THE LAST DAYS OF ASSYRIA AND BABYLONIA
Doom of Nineveh and Babylon--Babylonian Monotheism--Ashur-banipal
and his Brother, King of Babylon--Ceremony of "Taking the Hands of
Bel"--Merodach restored to E-sagila--Assyrian Invasion of Egypt and
Sack of Thebes--Lydia's Appeal to Assyria--Elam subdued--Revolt of
Babylon--Death of Babylonian King--Sack of Susa--Psamtik of
Egypt--Cimmerians crushed--Ashur-bani-pal's Literary Activities--The
Sardanapalus Legend--Last Kings of Assyria--Fall of Nineveh--The New
Babylonian Empire--Necho of Egypt expelled from Syria--King
Jehoaikin of Judah deposed--Zedekiah's Revolt and Punishment--Fall
of Jerusalem and Hebrew Captivity--Jeremiah laments over
Jerusalem--Babylonia's Last Independent King--Rise of Cyrus the
Conqueror--The Persian Patriarch and Eagle Legend--Cyrus conquers
Lydia--Fall of Babylon--Jews return to Judah--Babylon from Cyrus to
Alexander the Great.
The burden of Nineveh.... The Lord is slow to anger, and great in
power, and will not at all acquit the wicked: the Lord hath his way in
the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his
feet. He rebuketh the sea, and maketh it dry, and drieth up all the
rivers: Bashan languisheth, and Carmel, and the flower of Lebanon
languisheth.... He that dasheth in pieces is come up before thy
face.... The gates of the rivers shall be opened, and the palace shall
be dissolved. And Huzzab shall be led away captive, she shall be
brought up, and her maids shall lead her as with the voice of doves,
tabering upon their breasts.... Draw thee waters for the siege,
fortify thy strong holds: go into clay, and tread the morter, make
strong the brick-kiln. There shall the fire devour thee; the sword
shall cut thee off.... Thy shepherds slumber, O king of Assyria: thy
nobles shall dwell in the dust: thy people is scattered upon the
mountains, and no man gathereth them. There is no healing of thy
bruise; thy wound is grievous: all that hear the bruit of thee shall
clap the hands over thee: for upon whom hath not thy wickedness passed
continually?[544]
The doom of Babylon was also foretold:
Bel boweth down, Nebo stoopeth.... Come down, and sit in the
dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon, sit on the ground: there is no
throne, O daughter of the Chaldeans.... Stand now with thine
enchantments, and with the multitude of thy sorceries, wherein
thou hast laboured from thy youth; if so be thou shalt be able to
profit, if so be thou mayest prevail. Thou art wearied in the
multitude of thy counsels. Let now the astrologers, the
star-gazers, the monthly prognosticators, stand up, and save thee
from these things that shall come upon thee. Behold, they shall be
as stubble; the fire shall burn them.... Thus shall they be unto
thee with whom thou hast laboured, even thy merchants, from thy
youth: they shall wander every one to his quarter; none shall save
thee.[545]
Against a gloomy background, dark and ominous as a thundercloud, we
have revealed in the last century of Mesopotamian glory the splendour
of Assyria and the beauty of Babylon. The ancient civilizations
ripened quickly before the end came. Kings still revelled in pomp and
luxury. Cities resounded with "the noise of a whip, and the noise of
the rattling of the wheels, and of the prancing horses, and of the
jumping chariots. The horseman lifteth up both the bright sword and
the glittering spear.... The valiant men are in scarlet."[546] But the
minds of cultured men were more deeply occupied than ever with the
mysteries of life and creation. In the libraries, the temples, and
observatories, philosophers and scientists were shattering the
unsubstantial fabric of immemorial superstition; they attained to
higher conceptions of the duties and responsibilities of mankind; they
conceived of divine love and divine guidance; they discovered, like
Wordsworth, that the soul has--
An obscure sense
Of possible sublimity, whereto
With growing faculties she doth aspire.
One of the last kings of Babylon, Nebuchadrezzar, recorded a prayer
which reveals the loftiness of religious thought and feeling attained
by men to whom graven images were no longer worthy of adoration and
reverence--men whose god was not made by human hands--
O eternal prince! Lord of all being!
As for the king whom thou lovest, and
Whose name thou hast proclaimed
As was pleasing to thee,
Do thou lead aright his life,
Guide him in a straight path.
I am the prince, obedient to thee,
The creature of thy hand;
Thou hast created me, and
With dominion over all people
Thou hast entrusted me.
According to thy grace, O Lord,
Which thou dost bestow on
All people,
Cause me to love thy supreme dominion,
And create in my heart
The worship of thy godhead
And grant whatever is pleasing to thee,
Because thou hast fashioned my life.[547]
The "star-gazers" had become scientists, and foretold eclipses: in
every sphere of intellectual activity great men were sifting out truth
from the debris of superstition. It seemed as if Babylon and Assyria
were about to cross the threshold of a new age, when their doom was
sounded and their power was shattered for ever. Nineveh perished with
dramatic suddenness: Babylon died of "senile decay".
When, in 668 B.C., intelligence reached Nineveh that Esarhaddon had
passed away, on the march through Egypt, the arrangements which he had
made for the succession were carried out smoothly and quickly. Naki'a,
the queen mother, was acting as regent, and completed her lifework by
issuing a proclamation exhorting all loyal subjects and vassals to
obey the new rulers, her grandsons, Ashur-bani-pal, Emperor of
Assyria, and Shamash-shum-ukin, King of Babylon. Peace prevailed in
the capital, and there was little or no friction throughout the
provinces: new rulers were appointed to administer the States of Arvad
and Ammon, but there were no changes elsewhere.
Babylon welcomed its new king--a Babylonian by birth and the son of a
Babylonian princess. The ancient kingdom rejoiced that it was no
longer to be ruled as a province; its ancient dignities and privileges
were being partially restored. But one great and deep-seated grievance
remained. The god Merodach was still a captive in the temple of Ashur.
No king could reign aright if Merodach were not restored to E-sagila.
Indeed he could not be regarded as the lord of the land until he had
"taken the hands of Bel".
The ceremony of taking the god's hands was an act of homage. When it
was consummated the king became the steward or vassal of Merodach, and
every day he appeared before the divine one to receive instructions
and worship him. The welfare of the whole kingdom depended on the
manner in which the king acted towards the god. If Merodach was
satisfied with the king he sent blessings to the land; if he was angry
he sent calamities. A pious and faithful monarch was therefore the
protector of the people.
This close association of the king with the god gave the priests great
influence in Babylon. They were the power behind the throne. The
destinies of the royal house were placed in their hands; they could
strengthen the position of a royal monarch, or cause him to be deposed
if he did not satisfy their demands. A king who reigned over Babylon
without the priestly party on his side occupied an insecure position.
Nor could he secure the co-operation of the priests unless the image
of the god was placed in the temple. Where king was, there Merodach
had to be also.
Shamash-shum-ukin pleaded with his royal brother and overlord to
restore Bel Merodach to Babylon. Ashur-bani-pal hesitated for a time;
he was unwilling to occupy a less dignified position, as the
representative of Ashur, than his distinguished predecessor, in his
relation to the southern kingdom. At length, however, he was prevailed
upon to consult the oracle of Shamash, the solar lawgiver, the
revealer of destiny. The god was accordingly asked if
Shamash-shum-ukin could "take the hands of Bel" in Ashur's temple, and
then proceed to Babylon as his representative. In response, the
priests of Shamash informed the emperor that Bel Merodach could not
exercise sway as sovereign lord so long as he remained a prisoner in a
city which was not his own.
Ashur-bani-pal accepted the verdict, and then visited Ashur's temple
to plead with Bel Merodach to return to Babylon. "Let thy thoughts",
he cried, "dwell in Babylon, which in thy wrath thou didst bring to
naught. Let thy face be turned towards E-sagila, thy lofty and divine
temple. Return to the city thou hast deserted for a house unworthy of
thee. O Merodach! lord of the gods, issue thou the command to return
again to Babylon."
Thus did Ashur-bani-pal make pious and dignified submission to the
will of the priests. A favourable response was, of course, received
from Merodach when addressed by the emperor, and the god's image was
carried back to E-sagila, accompanied by a strong force.
Ashur-bani-pal and Shamash-shum-ukin led the procession of priests and
soldiers, and elaborate ceremonials were observed at each city they
passed, the local gods being carried forth to do homage to Merodach.
Babylon welcomed the deity who was thus restored to his temple after
the lapse of about a quarter of a century, and the priests celebrated
with unconcealed satisfaction and pride the ceremony at which
Shamash-shum-ukin "took the hands of Bel". The public rejoicings were
conducted on an elaborate scale. Babylon believed that a new era of
prosperity had been inaugurated, and the priests and nobles looked
forward to the day when the kingdom would once again become free and
independent and powerful.
Ashur-bani-pal (668-626 B.C.) made arrangements to complete his
father's designs regarding Egypt. His Tartan continued the campaign,
and Taharka, as has been stated, was driven from Memphis. The beaten
Pharaoh returned to Ethiopia and did not again attempt to expel the
Assyrians. He died in 666 B.C. It was found that some of the petty
kings of Lower Egypt had been intriguing with Taharka, and their
cities were severely dealt with. Necho of Sais had to be arrested,
among others, but was pardoned after he appeared before
Ashur-bani-pal, and sent back to Egypt as the Assyrian governor.
Tanutamon, a son of Pharaoh Shabaka, succeeded Taharka, and in 663
B.C. marched northward from Thebes with a strong army. He captured
Memphis. It is believed Necho was slain, and Herodotus relates that
his son Psamtik took refuge in Syria. In 661 B.C. Ashur-bani-pal's
army swept through Lower Egypt and expelled the Ethiopians. Tanutamon
fled southward, but on this occasion the Assyrians followed up their
success, and besieged and captured Thebes, which they sacked. Its
nobles were slain or taken captive. According to the prophet Nahum,
who refers to Thebes as No (Nu-Amon = city of Amon), "her young
children also were dashed in pieces at the top of all the streets: and
they (the Assyrians) cast lots for her honourable men, and all her
great men were bound in chains".[548] Thebes never again recovered its
prestige. Its treasures were transported to Nineveh. The Ethiopian
supremacy in Egypt was finally extinguished, and Psamtik, son of
Necho, who was appointed the Pharaoh, began to reign as the vassal of
Assyria.
When the kings on the seacoasts of Palestine and Asia Minor found that
they could no longer look to Egypt for help, they resigned themselves
to the inevitable, and ceased to intrigue against Assyria. Gifts were
sent to Ashur-bani-pal by the kings of Arvad, Tyre, Tarsus, and Tabal.
The Arvad ruler, however, was displaced, and his son set on his
throne. But the most extraordinary development was the visit to
Nineveh of emissaries from Gyges, king of Lydia, who figures in the
legends of Greece. This monarch had been harassed by the Cimmerians
after they accomplished the fall of Midas of Phrygia in 676 B.C., and
he sought the help of Ashur-bani-pal. It is not known whether the
Assyrians operated against the Cimmerians in Tabal, but, as Gyges did
not send tribute, it would appear that he held his own with the aid of
mercenaries from the State of Caria in southwestern Asia Minor. The
Greeks of Cilicia, and the Achaeans and Phoenicians of Cyprus remained
faithful to Assyria.
Elam gave trouble in 665 B.C. by raiding Akkad, but the Assyrian army
repulsed the invaders at Dur-ilu and pushed on to Susa. The Elamites
received a crushing defeat in a battle on the banks of the River Ula.
King Teumman was slain, and a son of the King of Urtagu was placed on
his throne. Elam thus came under Assyrian sway.
The most surprising and sensational conspiracy against Ashur-bani-pal
was fomented by his brother Shamash-shum-ukin of Babylon, after the
two had co-operated peacefully for fifteen years. No doubt the
priestly party at E-sagila were deeply concerned in the movement, and
the king may have been strongly influenced by the fact that Babylonia
was at the time suffering from severe depression caused by a series of
poor harvests. Merodach, according to the priests, was angry; it was
probably argued that he was punishing the people because they had not
thrown off the yoke of Assyria.
The temple treasures of Babylon were freely drawn upon to purchase the
allegiance of allies. Ere Ashur-bani-pal had any knowledge of the
conspiracy his brother had won over several governors in Babylonia,
the Chaldaeans, Aramaeans and Elamites, and many petty kings in
Palestine and Syria: even Egypt and Libya were prepared to help him.
When, however, the faithful governor of Ur was approached, he
communicated with his superior at Erech, who promptly informed
Ashur-bani-pal of the great conspiracy. The intelligence reached
Nineveh like a bolt from the blue. The emperor's heart was filled with
sorrow and anguish. In after-time he lamented in an inscription that
his "faithless brother" forgot the favours he had shown him.
"Outwardly with his lips he spoke friendly things, while inwardly his
heart plotted murder."
In 652 B.C. Shamash-shum-ukin precipitated the crisis by forbidding
Ashur-bani-pal to make offerings to the gods in the cities of
Babylonia. He thus declared his independence.
War broke out simultaneously. Ur and Erech were besieged and captured
by the Chaldaeans, and an Elamite army marched to the aid of the King
of Babylon, but it was withdrawn before long on account of the
unsettled political conditions at home. The Assyrian armies swept
through Babylonia, and the Chaldeans in the south were completely
subjugated before Babylon was captured. That great commercial
metropolis was closely besieged for three years, and was starved into
submission. When the Assyrians were entering the city gates a
sensational happening occurred. Shamash-shum-ukin, the rebel king,
shut himself up in his palace and set fire to it, and perished there
amidst the flames with his wife and children, his slaves and all his
treasures. Ashur-bani-pal was in 647 B.C. proclaimed King
Kandalanu[549] of Babylon, and reigned over it until his death in 626
B.C.
Elam was severely dealt with. That unhappy country was terribly
devastated by Assyrian troops, who besieged and captured Susa, which
was pillaged and wrecked. It was recorded afterwards as a great
triumph of this campaign that the statue of Nana of Erech, which had
been carried off by Elamites 1635 years previously, was recovered and
restored to the ancient Sumerian city. Elam's power of resistance was
finally extinguished, and the country fell a ready prey to the Medes
and Persians, who soon entered into possession of it. Thus, by
destroying a buffer State, Ashur-bani-pal strengthened the hands of
the people who were destined twenty years after his death to destroy
the Empire of Assyria.
The western allies of Babylon were also dealt with, and it may be that
at this time Manasseh of Judah was taken to Babylon (_2 Chronicles_,
xxxiii, II), where, however, he was forgiven. The Medes and the Mannai
in the north-west were visited and subdued, and a new alliance was
formed with the dying State of Urartu.
Psamtik of Egypt had thrown off the yoke of Assyria, and with the
assistance of Carian mercenaries received from his ally, Gyges, king
of Lydia, extended his sway southward. He made peace with Ethiopia by
marrying a princess of its royal line. Gyges must have weakened his
army by thus assisting Psamtik, for he was severely defeated and slain
by the Cimmerians. His son, Ardys, appealed to Assyria for help.
Ashur-bani-pal dispatched an army to Cilicia. The joint operations of
Assyria and Lydia resulted in the extinction of the kingdom of the
Cimmerians about 645 B.C.
The records of Ashur-bani-pal cease after 640 B.C., so that we are
unable to follow the events of his reign during its last fourteen
years. Apparently peace prevailed everywhere. The great monarch, who
was a pronounced adherent of the goddess cults, appears to have given
himself up to a life of indulgence and inactivity. Under the name
Sardanapalus he went down to tradition as a sensual Oriental monarch
who lived in great pomp and luxury, and perished in his burning palace
when the Medes revolted against him. It is evident, however, that the
memory of more than one monarch contributed to the Sardanapalus
legend, for Ashur-bani-pal had lain nearly twenty years in his grave
before the siege of Nineveh took place.
In the Bible he is referred to as "the great and noble Asnapper", and
he appears to have been the emperor who settled the Babylonian,
Elamite, and other colonists "in the cities of Samaria".[550]
He erected at Nineveh a magnificent palace, which was decorated on a
lavish scale. The sculptures are the finest productions of Assyrian
art, and embrace a wide variety of subjects--battle scenes, hunting
scenes, and elaborate Court and temple ceremonies. Realism is combined
with a delicacy of touch and a degree of originality which raises the
artistic productions of the period to the front rank among the
artistic triumphs of antiquity.
Ashur-bani-pal boasted of the thorough education which he had received
from the tutors of his illustrious father, Esarhaddon. In his palace
he kept a magnificent library. It contained thousands of clay tablets
on which were inscribed and translated the classics of Babylonia. To
the scholarly zeal of this cultured monarch is due the preservation of
the Babylonian story of creation, the Gilgamesh and Etana legends, and
other literary and religious products of remote antiquity. Most of the
literary tablets in the British Museum were taken from
Ashur-bani-pal's library.
There are no Assyrian records of the reigns of Ashur-bani-pal's two
sons, Ashur-etil-ilani--who erected a small palace and reconstructed
the temple to Nebo at Kalkhi--and Sin-shar-ishkun, who is supposed to
have perished in Nineveh. Apparently Ashur-etil-ilani reigned for at
least six years, and was succeeded by his brother.
A year after Ashur-bani-pal died, Nabopolassar, who was probably a
Chaldaean, was proclaimed king at Babylon. According to Babylonian
legend he was an Assyrian general who had been sent southward with an
army to oppose the advance of invaders from the sea. Nabopolassar's
sway at first was confined to Babylon and Borsippa, but he
strengthened himself by forming an offensive and defensive alliance
with the Median king, whose daughter he had married to his son
Nebuchadrezzar. He strengthened the fortifications of Babylon, rebuilt
the temple of Merodach, which had been destroyed by Ashur-bani-pal,
and waged war successfully against the Assyrians and their allies in
Mesopotamia.
About 606 B.C. Nineveh fell, and Sin-shar-ishkun may have burned
himself there in his palace, like his uncle, Shamash-shum-ukin of
Babylon, and the legendary Sardanapalus. It is not certain, however,
whether the Scythians or the Medes were the successful besiegers of
the great Assyrian capital. "Woe to the bloody city! it is all full of
lies and robbery", Nahum had cried. "... The gates of the rivers shall
be opened, and the palace shall be dissolved.... Take ye the spoil of
silver, take the spoil of gold.... Behold, I am against thee, saith
the Lord of hosts[551]."
According to Herodotus, an army of Medes under Cyaxares had defeated
the Assyrians and were besieging Nineveh when the Scythians overran
Media. Cyaxares raised the siege and went against them, but was
defeated. Then the Scythians swept across Assyria and Mesopotamia, and
penetrated to the Delta frontier of Egypt. Psamtik ransomed his
kingdom with handsome gifts. At length, however, Cyaxares had the
Scythian leaders slain at a banquet, and then besieged and captured
Nineveh.
Assyria was completely overthrown. Those of its nobles and priests who
escaped the sword no doubt escaped to Babylonia. Some may have found
refuge also in Palestine and Egypt.
Necho, the second Pharaoh of the Twenty-sixth Egyptian Dynasty, did
not hesitate to take advantage of Assyria's fall. In 609 B.C. he
proceeded to recover the long-lost Asiatic possessions of Egypt, and
operated with an army and fleet. Gaza and Askalon were captured.
Josiah, the grandson of Manasseh, was King of Judah. "In his days
Pharaoh-nechoh king of Egypt went up against the king of Assyria to
the river Euphrates: and king Josiah went against him; and he (Necho)
slew him at Megiddo."[552] His son, Jehoahaz, succeeded him, but was
deposed three months later by Necho, who placed another son of Josiah,
named Eliakim, on the throne, "and turned his name to Jehoiakim".[553]
The people were heavily taxed to pay tribute to the Pharaoh.
When Necho pushed northward towards the Euphrates he was met by a
Babylonian army under command of Prince Nebuchadrezzar.[554] The
Egyptians were routed at Carchemish in 605 B.C. (_Jeremiah,_ xvi, 2).
In 604 B.C. Nabopolassar died, and the famous Nebuchadrezzar II
ascended the throne of Babylon. He lived to be one of its greatest
kings, and reigned for over forty years. It was he who built the city
described by Herodotus (pp. 219 _et seq._), and constructed its outer
wall, which enclosed so large an area that no army could invest it.
Merodach's temple was decorated with greater magnificence than ever
before. The great palace and hanging gardens were erected by this
mighty monarch, who no doubt attracted to the city large numbers of
the skilled artisans who had fled from Nineveh. He also restored
temples at other cities, and made generous gifts to the priests.
Captives were drafted into Babylonia from various lands, and employed
cleaning out the canals and as farm labourers.
The trade and industries of Babylon flourished greatly, and
Nebuchadrezzar's soldiers took speedy vengeance on roving bands which
infested the caravan roads. "The king of Egypt", after his crushing
defeat at Carchemish, "came not again any more out of his land: for
the king of Babylon had taken from the river of Egypt unto the river
Euphrates all that pertained to the king of Egypt."[555] Jehoiakim of
Judah remained faithful to Necho until he was made a prisoner by
Nebuchadrezzar, who "bound him in fetters to carry him to
Babylon".[556] He was afterwards sent back to Jerusalem. "And
Jehoiakim became his (Nebuchadrezzar's) servant three years: then he
turned and rebelled against him."[557]
Bands of Chaldaeans, Syrians, Moabites, and Ammonites were harassing
the frontiers of Judah, and it seemed to the king as if the Babylonian
power had collapsed. Nebuchadrezzar hastened westward and scattered
the raiders before him. Jehoiakim died, and his son Jehoiachan, a
youth of eighteen years, succeeded him. Nebuchadrezzar laid siege to
Jerusalem, and the young king submitted to him and was carried off to
Babylon, with "all the princes, and all the mighty men of valour, even
ten thousand captives, and all the craftsmen and smiths: none remained
save the poorest sort of the people of the land".[558] Nebuchadrezzar
had need of warriors and workmen.
Zedekiah was placed on the throne of Judah as an Assyrian vassal. He
remained faithful for a few years, but at length began to conspire
with Tyre and Sidon, Moab, Edom, and Ammon in favour of Egyptian
suzerainty. Pharaoh Hophra (Apries), the fourth king of the
Twenty-sixth Dynasty, took active steps to assist the conspirators,
and "Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon[559]".
Nebuchadrezzar led a strong army through Mesopotamia, and divided it
at Riblah, on the Orontes River. One part of it descended upon Judah
and captured Lachish and Azekah. Jerusalem was able to hold out for
about eighteen months. Then "the famine was sore in the city, so that
there was no bread for the people of the land. Then the city was
broken up, and all the men of war fled, and went forth out of the city
by night by way of the gate between the two walls, which was by the
king's garden." Zedekiah attempted to escape, but was captured and
carried before Nebuchadrezzar, who was at Riblah, in the land of
Hamath.
And the king of Babylon slew the sons of Zedekiah before his
eyes.... Then he put out the eyes of Zedekiah; and the king of
Babylon bound him in chains and carried him to Babylon and put him
in prison till the day of his death[560].
The majority of the Jews were deported to Babylonia, where they were
employed as farm labourers. Some rose to occupy important official
positions. A remnant escaped to Egypt with Jeremiah.
Jerusalem was plundered and desolated. The Assyrians "burned the house
of the Lord and the king's house, and all the houses of Jerusalem",
and "brake down all the walls of Jerusalem round about". Jeremiah
lamented:
How doth the city sit solitary, that was full of people! how is
she become as a widow! she that was great among the nations, and
princess among the provinces, how is she become tributary! She
weepeth sore in the night, and her tears are on her cheeks: among
all her lovers she hath none to comfort her: all her friends have
dealt treacherously with her, they are become her enemies. Judah
is gone into captivity because of affliction, and because of great
servitude: she dwelleth among the heathen, she findeth no rest:
all her persecutors overtook her between the straits.... Jerusalem
remembered in the days of her affliction and of her miseries all
her pleasant things that she had in the days of old....[561]
Tyre was besieged, but was not captured. Its king, however, arranged
terms of peace with Nebuchadrezzar.
Amel-Marduk, the "Evil Merodach" of the Bible, the next king of
Babylon, reigned for a little over two years. He released Jehoiachin
from prison, and allowed him to live in the royal palace.[562] Berosus
relates that Amel-Marduk lived a dissipated life, and was slain by his
brother-in-law, Nergal-shar-utsur, who reigned two years (559-6 B.C.).
Labashi-Marduk, son of Nergal-shar-utsur, followed with a reign of
nine months. He was deposed by the priests. Then a Babylonian prince
named Nabu-na´id (Nabonidus) was set on the throne. He was the last
independent king of Babylonia. His son Belshazzar appears to have
acted as regent during the latter part of the reign.
Nabonidus engaged himself actively during his reign (556-540 B.C.) in
restoring temples. He entirely reconstructed the house of Shamash, the
sun god, at Sippar, and, towards the end of his reign, the house of
Sin, the moon god, at Haran. The latter building had been destroyed by
the Medes.
The religious innovations of Nabonidus made him exceedingly unpopular
throughout Babylonia, for he carried away the gods of Ur, Erech,
Larsa, and Eridu, and had them placed in E-sagila. Merodach and his
priests were displeased: the prestige of the great god was threatened
by the policy adopted by Nabonidus. As an inscription composed after
the fall of Babylon sets forth; Merodach "gazed over the surrounding
lands ... looking for a righteous prince, one after his own heart, who
should take his hands.... He called by name Cyrus."
Cyrus was a petty king of the shrunken Elamite province of Anshan,
which had been conquered by the Persians. He claimed to be an
Achaemenian--that is a descendant of the semi-mythical Akhamanish (the
Achaemenes of the Greeks), a Persian patriarch who resembled the
Aryo-Indian Manu and the Germanic Mannus. Akhamanish was reputed to
have been fed and protected in childhood by an eagle--the sacred eagle
which cast its shadow on born rulers. Probably this eagle was remotely
Totemic, and the Achaemenians were descendants of an ancient eagle
tribe. Gilgamesh was protected by an eagle, as we have seen, as the
Aryo-Indian Shakuntala was by vultures and Semiramis by doves. The
legends regarding the birth and boyhood of Cyrus resemble those
related regarding Sargon of Akkad and the Indian Karna and Krishna.
Cyrus acknowledged as his overlord Astyages, king of the Medes. He
revolted against Astyages, whom he defeated and took prisoner.
Thereafter he was proclaimed King of the Medes and Persians, who were
kindred peoples of Indo-European speech. The father of Astyages was
Cyaxares, the ally of Nabopolassar of Babylon. When this powerful king
captured Nineveh he entered into possession of the northern part of
the Assyrian Empire, which extended westward into Asia Minor to the
frontier of the Lydian kingdom; he also possessed himself of Urartu
(Armenia). Lydia had, after the collapse of the Cimmerian power,
absorbed Phrygia, and its ambitious king, Alyattes, waged war against
the Medes. At length, owing to the good offices of Nebuchadrezzar of
Babylon and Syennesis of Cilicia, the Medes and Lydians made peace in
585 B.C. Astyages then married a daughter of the Lydian ruler.
When Cyrus overthrew Cyaxares, king of the Medes, Croesus, king of
Lydia, formed an alliance against him with Amasis, king of Egypt, and
Nabonidus, king of Babylon. The latter was at first friendly to Cyrus,
who had attacked Cyaxares when he was advancing on Babylon to dispute
Nabonidus's claim to the throne, and perhaps to win it for a
descendant of Nebuchadrezzar, his father's ally. It was after the fall
of the Median Dynasty that Nabonidus undertook the restoration of the
moon god's temple at Haran.
Cyrus advanced westward against Croesus of Lydia before that monarch
could receive assistance from the intriguing but pleasure-loving
Amasis of Egypt; he defeated and overthrew him, and seized his kingdom
(547-546 B.C.). Then, having established himself as supreme ruler in
Asia Minor, he began to operate against Babylonia. In 539 B.C.
Belshazzar was defeated near Opis. Sippar fell soon afterwards.
Cyrus's general, Gobryas, then advanced upon Babylon, where Belshazzar
deemed himself safe. One night, in the month of Tammuz--
Belshazzar the king made a great feast to a thousand of his
lords, and drank wine before the thousand. Belshazzar, whiles he
tasted the wine, commanded to bring the golden and silver vessels
which his father Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of the temple which
was in Jerusalem; that the king, and his princes, his wives, and
his concubines, might drink therein.... They drank wine, and
praised the gods of gold, and of silver, of brass, of iron, of
wood, and of stone.... In that night was Belshazzar the king of
the Chaldeans slain.[563]
On the 16th of Tammuz the investing army under Gobryas entered
Babylon, the gates having been opened by friends within the city. Some
think that the Jews favoured the cause of Cyrus. It is quite as
possible, however, that the priests of Merodach had a secret
understanding with the great Achaemenian, the "King of kings".
A few days afterwards Cyrus arrived at Babylon. Belshazzar had been
slain, but Nabonidus still lived, and he was deported to Carmania.
Perfect order prevailed throughout the city, which was firmly policed
by the Persian soldiers, and there was no looting. Cyrus was welcomed
as a deliverer by the priesthood. He "took the hands" of Bel Merodach
at E-sagila, and was proclaimed "King of the world, King of Babylon,
King of Sumer and Akkad, and King of the Four Quarters".
Cyrus appointed his son Cambyses as governor of Babylon. Although a
worshipper of Ahura-Mazda and Mithra, Cambyses appears to have
conciliated the priesthood. When he became king, and swept through
Egypt, he was remembered as the madman who in a fit of passion slew a
sacred Apis bull. It is possible, however, that he performed what he
considered to be a pious act: he may have sacrificed the bull to
Mithra.
The Jews also welcomed Cyrus. They yearned for their native land.
By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when
we remembered Zion. We hanged our harps upon the willows in the
midst thereof. For there they that carried us away captive
required of us a song; and they that wasted us required of us
mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion. How shall we sing
the Lord's song in a strange land? If I forget thee, O Jerusalem,
let my right hand forget her cunning. If I do not remember thee,
let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth; if I prefer not
Jerusalem above my chief joy.[564]
Cyrus heard with compassion the cry of the captives.
Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of
the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord
stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, that he made a
proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in
writing, saying, Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia, The Lord God of
heaven hath given me all kingdoms of the earth; and he hath
charged me to build him an house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah.
Who is there among you of all his people? his God be with him, and
let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and build the house
of the Lord God of Israel (he is the God) which is in
Jerusalem.[565]
In 538 B.C. the first party of Jews who were set free saw through
tears the hills of home, and hastened their steps to reach Mount Zion.
Fifty years later Ezra led back another party of the faithful. The
work of restoring Jerusalem was undertaken by Nehemiah in 445 B.C.
The trade of Babylon flourished under the Persians, and the influence
of its culture spread far and wide. Persian religion was infused with
new doctrines, and their deities were given stellar attributes.
Ahura-Mazda became identified with Bel Merodach, as, perhaps, he had
previously been with Ashur, and the goddess Anahita absorbed the
attributes of Nina, Ishtar, Zerpanituᵐ, and other Babylonian "mother
deities".
Another "Semiramis" came into prominence. This was the wife and sister
of Cambyses. After Cambyses died she married Darius I, who, like
Cyrus, claimed to be an Achaemenian. He had to overthrow a pretender,
but submitted to the demands of the orthodox Persian party to purify
the Ahura-Mazda religion of its Babylonian innovations. Frequent
revolts in Babylon had afterwards to be suppressed. The Merodach
priesthood apparently suffered loss of prestige at Court. According to
Herodotus, Darius plotted to carry away from E-sagila a great statue
of Bel "twelve cubits high and entirely of solid gold". He, however,
was afraid "to lay his hands upon it". Xerxes, son of Darius (485-465
B.C.), punished Babylon for revolting, when intelligence reached them
of his disasters in Greece, by pillaging and partly destroying the
temple. "He killed the priest who forbade him to move the statue, and
took it away."[566] The city lost its vassal king, and was put under
the control of a governor. It, however, regained some of its ancient
glory after the burning of Susa palace, for the later Persian monarchs
resided in it. Darius II died at Babylon, and Artaxerxes II promoted
in the city the worship of Anaitis.
When Darius III, the last Persian emperor, was overthrown by Alexander
the Great in 331 B.C., Babylon welcomed the Macedonian conqueror as it
had welcomed Cyrus. Alexander was impressed by the wisdom and
accomplishments of the astrologers and priests, who had become known
as "Chaldaeans", and added Bel Merodach to his extraordinary pantheon,
which already included Amon of Egypt, Melkarth, and Jehovah. Impressed
by the antiquity and magnificence of Babylon, he resolved to make it
the capital of his world-wide empire, and there he received
ambassadors from countries as far east as India and as far west as
Gaul.
The canals of Babylonia were surveyed, and building operations on a
vast scale planned out. No fewer than ten thousand men were engaged
working for two months reconstructing and decorating the temple of
Merodach, which towered to a height of 607 feet. It looked as if
Babylon were about to rise to a position of splendour unequalled in
its history, when Alexander fell sick, after attending a banquet, and
died on an evening of golden splendour sometime in June of 323 B.C.
One can imagine the feelings of the Babylonian priests and astrologers
as they spent the last few nights of the emperor's life reading "the
omens of the air"--taking note of wind and shadow, moon and stars and
planets, seeking for a sign, but unable to discover one favourable.
Their hopes of Babylonian glory were suspended in the balance, and
they perished completely when the young emperor passed away in the
thirty-third year of his life. For four days and four nights the
citizens mourned in silence for Alexander and for Babylon.
The ancient city fell into decay under the empire of the Seleucidae.
Seleucus I had been governor of Babylon, and after the break-up of
Alexander's empire he returned to the ancient metropolis as a
conqueror. "None of the persons who succeeded Alexander", Strabo
wrote, "attended to the undertaking at Babylon"--the reconstruction of
Merodach's temple. "Other works were neglected, and the city was
dilapidated partly by the Persians and partly by time and through the
indifference of the Greeks, particularly after Seleucus Nicator
fortified Seleukeia on the Tigris."[567]
Seleucus drafted to the city which bore his name the great bulk of the
inhabitants of Babylon. The remnant which was left behind continued to
worship Merodach and other gods after the walls had crumbled and the
great temple began to tumble down. Babylon died slowly, but at length
the words of the Hebrew prophet were fulfilled:
The cormorant and the bittern shall possess it; the owl also and
the raven shall dwell in it.... They shall call the nobles thereof
to the kingdom, but none shall be there, and all her princes shall
be nothing. And thorns shall come up in her palaces, nettles and
brambles in the fortresses thereof: and it shall be an habitation
of dragons, and a court for owls. The wild beasts of the desert
shall also meet with the wild beasts of the island, and the satyr
shall cry to his fellow: the screech owl also shall rest there,
and find for herself a place of rest.[568]
FOOTNOTES
[1] _Life of Apollonius of Tyana_, i, 20.
[2] _Egyptian Tales_ (Second Series), W.M. Flinders Petrie, pp. 98 _et
seq._
[3] _Revelation_, xviii. The Babylon of the Apocalypse is generally
believed to symbolize or be a mystic designation of Rome.
[4] _Nineveh and Its Remains_, vol. i, p. 17.
[5] _Ezra_, iv, 10.
[6] The culture god.
[7] Langdon's _Sumerian and Babylonian Psalms_, p. 179.
[8] _Crete the Forerunner of Greece_, p. 18.
[9] _The Scapegoat vol._, p. 409 (3rd edition).
[10] _The Seven Tablets of Creation_, L. W. King, p. 129.
[11] _Ibid_, pp. 133-4.
[12] _The Races of Europe_, W.Z. Ripley, p. 203.
[13] _The Ancient Egyptians_, by Elliot Smith, p. 41 _et seq._
[14] _The Ancient Egyptians_, p. 140.
[15] _Crete the Forerunner of Greece_, C. H. and H. B. Hawes, 1911, p.
23 _et seq._
[16] _The Races of Europe_, W. Z. Ripley, p. 443 _et seq._
[17] _The Ancient Egyptians_, pp. 144-5.
[18] _The Ancient Egyptians_, p. 114.
[19] _The Ancient Egyptians_, p. 136.
[20] _A History of Palestine_, R.A.S. Macalister, pp. 8-16.
[21] _The Mediterranean Race_ (1901 trans.), G. Sergi, p. 146 _et seq._
[22] _The Ancient Egyptians_, p. 130.
[23] _A History of Civilization in Palestine, p. 20 et seq._
[24] _Joshua_, xi. 21.
[25] _Genesis_, xxiii.
[26] _Genesis_, xvi. 8, 9.
[27] _1 Kings_, xvi. 16.
[28] _2 Kings_, xviii, 32.
[29] _Herodotus_, i, 193.
[30] Peter's _Nippur_, i, p. 160.
[31] A Babylonian priest of Bel Merodach. In the third century a.c. he
composed in Greek a history of his native land, which has perished.
Extracts from it are given by Eusebius, Josephus, Apollodorus, and
others.
[32] _Indian Myth and Legend_, pp. 140, 141.
[33] _The Religion of the Semites_, pp. 159, 160.
[34] _Religion of Babylonia and Assyria_, M. Jastrow, p. 88.
[35] _The Seven Tablets of Creation_, L.W. King, vol. i, p. 129.
[36] _Religious Belief in Babylonia and Assyria_, M. Jastrow, p. 88.
[37] _Cosmology of the Rigveda,_ Wallis, and _Indian Myth and Legend_,
p. 10.
[38] _The Old Testament in the Light of the Historical Records and
Legends of Assyria and Babylonia_, T.G. Pinches, pp. 59-61.
[39] _The Religion of Babylonia and Assyria_, T.G. Pinches, pp. 91, 92.
[40] _Joshua_, xv, 41; xix, 27.
[41] _Judges_, xvi, 14.
[42] _I Sam_., v, 1-9.
[43] _I Sam_., vi, 5.
[44] _The Devils and Evil Spirits of Babylonia_, R. Campbell Thompson,
London, 1903, vol. i, p. xlii.
[45] _The Devils and Evil Spirits of Babylonia_, R. C. Thompson, vol. i,
p. xliii.
[46] _A History of Sumer and Akkad_, L. W. King, p. 54.
[47] _The Gods of the Egyptians_, E. Wallis Budge, vol. i, p. 290.
[48] _The Gods of the Egyptians_, vol. i, p. 287.
[49] _The Devils and Evil Spirits of Babylonia_, vol. i, _Intro_. See
also Sayce's _The Religion of Ancient Egypt and Babylonia_ (Gifford
Lectures, 1902), p. 385, and Pinches' _The Old Testament in the Light of
Historical Records_, &c., p. 71.
[50] _Indian Myth and Legend_, p. 100.
[51] Maspero's _Dawn of Civilization_, p. 156 _et seq._
[52] _Egyptian Myth and Legend_, p. I _et seq._ The saliva of the frail
and elderly was injurious.
[53] _Osiris and the Egyptian Resurrection_, E. Wallis Budge, vol. ii,
p. 203 _et seq._
[54] _Brana's Popular Antiquities_, vol. iii, pp. 259-263 (1889 ed.).
[55] _The Religion of the Semites_, pp. 158, 159.
[56] _Castes and Tribes of Southern India_, E. Thurston, iv, 187.
[57] _Omens and Superstitions of Southern India_, E. Thurston (1912),
pp. 245, 246.
[58] Pausanias, ii, 24, 1.
[59] _Devils and Evil Spirits of Babylonia_, R.C. Thompson, vol. ii,
tablet Y.
[60] _Animism_, E. Clodd, p. 37.
[61] _2 Kings_, xvi, 3.
[62] _Ezekiel_, xx, 31.
[63] _Leviticus_, xviii, 21.
[64] _Indian Myth and Legend_, p. 65.
[65] _Religious Belief in Babylonia and Assyria_, M. Jastrow, pp. 312,
313.
[66] _The Religion of Babylonia and Assyria_, T.G. Pinches, p. 81.
[67] In early times two goddesses searched for Tammuz at different
periods.
[68] _Indian Myth and Legend_, p. 30.
[69] _Early Religious Poetry of Persia_, p. 35.
[70] _Early Religious Poetry of Persia_, p. 37.
[71] _The Golden Bough_ (Spirits of the Corn and Wild, vol. ii, p. 10),
3rd edition.
[72] _Indian Wisdom_, Sir Monier Monier-Williams.
[73] _A History of Sanskrit Literature_, Professor Macdonell.
[74] _Religious Belief and Practice in Babylonia and Assyria_, M.
Jastrow, pp. 111, 112.
[75] _Indian Myth and Legend_, pp. xxxii, and 38 _et seq._
[76] _The Religion of Babylonia and Assyria_, T.G. Pinches, p. 94.
[77] _The Religion of Ancient Greece_, J.E. Harrison, p. 46, and Isoc.
_Orat._, v, 117
[78] _The Acts_, xvii, 22-31.
[79] _Devils and Evil Spirits of Babylonia_, vol. ii, p. 149 _et seq._
[80] _Egyptian Myth and Legend_, xxxix, _n._
[81] _Development of Religion and Thought in Ancient Egypt_, J.H.
Breasted, pp. 38, 74.
[82] _Custom and Myth_, p. 45 _et seq._
[83] _The Religion of Babylonia and Assyria_, p. 108.
[84] Act iv, scene 1.
[85] _Paradise Lost_, book ix.
[86] Chapman's _Caesar and Pompey_.
[87] _Natural History_, 2nd book.
[88] _Indian Myth and Legend_, 70, n.
[89] _Indian Myth and Legend_, pp. 202-5, 400, 401.
[90] _Teutonic Myth and Legend_, p. 424 et seq.
[91] _Indian Myth and Legend_, p. 164 et seq.
[92] _Popular Religion and Folk Lore of Northern India_, W. Crooke, vol.
i, p. 254.
[93] When a person, young or old, is dying, near relatives must not call
out their names in case the soul may come back from the spirit world. A
similar belief still lingers, especially among women, in the Lowlands.
The writer was once present in a room when a child was supposed to be
dying. Suddenly the mother called out the child's name in agonized
voice. It revived soon afterwards. Two old women who had attempted to
prevent "the calling" shook their heads and remarked: "She has done it!
The child will never do any good in this world after being called back."
In England and Ireland, as well as in Scotland, the belief also prevails
in certain localities that if a dying person is "called back" the soul
will tarry for another twenty-four hours, during which the individual
will suffer great agony.
[94] _A Journey in Southern Siberia_, Jeremiah Curtin, pp. 103, 104.
[95] Vol. i, p. 305.
[96] _Adi Parva_ section of _Mahàbhàrata_, Roy's trans., p. 635.
[97] Jastrow's _Aspects of Religious Belief in Babylonia_, &c., p. 312.
[98] R.C. Thompson's trans.
[99] _The Elder or Poetic Edda_, Olive Bray, part i, p. 53.
[100] _Babylonian Religion_, L.W. King, pp. 186-8.
[101] _The Devils and Evil Spirits of Babylonia_, R. Campbell Thompson,
vol. i, p. 53 et seq.
[102] _Omens and Superstitions of Southern India_, E. Thurston, p. 124.
[103] _The Religion of Babylonia and Assyria_, p. 110.
[104] _Beowulf_, Clark Hall, p. 14.
[105] _Ezekiel_, viii.
[106] _Psalms_, cxxvi.
[107] _The Burden of Isis_, J.T. Dennis _(Wisdom of the East_ series),
pp. 21, 22.
[108] _Religion of the Semites_, pp. 412, 414.
[109] _Egyptian Myth and Legend_, pp. 45 et seq.
[110] Langdon's _Sumerian and Babylonian Psalms_, pp. 319-321.
[111] Campbell's _West Highland Tales_, vol. iii, p. 74.
[112] _West Highland Tales_, vol. iii, pp. 85, 86.
[113] If Finn and his band were really militiamen--the original
Fenians--as is believed in Ireland, they may have had attached to their
memories the legends of archaic Iberian deities who differed from the
Celtic Danann deities. Theodoric the Goth, as Dietrich von Bern, was
identified, for instance, with Donar or Thunor (Thor), the thunder god.
In Scotland Finn and his followers are all giants. Diarmid is the
patriarch of the Campbell clan, the MacDiarmids being "sons of Diarmid".
[114] Isaiah condemns a magical custom connected with the worship of
Tammuz in the garden, _Isaiah_, xvii, 9, 11. This "Garden of Adonis" is
dealt with in the next chapter.
[115] Quotations are from _Sumerian and Babylonian Psalms_, translated
by Stephen Langdon, Ph.D. (Paris and London, 1909), pp. 299-341.
[116] _Beowulf_, translated by J.R. Clark Hall (London, 1911), pp. 9-11.
[117] For Frey's connection with the Ynglings see Morris and Magnusson's
_Heimskringla_ (_Saga Library_, vol. iii, pp. 23-71.
[118] _The Religion of Babylonia and Assyria_, p. 72.
[119] Langdon's _Sumerian and Babylonian Psalms_, pp. 325, 339.
[120] Professor Oldenberg's translation.
[121] Osiris is also invoked to "remove storms and rain and give
fecundity in the nighttime". As a spring sun god he slays demons; as a
lunar god he brings fertility.
[122] Like the love-compelling girdle of Aphrodite.
[123] A wedding bracelet of crystal is worn by Hindu women; they break
it when the husband dies.
[124] Quotations from the translation in _The Chaldean Account of
Genesis_, by George Smith.
[125] Langdon's _Sumerian and Babylonian Psalms_, p. 329 _et seq._
[126] _The Burden of Isis_, translated by J.T. Dennis (_Wisdom of the
East_ series), pp. 24, 31, 32, 39, 45, 46, 49.
[127] _The Burden of Isis_, pp. 22, 46.
[128] _Aspects of Religious Belief and Practice in Babylonia and
Assyria_, p. 137, and _Herodotus_, book i, 199.
[129] _The Burden of Isis_, p. 47.
[130] _Original Sanskrit Texts_, J. Muir, London, 1890, vol. i, p. 67.
[131] _Original Sanskrit Texts_, vol. i, p. 44.
[132] _Adi Parva_ section of _Mahàbhàrata_ (Roy's translation), pp. 553,
555.
[133] _Ancient Irish Poetry_, Kuno Meyer (London, 1911), pp. 88-90.
[134] Translations from _The Elder Edda_, by O. Bray (part i), London,
1908.
[135] _Babylonian Religion_, L.W. King, pp. 160, 161.
[136] Tennyson's _A Dream of Fair Women._
[137] _Greece and Babylon_, L.R. Farnell (Edinburgh, 1911), p. 35.
[138] The goddesses did not become prominent until the "late invasion"
of the post-Vedic Aryans.
[139] _Greece and Babylon_, p. 96.
[140] _Jeremiah_, xliv.
[141] _Jeremiah, vii, 18._
[142] _Aspects of Religious Belief and Practice in Babylonia and
Assyria_, pp. 348, 349.
[143] _Jeremiah, vii, 17._
[144] _Nehemiah_, i, 1.
[145] _Esther_, i, 6.
[146] _Isaiah_, xiii, 19-22.
[147] _Indian Myth and Legend_, pp. 173-175 and 192-194.
[148] Or Rimush.
[149] _Genesis_, xiv.
[150] That is, the equivalent of Babylonia. During the Kassite period
the name was Karduniash.
[151] The narrative follows _The Seven Tablets of Creation_ and other
fragments, while the account given by Berosus is also drawn upon.
[152] The elder Bel was Enlil of Nippur and the younger Merodach of
Babylon. According to Damascius the elder Bel came into existence before
Ea, who as Enki shared his attributes.
[153] This is the inference drawn from fragmentary texts.
[154] A large portion of the narrative is awaiting here.
[155] A title of Tiamat; pron. _ch_ guttural.
[156] There is another gap here which interrupts the narrative.
[157] This may refer to Ea's first visit when he overcame Kingu, but did
not attack Tiamat.
[158] The lightning trident or thunderstone.
[159] The authorities are not agreed as to the meaning of "Ku-pu."
Jensen suggests "trunk, body". In European dragon stories the heroes of
the Siegfried order roast and eat the dragon's heart. Then they are
inspired with the dragon's wisdom and cunning. Sigurd and Siegfried
immediately acquire the language of birds. The birds are the "Fates",
and direct the heroes what next they should do. Apparently Merodach's
"cunning plan" was inspired after he had eaten a part of the body of
Tiamat.
[160] The waters above the firmament.
[161] According to Berosus.
[162] This portion is fragmentary and seems to indicate that the
Babylonians had made considerable progress in the science of astronomy.
It is suggested that they knew that the moon derived its light from the
sun.
[163] _The Seven Tablets of Creation_, L.W. King, pp. 134, 135.
[164] _The Religion of Babylonia and Assyria_, T.G. Pinches, p. 43.
[165] _The Seven Tablets of Creation_, L. W. King, vol. i, pp. 98, 99.
[166] _Trans. Soc. Bib. Arch_., iv, 251-2.
[167] Shakespeare's _Julius Caesar_, i, 3, 8.
[168] _Isaiah_, li, 8.
[169] Campbell's _West Highland Tales_, pp. 136 _et seq._
[170] _The Life and Exploits of Alexander the Great_, E. A. Wallis
Budge, pp. 284, 285.
[171] Campbell's _West Highland Tales_.
[172] _Nehemiah_, ii, 13.
[173] _The Tempest_, i, 2, 212.
[174] _Waifs and Strays of Celtic Tradition_, vol. iv, p. 176 et seq.
[175] From unpublished folk tale.
[176] _Beowulf_, translated by Clark Hall, London, 1911, p. 18 et seq.
[177] _Beowulf_, translated by Clark Hall, London, 1911, p. 69, lines
1280-1287.
[178] _Egyptian Myth and Legend_, pp. 260, 261.
[179] _Egyptian Myth and Legend_, pp. 8, 9.
[180] _Indian Myth and Legend_, pp. xli, 149, 150.
[181] _Isaiah_, li, 9.
[182] _Psalms_, lxxiv, 13, 14. It will be noted that the Semitic dragon,
like the Egyptian, is a male.
[183] _Job_, xxvi, 12, 13.
[184] _Psalms_, lxxxix, 10.
[185] _Isaiah_, xxvii, I.
[186] _Sumerian and Babylonian Psalms_, p. 204.
[187] _Custom and Myth_, pp. 45 et seq.
[188] Translation by Dr. Langdon, pp. 199 _et seq._
[189] _The Religion of Babylonia and Assyria_, T.G. Pinches, pp. 118,
119.
[190] It is suggested that Arthur is derived from the Celtic word for
"bear". If so, the bear may have been the "totem" of the Arthur tribe
represented by the Scottish clan of MacArthurs.
[191] See "Lady in the Straw" beliefs in _Brand's Popular Antiquities_,
vol. ii, 66 _et seq._ (1899 ed.).
[192] Like the Etana "mother eagle" Garuda was a slayer of serpents
(Chapter III).
[193] _Vana Parva_ section of the _Mahábhárata_ (Roy's trans.), p. 818
_et seq._, and _Indian Myth and Legend_, p. 413.
[194] _The Koran_ (with notes from approved commentators), trans. by
George Sale, P-246, _n_.
[195] _The Life and Exploits of Alexander the Great_, E. Wallis Budge
(London, 1896), pp. 277-8, 474-5.
[196] Campbell's _West Highland Tales_, vol. iii, pp. 251-4 (1892 ed.).
[197] _Religion of the Ancient Egyptians_, A. Wiedemann, p. 141.
[198] _Adi Parva_ section of the _Mahàbhàrata_ (Hymn to Garuda), Roy's
trans., p. 88, 89.
[199] Herodian, iv, 2.
[200] The image made by Nebuchadnezzar is of interest in this
connection. He decreed that "whoso falleth not down and worshippeth"
should be burned in the "fiery furnace". The Hebrews, Shadrach, Meshach,
and Abed-nego, were accordingly thrown into the fire, but were delivered
by God. _Daniel_, iii, 1-30.
[201] The Assyrian and Phoenician Hercules is discussed by Raoul
Rochette in _Mémoires de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres_
(Paris, 1848), pp. 178 et seq.
[202] G. Sale's _Koran_, p. 246, n.
[203] In the Eddic poem "Lokasenna" the god Byggvir (Barley) is
addressed by Loki, "Silence, Barleycorn!" _The Elder Edda_, translation
by Olive Bray, pp. 262, 263.
[204] _De Nat. Animal_., xii, 21, ed. Didot, p. 210, quoted by Professor
Budge in _The Life and Exploits of Alexander the Great_, p. 278, n.
[205] _Isaiah_, lvii, 4 and 5.
[206] _The Golden Bough (Adonis, Attis, Osiris_ vol.), "The Gardens of
Adonis", pp. 194 _et seq._ (3rd ed.).
[207] _Daniel_, iv, 33. It is possible that Nebuchadnezzar, as the human
representative of the god of corn and fertility, imitated the god by
living a time in the wilds like Ea-bani.
[208] Pronounce _ch_ guttural.
[209] On a cylinder seal the heroes each wrestle with a bull.
[210] Alexander the Great in the course of his mythical travels reached
a mountain at the world-end. "Its peak reached to the first heaven and
its base to the seventh earth."--_Budge_.
[211] Jastrow's trans., _Aspects of Religious Belief and Practice in
Babylonia and Assyria_, p. 374.
[212] _Development of Religion and Thought in Ancient Egypt_ (1912),
J.H. Breasted, pp. 183-5.
[213] _Ecclesiastes_, ix, 7-9.
[214] Ibid., xii, 13.
[215] Perhaps brooding and undergoing penance like an Indian Rishi with
purpose to obtain spiritual power.
[216] Probably to perform the ceremony of pouring out a libation.
[217] _Saxo_, iii, 71.
[218] Ibid., viii, 291.
[219] _The Elder Edda_, O. Bray, pp. 157 et seq. See also _Teutonic Myth
and Legend_.
[220] _The Life and Exploits of Alexander the Great_, E. Wallis Budge,
pp. xl et seq., 167 et seq.
[221] _The Koran_, trans, by G. Sale, pp. 222, 223 (chap. xviii).
[222] _Vana Parva_ section of the _Mahàbhàrata_ (Roy's trans.), pp.
435-60, and _Indian Myth and Legend_, pp. 105-9.
[223] _Vana Parva_ section of the _Mahàbhàrata_ (Roy's translation), pp.
832, 833.
[224] Ea addresses the hut in which his human favourite, Pir-napishtim,
slept. His message was conveyed to this man in a dream.
[225] The second sentence of Ea's speech is conjectural, as the lines
are mutilated.
[226] _The Muses' Pageant_, W.M.L. Hutchinson, pp. 5 _et seq._
[227] _Indian Myth and Legend_, pp. 107 _et seq._
[228] _Vana Parva_ section of the _Mahábhárata_ (Roy's trans.), p. 425.
[229] _Indian Myth and Legend_, p. 141.
[230] _Book of Leinster_, and Keating's _History of Ireland_, p. 150
(1811 ed.).
[231] _Religion of the Ancient Egyptians_, A. Wiedemann, pp. 58 _et
seq._
[232] Pinches' _The Religion of Babylonia and Assyria_, p. 42.
[233] The problems involved are discussed from different points of view
by Mr. L.W. King in _Babylonian Religion_ (Books on Egypt and Chaldaea,
vol. iv), Professor Pinches in _The Old Testament in the Light of the
Historical Records and Legends of Assyria and Babylonia,_ and other
vols.
[234] _Primitive Constellations_, vol. i, pp. 334-5.
[235] _Indian Myth and Legend_, chap. iii.
[236] Professor Macdonell's translation.
[237] _Indian Wisdom_.
[238] "Varuna, the deity bearing the noose as his weapon", _Sabha Parva_
section of the _Mahábhárata_ (Roy's trans.), p. 29.
[239] _Indian Myth and Legend_, pp. 38-42.
[240] _Early Religious Poetry of Persia_, J.H. Moulton, pp. 41 _et seq._
and 154 _et seq._
[241] _The Elder Edda_, O. Bray, p. 55.
[242] _The Elder Edda_, O. Bray, pp. 291 _et seq._
[243] _Celtic Myth and Legend_, pp. 133 _et seq._
[244] Tennyson's _The Passing of Arthur_.
[245] _Job_, x, 1-22.
[246] _The Elder Edda_, O. Bray, pp. 150-1.
[247] _Indian Myth and Legend_, p. 326.
[248] _The Religion of Ancient Rome_, Cyril Bailey, p. 50.
[249] _The Life and Exploits of Alexander the Great (Ethiopic version of
the Pseudo Callisthenes)_, pp. 133-4. The conversation possibly never
took place, but it is of interest in so far as it reflects beliefs which
were familiar to the author of this ancient work. His Brahmans evidently
believed that immortality was denied to ordinary men, and reserved only
for the king, who was the representative of the deity, of course.
[250] _Aspects of Religious Belief and Practice in Babylonia and
Assyria_, Morris Jastrow, pp. 358-9.
[251] The _Mahàbhàrata_ (_Sabha Parva_ section), Roy's translation, pp.
25-7.
[252] _A History of Sumer and Akkad_, L.W. King, pp. 181-2.
[253] _Genesis_, xxxv, 2-4.
[254] _The Religion of Ancient Egypt_, W.M. Flinders Petrie, p. 72.
[255] _Sabha Parva_ section of the _Mahàbhàrata_ (Roy's trans.), p. 29.
[256] _Egyptian Myth and Legend_, p. 214.
[257] Canto iv:--
[258] _1 Samuel_, xxiii, 9-11.
[259] _1 Kings_, xix, 19 and _2 Kings_, ii, 13-15.
[260] _The Burial Customs of Ancient Egypt_, John Garstang, pp. 28, 29
(London, 1907).
[261] _Herod._, book i, 198.
[262] _Records of the Past_ (old series), xi, pp. 109 et seq., and (new
series), vol. i, pp. 149 et seq.
[263] L.W. King's _The Seven Tablets of Creation_.
[264] _Herodotus_, book i, 179 (Rawlinson's translation).
[265] _Isaiah_, xlv, 1, 2.
[266] _Herodotus_, book i, 181-3 (Rawlinson's translation).
[267] _History of Sumer and Akkad_, L.W. King, p. 37.
[268] _Herodotus_, book i, 196 (Rawlinson's translation).
[269] _Home Life of the Highlanders_ (Dr. Cameron Gillies on _Medical
Knowledge_,) pp. 85 _et seq._ Glasgow, 1911.
[270] Translations by R.C. Thompson in _The Devils and Spirits of
Babylon_, vol. i, pp. lxiii _et seq._
[271] Bridges which lead to graveyards.
[272] _Genesis_, xii and xiii.
[273] _Genesis_, xiv, 13.
[274] _Ibid_., xxiii.
[275] _Ezekiel_, xvi, 3.
[276] _Genesis_, xiv, 1-4.
[277] _Ibid_., 5-24.
[278] _Babylonian and Assyrian Laws, Contracts, and Letters_, C.H.W.
Johns, pp. 392 _et seq._
[279] Translation by Johns in _Babylonian and Assyrian Laws, Contracts,
and Letters_, pp. 390 _et seq._
[280] _Matthew_, ix, 37.
[281] Johns's _Babylonian and Assyrian Laws, &c._, pp. 371-2.
[282] _The Land of the Hittites_, John Garstang, pp. 312 _et seq._ and
315 _et seq._
[283] _The Ancient Egyptian_, pp. 106 _et seq._
[284] _The Ancient Egyptians_, p. 130.
[285] _Struggle of the Nations_ (1896), p. 19.
[286] Note contributed to _The Land of the Hittites_, J. Garstang, p.
324.
[287] _Genesis_, xxvi, 34, 35.
[288] _Ezekiel_, xvi, 45.
[289] _Genesis_, xxvii, 46.
[290] _Genesis_, xxviii, 1, 2.
[291] _Genesis_, xxiv.
[292] _The Syrian Goddess_, John Garstang (London, 1913), pp. 17-8.
[293] _Vedic Index of Names and Subjects_, Macdonald & Keith, vol. i,
pp. 64-5 (London, 1912).
[294] _The Wanderings of Peoples_, p. 21.
[295] Breasted's _History of Egypt_, pp. 219-20.
[296] _A History of Egypt_, W.M. Flinders Petrie, vol. ii, p. 146 _et
seq._ (1904 ed.).
[297] _A History of Egypt_, W.M. Flinders Petrie, vol. ii, p. 147 (1904
ed.).
[298] _The Old Testament in the Light of the Historical Records and
Legends of Assyria and Babylonia,_ pp. 126 _et seq._
[299] His connection with Anu is discussed in chapter xiv.
[300] _Ancient Assyria_, C.H.W. Johns, p. 11 (London, 1912).
[301] _The Tell-el-Amarna Letters_, Hugo Winckler, p. 31.
[302] "It may be worth while to note again", says Beddoe, "how often
finely developed skulls are discovered in the graveyards of old
monasteries, and how likely seems Galton's conjecture, that progress was
arrested in the Middle Ages, because the celibacy of the clergy brought
about the extinction of the best strains of blood." _The Anthropological
History of Europe_, p. 161 (1912).
[303] _Census of India_, vol. I, part i, pp. 352 et seq.
[304] _Hibbert Lectures_, Professor Sayce, p. 328.
[305] _The Story of Nala_, Monier Williams, pp. 68-9 and 77.
[306] "In Ymer's flesh (the earth) the dwarfs were engendered and began
to move and live.... The dwarfs had been bred in the mould of the earth,
just as worms are in a dead body." _The Prose Edda_. "The gods ... took
counsel whom they should make the lord of dwarfs out of Ymer's blood
(the sea) and his swarthy limbs (the earth)." _The Elder Edda (Voluspa_,
stanza 9).
[307] _The Story of Nala_, Monier Williams, p. 67.
[308] _Egyptian Myth and Legend_, pp. 168 _it seq._
[309] _The Burden of Isis_, Dennis, p. 24.
[310] _Babylonian Magic and Sorcery_, p. 117.
[311] _Babylonian and Assyrian Religion_, T.G. Pinches, p. l00.
[312] _The Burden of Isis_, J.T. Dennis, p. 49.
[313] _Ibid_., p. 52.
[314] _Religion of the Ancient Egyptians_, A. Wiedemann, p. 30.
[315] _Vedic Index_, Macdonell & Keith, vol. i, pp. 423 _et seq._
[316] _Religion of the Ancient Babylonians_, Sayce, p. 153, n. 6.
[317] _Religion of the Ancient Egyptians_, A. Wiedemann, p. 30.
[318] _Aspects of Religious Belief and Practice in Babylonia and
Assyria_, p. 95.
[319] _Babylonian and Assyrian Religion_, pp. 63 and 83.
[320] When the King of Assyria transported the Babylonians, &c., to
Samaria "the men of Cuth made Nergal", _2 Kings_, xvii, 30.
[321] _Babylonian and Assyrian Religion_, p. 80.
[322] _Indian Myth and Legend_, p. 13.
[323] Derived from the Greek zōon, an animal.
[324] _The Hittites_, pp. 116, 119, 120, 272.
[325] "The sun... is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and
rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race." (_Psalm_ xix, 4 _et seq._) The
marriage of the sun bridegroom with the moon bride appears to occur in
Hittite mythology. In Aryo-Indian Vedic mythology the bride of the sun
(Surya) is Ushas, the Dawn. The sun maiden also married the moon god.
The Vedic gods ran a race and Indra and Agni were the winners. The sun
was "of the nature of Agni". _Indian Myth and Legend_, pp. 14, 36, 37.
[326] Or golden.
[327] The later reference is to Assyria. There was no Assyrian kingdom
when these early beliefs were developed.
[328] _Primitive Constellations_, R. Brown, jun., vol. ii, p. 1 _et
seq._
[329] In India "finger counting" (Kaur guna) is associated with prayer
or the repeating of mantras. The counting is performed by the thumb,
which, when the hand is drawn up, touches the upper part of the third
finger. The two upper "chambers" of the third finger are counted, then
the two upper "chambers" of the little finger; the thumb then touches
the tip of each finger from the little finger to the first; when it
comes down into the upper chamber of the first finger 9 is counted. By a
similar process each round of 9 on the right hand is recorded by the
left up to 12; 12 X 9 = 108 repetitions of a mantra. The upper
"chambers" of the fingers are the "best" or "highest" (uttama), the
lower (adhama) chambers are not utilized in the prayer-counting process.
When Hindus sit cross-legged at prayers, with closed eyes, the right
hand is raised from the elbow in front of the body, and the thumb moves
each time a mantra is repeated; the left hand lies palm upward on the
left knee, and the thumb moves each time nine mantras have been counted.
[330] _Primitive Constellations_, R. Brown, jun., vol. ii, p. 61; and
_Early History of Northern India,_ J.F. Hewitt, pp. 551-2.
[331] _Rigveda-Samhita,_ vol. iv (1892), p. 67.
[332] _Vedic Index_, Macdonell & Keith, vol. ii, pp. 192 _et seq._
[333] _Indian Myth and Legend_
[334] Pp. 107 _et seq._
[335] _Primitive Constellation_, R. Brown, jun., vol. i, 1. 333. A table
is given showing how 120 saroi equals 360 degrees, each king being
identified with a star.
[336] "Behold, his majesty the god Ra is grown old; his bones are become
silver, his limbs gold, and his hair pure lapis lazuli." _Religion of
the Ancient Egyptians,_ A. Wiedemann, p. 58. Ra became a destroyer after
completing his reign as an earthly king.
[337] As Nin-Girau, Tammuz was associated with "sevenfold" Orion.
[338] _Babylonian and Assyrian Life_, pp. 61, 62.
[339] Herodotus (ii, 52) as quoted in _Egypt and Scythia_ (London,
1886), p. 49.
[340] _Babylonian Magic and Sorcery_, L.W. King (London, 1896), pp. 43
and 115.
[341] _Vedic Index_, Macdonell & Keith, vol. ii, p. 229.
[342] _Ibid_ vol. i, pp. 409, 410.
[343] _Ibid_ vol. i, p. 415.
[344] _Primitive Constellations_, vol. i, p. 343.
[345] _Custom and Myth_, pp. 133 _et seq._
[346] Dr. Alfred Jeremias gives very forcible reasons for believing that
the ancient Babylonians were acquainted with the precession of the
equinoxes. _Das Alter der Babylonischen Astronomie_ (Hinrichs, Leipzig,
1908), pp. 47 _et seq._
[347] _Aspects of Religious Belief and Practice in Babylonia and
Assyria_, pp. 207 _et seq._
[348] _A History of the Babylonians and Assyrians_, p. 93.
[349] _Babylonians and Assyrians: Life and Customs_, pp. 219, 220.
[350] _Primitive Constellations_, vol. ii, pp. 147 et seq.
[351] The Aryo-Indians had a lunar year of 360 days (_Vedic Index_, ii,
158).
[352] _A History of the Babylonians and Assyrians_, p. 94.
[353] _Twelfth Night_, act ii, scene 5.
[354] _Childe Harold_, canto iii, v, 88.
[355] _Genesis_, x, 11.
[356] "A number of tablets have been found in Cappadocia of the time of
the Second Dynasty of Ur which show marked affinities with Assyria. The
divine name Ashir, as in early Assyrian texts, the institution of
eponyms and many personal names which occur in Assyria, are so
characteristic that we must assume kinship of peoples. But whether they
witness to a settlement in Cappadocia from Assyria, or vice versa, is
not yet clear." _Ancient Assyria_, C.H.W. Johns (Cambridge, 1912), pp.
12-13.
[357] Sumerian Ziku, apparently derived from Zi, the spiritual essence
of life, the "self power" of the Universe.
[358] _Peri Archon_, cxxv.
[359] _Religion of Babylonia and Assyria_, p. 197 et seq.
[360] _Julius Caesar_, act iii, scene I.
[361] _Isaiah_, xiv, 4-14.
[362] _Eddubrott_, ii.
[363] _Religion of the Ancient Egyptians_, A. Wiedemann, pp. 289-90.
[364] _Ibid_., p. 236. Atlas was also believed to be in the west.
[365] _Primitive Constellations_, vol. ii, p. 184.
[366] _Cuneiform Inscriptions of Western Asia,_ xxx, II.
[367] _Isaiah_, xiii, 21. For "Satyrs" the Revised Version gives the
alternative translation, "or he-goats".
[368] _Aspects of Religious Belief and Practice in Babylonia and
Assyria_, p. 120, plate 18 and note.
[369] _Satapatha Brahmana_, translated by Professor Eggeling, part iv,
1897, p. 371. _(Sacred Books of the East_.)
[370] _Egyptian Myth and Legend_, pp. 165 et seq.
[371] _Classic Myth and Legend_, p. 105. The birds were called
"Stymphalides".
[372] The so-called "shuttle" of Neith may be a thunderbolt. Scotland's
archaic thunder deity is a goddess. The bow and arrows suggest a
lightning goddess who was a deity of war because she was a deity of
fertility.
[373] _Vedic Index_, Macdonell & Keith, vol. ii, pp. 125-6, and vol. i,
168-9.
[374] _Ezekiel_, xxxi, 3-8.
[375] _Ezekiel_, xxvii, 23, 24.
[376] _Isaiah_, xxxvii, 11.
[377] _Ibid_., x, 5, 6.
[378] A winged human figure, carrying in one hand a basket and in
another a fir cone.
[379] Layard's _Nineveh_ (1856), p. 44.
[380] _Ibid_., p. 309.
[381] The fir cone was offered to Attis and Mithra. Its association with
Ashur suggests that the great Assyrian deity resembled the gods of corn
and trees and fertility.
[382] _Nineveh_, p. 47.
[383] _Isaiah_, xxxvii, 37-8.
[384] _The Old Testament in the Light of the Historical Records and
Legends of Assyria and Babylonia,_ pp. 129-30.
[385] An eclipse of the sun in Assyria on June 15, 763 B.C., was
followed by an outbreak of civil war.
[386] _Ezekiel_, i, 4-14.
[387] _Ezekiel,_ xxiii, 1-15.
[388] As the soul of the Egyptian god was in the sun disk or sun egg.
[389] _Ezekiel,_, i, 15-28.
[390] _Ezekiel_, x, 11-5.
[391] Also called "Amrita".
[392] The _Mahabharata_ (_Adi Parva_), Sections xxxiii-iv.
[393] Another way of spelling the Turkish name which signifies "village
of the pass". The deep "gh" guttural is not usually attempted by English
speakers. A common rendering is "Bog-haz' Kay-ee", a slight "oo" sound
being given to the "a" in "Kay"; the "z" sound is hard and hissing.
[394] _The Land of the Hittites_, J. Garstang, pp. 178 _et seq._
[395] _Ibid_., p. 173.
[396] _Adonis, Attis, Osiris_, chaps. v and vi.
[397] _Daniel_, iii, 1-26.
[398] The story that Abraham hung an axe round the neck of Baal after
destroying the other idols is of Jewish origin.
[399] _The Koran_, George Sale, pp. 245-6.
[400] _Isaiah_, xxx, 31-3. See also for Tophet customs _2 Kings_, xxiii,
10; _Jeremiah_, vii, 31, 32 and xix, 5-12.
[401] _1 Kings_, xvi, 18.
[402] _1 Samuel_, xxxi, 12, 13 and _1 Chronicles_, x, 11, 12.
[403] _The Old Testament in the Light of the Historical Records and
Legends of Assyria and Babylonia,_ pp. 201-2.
[404] _Babylonian and Assyrian Religion_, pp. 57-8.
[405] _Aspects of Religious Belief and Practice in Babylonia and
Assyria_, p. 121.
[406] _Babylonian and Assyrian Religion_, p. 86.
[407] At Carchemish a railway bridge spans the mile-wide river ferry
which Assyria's soldiers were wont to cross with the aid of skin floats.
The engineers have found it possible to utilize a Hittite river wall
about 3000 years old--the oldest engineering structure in the world. The
ferry was on the old trade route.
[408] _Deuteronomy_, xxvi, 5
[409] Pr. _u_ as _oo_.
[410] The chief cities of North Syria were prior to this period Hittite.
This expansion did not change the civilization but extended the area of
occupation and control.
[411] Garstang's _The Land of the Hittites,_ p. 349.
[412] "Burgh of Tukulti-Ninip."
[413] Article "Celts" in _Encyclopaedia Britannica_, eleventh ed.
[414] _The Wanderings of Peoples_, p. 41.
[415] _Crete, the Forerunner of Greece_, p. 146.
[416] Pr. Moosh´kee.
[417] "Have I not brought up Israel out of the land of Egypt and the
Philistines from Caphtor (Crete)?" _Amos_, viii, 7.
[418] _A History of Civilization in Palestine_, p. 58.
[419] Pinches' translation.
[420] _I Samuel_, xiii, 19.
[421] _A History of Civilization in Palestine_, p. 54.
[422] _1 Kings_, iii, 1.
[423] _Ibid_., ix, 16.
[424] _1 Kings_, v, 1-12.
[425] _Ibid_., vii, 14 _et seq._
[426] _Ibid_., x, 22-3.
[427] _Indian Myth and Legend_, pp. 83-4.
[428] _Finn and His Warrior Band_, pp. 245 _et seq._ (London, 1911).
[429] Also rendered Ashur-na'sir-pal.
[430] _A History of the Babylonians and Assyrians_, G.S. Goodspeed, p.
197.
[431] _Discoveries at Nineveh_, Sir A.H. Layard (London, 1856), pp. 55,
56.
[432] "Thou art beautiful, O my love, as Tirzah, comely as Jerusalem."
_Solomon's Song_, vi, 4.
[433] _2 Chronicles_, xii, 15.
[434] _1 Kings_, xiv, 1-20.
[435] _Ibid._, 21-3.
[436] _2 Chronicles_, xii, 1-12.
[437] _2 Chronicles_, xiii, 1-20.
[438] _Ibid._, xiv, 1-6.
[439] _1 Kings_, xv, 25-6.
[440] _1 Kings_, xv, 16-7.
[441] _Ibid._, 18-9.
[442] _Ibid._, 20-2.
[443] _1 Kings_, xvi, 9-10.
[444] _Ibid._, 15-8.
[445] _Ibid._, 21-2.
[446] _Micah_, vi, 16.
[447] _1 Kings_, xvi, 29-33.
[448] _Ibid._, xviii, 1-4.
[449] _1 Kings_, xx.
[450] _Ibid._, xxii, 43.
[451] _2 Chronicles_, xviii, 1-2.
[452] _1 Kings_, xxii and _2 Chronicles_, xviii.
[453] _1 Kings_, xxii, 48-9.
[454] _1 Kings_, viii.
[455] _2 Kings_, ix and _2 Chronicles_, xxii.
[456] _2 Kings_, viii, 1-15.
[457] _The Old Testament in the Light of the Historical Records and
Legends of Assyria and Babylonia_, pp. 337 _et seq._
[458] _2 Kings_, x, 32-3.
[459] _Ibid._, 1-31.
[460] _2 Kings_, xi, 1-3.
[461] _2 Chronicles_, xxii, 10-12.
[462] _2 Chronicles_, xxiii, 1-17.
[463] _2 Kings_, xiii, 1-5.
[464] _The Land of the Hittites_, J. Garstang, p. 354.
[465] _The Old Testament in the Light of the Historical Records and
Legends of Assyria and Babylonia,_ T.G. Pinches, p. 343.
[466] _Nat. Hist_., v, 19 and _Strabo_ xvi, 1-27.
[467] _The Mahabharata: Adi Parva_, sections lxxi and lxxii (Roy's
translation), pp. 213 216, and _Indian Myth and Legend_, pp. 157 _et
seq._
[468] That is, without ceremony but with consent.
[469] _The Golden Bough_ (_The Scapegoat_), pp. 369 _et seq._, (3rd
edition). Perhaps the mythic Semiramis and legends connected were in
existence long before the historic Sammu-rammat, though the two got
mixed up.
[470] _Herodotus_, i, 184.
[471] _De dea Syria_, 9-14.
[472] _Strabo_, xvi, 1, 2.
[473] _Diodorus Siculus_, ii, 3.
[474] _Herodotus_, i, 105.
[475] _Diodorus Siculus_, ii, 4.
[476] _De dea Syria_, 14.
[477] This little bird allied to the woodpecker twists its neck
strangely when alarmed. It may have symbolized the coquettishness of
fair maidens. As love goddesses were "Fates", however, the wryneck may
have been connected with the belief that the perpetrator of a murder, or
a death spell, could be detected when he approached his victim's corpse.
If there was no wound to "bleed afresh", the "death thraw" (the
contortions of death) might indicate who the criminal was. In a Scottish
ballad regarding a lady, who was murdered by her lover, the verse
occurs:
[478] Langdon's _Sumerian and Babylonian Psalms_, pp. 133, 135.
[479] Introduction to Lane's _Manners and Customs of the Modern
Egyptians._
[480] Tammuz is referred to in a Sumerian psalm as "him of the dovelike
voice, yea, dovelike". He may have had a dove form. Angus, the Celtic
god of spring, love, and fertility, had a swan form; he also had his
seasonal period of sleep like Tammuz.
[481] Campbell's _Superstitions of the Scottish Highlands_, p. 288.
[482] _Indian Myth and Legend_, p. 95.
[483] _Ibid_., pp. 329-30.
[484] _Crete, the Forerunner of Greece_, C.H. and H.B. Hawes, p. 139
[485] _The Discoveries in Crete_, pp. 137-8.
[486] _Religion of the Semites_, p. 294.
[487] _Egyptian Myth and Legend_, p. 59.
[488] Including the goose, one of the forms of the harvest goddess.
[489] _Brand's Popular Antiquities_, vol. ii, 230-1 and vol. iii, 232
(1899 ed.).
[490] _Ibid_., vol. iii, 217. The myrtle was used for love charms.
[491] _The Golden Bough_ (_Spirits of the Corn and of the Wild_), vol.
ii, p. 293 (3rd ed.).
[492] _Herodotus_, ii, 69, 71, and 77.
[493] _Brand's Popular Antiquities_, vol. iii, p. 227.
[494] Cited by Professor Burrows in _The Discoveries in Crete_, p. 134.
[495] Like the Egyptian Horus, Nebo had many phases: he was connected
with the sun and moon, the planet Mercury, water and crops; he was young
and yet old--a mystical god.
[496] _Aspects of Religious Belief and Practice in Babylonia and
Assyria_, pp. 94 _et seq._
[497] _Babylonian Magic and Sorcery_, L.W. King, pp. 6-7 and 26-7.
[498] _2 Kings_, xiii, 3.
[499] _2 Kings_, xiii, 14-25.
[500] _3 Kings_, xiii, 5, 6.
[501] The masses of the Urartian folk appear to have been of Hatti
stock--"broad heads", like their descendants, the modern Armenians.
[502] It is uncertain whether this city or Kullani in north Syria it the
Biblical Calno. _Isaiah_, x, 9.
[503] _2 Kings_, xv, 19 and 29; _2 Chronicles_, xxviii, 20.
[504] _2 Kings_, xviii, 34 and xix, 13.
[505] _2 Kings_, xiv, 1-14.
[506] _2 Kings_, xv, 1-14.
[507] _2 Kings_, xv, 19, 20.
[508] _2 Kings_, xv, 25.
[509] _Amos_, v.
[510] _Amos_, i.
[511] _2 Kings_, xvi, 5.
[512] _Isaiah_, vii, 3-7.
[513] _2 Kings_, xv, 3.
[514] _Isaiah_, vii, 18.
[515] Kir was probably on the borders of Elam.
[516] _2 Kings_, xvi, 7-9.
[517] _2 Kings_, xv, 29, 30.
[518] _2 Kings_, xvi, 10.
[519] In the Hebrew text this monarch is called Sua, Seveh, and So, says
Maspero. The Assyrian texts refer to him as Sebek, Shibahi, Shabè, &c.
He has been identified with Pharaoh Shabaka of the Twenty-fifth Egyptian
Dynasty; that monarch may have been a petty king before he founded his
Dynasty. Another theory is that he was Seve, king of Mutsri, and still
another that he was a petty king of an Egyptian state in the Delta and
not Shabaka.
[520] _2 Kings_, xvii, 3-5.
[521] _Isaiah_, xx, 1.
[522] _2 Kings_, xvii, 6.
[523] _2 Kings_, xvii, 16-41.
[524] The people carried away would not be the whole of the
inhabitants--only, one would suppose, the more important personages,
enough to make up the number 27,290 given above.
[525] _Passing of the Empires_, pp. 200-1.
[526] Those who, like Breasted, identify "Piru of Mutsri" with "Pharaoh
of Egypt" adopt the view that Bocchoris of Sais paid tribute to Sargon.
Piru, however, is subsequently referred to with two Arabian kings as
tribute payers to Sargon apparently after Lower Egypt had come under the
sway of Shabaka, the first king of the Ethiopian or Twenty-fifth
Dynasty.
[527] _Isaiah_, xx, 2-5.
[528] Commander-in-chief.
[529] _Isaiah_, xx, 1.
[530] _The Old Testament in the Light of the Historical Records and
Legends of Assyria and Babylonia,_ T.G. Pinches, p. 372.
[531] _Isaiah_, xxxvii, 9.
[532] _Isaiah_, xxix, 1, 2.
[533] _2 Chronicles_, xxxii, 9-17.
[534] _2 Kings_, xix, 6, 7.
[535] _2 Kings_, xix, 35, 36.
[536] Smith-Sayce, _History of Sennacherib_, pp. 132-5.
[537] _A History of Sumer and Akkad_, p. 37.
[538] _Isaiah_, xxxvii, 8-13.
[539] _2 Kings_, xxi, 3-7.
[540] _2 Kings_, xxi, 16.
[541] _Hebrews_, xi, 36, 37.
[542] _2 Chronicles_, xxxiii, 11-3. It may be that Manasseh was taken to
Babylon during Ashur-bani-pal's reign. See next chapter.
[543] Pronounce _g_ as in _gem_.
[544] _Nahum_, i, ii, and iii.
[545] _Isaiah_, xlvi, 1; xlvii, 1-15.
[546] _Nahum_, iii, 2, 3; ii, 3.
[547] Goodspeed's _A History of the Babylonians and Assyrians_, p. 348.
[548] _Nahum_, iii, 8-11.
[549] Ptolemy's Kineladanus.
[550] _Ezra_, iv, 10.
[551] _Nahum_, iii and ii.
[552] 2 _Kings_, xxiii, 29.
[553] _Ibid._, 33-5.
[554] Nebuchadrezzar is more correct than Nebuchadnezzar.
[555] _2 Kings_, xxiv, 7.
[556] _2 Chronicles_, xxxvi, 6.
[557] _2 Kings_, xxiv, 1.
[558] _2 Kings_, xxiv, 8-15.
[559] _Jeremiah_, lii, 3.
[560] _Jeremiah_, lii, 4-11.
[561] _The Laminations of Jeremiah_, i, 1-7.
[562] _Jeremiah_, lii, 31-4.
[563] _Daniel_, v, I et seq.
[564] _Psalms_, cxxxvii, 1-6.
[565] _Ezra_, i, 1-3.
[566] _Herodotus_, i, 183; _Strabo_, xvi, 1, 5; and _Arrian_, vii, 17.
[567] _Strabo_, xvi, 1-5.
[568] _Isaiah_, xxiiv, 11-4.