children--Female Publicans--The Land Laws--Doctors legislated out of
Existence--Folk Cures--Spirits of Disease expelled by Magical
Charms--The Legend of the Worm--"Touch Iron"--Curative
Water--Magical Origin of Poetry and Music.
The rise of Babylon inaugurated a new era in the history of Western
Asia. Coincidentally the political power of the Sumerians came to an
end. It had been paralysed by the Elamites, who, towards the close of
the Dynasty of Isin, successfully overran the southern district and
endeavoured to extend their sway over the whole valley. Two Elamite
kings, Warad-Sin and his brother Rim-Sin, struggled with the rulers of
Babylon for supremacy, and for a time it appeared as if the intruders
from the East were to establish themselves permanently as a military
aristocracy over Sumer and Akkad. But the Semites were strongly
reinforced by new settlers of the same blended stock who swarmed from
the land of the Amorites. Once again Arabia was pouring into Syria
vast hordes of its surplus population, with the result that ethnic
disturbances were constant and widespread. This migration is termed
the Canaanitic or Amorite: it flowed into Mesopotamia and across
Assyria, while it supplied the "driving power" which secured the
ascendancy of the Hammurabi Dynasty at Babylon. Indeed, the ruling
family which came into prominence there is believed to have been of
Canaanitic origin.
Once Babylon became the metropolis it retained its pre-eminence until
the end. Many political changes took place during its long and
chequered history, but no rival city in the south ever attained to its
splendour and greatness. Whether its throne was occupied by Amorite or
Kassite, Assyrian or Chaldean, it was invariably found to be the most
effective centre of administration for the lower Tigro-Euphrates
valley. Some of the Kassite monarchs, however, showed a preference for
Nippur.
Of its early history little is known. It was overshadowed in turn by
Kish and Umma, Lagash and Erech, and may have been little better than
a great village when Akkad rose into prominence. Sargon I, the royal
gardener, appears to have interested himself in its development, for
it was recorded that he cleared its trenches and strengthened its
fortifications. The city occupied a strategic position, and probably
assumed importance on that account as well as a trading and industrial
centre. Considerable wealth had accumulated at Babylon when the
Dynasty of Ur reached the zenith of its power. It is recorded that
King Dungi plundered its famous "Temple of the High Head", E-sagila,
which some identify with the Tower of Babel, so as to secure treasure
for Ea's temple at Eridu, which he specially favoured. His vandalistic
raid, like that of the Gutium, or men of Kutu, was remembered for long
centuries afterwards, and the city god was invoked at the time to cut
short his days.
No doubt, Hammurabi's Babylon closely resembled the later city so
vividly described by Greek writers, although it was probably not of
such great dimensions. According to Herodotus, it occupied an exact
square on the broad plain, and had a circumference of sixty of our
miles. "While such is its size," the historian wrote, "in magnificence
there is no other city that approaches to it." Its walls were
eighty-seven feet thick and three hundred and fifty feet high, and
each side of the square was fifteen miles in length. The whole city
was surrounded by a deep, broad canal or moat, and the river Euphrates
ran through it.
"Here", continued Herodotus, "I may not omit to tell the use to which
the mould dug out of the great moat was turned, nor the manner in
which the wall was wrought. As fast as they dug the moat the soil
which they got from the cutting was made into bricks, and when a
sufficient number were completed they baked the bricks in kilns. Then
they set to building, and began with bricking the borders of the moat,
after which they proceeded to construct the wall itself, using
throughout for their cement hot bitumen, and interposing a layer of
wattled reeds at every thirtieth course of the bricks. On the top,
along the edges of the wall, they constructed buildings of a single
chamber facing one another, leaving between them room for a four-horse
chariot to turn. In the circuit of the wall are a hundred gates, all
of brass, with brazen lintels and side posts."[264] These were the
gates referred to by Isaiah when God called Cyrus:
I will loose the loins of kings, to open before him the two
leaved gates; and the gates shall not be shut: I will go before
thee, and make the crooked places straight; I will break in pieces
the gates of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron.[265]
The outer wall was the main defence of the city, but there was also an
inner wall less thick but not much inferior in strength. In addition,
a fortress stood in each division of the city. The king's palace and
the temple of Bel Merodach were surrounded by walls.
All the main streets were perfectly straight, and each crossed the
city from gate to gate, a distance of fifteen miles, half of them
being interrupted by the river, which had to be ferried. As there were
twenty-five gates on each side of the outer wall, the great
thoroughfares numbered fifty in all, and there were six hundred and
seventy-six squares, each over two miles in circumference. From
Herodotus we gather that the houses were three or four stories high,
suggesting that the tenement system was not unknown, and according to
Q. Curtius, nearly half of the area occupied by the city was taken up
by gardens within the squares.
In Greek times Babylon was famous for the hanging or terraced gardens
of the "new palace", which had been erected by Nebuchadnezzar II.
These occupied a square which was more than a quarter of a mile in
circumference. Great stone terraces, resting on arches, rose up like a
giant stairway to a height of about three hundred and fifty feet, and
the whole structure was strengthened by a surrounding wall over twenty
feet in thickness. So deep were the layers of mould on each terrace
that fruit trees were grown amidst the plants of luxuriant foliage and
the brilliant Asian flowers. Water for irrigating the gardens was
raised from the river by a mechanical contrivance to a great cistern
situated on the highest terrace, and it was prevented from leaking out
of the soil by layers of reeds and bitumen and sheets of lead.
Spacious apartments, luxuriously furnished and decorated, were
constructed in the spaces between the arches and were festooned by
flowering creepers. A broad stairway ascended from terrace to terrace.
The old palace stood in a square nearly four miles in circumference,
and was strongly protected by three walls, which were decorated by
sculptures in low relief, representing battle scenes and scenes of the
chase and royal ceremonies. Winged bulls with human heads guarded the
main entrance.
Another architectural feature of the city was E-sagila, the temple of
Bel Merodach, known to the Greeks as "Jupiter-Belus". The high wall
which enclosed it had gates of solid brass. "In the middle of the
precinct", wrote Herodotus, "there was a tower of solid masonry, a
furlong in length and breadth, upon which was raised a second tower,
and on that a third, and so on up to eight. The ascent to the top is
on the outside, by a path which winds round all the towers. When one
is about halfway up, one finds a resting-place and seats, where
persons are wont to sit some time on their way to the summit. On the
topmost tower there is a spacious temple, and inside the temple stands
a couch of unusual size, richly adorned, with a golden table by its
side. There is no statue of any kind set up in the place, nor is the
chamber occupied of nights by anyone but a single native woman, who,
as the Chaldaeans, the priests of this god, affirm, is chosen for
himself by the deity out of all the women of the land."
A woman who was the "wife of Amon" also slept in that god's temple at
Thebes in Egypt. A similar custom was observed in Lycia.
"Below, in the same precinct," continued Herodotus, "there is a second
temple, in which is a sitting figure of Jupiter, all of gold. Before
the figure stands a large golden table, and the throne whereon it
sits, and the base on which the throne is placed, are likewise of pure
gold.... Outside the temple are two altars, one of solid gold, on
which it is only lawful to offer sucklings; the other, a common altar,
but of great size, on which the full-grown animals are sacrificed. It
is also on the great altar that the Chaldaeans burn the frankincense,
which is offered to the amount of a thousand talents' weight, every
year, at the festival of the god. In the time of Cyrus there was
likewise in this temple a figure of a man, twelve cubits high,
entirely of solid gold.... Besides the ornaments which I have
mentioned, there are a large number of private offerings in this holy
precinct."[266]
The city wall and river gates were closed every night, and when
Babylon was besieged the people were able to feed themselves. The
gardens and small farms were irrigated by canals, and canals also
controlled the flow of the river Euphrates. A great dam had been
formed above the town to store the surplus water during inundation and
increase the supply when the river sank to its lowest.
In Hammurabi's time the river was crossed by ferry boats, but long ere
the Greeks visited the city a great bridge had been constructed. So
completely did the fierce Sennacherib destroy the city, that most of
the existing ruins date from the period of Nebuchadnezzar II.[267]
Our knowledge of the social life of Babylon and the territory under
its control is derived chiefly from the Hammurabi Code of laws, of
which an almost complete copy was discovered at Susa, towards the end
of 1901, by the De Morgan expedition. The laws were inscribed on a
stele of black diorite 7 ft. 3 in. high, with a circumference at the
base of 6 ft. 2 in. and at the top of 5 ft. 4 in. This important relic
of an ancient law-abiding people had been broken in three pieces, but
when these were joined together it was found that the text was not
much impaired. On one side are twenty-eight columns and on the other
sixteen. Originally there were in all nearly 4000 lines of
inscriptions, but five columns, comprising about 300 lines, had been
erased to give space, it is conjectured, for the name of the invader
who carried the stele away, but unfortunately the record was never
made.
On the upper part of the stele, which is now one of the treasures of
the Louvre, Paris, King Hammurabi salutes, with his right hand
reverently upraised, the sun god Shamash, seated on his throne, at the
summit of E-sagila, by whom he is being presented with the stylus with
which to inscribe the legal code. Both figures are heavily bearded,
but have shaven lips and chins. The god wears a conical headdress and
a flounced robe suspended from his left shoulder, while the king has
assumed a round dome-shaped hat and a flowing garment which almost
sweeps the ground.
It is gathered from the Code that there were three chief social
grades--the aristocracy, which included landowners, high officials and
administrators; the freemen, who might be wealthy merchants or small
landholders; and the slaves. The fines imposed for a given offence
upon wealthy men were much heavier than those imposed upon the poor.
Lawsuits were heard in courts. Witnesses were required to tell the
truth, "affirming before the god what they knew", and perjurers were
severely dealt with; a man who gave false evidence in connection with
a capital charge was put to death. A strict watch was also kept over
the judges, and if one was found to have willingly convicted a
prisoner on insufficient evidence he was fined and degraded.
Theft was regarded as a heinous crime, and was invariably punished by
death. Thieves included those who made purchases from minors or slaves
without the sanction of elders or trustees. Sometimes the accused was
given the alternative of paying a fine, which might exceed by ten or
even thirty fold the value of the article or animal he had
appropriated. It was imperative that lost property should be restored.
If the owner of an article of which he had been wrongfully deprived
found it in possession of a man who declared that he had purchased it
from another, evidence was taken in court. When it happened that the
seller was proved to have been the thief, the capital penalty was
imposed. On the other hand, the alleged purchaser was dealt with in
like manner if he failed to prove his case. Compensation for property
stolen by a brigand was paid by the temple, and the heirs of a man
slain by a brigand within the city had to be compensated by the local
authority.
Of special interest are the laws which relate to the position of
women. In this connection reference may first be made to the
marriage-by-auction custom, which Herodotus described as follows:
"Once a year in each village the maidens of age to marry were
collected all together into one place, while the men stood round them
in a circle. Then a herald called up the damsels one by one, and
offered them for sale. He began with the most beautiful. When she was
sold for no small sum of money, he offered for sale the one who came
next to her in beauty. All of them were sold to be wives. The richest
of the Babylonians who wished to wed bid against each other for the
loveliest maidens, while the humbler wife-seekers, who were
indifferent about beauty, took the more homely damsels with marriage
portions. For the custom was that when the herald had gone through the
whole number of the beautiful damsels, he should then call up the
ugliest--a cripple, if there chanced to be one--and offer her to the
men, asking who would agree to take her with the smallest marriage
portion. And the man who offered to take the smallest sum had her
assigned to him. The marriage portions were furnished by the money
paid for the beautiful damsels, and thus the fairer maidens portioned
out the uglier. No one was allowed to give his daughter in marriage to
the man of his choice, nor might anyone carry away the damsel whom he
had purchased without finding bail really and truly to make her his
wife; if, however, it turned out that they did not agree, the money
might be paid back. All who liked might come, even from distant
villages, and bid for the women."[268]
This custom is mentioned by other writers, but it is impossible to
ascertain at what period it became prevalent in Babylonia and by whom
it was introduced. Herodotus understood that it obtained also in "the
Illyrian tribe of the Eneti", which was reputed to have entered Italy
with Antenor after the fall of Troy, and has been identified with the
Venetians of later times. But the ethnic clue thus afforded is
exceedingly vague. There is no direct reference to the custom in the
Hammurabi Code, which reveals a curious blending of the principles of
"Father right" and "Mother right". A girl was subject to her father's
will; he could dispose of her as he thought best, and she always
remained a member of his family; after marriage she was known as the
daughter of so and so rather than the wife of so and so. But marriage
brought her freedom and the rights of citizenship. The power vested in
her father was never transferred to her husband.
A father had the right to select a suitable spouse for his daughter,
and she could not marry without his consent. That this law did not
prevent "love matches" is made evident by the fact that provision was
made in the Code for the marriage of a free woman with a male slave,
part of whose estate in the event of his wife's death could be claimed
by his master.
When a betrothal was arranged, the father fixed the "bride price",
which was paid over before the contract could be concluded, and he
also provided a dowry. The amount of the "bride price" might, however,
be refunded to the young couple to give them a start in life. If,
during the interval between betrothal and marriage, the man "looked
upon another woman", and said to his father-in-law, "I will not marry
your daughter", he forfeited the "bride price" for breach of promise
of marriage.
A girl might also obtain a limited degree of freedom by taking vows of
celibacy and becoming one of the vestal virgins, or nuns, who were
attached to the temple of the sun god. She did not, however, live a
life of entire seclusion. If she received her due proportion of her
father's estate, she could make business investments within certain
limits. She was not, for instance, allowed to own a wineshop, and if
she even entered one she was burned at the stake. Once she took these
vows she had to observe them until the end of her days. If she
married, as she might do to obtain the legal status of a married woman
and enjoy the privileges of that position, she denied her husband
conjugal rites, but provided him with a concubine who might bear him
children, as Sarah did to Abraham. These nuns must not be confused
with the unmoral women who were associated with the temples of Ishtar
and other love goddesses of shady repute.
The freedom secured by a married woman had its legal limitations. If
she became a widow, for instance, she could not remarry without the
consent of a judge, to whom she was expected to show good cause for
the step she proposed to take. Punishments for breaches of the
marriage law were severe. Adultery was a capital crime; the guilty
parties were bound together and thrown into the river. If it happened,
however, that the wife of a prisoner went to reside with another man
on account of poverty, she was acquitted and allowed to return to her
husband after his release. In cases where no plea of poverty could be
urged the erring women were drowned. The wife of a soldier who had
been taken prisoner by an enemy was entitled to a third part of her
husband's estate if her son was a minor, the remainder was held in
trust. The husband could enter into possession of all his property
again if he happened to return home.
Divorce was easily obtained. A husband might send his wife away either
because she was childless or because he fell in love with another
woman. Incompatibility of temperament was also recognized as
sufficient reason for separation. A woman might hate her husband and
wish to leave him. "If", the Code sets forth, "she is careful and is
without blame, and is neglected by her husband who has deserted her",
she can claim release from the marriage contract. But if she is found
to have another lover, and is guilty of neglecting her duties, she is
liable to be put to death.
A married woman possessed her own property. Indeed, the value of her
marriage dowry was always vested in her. When, therefore, she divorced
her husband, or was divorced by him, she was entitled to have her
dowry refunded and to return to her father's house. Apparently she
could claim maintenance from her father.
A woman could have only one husband, but a man could have more than
one wife. He might marry a secondary wife, or concubine, because he
was without offspring, but "the concubine", the Code lays down, "shall
not rank with the wife". Another reason for second marriage recognized
by law was a wife's state of health. In such circumstances a man could
not divorce his sickly wife. He had to support her in his house as
long as she lived.
Children were the heirs of their parents, but if a man during his
lifetime gifted his property to his wife, and confirmed it on "a
sealed tablet", the children could have no claim, and the widow was
entitled to leave her estate to those of her children she preferred;
but she could not will any portion of it to her brothers. In ordinary
cases the children of a first marriage shared equally the estate of a
father with those of a second marriage. If a slave bore children to
her employer, their right to inheritance depended on whether or not
the father had recognized them as his offspring during his lifetime. A
father might legally disown his son if the young man was guilty of
criminal practices.
The legal rights of a vestal virgin were set forth in detail. If she
had received no dowry from her father when she took vows of celibacy,
she could claim after his death one-third of the portion of a son. She
could will her estate to anyone she favoured, but if she died
intestate her brothers were her heirs. When, however, her estate
consisted of fields or gardens allotted to her by her father, she
could not disinherit her legal heirs. The fields or gardens might be
worked during her lifetime by her brothers if they paid rent, or she
might employ a manager on the "share system".
Vestal virgins and married women were protected against the slanderer.
Any man who "pointed the finger" against them unjustifiably was
charged with the offence before a judge, who could sentence him to
have his forehead branded. It was not difficult, therefore, in ancient
Babylonia to discover the men who made malicious and unfounded
statements regarding an innocent woman. Assaults on women were
punished according to the victim's rank; even slaves were protected.
Women appear to have monopolized the drink traffic. At any rate, there
is no reference to male wine sellers. A female publican had to conduct
her business honestly, and was bound to accept a legal tender. If she
refused corn and demanded silver, when the value of the silver by
"grand weight" was below the price of corn, she was prosecuted and
punished by being thrown into the water. Perhaps she was simply
ducked. As much may be inferred from the fact that when she was found
guilty of allowing rebels to meet in her house, she was put to death.
The land laws were strict and exacting. A tenant could be penalized
for not cultivating his holding properly. The rent paid was a
proportion of the crop, but the proportion could be fixed according to
the average yield of a district, so that a careless or inefficient
tenant had to bear the brunt of his neglect or want of skill. The
punishment for allowing a field to lie fallow was to make a man hoe
and sow it and then hand it over to his landlord, and this applied
even to a man who leased unreclaimed land which he had contracted to
cultivate. Damage done to fields by floods after the rent was paid was
borne by the cultivator; but if it occurred before the corn was reaped
the landlord's share was calculated in proportion to the amount of the
yield which was recovered. Allowance was also made for poor harvests,
when the shortage was not due to the neglect of the tenant, but to
other causes, and no interest was paid for borrowed money even if the
farm suffered from the depredations of the tempest god; the
moneylender had to share risks with borrowers. Tenants who neglected
their dykes, however, were not exempted from their legal liabilities,
and their whole estates could be sold to reimburse their creditors.
The industrious were protected against the careless. Men who were
negligent about controlling the water supply, and caused floods by
opening irrigation ditches which damaged the crops of their
neighbours, had to pay for the losses sustained, the damages being
estimated according to the average yield of a district. A tenant who
allowed his sheep to stray on to a neighbour's pasture had to pay a
heavy fine in corn at the harvest season, much in excess of the value
of the grass cropped by his sheep. Gardeners were similarly subject to
strict laws. All business contracts had to be conducted according to
the provisions of the Code, and in every case it was necessary that a
proper record should be made on clay tablets. As a rule a dishonest
tenant or trader had to pay sixfold the value of the sum under dispute
if the judge decided in court against his claim.
The law of an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth was strictly
observed in Babylonia. A freeman who destroyed an eye of a freeman had
one of his own destroyed; if he broke a bone, he had a bone broken.
Fines were imposed, however, when a slave was injured. For striking a
gentleman, a commoner received sixty lashes, and the son who smote his
father had his hands cut off. A slave might have his ears cut off for
assaulting his master's son.
Doctors must have found their profession an extremely risky one. No
allowance was made for what is nowadays known as a "professional
error". A doctor's hands were cut off if he opened a wound with a
metal knife and his patient afterwards died, or if a man lost his eye
as the result of an operation. A slave who died under a doctor's hands
had to be replaced by a slave, and if a slave lost his eye, the doctor
had to pay half the man's market value to the owner. Professional fees
were fixed according to a patient's rank. Gentlemen had to pay five
shekels of silver to a doctor who set a bone or restored diseased
flesh, commoners three shekels, and masters for their slaves two
shekels. There was also a scale of fees for treating domesticated
animals, and it was not over-generous. An unfortunate surgeon who
undertook to treat an ox or ass suffering from a severe wound had to
pay a quarter of its price to its owner if it happened to die. A
shrewd farmer who was threatened with the loss of an animal must have
been extremely anxious to engage the services of a surgeon.
It is not surprising, after reviewing this part of the Hammurabi Code,
to find Herodotus stating bluntly that the Babylonians had no
physicians. "When a man is ill", he wrote, "they lay him in the public
square, and the passers-by come up to him, and if they have ever had
his disease themselves, or have known anyone who has suffered from it,
they give him advice, recommending him to do whatever they found good
in their own case, or in the case known to them; and no one is allowed
to pass the sick man in silence without asking him what his ailment
is." One might imagine that Hammurabi had legislated the medical
profession out of existence, were it not that letters have been found
in the Assyrian library of Ashur-banipal which indicate that skilled
physicians were held in high repute. It is improbable, however, that
they were numerous. The risks they ran in Babylonia may account for
their ultimate disappearance in that country.
No doubt patients received some benefit from exposure in the streets
in the sunlight and fresh air, and perhaps, too, from some of the old
wives' remedies which were gratuitously prescribed by passers-by. In
Egypt, where certain of the folk cures were recorded on papyri, quite
effective treatment was occasionally given, although the "medicines"
were exceedingly repugnant as a rule; ammonia, for instance, was taken
with the organic substances found in farmyards. Elsewhere some
wonderful instances of excellent folk cures have come to light,
especially among isolated peoples, who have received them interwoven
in their immemorial traditions. A medical man who has investigated
this interesting subject in the Scottish Highlands has shown that "the
simple observation of the people was the starting-point of our fuller
knowledge, however complete we may esteem it to be". For dropsy and
heart troubles, foxglove, broom tops, and juniper berries, which have
reputations "as old as the hills", are "the most reliable medicines in
our scientific armoury at the present time". These discoveries of the
ancient folks have been "merely elaborated in later days". Ancient
cures for indigestion are still in use. "Tar water, which was a remedy
for chest troubles, especially for those of a consumptive nature, has
endless imitations in our day"; it was also "the favourite remedy for
skin diseases". No doubt the present inhabitants of Babylonia, who
utilize bitumen as a germicide, are perpetuating an ancient folk
custom.
This medical man who is being quoted adds: "The whole matter may be
summed up, that we owe infinitely more to the simple nature study of
our people in the great affair of health than we owe to all the later
science."[269]
Herodotus, commenting on the custom of patients taking a census of
folk cures in the streets, said it was one of the wisest institutions
of the Babylonian people. It is to be regretted that he did not enter
into details regarding the remedies which were in greatest favour in
his day. His data would have been useful for comparative purposes.
So far as can be gathered from the clay tablets, faith cures were not
unknown, and there was a good deal of quackery. If surgery declined,
as a result of the severe restrictions which hampered progress in an
honourable profession, magic flourished like tropical fungi. Indeed,
the worker of spells was held in high repute, and his operations were
in most cases allowed free play. There are only two paragraphs in the
Hammurabi Code which deal with magical practices. It is set forth that
if one man cursed another and the curse could not be justified, the
perpetrator of it must suffer the death penalty. Provision was also
made for discovering whether a spell had been legally imposed or not.
The victim was expected to plunge himself in a holy river. If the
river carried him away it was held as proved that he deserved his
punishment, and "the layer of the spell" was given possession of the
victim's house. A man who could swim was deemed to be innocent; he
claimed the residence of "the layer of the spell", who was promptly
put to death. With this interesting glimpse of ancient superstition
the famous Code opens, and then strikes a modern note by detailing the
punishments for perjury and the unjust administration of law in the
courts.
The poor sufferers who gathered at street corners in Babylon to make
mute appeal for cures believed that they were possessed by evil
spirits. Germs of disease were depicted by lively imaginations as
invisible demons, who derived nourishment from the human body. When a
patient was wasted with disease, growing thinner and weaker and more
bloodless day by day, it was believed that a merciless vampire was
sucking his veins and devouring his flesh. It had therefore to be
expelled by performing a magical ceremony and repeating a magical
formula. The demon was either driven or enticed away.
A magician had to decide in the first place what particular demon was
working evil. He then compelled its attention and obedience by
detailing its attributes and methods of attack, and perhaps by naming
it. Thereafter he suggested how it should next act by releasing a
raven, so that it might soar towards the clouds like that bird, or by
offering up a sacrifice which it received for nourishment and as
compensation. Another popular method was to fashion a waxen figure of
the patient and prevail upon the disease demon to enter it. The figure
was then carried away to be thrown in the river or burned in a fire.
Occasionally a quite effective cure was included in the ceremony. As
much is suggested by the magical treatment of toothache. First of all
the magician identified the toothache demon as "the worm ". Then he
recited its history, which is as follows: After Anu created the
heavens, the heavens created the earth, the earth created the rivers,
the rivers created the canals, the canals created the marshes, and
last of all the marshes created "the worm".
This display of knowledge compelled the worm to listen, and no doubt
the patient was able to indicate to what degree it gave evidence of
its agitated mind. The magician continued:
Came the worm and wept before Shamash,
Before Ea came her tears:
"What wilt thou give me for my food,
What wilt thou give me to devour?"
One of the deities answered: "I will give thee dried bones and scented
... wood"; but the hungry worm protested:
"Nay, what are these dried bones of thine to me?
Let me drink among the teeth;
And set me on the gums
That I may devour the blood of the teeth,
And of their gums destroy their strength--
Then shall I hold the bolt of the door."
The magician provided food for "the worm", and the following is his
recipe: "Mix beer, the plant sa-kil-bir, and oil together; put it on
the tooth and repeat Incantation." No doubt this mixture soothed the
pain, and the sufferer must have smiled gladly when the magician
finished his incantation by exclaiming:
"So must thou say this, O Worm!
May Ea smite thee with the might of his fist."[270]
Headaches were no doubt much relieved when damp cloths were wrapped
round a patient's head and scented wood was burned beside him, while
the magician, in whom so much faith was reposed, droned out a mystical
incantation. The curative water was drawn from the confluence of two
streams and was sprinkled with much ceremony. In like manner the
evil-eye curers, who still operate in isolated districts in these
islands, draw water from under bridges "over which the dead and the
living pass",[271] and mutter charms and lustrate victims.
Headaches were much dreaded by the Babylonians. They were usually the
first symptoms of fevers, and the demons who caused them were supposed
to be bloodthirsty and exceedingly awesome. According to the charms,
these invisible enemies of man were of the brood of Nergal. No house
could be protected against them. They entered through keyholes and
chinks of doors and windows; they crept like serpents and stank like
mice; they had lolling tongues like hungry dogs.
Magicians baffled the demons by providing a charm. If a patient
"touched iron"--meteoric iron, which was the "metal of heaven"--relief
could be obtained. Or, perhaps, the sacred water would dispel the evil
one; as the drops trickled from the patient's face, so would the fever
spirit trickle away. When a pig was offered up in sacrifice as a
substitute for a patient, the wicked spirit was commanded to depart
and allow a kindly spirit to take its place--an indication that the
Babylonians, like the Germanic peoples, believed that they were
guarded by spirits who brought good luck.
The numerous incantations which were inscribed on clay tablets and
treasured in libraries, do not throw much light on the progress of
medical knowledge, for the genuine folk cures were regarded as of
secondary importance, and were not as a rule recorded. But these
metrical compositions are of special interest, in so far as they
indicate how poetry originated and achieved widespread popularity
among ancient peoples. Like the religious dance, the earliest poems
were used for magical purposes. They were composed in the first place
by men and women who were supposed to be inspired in the literal
sense; that is, possessed by spirits. Primitive man associated
"spirit" with "breath", which was the "air of life", and identical
with wind. The poetical magician drew in a "spirit", and thus received
inspiration, as he stood on some sacred spot on the mountain summit,
amidst forest solitudes, beside a' whispering stream, or on the
sounding shore. As Burns has sung:
The muse, nae poet ever fand her,
Till by himsel' he learn'd to wander,
Adown some trottin' burn's meander,
An' no think lang:
O sweet to stray, an' pensive ponder
A heart-felt sang!
Or, perhaps, the bard received inspiration by drinking magic water
from the fountain called Hippocrene, or the skaldic mead which dripped
from the moon.
The ancient poet did not sing for the mere love of singing: he knew
nothing about "Art for Art's sake". His object in singing appears to
have been intensely practical. The world was inhabited by countless
hordes of spirits, which were believed to be ever exercising
themselves to influence mankind. The spirits caused suffering; they
slew victims; they brought misfortune; they were also the source of
good or "luck ". Man regarded spirits emotionally; he conjured them
with emotion; he warded off their attacks with emotion; and his
emotions were given rhythmical expression by means of metrical magical
charms.
Poetic imagery had originally a magical significance; if the ocean was
compared to a dragon, it was because it was supposed to be inhabited
by a storm-causing dragon; the wind whispered because a spirit
whispered in it. Love lyrics were charms to compel the love god to
wound or possess a maiden's heart--to fill it, as an Indian charm sets
forth, with "the yearning of the Apsaras (fairies)"; satires conjured
up evil spirits to injure a victim; and heroic narratives chanted at
graves were statements made to the god of battle, so that he might
award the mighty dead by transporting him to the Valhal of Odin or
Swarga of Indra.
Similarly, music had magical origin as an imitation of the voices of
spirits--of the piping birds who were "Fates", of the wind high and
low, of the thunder roll, of the bellowing sea. So the god Pan piped
on his reed bird-like notes, Indra blew his thunder horn, Thor used
his hammer like a drumstick, Neptune imitated on his "wreathed horn"
the voice of the deep, the Celtic oak god Dagda twanged his windy
wooden harp, and Angus, the Celtic god of spring and love, came
through budding forest ways with a silvern harp which had strings of
gold, echoing the tuneful birds, the purling streams, the whispering
winds, and the rustling of scented fir and blossoming thorn.
Modern-day poets and singers, who voice their moods and cast the spell
of their moods over readers and audiences, are the representatives of
ancient magicians who believed that moods were caused by the spirits
which possessed them--the rhythmical wind spirits, those harpers of
the forest and songsters of ocean.
The following quotations from Mr. R.C. Thompson's translations of
Babylonian charms will serve to illustrate their poetic qualities:--
Fever like frost hath come upon the land.
Fever hath blown upon the man as the wind blast,
It hath smitten the man and humbled his pride.
Headache lieth like the stars of heaven in the desert and hath no
praise;
Pain in the head and shivering like a scudding cloud turn unto the
form of man.
Headache whose course like the dread windstorm none knoweth.
Headache roareth over the desert, blowing like the wind,
Flashing like lightning, it is loosed above and below,
It cutteth off him, who feareth not his god, like a reed ...
From amid mountains it hath descended upon the land.
Headache ... a rushing hag-demon,
Granting no rest, nor giving kindly sleep ...
Whose shape is as the whirlwind.
Its appearance is as the darkening heavens,
And its face as the deep shadow of the forest.
Sickness ... breaking the fingers as a rope of wind ...
Flashing like a heavenly star, it cometh like the dew.
These early poets had no canons of Art, and there were no critics to
disturb their meditations. Many singers had to sing and die ere a
critic could find much to say. In ancient times, therefore, poets had
their Golden Age--they were a law unto themselves. Even the "minors"
were influential members of society.