ASHUR THE NATIONAL GOD OF ASSYRIA
Derivation of Ashur--Ashur as Anshar and Anu--Animal forms of Sky
God--Anshar as Star God on the Celestial Mount--Isaiah's
Parable--Symbols of World God and World Hill--Dance of the
Constellations and Dance of Satyrs--Goat Gods and Bull Gods--Symbols
of Gods as "High Heads"--The Winged Disc--Human Figure as Soul of
the Sun--Ashur as Hercules and Gilgamesh--Gods differentiated by
Cults--Fertility Gods as War Gods--Ashur's Tree and Animal
forms--Ashur as Nisroch--Lightning Symbol in Disc--Ezekiel's
Reference to Life Wheel--Indian Wheel and Discus--Wheels of Shamash
and Ahura-Mazda--Hittite Winged Disc--Solar Wheel causes Seasonal
Changes--Bonfires to stimulate Solar Deity--Burning of Gods and
Kings--Magical Ring and other Symbols of Scotland--Ashur's Wheel of
Life and Eagle Wings--King and Ashur--Ashur associated with Lunar,
Fire, and Star Gods--The Osirian Clue--Hittite and Persian
Influences.
The rise of Assyria brings into prominence the national god Ashur,
who had been the city god of Asshur, the ancient capital. When first
met with, he is found to be a complex and mystical deity, and the
problem of his origin is consequently rendered exceedingly difficult.
Philologists are not agreed as to the derivation of his name, and
present as varied views as they do when dealing with the name of
Osiris. Some give Ashur a geographical significance, urging that its
original form was Aushar, "water field"; others prefer the renderings
"Holy", "the Beneficent One", or "the Merciful One"; while not a few
regard Ashur as simply a dialectic form of the name of Anshar, the god
who, in the Assyrian version, or copy, of the Babylonian Creation
myth, is chief of the "host of heaven", and the father of Anu, Ea, and
Enlil.
If Ashur is to be regarded as an abstract solar deity, who was
developed from a descriptive place name, it follows that he had a
history, like Anu or Ea, rooted in Naturalism or Animism. We cannot
assume that his strictly local character was produced by modes of
thought which did not obtain elsewhere. The colonists who settled at
Asshur no doubt imported beliefs from some cultural area; they must
have either given recognition to a god, or group of gods, or regarded
the trees, hills, rivers, sun, moon, and stars, and the animals as
manifestations of the "self power" of the Universe, before they
undertook the work of draining and cultivating the "water field" and
erecting permanent homes. Those who settled at Nineveh, for instance,
believed that they were protected by the goddess Nina, the patron
deity of the Sumerian city of Nina. As this goddess was also
worshipped at Lagash, and was one of the many forms of the Great
Mother, it would appear that in ancient times deities had a tribal
rather than a geographical significance.
If the view is accepted that Ashur is Anshar, it can be urged that he
was imported from Sumeria. "Out of that land (Shinar)", according to
the Biblical reference, "went forth Asshur, and builded Nineveh."[355]
Asshur, or Ashur (identical, Delitzsch and Jastrow believe, with
Ashir),[356] may have been an eponymous hero--a deified king like
Etana, or Gilgamesh, who was regarded as an incarnation of an ancient
god. As Anshar was an astral or early form of Anu, the Sumerian city
of origin may have been Erech, where the worship of the mother goddess
was also given prominence.
Damascius rendered Anshar's name as "Assōros", a fact usually cited to
establish Ashur's connection with that deity. This writer stated that
the Babylonians passed over "Sige,[357] the mother, that has begotten
heaven and earth", and made two--Apason (Apsu), the husband, and
Tauthe (Tiawath or Tiamat), whose son was Moymis (Mummu). From these
another progeny came forth--Lache and Lachos (Lachmu and Lachamu).
These were followed by the progeny Kissare and Assōros (Kishar and
Anshar), "from which were produced Anos (Anu), Illillos (Enlil) and
Aos (Ea). And of Aos and Dauke (Dawkina or Damkina) was born Belos
(Bel Merodach), whom they say is the Demiurge"[358] (the world artisan
who carried out the decrees of a higher being).
Lachmu and Lachamu, like the second pair of the ancient group of
Egyptian deities, probably symbolized darkness as a reproducing and
sustaining power. Anshar was apparently an impersonation of the night
sky, as his son Anu was of the day sky. It may have been believed that
the soul of Anshar was in the moon as Nannar (Sin), or in a star, or
that the moon and the stars were manifestations of him, and that the
soul of Anu was in the sun or the firmament, or that the sun,
firmament, and the wind were forms of this "self power".
If Ashur combined the attributes of Anshar and Anu, his early mystical
character may be accounted for. Like the Indian Brahma, he may have
been in his highest form an impersonation, or symbol, of the "self
power" or "world soul" of developed Naturalism--the "creator",
"preserver", and "destroyer" in one, a god of water, earth, air, and
sky, of sun, moon, and stars, fire and lightning, a god of the grove,
whose essence was in the fig, or the fir cone, as it was in all
animals. The Egyptian god Amon of Thebes, who was associated with
water, earth, air, sky, sun and moon, had a ram form, and was "the
hidden one", was developed from one of the elder eight gods; in the
Pyramid Texts he and his consort are the fourth pair. When Amon was
fused with the specialized sun god Ra, he was placed at the head of
the Ennead as the Creator. "We have traces", says Jastrow, "of an
Assyrian myth of Creation in which the sphere of creator is given to
Ashur."[359]
Before a single act of creation was conceived of, however, the early
peoples recognized the eternity of matter, which was permeated by the
"self power" of which the elder deities were vague phases. These were
too vague, indeed, to be worshipped individually. The forms of the
"self power" which were propitiated were trees, rivers, hills, or
animals. As indicated in the previous chapter, a tribe worshipped an
animal or natural object which dominated its environment. The animal
might be the source of the food supply, or might have to be
propitiated to ensure the food supply. Consequently they identified
the self power of the Universe with the particular animal with which
they were most concerned. One section identified the spirit of the
heavens with the bull and another with the goat. In India Dyaus was a
bull, and his spouse, the earth mother, Prithivi, was a cow. The
Egyptian sky goddess Hathor was a cow, and other goddesses were
identified with the hippopotamus, the serpent, the cat, or the
vulture. Ra, the sun god, was identified in turn with the cat, the
ass, the bull, the ram, and the crocodile, the various animal forms of
the local deities he had absorbed. The eagle in Babylonia and India,
and the vulture, falcon, and mysterious Phoenix in Egypt, were
identified with the sun, fire, wind, and lightning. The animals
associated with the god Ashur were the bull, the eagle, and the lion.
He either absorbed the attributes of other gods, or symbolized the
"Self Power" of which the animals were manifestations.
The earliest germ of the Creation myth was the idea that night was the
parent of day, and water of the earth. Out of darkness and death came
light and life. Life was also motion. When the primordial waters
became troubled, life began to be. Out of the confusion came order and
organization. This process involved the idea of a stable and
controlling power, and the succession of a group of deities--passive
deities and active deities. When the Babylonian astrologers assisted
in developing the Creation myth, they appear to have identified with
the stable and controlling spirit of the night heaven that steadfast
orb the Polar Star. Anshar, like Shakespeare's Caesar, seemed to say:
I am constant as the northern star, Of whose true-fixed and
resting quality There is no fellow in the firmament. The skies are
painted with unnumbered sparks; They are all fire, and every one
doth shine; But there's but one in all doth hold his place.[360]
Associated with the Polar Star was the constellation Ursa Minor, "the
Little Bear", called by the Babylonian astronomers, "the Lesser
Chariot". There were chariots before horses were introduced. A patesi
of Lagash had a chariot which was drawn by asses.
The seemingly steadfast Polar Star was called "Ilu Sar", "the god
Shar", or Anshar, "star of the height", or "Shar the most high". It
seemed to be situated at the summit of the vault of heaven. The god
Shar, therefore, stood upon the Celestial mountain, the Babylonian
Olympus. He was the ghost of the elder god, who in Babylonia was
displaced by the younger god, Merodach, as Mercury, the morning star,
or as the sun, the planet of day; and in Assyria by Ashur, as the sun,
or Regulus, or Arcturus, or Orion. Yet father and son were identical.
They were phases of the One, the "self power".
A deified reigning king was an incarnation of the god; after death he
merged in the god, as did the Egyptian Unas. The eponymous hero Asshur
may have similarly merged in the universal Ashur, who, like Horus, an
incarnation of Osiris, had many phases or forms.
Isaiah appears to have been familiar with the Tigro-Euphratean myths
about the divinity of kings and the displacement of the elder god by
the younger god, of whom the ruling monarch was an incarnation, and
with the idea that the summit of the Celestial mountain was crowned by
the "north star", the symbol of Anshar. "Thou shalt take up this
parable", he exclaimed, making use of Babylonian symbolism, "against
the king of Babylon and say, How hath the oppressor ceased! the golden
city ceased!... How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the
morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the
nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend unto heaven,
I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will sit also upon
the mount of the congregation, _in the sides of the north_; I will
ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most
High."[361] The king is identified with Lucifer as the deity of fire
and the morning star; he is the younger god who aspired to occupy the
mountain throne of his father, the god Shar--the Polar or North Star.
It is possible that the Babylonian idea of a Celestial mountain gave
origin to the belief that the earth was a mountain surrounded by the
outer ocean, beheld by Etana when he flew towards heaven on the
eagle's back. In India this hill is Mount Meru, the "world spine",
which "sustains the earth"; it is surmounted by Indra's Valhal, or
"the great city of Brahma". In Teutonic mythology the heavens revolve
round the Polar Star, which is called "Veraldar nagli",[362] the
"world spike"; while the earth is sustained by the "world tree". The
"ded" amulet of Egypt symbolized the backbone of Osiris as a world
god: "ded" means "firm", "established";[363] while at burial
ceremonies the coffin was set up on end, inside the tomb, "on a small
sandhill intended to represent the Mountain of the West--the realm of
the dead".[364] The Babylonian temple towers were apparently symbols
of the "world hill". At Babylon, the Du-azaga, "holy mound", was
Merodach's temple E-sagila, "the Temple of the High Head". E-kur,
rendered "the house or temple of the Mountain", was the temple of Bel
Enlil at Nippur. At Erech, the temple of the goddess Ishtar was
E-anna, which connects her, as Nina or Ninni, with Anu, derived from
"ana", "heaven". Ishtar was "Queen of heaven".
Now Polaris, situated at the summit of the celestial mountain, was
identified with the sacred goat, "the highest of the flock of
night".[365] Ursa Minor (the "Little Bear" constellation) may have
been "the goat with six heads", referred to by Professor Sayce.[366]
The six astral goats or goat-men were supposed to be dancing round the
chief goat-man or Satyr (Anshar). Even in the dialogues of Plato the
immemorial belief was perpetuated that the constellations were "moving
as in a dance". Dancing began as a magical or religious practice, and
the earliest astronomers saw their dancing customs reflected in the
heavens by the constellations, whose movements were rhythmical. No
doubt, Isaiah had in mind the belief of the Babylonians regarding the
dance of their goat-gods when he foretold: "Their houses shall be full
of doleful creatures; and owls (ghosts) shall dwell there, and _satyrs
shall dance there_".[367] In other words, there would be no people
left to perform religious dances beside the "desolate houses"; the
stars only would be seen dancing round Polaris.
Tammuz, like Anshar, as sentinel of the night heaven, was a goat, as
was also Nin-Girsu of Lagash. A Sumerian reference to "a white kid of
En Mersi (Nin-Girsu)" was translated into Semitic, "a white kid of
Tammuz". The goat was also associated with Merodach. Babylonians,
having prayed to that god to take away their diseases or their sins,
released a goat, which was driven into the desert. The present Polar
Star, which was not, of course, the Polar star of the earliest
astronomers, the world having rocked westward, is called in Arabic
Al-Jedy, "the kid". In India, the goat was connected with Agni and
Varuna; it was slain at funeral ceremonies to inform the gods that a
soul was about to enter heaven. Ea, the Sumerian lord of water, earth,
and heaven, was symbolized as a "goat fish". Thor, the Teutonic
fertility and thunder god, had a chariot drawn by goats. It is of
interest to note that the sacred Sumerian goat bore on its forehead
the same triangular symbol as the Apis bull of Egypt.
Ashur was not a "goat of heaven", but a "bull of heaven", like the
Sumerian Nannar (Sin), the moon god of Ur, Ninip of Saturn, and Bel
Enlil. As the bull, however, he was, like Anshar, the ruling animal of
the heavens; and like Anshar he had associated with him "six
divinities of council".
Other deities who were similarly exalted as "high heads" at various
centres and at various periods, included Anu, Bel Enlil, and Ea,
Merodach, Nergal, and Shamash. A symbol of the first three was a
turban on a seat, or altar, which may have represented the "world
mountain". Ea, as "the world spine", was symbolized as a column, with
ram's head, standing on a throne, beside which crouched a "goat fish".
Merodach's column terminated in a lance head, and the head of a lion
crowned that of Nergal. These columns were probably connected with
pillar worship, and therefore with tree worship, the pillar being the
trunk of the "world tree". The symbol of the sun god Shamash was a
disc, from which flowed streams of water; his rays apparently were
"fertilizing tears", like the rays of the Egyptian sun god Ra. Horus,
the Egyptian falcon god, was symbolized as the winged solar disc.
It is necessary to accumulate these details regarding other deities
and their symbols before dealing with Ashur. The symbols of Ashur must
be studied, because they are one of the sources of our knowledge
regarding the god's origin and character. These include (1) a winged
disc with horns, enclosing four circles revolving round a middle
circle; rippling rays fall down from either side of the disc; (2) a
circle or wheel, suspended from wings, and enclosing a warrior drawing
his bow to discharge an arrow; and (3) the same circle; the warrior's
bow, however, is carried in his left hand, while the right hand is
uplifted as if to bless his worshippers. These symbols are taken from
seal cylinders.
An Assyrian standard, which probably represented the "world column",
has the disc mounted on a bull's head with horns. The upper part of
the disc is occupied by a warrior, whose head, part of his bow, and
the point of his arrow protrude from the circle. The rippling water
rays are V-shaped, and two bulls, treading river-like rays, occupy the
divisions thus formed. There are also two heads--a lion's and a
man's--with gaping mouths, which may symbolize tempests, the
destroying power of the sun, or the sources of the Tigris and
Euphrates.
Jastrow regards the winged disc as "the purer and more genuine symbol
of Ashur as a solar deity". He calls it "a sun disc with protruding
rays", and says: "To this symbol the warrior with the bow and arrow
was added--a despiritualization that reflects the martial spirit of
the Assyrian empire".[368]
The sun symbol on the sun boat of Ra encloses similarly a human
figure, which was apparently regarded as the soul of the sun: the life
of the god was in the "sun egg". In an Indian prose treatise it is set
forth: "Now that man in yonder orb (the sun) and that man in the right
eye truly are no other than Death (the soul). His feet have stuck fast
in the heart, and having pulled them out he comes forth; and when he
comes forth then that man dies; whence they say of him who has passed
away, 'he has been cut off (his life or life string has been
severed)'."[369] The human figure did not indicate a process of
"despiritualization" either in Egypt or in India. The Horus "winged
disc" was besides a symbol of destruction and battle, as well as of
light and fertility. Horus assumed that form in one legend to destroy
Set and his followers.[370] But, of course, the same symbols may not
have conveyed the same ideas to all peoples. As Blake put it:
What to others a trifle appears Fills me full of smiles and
tears.... With my inward Eye, 't is an old Man grey, With my
outward, a Thistle across my way.
Indeed, it is possible that the winged disc meant one thing to an
Assyrian priest, and another thing to a man not gifted with what Blake
called "double vision".
What seems certain, however, is that the archer was as truly solar as
the "wings" or "rays". In Babylonia and Assyria the sun was, among
other things, a destroyer from the earliest times. It is not
surprising, therefore, to find that Ashur, like Merodach, resembled,
in one of his phases, Hercules, or rather his prototype Gilgamesh. One
of Gilgamesh's mythical feats was the slaying of three demon birds.
These may be identical with the birds of prey which Hercules, in
performing his sixth labour, hunted out of Stymphalus.[371] In the
Greek Hipparcho-Ptolemy star list Hercules was the constellation of
the "Kneeler", and in Babylonian-Assyrian astronomy he was (as
Gilgamesh or Merodach) "Sarru", "the king". The astral "Arrow"
(constellation of Sagitta) was pointed against the constellations of
the "Eagle", "Vulture", and "Swan". In Phoenician astronomy the
Vulture was "Zither" (Lyra), a weapon with which Hercules (identified
with Melkarth) slew Linos, the musician. Hercules used a solar arrow,
which he received from Apollo. In various mythologies the arrow is
associated with the sun, the moon, and the atmospheric deities, and is
a symbol of lightning, rain, and fertility, as well as of famine,
disease, war, and death. The green-faced goddess Neith of Libya,
compared by the Greeks to Minerva, carries in one hand two arrows and
a bow.[372] If we knew as little of Athena (Minerva), who was armed
with a lance, a breastplate made of the skin of a goat, a shield, and
helmet, as we do of Ashur, it might be held that she was simply a
goddess of war. The archer in the sun disc of the Assyrian standard
probably represented Ashur as the god of the people--a deity closely
akin to Merodach, with pronounced Tammuz traits, and therefore linking
with other local deities like Ninip, Nergal, and Shamash, and
partaking also like these of the attributes of the elder gods Anu, Bel
Enlil, and Ea.
All the other deities worshipped by the Assyrians were of Babylonian
origin. Ashur appears to have differed from them just as one local
Babylonian deity differed from another. He reflected Assyrian
experiences and aspirations, but it is difficult to decide whether the
sublime spiritual aspect of his character was due to the beliefs of
alien peoples, by whom the early Assyrians were influenced, or to the
teachings of advanced Babylonian thinkers, whose doctrines found
readier acceptance in a "new country" than among the conservative
ritualists of ancient Sumerian and Akkadian cities. New cults were
formed from time to time in Babylonia, and when they achieved
political power they gave a distinctive character to the religion of
their city states. Others which did not find political support and
remained in obscurity at home, may have yet extended their influence
far and wide. Buddhism, for instance, originated in India, but now
flourishes in other countries, to which it was introduced by
missionaries. In the homeland it was submerged by the revival of
Brahmanism, from which it sprung, and which it was intended
permanently to displace. An instance of an advanced cult suddenly
achieving prominence as a result of political influence is afforded by
Egypt, where the fully developed Aton religion was embraced and
established as a national religion by Akhenaton, the so-called
"dreamer". That migrations were sometimes propelled by cults, which
sought new areas in which to exercise religious freedom and propagate
their beliefs, is suggested by the invasion of India at the close of
the Vedic period by the "later comers", who laid the foundations of
Brahmanism. They established themselves in Madhyadesa, "the Middle
Country", "the land where the Brahmanas and the later Samhitas were
produced". From this centre went forth missionaries, who accomplished
the Brahmanization of the rest of India.[373]
It may be, therefore, that the cult of Ashur was influenced in its
development by the doctrines of advanced teachers from Babylonia, and
that Persian Mithraism was also the product of missionary efforts
extended from that great and ancient cultural area. Mitra, as has been
stated, was one of the names of the Babylonian sun god, who was also a
god of fertility. But Ashur could not have been to begin with merely a
battle and solar deity. As the god of a city state he must have been
worshipped by agriculturists, artisans, and traders; he must have been
recognized as a deity of fertility, culture, commerce, and law. Even
as a national god he must have made wider appeal than to the cultured
and ruling classes. Bel Enlil of Nippur was a "world god" and war god,
but still remained a local corn god.
Assyria's greatness was reflected by Ashur, but he also reflected the
origin and growth of that greatness. The civilization of which he was
a product had an agricultural basis. It began with the development of
the natural resources of Assyria, as was recognized by the Hebrew
prophet, who said: "Behold, the Assyrian was a cedar in Lebanon with
fair branches.... The waters made him great, the deep set him up on
high with her rivers running round about his plants, and sent out her
little rivers unto all the trees of the field. Therefore his height
was exalted above all the trees of the field, and his boughs were
multiplied, and his branches became long because of the multitude of
waters when he shot forth. All the fowls of heaven made their nests in
his boughs, and under his branches did all the beasts of the field
bring forth their young, and under his shadow dwelt all great nations.
Thus was he fair in his greatness, in the length of his branches; for
his root was by great waters. The cedars in the garden of God could
not hide him: the fir trees were not like his boughs, and the chestnut
trees were not like his branches; nor any tree in the garden of God
was like unto him in his beauty."[374]
Asshur, the ancient capital, was famous for its merchants. It is
referred to in the Bible as one of the cities which traded with Tyre
"in all sorts of things, in blue clothes, and broidered work, and in
chests of rich apparel, bound with cords, and made of cedar".[375]
As a military power, Assyria's name was dreaded. "Behold," Isaiah
said, addressing King Hezekiah, "thou hast heard what the kings of
Assyria have done to all lands by destroying them utterly."[376] The
same prophet, when foretelling how Israel would suffer, exclaimed: "O
Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their hand is mine
indignation. I will send him against an hypocritical nation, and
against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge, to take the
spoil, and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of
the streets."[377]
We expect to find Ashur reflected in these three phases of Assyrian
civilization. If we recognize him in the first place as a god of
fertility, his other attributes are at once included. A god of
fertility is a corn god and a water god. The river as a river was a
"creator" (p. 29), and Ashur was therefore closely associated with the
"watery place", with the canals or "rivers running round about his
plants". The rippling water-rays, or fertilizing tears, appear on the
solar discs. As a corn god, he was a god of war. Tammuz's first act
was to slay the demons of winter and storm, as Indra's in India was to
slay the demons of drought, and Thor's in Scandinavia was to
exterminate the frost giants. The corn god had to be fed with human
sacrifices, and the people therefore waged war against foreigners to
obtain victims. As the god made a contract with his people, he was a
deity of commerce; he provided them with food and they in turn fed him
with offerings.
In Ezekiel's comparison of Assyria to a mighty tree, there is no doubt
a mythological reference. The Hebrew prophets invariably utilized for
their poetic imagery the characteristic beliefs of the peoples to whom
they made direct reference. The "owls", "satyrs", and "dragons" of
Babylon, mentioned by Isaiah, were taken from Babylonian mythology, as
has been indicated. When, therefore, Assyria is compared to a cedar,
which is greater than fir or chestnut, and it is stated that there are
nesting birds in the branches, and under them reproducing beasts of
the field, and that the greatness of the tree is due to "the multitude
of waters", the conclusion is suggested that Assyrian religion, which
Ashur's symbols reflect, included the worship of trees, birds, beasts,
and water. The symbol of the Assyrian tree--probably the "world tree"
of its religion--appears to be "the rod of mine anger ... the staff in
their hand"; that is, the battle standard which was a symbol of Ashur.
Tammuz and Osiris were tree gods as well as corn gods.
Now, as Ashur was evidently a complex deity, it is futile to attempt
to read his symbols without giving consideration to the remnants of
Assyrian mythology which are found in the ruins of the ancient cities.
These either reflect the attributes of Ashur, or constitute the
material from which he evolved.
As Layard pointed out many years ago, the Assyrians had a sacred tree
which became conventionalized. It was "an elegant device, in which
curved branches, springing from a kind of scroll work, terminated in
flowers of graceful form. As one of the figures last described[378]
was turned, as if in act of adoration, towards this device, it was
evidently a sacred emblem; and I recognized in it the holy tree, or
tree of life, so universally adored at the remotest period in the
East, and which was preserved in the religious systems of the Persians
to the final overthrow of their Empire.... The flowers were formed by
seven petals."[379]
This tree looks like a pillar, and is thrice crossed by
conventionalized bull's horns tipped with ring symbols which may be
stars, the highest pair of horns having a larger ring between them,
but only partly shown as if it were a crescent. The tree with its many
"sevenfold" designs may have been a symbol of the
"Sevenfold-one-are-ye" deity. This is evidently the Assyrian tree
which was called "the rod" or "staff".
What mythical animals did this tree shelter? Layard found that "the
four creatures continually introduced on the sculptured walls", were
"a man, a lion, an ox, and an eagle".[380]
In Sumeria the gods were given human form, but before this stage was
reached the bull symbolized Nannar (Sin), the moon god, Ninip (Saturn,
the old sun), and Enlil, while Nergal was a lion, as a tribal sun god.
The eagle is represented by the Zu bird, which symbolized the storm
and a phase of the sun, and was also a deity of fertility. On the
silver vase of Lagash the lion and eagle were combined as the
lion-headed eagle, a form of Nin-Girsu (Tammuz), and it was associated
with wild goats, stags, lions, and bulls. On a mace head dedicated to
Nin-Girsu, a lion slays a bull as the Zu bird slays serpents in the
folk tale, suggesting the wars of totemic deities, according to one
"school", and the battle of the sun with the storm clouds according to
another. Whatever the explanation may be of one animal deity of
fertility slaying another, it seems certain that the conflict was
associated with the idea of sacrifice to procure the food supply.
In Assyria the various primitive gods were combined as a winged bull,
a winged bull with human head (the king's), a winged lion with human
head, a winged man, a deity with lion's head, human body, and eagle's
legs with claws, and also as a deity with eagle's head and feather
headdress, a human body, wings, and feather-fringed robe, carrying in
one hand a metal basket on which two winged men adored the holy tree,
and in the other a fir cone.[381]
Layard suggested that the latter deity, with eagle's head, was
Nisroch, "the word Nisr signifying, in all Semitic languages, an eagle
".[382] This deity is referred to in the Bible: "Sennacherib, king of
Assyria, ... was worshipping in the house of Nisroch, his god".[383]
Professor Pinches is certain that Nisroch is Ashur, but considers that
the "ni" was attached to "Ashur" (Ashuraku or Ashurachu), as it was to
"Marad" (Merodach) to give the reading Ni-Marad = Nimrod. The names of
heathen deities were thus made "unrecognizable, and in all probability
ridiculous as well.... Pious and orthodox lips could pronounce them
without fear of defilement."[384] At the same time the "Nisr" theory
is probable: it may represent another phase of this process. The names
of heathen gods were not all treated in like manner by the Hebrew
teachers. Abed-_nebo_, for instance, became Abed-_nego_, _Daniel_, i,
7, as Professor Pinches shows.
Seeing that the eagle received prominence in the mythologies of
Sumeria and Assyria, as a deity of fertility with solar and
atmospheric attributes, it is highly probable that the Ashur symbol,
like the Egyptian Horus solar disk, is a winged symbol of life,
fertility, and destruction. The idea that it represents the sun in
eclipse, with protruding rays, seems rather far-fetched, because
eclipses were disasters and indications of divine wrath;[385] it
certainly does not explain why the "rays" should only stretch out
sideways, like wings, and downward like a tail, why the "rays" should
be double, like the double wings of cherubs, bulls, &c, and divided
into sections suggesting feathers, or why the disk is surmounted by
conventionalized horns, tipped with star-like ring symbols, identical
with those depicted in the holy tree. What particular connection the
five small rings within the disk were supposed to have with the
eclipse of the sun is difficult to discover.
In one of the other symbols in which appears a feather-robed archer,
it is significant to find that the arrow he is about to discharge has
a head shaped like a trident; it is evidently a lightning symbol.
When Ezekiel prophesied to the Israelitish captives at Tel-abib, "by
the river of Chebar" in Chaldea (Kheber, near Nippur), he appears to
have utilized Assyrian symbolism. Probably he came into contact in
Babylonia with fugitive priests from Assyrian cities.
This great prophet makes interesting references to "four living
creatures", with "four faces "--the face of a man, the face of a lion,
the face of an ox, and the face of an eagle; "they had the hands of a
man under their wings, ... their wings were joined one to another; ...
their wings were stretched upward: two wings of every one were joined
one to another.... Their appearance was like burning coals of fire and
like the appearance of lamps.... The living creatures ran and returned
as the appearance of a flash of lightning."[386]
Elsewhere, referring to the sisters, Aholah and Aholibah, who had been
in Egypt and had adopted unmoral ways of life Ezekiel tells that when
Aholibah "doted upon the Assyrians" she "saw men pourtrayed upon the
wall, the images of the Chaldeans pourtrayed with vermilion, girded
with girdles upon their loins".[387] Traces of the red colour on the
walls of Assyrian temples and palaces have been observed by
excavators. The winged gods "like burning coals" were probably painted
in vermilion.
Ezekiel makes reference to "ring" and "wheel" symbols. In his vision
he saw "one wheel upon the earth by the living creatures, with his
four faces. The appearance of the wheels and their work was like unto
the colour of beryl; and they four had one likeness; and their
appearance and their work was as it were a wheel in the middle of a
wheel.... As for their rings, they were so high that they were
dreadful; and their rings were full of eyes round about them four. And
when the living creatures went, the wheels went by them; and when the
living creatures were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted
up. Whithersoever the spirit was to go, they went, thither was their
spirit to go; and the wheels were lifted up over against them; _for
the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels_....[388] And the
likeness of the firmament upon the heads of the living creature was as
the colour of terrible crystal, stretched forth over their heads
above.... And when they went I heard the noise of their wings, like
the noise of great waters, as the voice of the Almighty, the voice of
speech, as the noise of an host; when they stood they let down their
wings...."[389]
Another description of the cherubs states: "Their whole body, and
their backs, and their hands, and their wings, and the wheels, were
full of eyes (? stars) round about, even the wheels that they four
had. As for the wheels, it was cried unto them in my hearing, O
wheel!"--or, according to a marginal rendering, "they were called in
my hearing, wheel, or Gilgal," i.e. move round.... "And the cherubims
were lifted up."[390]
It would appear that the wheel (or hoop, a variant rendering) was a
symbol of life, and that the Assyrian feather-robed figure which it
enclosed was a god, not of war only, but also of fertility. His
trident-headed arrow resembles, as has been suggested, a lightning
symbol. Ezekiel's references are suggestive in this connection. When
the cherubs "ran and returned" they had "the appearance of a flash of
lightning", and "the noise of their wings" resembled "the noise of
great waters". Their bodies were "like burning coals of fire".
Fertility gods were associated with fire, lightning, and water. Agni
of India, Sandan of Asia Minor, and Melkarth of Phoenicia were highly
developed fire gods of fertility. The fire cult was also represented
in Sumeria (pp. 49-51).
In the Indian epic, the _Mahabharata_, the revolving ring or wheel
protects the Soma[391] (ambrosia) of the gods, on which their
existence depends. The eagle giant Garuda sets forth to steal it. The
gods, fully armed, gather round to protect the life-giving drink.
Garuda approaches "darkening the worlds by the dust raised by the
hurricane of his wings". The celestials, "overwhelmed by that dust",
swoon away. Garuda afterwards assumes a fiery shape, then looks "like
masses of black clouds", and in the end its body becomes golden and
bright "as the rays of the sun". The Soma is protected by fire, which
the bird quenches after "drinking in many rivers" with the numerous
mouths it has assumed. Then Garuda finds that right above the Soma is
"a wheel of steel, keen edged, and sharp as a razor, revolving
incessantly. That fierce instrument, of the lustre of the blazing sun
and of terrible form, was devised by the gods for cutting to pieces
all robbers of the Soma." Garuda passes "through the spokes of the
wheel", and has then to contend against "two great snakes of the
lustre of blazing fire, of tongues bright as the lightning flash, of
great energy, of mouth emitting fire, of blazing eyes". He slays the
snakes.... The gods afterwards recover the stolen Soma.
Garuda becomes the vehicle of the god Vishnu, who carries the discus,
another fiery wheel which revolves and returns to the thrower like
lightning. "And he (Vishnu) made the bird sit on the flagstaff of his
car, saying: 'Even thus thou shalt stay above me'."[392]
The Persian god Ahura Mazda hovers above the king in sculptured
representations of that high dignitary, enclosed in a winged wheel, or
disk, like Ashur, grasping a ring in one hand, the other being lifted
up as if blessing those who adore him.
Shamash, the Babylonian sun god; Ishtar, the goddess of heaven; and
other Babylonian deities carried rings as the Egyptian gods carried
the ankh, the symbol of life. Shamash was also depicted sitting on his
throne in a pillar-supported pavilion, in front of which is a sun
wheel. The spokes of the wheel are formed by a star symbol and
threefold rippling "water rays".
In Hittite inscriptions there are interesting winged emblems; "the
central portion" of one "seems to be composed of two crescents
underneath a disk (which is also divided like a crescent). Above the
emblem there appear the symbol of sanctity (the divided oval) and the
hieroglyph which Professor Sayce interprets as the name of the god
Sandes." In another instance "the centre of the winged emblem may be
seen to be a rosette, with a curious spreading object below. Above,
two dots follow the name of Sandes, and a human arm bent 'in
adoration' is by the side...." Professor Garstang is here dealing with
sacred places "on rocky points or hilltops, bearing out the suggestion
of the sculptures near Boghaz-Keui[393], in which there may be
reasonably suspected the surviving traces of mountain cults, or cults
of mountain deities, underlying the newer religious symbolism". Who
the deity is it is impossible to say, but "he was identified at some
time or other with Sandes".[394] It would appear, too, that the god
may have been "called by a name which was that used also by the
priest". Perhaps the priest king was believed to be an incarnation of
the deity.
Sandes or Sandan was identical with Sandon of Tarsus, "the prototype
of Attis",[395] who links with the Babylonian Tammuz. Sandon's animal
symbol was the lion, and he carried the "double axe" symbol of the god
of fertility and thunder. As Professor Frazer has shown in _The Golden
Bough_, he links with Hercules and Melkarth.[396]
All the younger gods, who displaced the elder gods as one year
displaces another, were deities of fertility, battle, lightning, fire,
and the sun; it is possible, therefore, that Ashur was like Merodach,
son of Ea, god of the deep, a form of Tammuz in origin. His spirit was
in the solar wheel which revolved at times of seasonal change. In
Scotland it was believed that on the morning of May Day (Beltaine) the
rising sun revolved three times. The younger god was a spring sun god
and fire god. Great bonfires were lit to strengthen him, or as a
ceremony of riddance; the old year was burned out. Indeed the god
himself might be burned (that is, the old god), so that he might renew
his youth. Melkarth was burned at Tyre. Hercules burned himself on a
mountain top, and his soul ascended to heaven as an eagle.
These fiery rites were evidently not unknown in Babylonia and Assyria.
When, according to Biblical narrative, Nebuchadnezzar "made an image
of gold" which he set up "in the plain of Dura, in the province of
Babylon", he commanded: "O people, nations, and languages... at the
time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery,
dulcimer, and all kinds of musick... fall down and worship the golden
image". Certain Jews who had been "set over the affairs of the
province of Babylonia", namely, "Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego",
refused to adore the idol. They were punished by being thrown into "a
burning fiery furnace", which was heated "seven times more than it was
wont to be heated". They came forth uninjured.[397]
In the Koran it is related that Abraham destroyed the images of
Chaldean gods; he "brake them all in pieces except the biggest of
them; that they might lay the blame on that".[398] According to the
commentators the Chaldaeans were at the time "abroad in the fields,
celebrating a great festival". To punish the offender Nimrod had a
great pyre erected at Cuthah. "Then they bound Abraham, and putting
him into an engine, shot him into the midst of the fire, from which he
was preserved by the angel Gabriel, who was sent to his assistance."
Eastern Christians were wont to set apart in the Syrian calendar the
25th of January to commemorate Abraham's escape from Nimrod's
pyre.[399]
It is evident that the Babylonian fire ceremony was observed in the
spring season, and that human beings were sacrificed to the sun god. A
mock king may have been burned to perpetuate the ancient sacrifice of
real kings, who were incarnations of the god.
Isaiah makes reference to the sacrificial burning of kings in Assyria:
"For through the voice of the Lord shall the Assyrian be beaten down,
which smote with a rod. And in every place where the grounded staff
shall pass, which the Lord shall lay upon him, it shall be with
tabrets and harps: and in battles of shaking will he fight with it.
For Tophet is ordained of old; yea, for the king it is prepared: he
hath made it deep and large: the pile thereof is fire and much wood:
the breath of the Lord, like a stream of brimstone, doth kindle
it."[400] When Nineveh was about to fall, and with it the Assyrian
Empire, the legendary king, Sardanapalus, who was reputed to have
founded Tarsus, burned himself, with his wives, concubines, and
eunuchs, on a pyre in his palace. Zimri, who reigned over Israel for
seven days, "burnt the king's house over him with fire"[401]. Saul,
another fallen king, was burned after death, and his bones were buried
"under the oak in Jabesh".[402] In Europe the oak was associated with
gods of fertility and lightning, including Jupiter and Thor. The
ceremony of burning Saul is of special interest. Asa, the orthodox
king of Judah, was, after death, "laid in the bed which was filled
with sweet odours and divers kinds of spices prepared by the
apothecaries' art: and they made a very great burning for him" (_2
Chronicles_, xvi, 14). Jehoram, the heretic king of Judah, who "walked
in the way of the kings of Israel", died of "an incurable disease. And
his people made no burning for him like the burning of his fathers"
(_2 Chronicles_, xxi, 18, 19).
The conclusion suggested by the comparative study of the beliefs of
neighbouring peoples, and the evidence afforded by Assyrian
sculptures, is that Ashur was a highly developed form of the god of
fertility, who was sustained, or aided in his conflicts with demons,
by the fires and sacrifices of his worshippers.
It is possible to read too much into his symbols. These are not more
complicated and vague than are the symbols on the standing stones of
Scotland--the crescent with the "broken" arrow; the trident with the
double rings, or wheels, connected by two crescents; the circle with
the dot in its centre; the triangle with the dot; the large disk with
two small rings on either side crossed by double straight lines; the
so-called "mirror", and so on. Highly developed symbolism may not
indicate a process of spiritualization so much, perhaps, as the
persistence of magical beliefs and practices. There is really no
direct evidence to support the theory that the Assyrian winged disk,
or disk "with protruding rays", was of more spiritual character than
the wheel which encloses the feather-robed archer with his
trident-shaped arrow.
The various symbols may have represented phases of the god. When the
spring fires were lit, and the god "renewed his life like the eagle",
his symbol was possibly the solar wheel or disk with eagle's wings,
which became regarded as a symbol of life. The god brought life and
light to the world; he caused the crops to grow; he gave increase; he
sustained his worshippers. But he was also the god who slew the demons
of darkness and storm. The Hittite winged disk was Sandes or Sandon,
the god of lightning, who stood on the back of a bull. As the
lightning god was a war god, it was in keeping with his character to
find him represented in Assyria as "Ashur the archer" with the bow and
lightning arrow. On the disk of the Assyrian standard the lion and the
bull appear with "the archer" as symbols of the war god Ashur, but
they were also symbols of Ashur the god of fertility.
The life or spirit of the god was in the ring or wheel, as the life of
the Egyptian and Indian gods, and of the giants of folk tales, was in
"the egg". The "dot within the circle", a widespread symbol, may have
represented the seed within "the egg" of more than one mythology, or
the thorn within the egg of more than one legendary story. It may be
that in Assyria, as in India, the crude beliefs and symbols of the
masses were spiritualized by the speculative thinkers in the
priesthood, but no literary evidence has survived to justify us in
placing the Assyrian teachers on the same level as the Brahmans who
composed the Upanishads.
Temples were erected to Ashur, but he might be worshipped anywhere,
like the Queen of Heaven, who received offerings in the streets of
Jerusalem, for "he needed no temple", as Professor Pinches says.
Whether this was because he was a highly developed deity or a product
of folk religion it is difficult to decide. One important fact is that
the ruling king of Assyria was more closely connected with the worship
of Ashur than the king of Babylonia was with the worship of Merodach.
This may be because the Assyrian king was regarded as an incarnation
of his god, like the Egyptian Pharaoh. Ashur accompanied the monarch
on his campaigns: he was their conquering war god. Where the king was,
there was Ashur also. No images were made of him, but his symbols were
carried aloft, as were the symbols of Indian gods in the great war of
the _Mahabharata_ epic.
It would appear that Ashur was sometimes worshipped in the temples of
other gods. In an interesting inscription he is associated with the
moon god Nannar (Sin) of Haran. Esarhaddon, the Assyrian king, is
believed to have been crowned in that city. "The writer", says
Professor Pinches, "is apparently addressing Assur-bani-apli, 'the
great and noble Asnapper':
"When the father of my king my lord went to Egypt, he was crowned (?)
in the _ganni_ of Harran, the temple (lit. 'Bethel') of cedar. The god
Sin remained over the (sacred) standard, two crowns upon his head,
(and) the god Nusku stood beside him. The father of the king my lord
entered, (and) he (the priest of Sin) placed (the crown?) upon his
head, (saying) thus: 'Thou shalt go and capture the lands in the
midst'. (He we)nt, he captured the land of Egypt. The rest of the
lands not submitting (?) to Assur (Ashur) and Sin, the king, the lord
of kings, shall capture (them)."[403]
Ashur and Sin are here linked as equals. Associated with them is
Nusku, the messenger of the gods, who was given prominence in Assyria.
The kings frequently invoked him. As the son of Ea he acted as the
messenger between Merodach and the god of the deep. He was also a son
of Bel Enlil, and like Anu was guardian or chief of the Igigi, the
"host of heaven". Professor Pinches suggests that he may have been
either identical with the Sumerian fire god Gibil, or a brother of the
fire god, and an impersonation of the light of fire and sun. In Haran
he accompanied the moon god, and may, therefore, have symbolized the
light of the moon also. Professor Pinches adds that in one inscription
"he is identified with Nirig or En-reshtu" (Nin-Girsu = Tammuz).[404]
The Babylonians and Assyrians associated fire and light with moisture
and fertility.
The astral phase of the character of Ashur is highly probable. As has
been indicated, the Greek rendering of Anshar as "Assoros", is
suggestive in this connection. Jastrow, however, points out that the
use of the characters Anshar for Ashur did not obtain until the eighth
century B.C. "Linguistically", he says, "the change of Ashir to Ashur
can be accounted for, but not the transformation of An-shar to Ashur
or Ashir; so that we must assume the 'etymology' of Ashur, proposed by
some learned scribe, to be the nature of a play upon the name."[405]
On the other hand, it is possible that what appears arbitrary to us
may have been justified in ancient Assyria on perfectly reasonable, or
at any rate traditional, grounds. Professor Pinches points out that as
a sun god, and "at the same time not Shamash", Ashur resembled
Merodach. "His identification with Merodach, if that was ever
accepted, may have been due to the likeness of the word to Asari, one
of the deities' names."[406] As Asari, Merodach has been compared to
the Egyptian Osiris, who, as the Nile god, was Asar-Hapi. Osiris
resembles Tammuz and was similarly a corn deity and a ruler of the
living and the dead, associated with sun, moon, stars, water, and
vegetation. We may consistently connect Ashur with Aushar, "water
field", Anshar, "god of the height", or "most high", and with the
eponymous King Asshur who went out on the land of Nimrod and "builded
Nineveh", if we regard him as of common origin with Tammuz, Osiris,
and Attis--a developed and localized form of the ancient deity of
fertility and corn.
Ashur had a spouse who is referred to as Ashuritu, or Beltu, "the
lady". Her name, however, is not given, but it is possible that she
was identified with the Ishtar of Nineveh. In the historical texts
Ashur, as the royal god, stands alone. Like the Hittite Great Father,
he was perhaps regarded as the origin of life. Indeed, it may have
been due to the influence of the northern hillmen in the early
Assyrian period, that Ashur was developed as a father god--a Baal.
When the Hittite inscriptions are read, more light may be thrown on
the Ashur problem. Another possible source of cultural influence is
Persia. The supreme god Ahura-Mazda (Ormuzd) was, as has been
indicated, represented, like Ashur, hovering over the king's head,
enclosed in a winged disk or wheel, and the sacred tree figured in
Persian mythology. The early Assyrian kings had non-Semitic and
non-Sumerian names. It seems reasonable to assume that the religious
culture of the ethnic elements they represented must have contributed
to the development of the city god of Asshur.