THE RELIGION AND SCIENCE OF THE CHALDAEANS.
In the period from 2000 to 1000 B.C., Babylonia under Hammurabi,
Nebuchadnezzar, and Marduknadinakh, was already the foremost state of
Hither Asia in power, science, and skill in art. Her civilisation had
developed without external assistance. If the first foundations were
borrowed, and not laid by the Babylonians, they certainly were not due
to the Egyptians. The religious views of the Babylonians and the
Egyptians rest on an entirely different basis. In Egypt the heavens were
carefully observed; but the Chaldaeans arrived at a different division of
the heavens, of the year, and month, and day, and the results of their
astronomy were far clearer and more exact. In Egypt, weights and
measures were regulated by the priests; the Chaldaeans established a much
more accurate and consistent system, which prevailed far beyond the
borders of Babylonia. The Egyptians reached the highest point that could
be reached by the art of building in stone; but the buildings of the
Chaldaeans in brick are unsurpassed in size, strength, and height by any
nation or period. To what antiquity the hydraulic works of the Chaldaeans
reached we do not know (the canal of Hammurabi has been mentioned
above); but we find that in size and variety they were not behind those
of Egypt. Their sculpture cannot be compared with the Egyptian in
artistic finish; but the few fragments which remain exhibit a style
which, while thoroughly independent, is more vigorous and complete, and
shows a greater freedom of conception than the Egyptian.
The Babylonians, as we learn from Diodorus, worshipped twelve gods as
lords of the sky. To each of these a sign in the zodiac and a month in
the year were dedicated.[359] These statements are supported by the
inscriptions. The supreme god of the Babylonians was El (Il), after whom
they named their capital, Babel, "Gate of El." After El came the gods
Anu, Bel (Bil), Hea, Sin, Samas, and Bin; and after these the gods of
the planets; Adar, Merodach, Nergal, Istar, and Nebo. Of El we only know
that he was the supreme god, who sat enthroned above the other gods.
What peculiar importance and power is ascribed to him is the more
difficult to ascertain, as the name of the third deity, Bel, simply
means "lord," and by this title not only Bel himself, but El and other
gods also are invoked. In his inscription, king Hammurabi says "that El
and Bel have given over to his rule the inhabitants of Sumir and Accad."
In the story of the flood, quoted above, El is called "the prince of the
gods," "the warrior." In Assyrian inscriptions he is the "lamp of the
gods," "the lord of the universe." The Greeks give us accounts of the
great temple of Belus at Babylon, and represent the Babylonians as
swearing "by the great Belus."[360] In the fragments of Berosus it was
Belus who smote asunder the primaeval darkness, and divided Omorka, and
caused the creation of men and beasts; while according to the clay
tablets of the flood, El was unwilling to save even Sisit. Of the god
Hea we can at present ascertain no more from the inscriptions than that
he is the "lord of the earth," "the king of rivers;" and that it is he
who announced the coming flood to Sisit, and pointed out the means of
safety. Anu, the god who follows next after El, was sovereign of the
upper realms of the sky. In the narrative of the flood given on the clay
tablets the gods fled horror-stricken before the storm into the heaven
of Anu. In Assyrian inscriptions the god has frequently the epithet
Malik (_i.e._ "king"). As the Hebrews inform us that the men of
Sepharvaim worshipped Anammelech, it is obvious that Anumalik and
Anammelech are one and the same deity. The creature, who brought the
first revelations of language and writing, is called in Berosus Oan, by
others, Yan.[361] As these revelations reached Sepharvaim, and the
sacred books were preserved there (p. 245), we may venture to assume
that the Oan of Berosus and the Anu of the inscriptions are the same
god. The nature of the next deities, Sin, Samas, and Bin, is more
intelligible. Sin is the god of the moon. On monuments the new moon is
often found beside his bearded image. The inscriptions provide him with
"white-beaming horns." The main seat of his worship is Ur (Mugheir),
where, as we have seen, Urukh built him a temple, and Nabonetus, the
last king of Babylon, prays this god "to plant in the heart of his
first-born a reverence for his great divinity, that he might not yield
to sin, or favour the unfaithful."[362] The sun-god Samas is
distinguished by sign of the circle; according to the inscription he
illuminates "heaven and earth," and is the "lord of the day." Beside
Sin and Samas the Babylonians worshipped a deity of the heaven, Bin, the
god who "thunders in the midst of the sky," who holds "a flaming sword
in his hand," "who holds the lightning," "who is the giver of abundance,
the lord of fertility."[363]
At the head of the five spirits of the planets stands the lord of Saturn
(the Kaivanu of the Babylonians), the most distant and highest of all.
This is the god Adar, _i.e._ "the sublime." His name was given to the
last month in the Babylonian year. In the inscriptions the epithet Malik
is often joined to Adar; Sakkut Adar also is a name given in the
inscriptions to this god. The Hebrews tell us that the men of Sepharvaim
worshipped Adrammelech; and this can hardly be any other deity than the
Adar-Malik of the inscriptions. They also add that children were burned
to Adrammelech,[364] and hence we may conclude that the Adar of the
Babylonians was a harsh and cruel deity, averse to generation, whose
wrath had to be appeased by human sacrifice. When the prophet Amos
announces to the Israelites that they would "carry Siccuth their king,
and Kewan (Chiun) their star-god, their images which they had
made,"[365] Sichuth-Melech can be no other god than Sakkut-Malik, _i.e._
Adar, and by Kewan is meant the Kaivanu (Saturn) of the
inscriptions.[366] Nebo (Nabu), the god of Borsippa, was the lord of the
planet Mercury. According to the inscriptions of Babylonia, he ruled
over the hosts of heaven and earth. His image on the cylinder of Urukh
has been mentioned above (p. 259). Statues of Nebo with long beard and
hair, and a robe from the breast downwards, have been found in the
ruins of Nineveh. Assyrian inscriptions entitle him the "prince of the
gods." His name means the "revealer," and what we learn from western
writers about a special school of Chaldaic priests at Borsippa agrees
very well with this. The lord of Mars, Nergal, was worshipped at the
city of Kutha. The inscriptions name him the "king of the battle," the
"ruler of the storm," or simply the "lion-god."[367] Hence the winged
lions with a human head at the temples and palace gates of Susa and
Nineveh (p. 253) were his images, and stood no doubt at Babylon and
Kutha also, while the winged bulls must have been the images of Adar. In
the narrative of the flood on Assyrian tablets, it is Adar who
overthrows and Nergal who destroys (p. 243). After the restoration of
the Babylonian kingdom, the kings are named after Nebo and Nergal. Yet
the inscriptions of Nebuchadnezzar II. celebrate above all other deities
the lord of Jupiter, Merodach, as Belrabu, i.e. the "great lord," the
"highest god," the "lord of heaven and earth."[368]
To this circle of planet-gods belongs also the female deity, whom the
Babylonians worshipped with much zeal--the goddess Bilit, _i.e._ "Lady,"
the Mylitta of Herodotus. Her star is Venus. The inscriptions name her
"Queen of the Gods," "Mother of the Gods." As she is also called the
"Lady of Offspring," it is clear that she was regarded by the
Babylonians as the goddess of fertility and birth. They recognised the
power of the goddess in the charm and beauty of vegetative nature.
Within the wall of her temple at Babylon a grove afforded a cool shade,
and a cistern reminded the worshippers of the mistress of the
fertilizing water. The creatures sacred to her were fish, as the
inhabitants of water, and remarkable for vigorous propagation, and the
dove.[369] According to the account of Herodotus the maidens of
Babylonia had to worship the goddess by the sacrifice of their
virginity; once in her life each was expected to sell her body in honour
of the goddess, and thus to redeem herself. Hence on the festivals of
Mylitta the maidens of Babylon sat in long rows in the grove of the
goddess, with chaplets of cord upon their heads. Even the daughters of
the wealthy came in covered cars with a numerous body of attendants.
Here they had to remain till one of the pilgrims, who came to worship
the goddess, cast a piece of gold into their laps, with the words, "In
the name of Mylitta." Then the maiden was compelled to follow him, and
comply with his wishes. The money thus earned she gave to the
temple-treasury, and was henceforth freed from her obligation to the
goddess. "The good-looking and graceful maidens," adds Herodotus,
"quickly found a pilgrim, but the ugly ones could not satisfy the law,
and often remained in the temple three or four years."[370] The Hebrew
scriptures confirm the statements of Herodotus. They tell us of the
Babylonians, "that their women, with cords about them (they were bound
to the goddess), sat by the wayside, and burnt bran for perfume, and she
who was drawn away by the passer-by reproached her fellow that she had
not been thought worthy of the honour, and that her cord was not
broken."[371] The goddess Nana, whose image, as we have seen, was
carried away at an ancient period from Erech to Susa, and to whom it is
Nebuchadnezzar's boast that he built temples at Babylon and
Borsippa,[372] was hardly distinguished from Bilit or Mylitta.
Opposed to the goddess of fertility, procreation, and birth, stood
Istar, the goddess of war, of ruin, and destruction. She is often
mentioned in inscriptions as "the Queen of Babylon;" according to
Assyrian inscriptions she carries a bow, and western writers tell us of
the worship of Artemis by the Babylonians. That this goddess united with
Bilit, and sent alternately blessing and fruit, death and ruin, is
placed beyond doubt, by the analogous worship of Baltis, Ashera, and
Astarte by the Syrians, and more especially by the Phoenicians and
Carthaginians. Moreover the planet Venus belonged to this goddess in
both her forms. In the tablets of the flood, Istar boasts that men owed
their existence to her (p. 243), and an Assyrian syllabarium tells us
that "the star of Venus (Dilbat, the Delephat of the Greeks), at
sunrise, is Istar among the gods; the same star at sunset is Bilit among
the gods."[373] On Assyrian tablets is found a narrative of the journey
of Istar to the under-world. She determines to go down to the house of
the departed, to the abode of the god Irkalla, to the house which has no
exit, to the road which leads not back, to the place where the entrance
is without light, where dust is their nourishment and mould their food,
where light is not seen, where they dwell in darkness, where the arches
are filled with spirits like birds; over the gate and the panels dust is
strewed. "Watchman of the waters," said Istar, "open thy gate, that I
may enter. If thou openest not, I will break thy gate, and burst asunder
the bars; I will shatter the threshold and destroy the doors." The
watchman opened the gate, and as she passed through he took the great
crown from her head; and when she passed through the second gate he took
the rings from her ears; and when she passed through the third gate he
took the necklace from her neck; and when she passed through the fourth
gate he took the ornaments from her breast; and when she passed through
the fifth gate he took the girdle of her robe; and when she passed
through the sixth gate he took the rings from her arms and legs; and
when she passed through the seventh gate he took the mantle from her
neck and said, "Thus does Ninkigal to those who come to her." Arrived in
the under-world, Istar was grievously afflicted in the eyes, on the
hips, feet, heart, head, and whole body. But the world above could not
bear the loss of Istar, "the bull sought not the cow, nor the male ass
the female," and the god Hea sent a message to Ninkigal, the Lady of the
under-world, to set her free. Ninkigal caused the water of life to pour
out over Istar. Then the seven doors of the under-world were again
opened for her, and before each she received back what had been taken
from her at her entrance.[374]
In the fragments of Berosus the last of the fish-men is called Odakon
(p. 239). Inscriptions of Hammurabi and Nebuchadnezzar II. of Babylon
mention a god Dakan, or Dagani; and we also meet the name of this god in
the name of the king Ismidagon, whom we found it necessary to place
before the year 2000 B.C. Assurbanipal of Assyria boasts of the favour
of Anu and Dagon. These two gods appear in the same connection in other
inscriptions. Sargon, king of Assyria, calls himself "the apple of the
eye of Anu and Dagon."[375] Male figures, with a horned cap on the head,
and ending in a fish, and priests with fishskins hung above them, are
often found on the monuments of Nineveh. As the word Dag means "fish,"
we may with confidence find in the god Dakan the fish-god of the
Babylonians; the god who out of moisture gives plenty, fertility, and
increase. That the Canaanites also worshipped Dagon is proved by the
names Beth-Dagon and Kaphar-Dagon, which occur near Joppa and Sichem.
The Philistines also on the coast of the Mediterranean invoked the same
god. His image in the temple at Ashdod had the face and hands of a man,
the body of a fish, and the feet of a man (see below). The seven
fish-men who rose out of the Persian Gulf were therefore seven
manifestations, or revelations, of the gods Oan and Dagon, Anu and
Dakan.
The chief seats of the religious worship of the Babylonians were Babylon
itself, when it had become the metropolis of the land, Borsippa and
Kutha. The kings of Assyria, who succeeded in entering Babylonia, or in
subjugating it, remark more than once that they have sacrificed at
Babylon, Borsippa, and Kutha, to Bel, Nebo, and Nergal, and Assurbanipal
tells us that his rebellious brother, the viceroy of Babylon, had
purchased the help of the Elamites with the treasures of the temple of
Bel at Babylon, of Nebo at Borsippa, and Nergal at Kutha.[376] Hence
these temples must have been the most considerable, and the treasures in
them the largest. Beside these temples, as has been remarked, Erech was
of importance, as the seat of the worship of Nana, Ur contained the
temple of the moon-god, and Sepharvaim was the abode of Anu and Samas,
and the city of the sacred scriptures.
The relation of the deities to the luminaries of the sky occupied a very
prominent place in the minds of the Babylonians. The powerful operation
of the sun was due to the god Samas; the moon, as we have seen, belonged
to Sin, Saturn to Adar, Jupiter to Merodach, Mercury to Nebo, Mars to
the war-god Nergal, Venus to Istar-Bilit. From the inscriptions of
Nebuchadnezzar II. we learn that there existed at Borsippa, the seat of
the worship of Nebo, an ancient temple to "the seven lamps of the
earth." The horizon of the Babylonian plain was very extensive; the more
uniform and boundless the expanse of earth, the more did the eye turn
upwards towards the changes, movements, and life of the sky. In the
clear atmosphere the eye followed the regular paths of the planets, and
discovered each morning new stars, while others disappeared every
evening. With the higher or lower position of the sun, or of this or
that star, a new season commenced, or changes took place in the natural
world; the inundation rose, and vegetation began to awaken or decay. On
the rising and setting of the sun, the moon, and the stars, the life of
mankind, their waking and sleeping, their vigour and weariness,
depended; the seasons of budding and ripening fruit, of favourable or
unfavourable navigation, commenced with the appearance of certain stars
and ended with their disappearance. It was natural, amid such
conceptions, to believe that the whole life of nature and man depended
on the luminaries of the sky, and that the earth and mankind received
their laws from above, from the gleaming paths of the constellations.
The good or evil effect which these stars were thought to exercise upon
the life of nature, applied also to their influence on the life of man.
Within the circle of such conceptions the planets naturally occupied a
prominent place. The Greeks inform us that the Chaldaeans called these
stars "interpreters," as proclaiming the will of the gods.[377] Among
them Jupiter and Venus (Merodach and Istar-Bilit) passed with the later
astrologers as luck-bringing powers. Jupiter was supposed to bring the
beneficent and genial warmth of the atmosphere, while Venus, the star of
evening (Bilit), poured forth the cool fructifying dew. Saturn (Adar)
was an unlucky star, the Great Evil; and this confirms the conclusion
already drawn that Adar was thought to be a god averse to generation,
and hostile. Mars (Nergal) was also a pernicious planet: his fiery glow
brought scorching heat, and he is the Lesser Evil of astrologers.
Mercury, the moon, and the sun, _i.e._ Nebo, Sin, and Samas, stood
midway between the good and evil stars; they were of an intermediate
undefined character.[378]
But according to the Chaldaeans the planets also assumed the influence
and character of the constellations in which they passed over the earth.
They divided the path of the sun into twelve stations or houses,
according to the constellations which it passes through in its course.
The sun's proper house was its highest position in the sign of Leo. The
paths of the planets were divided in a similar way; and to the Chaldaean
these "houses of the planets" became divine powers, because they altered
and defined the character and operation of the planets. Hence they even
call them "lords of the gods."[379] On the other hand thirty other fixed
stars are "counselling gods," because they were thought to exercise
only a secondary influence on the planets; and lastly, twelve fixed
stars in the northern sky, and twelve in the southern were called the
"judges." Of these twenty-four stars, those which were visible decided
on the fortunes of the living, and those which were invisible on the
fortunes of the dead.[380] The inscriptions also distinguish two classes
of twelve stars each; of which one is named "the stars of Accad," the
other "the stars of the West."[381] Each month of the year belonged to a
god; the first to the god Anu: the seven days of the week belonged to
the sun, moon, and five planets; after the moon came Mars, then Mercury,
then Jupiter, then Venus, and last of all Saturn. The day belonged to
the planet to which the first hour after midnight was allotted; in the
next hour the planet ruled which came next in proximity to the sun; and
in the same way followed the remaining planets, first in a solar, then
in a lunar series.
Thus the Chaldaeans worshipped "the sun, and the moon, and the zodiac;"
thus they offered incense, as the Hebrews say, to the "houses of the
planets, and the whole host of heaven."[382] This lore was the work of
the priests, who accordingly understood how to read the will of the gods
in the constellations of the sky, and to foretell the fate of life from
the hour of birth, and from the ever-changing position of the stars to
fix the suitable moment for commencing any task or undertaking. How the
stars passed through the sky, how they approached each other, or
diverged, imparted or withdrew their operation, were found in equipoise
or opposition--on this depended the prosperity or misfortune of the
kingdom, the king, the year, the day, the hour. Moreover it was of
importance at what season of the year, and in what quarter of the sky
the stars rose, or disappeared, and what colours they displayed.[383] To
the east belonged withering heat, to the south warmth, to the west
fertilising moisture, and to the north cold; and the planets exercised
greater or less power as they stood higher or lower.[384] Tablets
discovered at Nineveh allow us a closer insight into the system of these
constellations. On some of these we find written as follows:--"If
Jupiter is seen in the month of Tammuz, there will be corpses." "If
Venus comes opposite the star of the fish, there will be devastation."
"If the star of the great lion is gloomy, the heart of the people will
not rejoice." "If the moon is seen on the first day of the month, Accad
will prosper." One tablet supplies information for all the periods of
the day and night in the 360 days of the year, telling us what day and
what period is favourable or unfavourable for commencing a campaign, or
a siege, for storming the enemy's walls, or for defence.[385]
Such was the faith and doctrine of the Babylonians. In the original
conception of El as lord of the sky, and Adar as the highest of the star
gods, there may have been nobler and simpler traits, yet even these
early views were not without their harshness and cruelty, as we are
forced to conclude from the Hebrew accounts of the sacrifices offered to
Adar. Such traits are also more than outweighed by the licentious
worship of Mylitta, in which the sensual elements of the Semitic
character are seen in all their coarseness. With the growth of the
kingdom, and the consequent effeminacy and luxury of life in Babylonia,
this side of their religion must have become predominant, while, on the
other hand, the great conception of a world ruled and governed by the
movements of the stars tended in time to degenerate into mere
astrological computations and fortune-telling.
Our knowledge of the life and position of the priests of Babylon is
scanty. The Greeks tell us that they took the same place as in Egypt.
Their rank was hereditary; the son was instructed by the father from an
early age. Some occupied themselves with the offerings and
purifications; others strove to avert existing or threatening evils by
expiations and charms; others explained any miraculous phenomena of
nature, interpreted dreams, and prophesied from the flight of birds. The
Hebrew scriptures speak of interpreters of stars and signs, magicians
and prophets.[386] According to the accounts of Western writers, the
priests at Babylon inhabited a special quarter of the city, and there
were schools of priests at Sippara.[387] The fragments of Berosus
pointed out Babylon, Sippara, and Larancha (p. 239) as centres of
priestly wisdom even before the flood, inasmuch as they attribute to
these places special revelations of the gods Anu and Dakan. They speak
of the sacred books saved in Sippara from the flood. These books they
divide into ancient, mediaeval, and modern. By the "ancient" books we
must understand the announcements which the god Anu caused to be made to
the two earliest kings, Alorus and Alaparus, of Babylon. Under the
"mediaeval" are comprised the revelations received by Ammenon and Daonus
of Sippara, and lastly, under the "modern" the mysteries disclosed by
Dagon to Edorankhus of Sippara (p. 239). Hence we may assume that the
priests of Babylon arrived at an early age at a code which included
their creed and ritual, as it would seem, in seven books (p. 245). How
high the cosmogonies go, of which the most essential traits were found
in the fragments of Berosus (p. 238), we cannot decide. In the
conception which lies at the base of them the forces of nature are seen
pouring forth in wild confusion. The name of the woman who rules these
forces, or of this chaos inhabited by monsters, Omorka, has been
explained as "Homer-Kai," _i.e._, "material of the egg," the world-egg,
but more recently by "Um Uruk," _i.e._ "the mother," the "great goddess
of Erech." In the cosmogony of Berosus we can see, though in a very rude
and contradictory shape, the opposition of a material and intellectual,
a natural and supernatural principle, and later accounts maintain that
the Babylonians regarded the world as arising out of fire and water,
that Chaos and Love were the parents of Life and Contention, and of Life
and Contention Bel was the son.[388]
More important and far more valuable than these abstractions, to which
the Babylonians obviously attained only at a late period, and in all
probability under the influence of Greek ideas, are the results which
their knowledge and acuteness gained in other fields. The cuneiform
writing, according to the conclusions we have already been compelled to
draw, was borrowed by the Elamites and Babylonians from the earlier
inhabitants of the lower districts. It was originally a picture-writing,
which, like the Egyptian, passed from real pictures to indicatory and
symbolic pictures or picture-signs. The necessity of abbreviating and
compressing the picture-signs was here far more keenly felt than in
Egypt, quite irrespective of the fact that the strong pictorial
tendency of the Egyptians was probably wanting on the Lower Tigris. The
stones and slabs on which the Egyptians engraved their hieroglyphics
were not to be found in the plains of the two rivers, and the slabs of
mud, clay, and brick on which they were compelled to write (the pictures
and symbols were written on the soft slabs with the style, and these
were then burnt), were ill-adapted for sketches. Such obstinate material
made the abbreviation of the symbols an imperative necessity; and it was
by sharp and straight strokes that the signs could be most easily traced
upon slabs of mud and clay. The oldest bricks in the ruins of Mugheir,
Warka, and Senkereh display pictures in outline; then beside bricks with
inscriptions of this kind we find others repeating the same inscription
in cuneiform signs, which now form a completely ideographic system of
writing. The immediate comprehension of picture signs by the senses died
away owing to abbreviations of the kind mentioned, and the
picture-writing became symbolic writing. This writing, which consisted
of groups of cuneiform symbols, attained a higher stage of development
when a phonetic value was attributed to a part of the cuneiform groups,
whether used to signify nouns or verbs and adjectives, or new groups
were formed for this purpose. By cuneiform groups both simple and
compound syllables are expressed. For simple syllables, _i.e._ for those
consisting of a single consonant with a vowel before or after it in
order to give the consonant a sound, the cuneiform writing of Babylon
and Assyria possesses about one hundred groups, and several hundred
groups for compound syllables, _i.e._ for those which have more than one
consonant. Side by side with this syllabic writing the old abbreviated
picture-writing was retained. Certain words of frequent occurrence, as
king, battle, month, were always represented by picture signs, or
ideograms, and so also were the names of deities and most proper names.
The greater number of the cuneiform groups were then used in a phonetic
as well as an ideographic sense, and without any correlation between the
phonetic and actual meaning. Thus the symbol for the word "father" had
the phonetic value of the syllable _at_, but "father" in the Babylonian
language is _abu_. In Babylon this system of writing became even more
complicated by the fact that different meanings and different phonetic
values were ascribed to the same cuneiform groups. There are symbols
which have four different phonetic values and four different
meanings.[389] In order to lessen to some degree the great difficulty in
understanding the meaning which was caused by the varying use of the
same symbol as an ideogram and a sound, and the multiplicity of meanings
and sounds attached to certain signs--key-symbols were placed before the
names of gods, lands, cities, and persons, and occasionally one or more
syllables were attached to ideograms of more than one meaning, which
formed the termination of the word intended to be expressed by the
ideogram in the particular instance.
Complicated and difficult as this writing was, it was applied on a
considerable scale in Assyria and Babylonia, and it remained in use even
after the fall of the Babylonian empire, as is shown by bricks and
tablets of the time of Cyrus, Cambyses, Artaxerxes I., and the
Seleucidae.[390] These are principally records of business or legal
matters, of which, in this way, a selection has come down to us
extending from the times of Hammurabi (p. 261) to the first century B.C.
The Armenians adopted this system from the Babylonians and Assyrians;
and they also made it shorter and simpler. In the same way the Medes and
Persians borrowed it. But in the Persian inscriptions of the Achaemenids
it has already become a mere phonetic mode of writing but little removed
from an ordinary alphabet. Beyond doubt the Babylonian system was known
to the Western Semitic tribes; it even passed over from Syria to Cyprus,
where we find it assuming a peculiar form, and displaying throughout the
character of a syllabic mode of writing. At the same time among the
Syrians and Phenicians a cursive method was developed, just as in Egypt
the hieratic writing grew up beside the hieroglyphic. This cursive
writing of the Western Semitic nations has not, however, arisen out of
the cuneiform symbols, but out of the hieratic writing of the Egyptians.
The Phenicians must claim the merit of having abbreviated still further,
for their own use, the cursive writing of the Egyptians. But the
picture-symbols of the hieratic writing were not merely contracted and
simplified; the mixture of pictorial, syllabic, and alphabetic
symbols--beyond which the Egyptians did not rise--was abandoned, and
then for the first time an alphabet was discovered. This Phenician
alphabet was in use in Syria as early as the year 1000 B.C.[391] In
Babylonia also this alphabetic writing was in use beside the cuneiform.
We find it in Babylon side by side with the corresponding cuneiform on a
weight, of which the inscription tells us: "Thirty minae of standard
weight: the palace of Irba Merodach (Marduk) king of Babylon." The exact
date of this king cannot be ascertained: we only know that he must have
belonged to the old kingdom. Assyrian weights with inscriptions in the
Phenician alphabet, beside the cuneiform inscriptions, are found of the
eighth century B.C., the time of King Tiglath Pilesar II., Shalmanesar
IV., and Sennacherib.[392]
"It can be maintained with good reason," says Diodorus, "that the
Chaldaeans are far before all other nations in their knowledge of the
heavens; and that they devoted the greatest attention and labour to this
science." At an early period, by comparing the course of the sun with
that of the moon, they had perceived that the sun returned to the same
position after passing through about twelve cycles of the moon; hence
they fixed the year at twelve months of thirty days, which they, by
intercalations of various kinds, brought into harmony with the
astronomical year of 365-1/4 days.[393] The observation, that the sun
after a course of twelve months returns to the same constellation, led
them on to determine the changing position of the sun in the other
months by constellations. Thus the Babylonians marked off the
constellations which seemed to touch nearest upon the course of the sun,
and arrived at the signs of the ecliptic or zodiac. Each of these twelve
stations through which the sun passed they again divided into thirty
parts. The week they fixed at seven days by the course of the moon; to
the day they allotted twelve hours, to correspond to the twelve months
of the year; the hours they divided into sixty parts, and each of these
sixtieths was again subdivided into sixty parts. Their measures were
also duodecimal. The cubit was twenty-four finger-breadths; and on the
same system, their numerals were based upon the _sossus_, or sixty,--a
derivative from twelve, and the _sarus_, or square of the _sossus_. When
they attempted to fix the position and intervals of the stars in the
sky, the basis taken for their measurements was the diameter of the sun.
They divided the daily course of the sun, like the ecliptic, into 360
parts, and then attempted to measure these at the equinox. At the moment
when the sun was seen in the sky on the morning of the equinox, a jar
filled with water was opened. From this the water was allowed to run
into a second small jar, till the orb of the sun was completely visible;
then it ran into a third and larger jar, till the sun was again seen on
the horizon on the following morning. They concluded that the diameter
of the sun must stand in the same proportion to the cycle it passed
through as the water in the small jar stood to the water in the large
one. Hence they found that the diameter of the sun was contained 720
times in its course, and this diameter they fixed at 1/30 of an
hour.[394] The observation that an active foot-courier could accomplish
a certain distance in the thirtieth part of an equinoctial hour, and
thirty times as much in the whole hour, supplied the Chaldaeans with a
longitudinal measurement on the same basis. The measure of the hour was
the parasang (3/4 of a geographical mile), and the thirtieth part of the
parasang was the stadium. Till we obtain help from the inscriptions we
must remain acquainted only with the Persian name of the first measure
and the Greek name of the second. At the equator the sun was supposed in
every hour to traverse a distance of thirty stadia. On this system also
the Chaldaeans fixed the length of their cubit. The stadium was divided
into 360 cubits, and the sixth part of the stadium, or plethron, into
sixty cubits, and the foot was fixed at 3/5 of this cubit. Consequently
the Babylonian cubit was fixed at twenty-one inches of our measure (525
millimeters).[395]
From this division of the sphere the Babylonians, though aided by very
simple instruments, the polus and gnomon,[396] arrived at very exact
astronomical observations and results. They discovered a period of 223
months, within which all eclipses of the moon occurred in a similar
number and equal extent. By means of this period they fixed the average
length of the synodic and periodic month with such accuracy that our
astronomers here found the first to be too large by four seconds only,
and the last by one second. Their observations of ten lunar eclipses,
and three conjunctions of planets and fixed stars, have come down to us.
The oldest of these observations is that of a lunar eclipse of the year
721 B.C., which took place "a good hour after midnight." The second took
place in 720 B.C., "about midnight;" the third in the same year "after
the rising of the moon." In these observations also our astronomers have
found but little to correct.
As the Chaldaeans brought their measures of the sphere, of time and
length into correlation, so also they attempted to preserve the same
relation in their cubic measures and weights. For their weights and
cubic measures the division of the units into sixtieths (minae, _i.e._
parts) was retained. The quadrantal, or _Maris_, contained one
Babylonian cubic foot, and the sixtieth part of this was the _Log_. The
weight in water of a Babylonian cubic foot was, according to the
statistics of our physicists, about sixty-six pounds (32,721
kilogrammes), but the Chaldaeans reckoned it at only 60-3/5 pounds
(30,300 kilogrammes).[397]
The weight of the cubic measure was also the standard for imperial
weight in Babylonia. The oldest weight which we know dates from the time
of Ilgi, king of Ur. The stone, which in shape is not unlike a duck, has
the inscription: "Ten minae of Ilgi."[398] There was a heavy talent
(Kikkar, _i.e._ "orb") arranged to weigh twice as much as the
quadrantal. Hence it weighed 121-1/5 pounds (60,600 kils.), and the
sixtieth, or mina, weighed over two pounds. The light talent weighed one
quadrantal, according to the estimate of the Chaldaeans, _i.e._ 60-3/5
pounds, and the mina was a little heavier than a pound of our weight.
But in weighing the precious metals, the Chaldaeans used units, which
differed from the imperial weights in use for all other purposes. They
calculated by little circular pieces, or rings, or bars (tongues) of
silver and gold, and the smallest of these was equivalent to the shekel,
or sixtieth part of the mina of the heavy talent. These shekels were the
commonest and most indispensable measure of value. It was found easier
to reckon by units of 3,000 shekels, than by units of 3,600. And so it
came about that the mina contained fifty shekels instead of sixty, and
the talent 3,000 shekels instead of 3,600. The three thousand shekels as
a whole, no longer weighed 121-1/5 pounds, but only 101 pounds, and the
mina, or sixtieth part, instead of weighing fully two pounds, weighed
only about 1-3/5 pounds.[399]
This weight, or the half of it (50-1/2 pounds), was retained for the
heavy and light gold talent. In the weight of silver trade caused a
further deviation. It was necessary to exchange gold and silver, and in
the East in antiquity the value of gold and silver was estimated at
13 : 1, or more accurately 13-1/3 : 1.[400] By making the silver shekel
(_i.e._ the fiftieth part of the silver mina), which corresponded to the
weight of the light gold talent, a little heavier, a silver coin was
obtained which stood to the fiftieth of the light gold mina, nearly in
the ratio of 10 : 1. Ten silver shekels of this weight could therefore
without any further trouble be exchanged for the fiftieth of the gold
mina, or gold shekel of the light gold talent. Hence arose a silver
talent of 67-1/3 pounds (33,660 kil.), a silver mina of 1-1/10 pound,
and a silver shekel of about eleven milligrammes.
FOOTNOTES:
[359] Diod. 2, 30.
[360] Nicol. Damasc. Fragm. 9, 10, ed. Mueller.
[361] Pindari Fragm. adesp. 83, ed. Bergk.
[362] Schrader, "Assyr.-babyl. Keilschriften," s. 123; "Keilschriften
und Alt. Test." s. 280.
[363] G. Rawlinson, "Five Monarchies," p. 130.
[364] 2 Kings xvii. 31.
[365] Amos v. 26.
[366] Eberhard Schrader, "Theologg. Studien und Kritiken," 1874, 2, 324
ff.
[367] Schrader, "Keilschriften und Alt. Test." s. 167, 272;
"Assyr.-babyl. Keilschriften," s. 88, 129, 140.
[368] Menant, "Babylone," pp. 201-203.
[369] Munter, "Religion der Babylonier," s. 28.
[370] Herod. 1, 199.
[371] Baruch, vi. 42, 43 (Ep. Jerem.); cf. Genesis xxxviii. 14 ff.
[372] Menant, "Babylone," p. 204.
[373] Schrader, "Abstammung der Chaldaeer," s. 405. So, too, Istar of
Agane is opposed to Istar of Erech.
[374] G. Smith, "Discov." p. 220; Schrader, "Hoellenfahrt," p. 15 ff.
[375] Schrader, "Keilschriften und Alt. Test." s. 69, 85, 86.
[376] G. Smith, "Assurbanipal," p. 201.
[377] Diod. 2, 30.
[378] Plutarch, "De Isid." c. 48.
[379] Diod. 2, 30.
[380] Diod. 2, 31.
[381] Sayce, "Bibl. Arch." 3, p. 137.
[382] 2 Kings xxiii. 5-7.
[383] Diod. 2, 31.
[384] Stuhr, "Die Religionsysteme der Voelker des Orients," 1, 424.
[385] Sayce, "Bibl. Archaeol." 3, p. 153.
[386] Diod. 2, 30, 31; Daniel 4, 4.
[387] Above, p. 268; Strabo, p. 739.
[388] Movers, "Religion der Phoenizier," 2, 262, 275.
[389] Schrader, "Assyrisch. Babyl. Keilschriften," s. 105.
[390] G. Smith, "Discov." pp. 387, 388; Menant, "Les Achaemenides."
Recently a tablet has been found, supposed to belong to the time of
Caesar.
[391] De Rouge, "Sur l'Origine Egyptienne de l'Alphabet Phenicien;"
Lauth, "Sitzungsber. d. Bair. Akad. d." 10, 1867, pp. 84-124. The
inscription of Mesha, king of Moab, proves by the formation and use of
the letters that this alphabet had been known for a long time.
[392] The Basalt duck of Irba Marduk--no doubt a piece of Babylonian
booty--was found at Nineveh.--Layard, "Discoveries," p. 601; Schrader,
"Assyr. Babyl. Keilschrift," s. 175; De Vogue, "Rev. Arch." 11, 366.
[393] Ideler, "Handbuch der Chronologie," 1, 207; Sayce, "Bibl. Arch."
3, p. 160.
[394] Ideler, "Sternkunde der Chaldaer," s. 214.
[395] Brandis, "Muenzwesen," s. 20 ff.
[396] Herod. 2, 109.
[397] Brandis, "Muenzwesen Vorderasiens," s. 36 ff.
[398] George Smith, "Records of the Past." 3, 11.
[399] These statements are founded on the more recent forms established
by Brandis, "Muenzwesen Vorderasiens," s. 158, ff.
[400] Brandis, _loc. cit._ s. 85.