The Religion of Babylonia and Assyria

n

seems to be described as the son of An?ar and Ki?ar. In early names he is described as the father, creator, and god, probably meaning the supreme being. His consort was Anatu, and the pair are

a

his son Merodach went for advice whenever he was in doubt. On account of his knowledge, he was the god of artisans in general-potters, blacksmiths, sailors, builders, stone-cutters, gardeners, seers, barbers, farmers, etc. This is the Aos (a form which confirms the reading Aa) of Damascius, and the Oannes of the extracts from Berosus, who states that he was "a creature endowed with reason, with a body like that of a fish, and under the fish's head another head, with feet below, like those of a man, with a fish's tail." This description applies f

ther names, /Ga?an-ki/ (Sumerian dialectic) and /Nin-ki/ (non-dialectic), "Lady of the eart

o salvation from the Flood and immortality afterwards. All through this adventure it was the god êa who favoured him, and afterwards gave him immortality like that of the gods. There is an interesting Sumerian text in which the ship of êa seems to be described, the

before thee br

p after the

y it make joy o

nce this ending to the poetical

e

-pileser I. (about 1200 B.C.) refers to him as the "older Bel" in describing the temple which he built for him at A??ur. Numerous names of men compounded with his occur until the latest times, implying that, though the favourite god was Merodach, the worship of Bel was not forgotten, even at Babylon-that he should have been adored at his own city, Niffur, and at Dur-Kuri-galzu, where Kuri-galzu I. built a temple for "Bel, the lord of the lands," was naturally to be expected. Being, like êa, a god of the earth, he is regarded as having formed a trinity with Anu, the god of heaven, and êa, the god of the deep, and prayer to these three was as good as

, as certain glosses and Damascius

lt

borne by Zer-pan?tum, I?tar, Nanaa, and others. It was therefore often needful to add the name of the city over which the special /Bêltu/ presided, in order to make clear which of them was meant. Besides being the title of the spouse of th

tu or N

called "Anuship." Beginning with words praising him, it seems to refer to his attitude towards the gods of hostile lands, against whom, apparently, he rode in a chariot of the sacred lapis-lazuli. Anu having endowed him with terrible glory, the gods of the earth feared to attack him, and his onrush was as that of a storm-flood. By the command of Bel, his course was directed towards ê-kur, the temple of Bel at Niffur. Here he was met by Nusku, the supreme messenger of Bel, who, with words of respect and of praise, asks him not to disturb the god Bel, his father, in his seat, nor make the gods of the earth tremble in Up?ukennaku (the heavenly festival-hall of the gods), and offers him a gift.[2] It will thus be seen that ênu-rê?tu was a rival to the older Bel, whose temple was the great tower in stag

name of this divinity, in consequence of the Aramaic transcription given by certain contract-tab

s not known, in consequence of t

nerally read Nin-ip) occur, and show, with those quoted he

sk

r, the first-born of Bel." As Gibil, the fire-god, has likewise the same diverse parentage, it is regarded as likely that these two gods were identical. Nusku was the god whose command is supreme, the counsellor of the great gods, the protector of the Igigi (the gods of the heavens), the great and powerful one, the glori

ment: no feast could be prepared without fire and its flame. As the evidence of the presence of the shining orbs in the heavens-the light of their fires-he was the messenger of the gods, and was honoured accordingly. From this id

oda

ing the gods of heaven in all their grades. The signification of /En-bilulu/ is unknown. Like most of the other gods of the Babylonian pantheon, however, Merodach had many other names, among which may be mentioned /Asari/, which has been compared with the Egyptian Osiris, /Asari-lu-duga/, "/Asari/ who is good," compared with Osiris Unnefer; /Namtila/, "life", /Tutu/, "begetter (of the gods), renewer (of the gods)," /?ar-azaga/, "the glorious incantation," /Mu-azaga/, "the glorious charm," and many others. The last two refer to his being the god who, by his kindness, obtained from his father êa, dwelling in the abyss, those charms and incantations which benefited mankind, and restored the sick to health. In this connection, a frequent title given to him is "the merciful one," but most merciful was he in that he spared the lives of the gods who, having sided with Taiwath, wer

runk," /Nadin-mê-gati/, "he who gives water for the hands," also the two door-keepers, and the four dogs of Merodach, wherein people are inclined to see the four satellites of Jupiter, which, it is thought, were probably visible to certain of t

pan?

ter (280-260 B.C.) is called "the queen who produces birth," but more especially by the circumstance, that she must be identical with Aruru, who created the seed of mankind along with Merodach. Why she was called "the lady of the abyss," and elsewhere "the voice of the abyss" (/Me-abzu/) is not known. Zer-pan?tum was no mere reflection of Merodach, but one of the most important

nd Ta?

cation of the estimation in which the Babylonians and Assyrians held the possession of knowledge. The character with which his name is written means, with the pronunciation of /ak/, "to make," "to create," "to receive," "to proclaim," and with the pronunciation of /me/, "to be wise," "wisdom," "open of ear," "broad of ear," and "to make, of a house," the last probably referring to the design rather than to the actual building. Under the name of /Dim-?ara/ he was "the creator of the writing of the scribes," as /Ni-zu/, "the god who knows" (/zu/, "to know"), as /Mermer/, "the s

ough he did not suppress the worship. Why this should have taken place is not by any means certain, for Nebo was a deity adored far and wide, as may be gathered from the fact that there was a mountain bearing his name in Moab, upon wh

we bear in mind the remarkable seal-impression on an early tablet of 3500-4500 B.C., belonging to Lord Amherst of Hackney, in which we see a male figure with wide-open mouth seizing a stag by his horns, and a female figure with no mouth at all, but with very prominent ears, holding a bull in a similar manner. Here we have the "teacher" and the "hearer" personified in a very remarkable manner, and it may wel

nd his

ot live, and it is an exceedingly noteworthy fact that this deity did not become, like Ra in Egypt, the head of the pantheon. This place was reserved for Merodach, also a sun-god, but possessing attributes of a far wider scop

f living creatures, the gracious one of the lands." Dawning in the foundation of the sky, he opened the locks and threw wide the gates of the high heavens, and raised his head, covering heaven and earth with his splendour. He was the constantly righteous in heaven, the truth within the ears of the lands, the god knowing justice and injustice, righteousness he supported upon his shoulders, unrighteousness he burst asunder like a leather bond, etc. It will thus be seen, that the sun-god was the great god of judgment and justice-indeed, he is constantly alluded to as "the judge,"

by reduplicating the name of the sun-god, /Utu/, she would seem once to have been identical with him, in which case it may be supposed that she personified the setting sun-"the double sun" from the magnified disc which he presents at sunset, when, according to a hymn to the setting sun sung at the temple at Borsippa, Aa, in the Su

a/, "the bark of heaven," /U-ê/, "the rising sun," /Mitra/, apparently the Persian Mithra; /Ume-?ima?/ and Nahunda, Elamite names, and Sahi, the Kassite name o

of ?ama?-?um-uk?n (Saosduchinos), the brother of A??ur-bani-apli (Assurbanipa

z and

0 /sari/, or 36,000 years, and was the sixth king of the mythical period. According to the classic story, the mother of Tammuz had unnatural intercourse with her own father, being urged thereto by Aphrodite whom she had offended, and who had decided thus to avenge herself. Being pursued by her father, who wished to kill her for this crime, she prayed to the gods, and was turned into a tree, from whose trunk Adonis was afterwards born. Aphrodite was so

he sea, was not only celebrated by the Ph?nicians, but also by the Babylonians, who had at least two series of lamentations which were used on this occasion, and were probably the originals of those chanted by the Hebrew women in the time of Ezekiel (about 597 B.C.). Whilst on earth, he was the one who nourished the ewe and her lamb, the goat and her kid, and also caused them to be slain-probably in sacrifice. "He has gone, he has gone to the bosom of the earth," the mourners cried, "he will make plenty to overflow for the land of the dead, for its lamentations for the day of his fall, in the unpropitious month of his year." There was also lamentation for the cessation of the growth of vegetation, and one of these hymns, after addressing him as the shepherd and husband of

the sheep-fold of Tammuz, recalling the flocks of the Greek sun-god Helios. These were the clouds illuminated by the sun, which were likened to sheep-indeed, one of the early Sumerian expressions for "fleece" was

ved in the underworld quite naked, typifying the teaching, that man can take nothing away with him when he departs this life. During her absence, things naturally began to go wrong upon the earth, and the gods were obliged to intervene, and demand her release, which was ult

evens"; the horse glorious in war, to whom she caused hardship and distress, and to his mother Silili bitter weeping; the shepherd who provided for her things which she liked, whom she smote and changed to a jackal; I?ullanu, her father's gardener, whom she tried, apparently, to poison, but failing, she smote him, and changed him to a statue(?). On being thus reminded of her misdeeds, I?tar was naturally angry, and, ascending to heaven, complained to her father Anu and her mother Anatu, the result being, that a

say, in several directions, as may be judged by her many names, each of which had a tendency to become a distinct personality. Thus the syllabaries give the character which represents her name as having also been pronounced /Innanna/, /Ennen/, and /Nin/, whilst a not uncommon name in othe

i

at she had begotten man, but like "the sons of the fishes," he filled the sea. Nina, then, as another form of I?tar, was a goddess of creation, typified in the teeming life of the ocean, and her name is written with a character standing for a house or receptacle, with the sign for "fish" within. Her earliest seat was the city of Nina in southern Babylonia, from which place, in all proba

ine forms, and if that be the case, we may suppose that it was a masculine counterpart of Nina who founded Nine

-Gu

one of the suburbs, and the oldest part, of Laga?. This deity was son of En-lila or Bêl, and was identified with Nirig or ênu-rê?tu. To all appearance he was a sun-deity. The dialectic form of his name was /U-Mersi/, of which a variant, /En-Mersi/, occurs in an incantation published in the fourth volume of the /Cuneiform Inscriptions of Western Asi

a

rsu, whose spouse she was. Like Nin-Girsu, she planted (not only grain and vegetation, but also the seed of men). In her character of the goddess who gave life to men, and healed their bodies in sickness, she was identified with Gula, one of those tit

-gal or

ed to Ere?-ki-gal what had happened, and angered thereat, she sent him back to the presence of the gods, asking for the delinquent to be delivered to her, that she might kill him. The gods then discussed the question of death with the messenger, and told him to take to his mistress the god who had not stood up in his presence. When the gods were brought together, that the culprit might be recognised, one of them remained in the background, and on the messenger asking who it was who did not stand up, it was found to be Nerigal. This god was duly sent, but was not at all inclined to be submissive, for instead of k

her garments and ornaments, but by the orders of Ere?-ki-gal, Namtar smote her with disease in all her members. It was not until the gods intervened that I?tar was set free. The meaning of her name

rg

m, as in the phrase which describes him as "the warrior, the fierce storm-flood overthrowing the land of the enemy." As pointed out by Jastrow, he differs from Nirig, who was also a god of war, in that he symbolises, as god of disease and death, the misery and destruction which acco

ounds of Tel Ibrahim. The identity with the Greek Aries and the Roman Mars is proved by the fact that his pl

ur

ring the period of the dynasty to which Hammurabi belonged-say from 2200 to 1937 B.C., when Amurru was much combined with the names of men, and is found both on tablets and cylinder-seals. The ideographic manner of writing it is /Mar-tu/, a word that is used for /Amurru/, the land of the Amorites, which stood for the Wes

r Nan

ed by the character for "30," provided with the prefix of divinity, an ideograph which is due to the thirty days of the month, and is thought to be of late date. With regard to Nannar, Jastrow explains it as being for Narnar, and renders it "light-producer." In a long hymn to this god he is described in many lines as "the lord, prince of the gods, who in heaven alone is supreme," and as "father Nannar." Among his ot

our of lapis only, not

hich city Abraham migrated, scholars say, in consequence of the patron-deity being the same as at Ur of the Chaldees

gi (about 2700 B.C.),

"the lady of Ur." Sar

lls her

or Ra

ic Hadad, but the other name, Rammanu, is native Babylonian, and cognate with Rimmon, which is thus shown by the Babylonian form to mean "the thunderer," or something similar. He was the god of winds, storms, and rain, feared on account of the former, and worshipped, and his favour sought, on account of the last. In his name Birqu, he appears as the god of lightning, and Jastrow is of opinion, that he is sometimes associated on that account with ?ama?, both of them being (although in different degrees) gods of light, and this is confirmed by the fact that, in common with

unknown. Other places (or are they other names of the same?) where he was worshipped were Ennigi and Kakru. The consort of Addu was ?ala, whose worship

?u

vely, none of them being specifically Assyrian, though worshipped by the Assyrians. There was one deity, however, whose name will not be found in

shown sometimes a full-length figure of the god in human form, sometimes the upper part only, facing towards and drawing his bow against the foe. In consequence of its general appearance, the image of the god has been likened to the sun in eclipse, the far-stretching wings being thought to resemble the long streamers visible at the moment of totality, and it must be admitted as probable that this may have given the idea of the symbol shown on the sculptures. As a sun-god, and at the same time not the god ?ama?, he resembled the Babylonian Merodach, and was possibly identified with him, especially as, in at least one text, Bêltu (Bêltis) is described as his consort, which would possibly identify A??ur's spouse with Zer-pan?tum. The original form of his name would seem to have been Au?ar, "water-field," probably from the tract where the city of A??ur was built. His identification with Merodach, if that was ever accepted, may have been due to the likeness of the word to Asari, one of that deity's names. The pronunciation A??ur, however, seems to ha

n three shrines to A??ur

. As he represented no personification or power of nature, he says, but the general protecting spirit of the land, the king, the army, and the people, the capital of the country could be transferred from A??ur to Calah, from there back to A??ur, and finally to Nineveh, without affecting the position of the protecting god of the land in any way. He needed no temp

ys distinct from, the rest of the pantheon, which, as has been shown, was of Baby

ication being made. In one inscription, however, A??uritu is called the goddess, and A??ur the god, of the star Sib-zi-anna, identified by Jensen with Reg

or divi

because of more than ordinary interest, or in consequence of their furnishing the name of

ng the name of his consort; or (what is, perhaps, more probable) as a way of writing A'u or Ya'u (the Hebrew Jah

seems to have attained

among immigrants from

valent of the Syrian Be

name was weakened

h is regarded as occurring in the name of the Babylonian king Eri

r Aa as lord of

assigned to the sun-god, from which it would

kkad). Sayce identifies, on this account, these two places as being the same. In a list of stars, Anunitum is coupled with ?inunutum, which are

ion with Tiawath, and regarded as "the house of

murabi called Ya'ruru), of which she was the chief goddess. Aruru was one of the

ans "lord," it could

chief god of any city,

f Aratta, Bêl of Bab

r which represented th

u, lady of the gods of Sippar of Aruru," "Nin-mah, lady of the gods of ê-mah," a celebrated templ

d I?tar at Sippar and elsewhere. He "g

inscriptions the form Daguna, which approaches nearer to the West Semitic form, is found in a few personal names. The Ph?nician statues of this deity showed him with the lower part of his body in the form of a fish (see 1 Sam. v. 4). Wh

d as equivalent to Gula

dess of healing, and m

t, and goes back to the time of E-anna-tum of Laga? (about 4000 B.C.). What connection, if any, he may have with Tammuz, the spouse of I

ew moon. Only found in names of the time of the Hammur

escription, which gives the meaning of his name, suggests that he was one of the gods of the realm of Ere?-ki

fire-bearer" or "light-bearer." Girru is another name of this deity, and translates an ideographic group, rendered by Delitzs

one of the names of êa, prob

he fire-god as a means whereby burnt offerings were ma

the plane

e name is regarded as existing in Chedorlaomer (cf. Gen.

a city as yet unidentified. The king of this place seems to hav

similar, and the god bearing it is supposed to be the same as

e paradise (or a paradise) of the world to come. As it was the aim of every good Babylonian to dwell hereafter with

the seed of mankind, Aruru. Probably so called as the "mother"

amitum, god

es of Addu or Ramma

Borsippa, but appears as a form of I?tar,

erefore of gardens and plantations, which were watered by means of the small canals

probably as "lord physician." He is p

the others, designates êa or Aa as "the god of the carpenter." He see

h in Babylon. Probably to be identified w

of the wild boar." He seems to have been a god of war,

êa as the go

in ê-anna, "the house of Anu." He renders her name "the annihilating lady,"[*] "appropriate for the consort of a sun-g

of the name having, with another pronu

, as the god

also described as god "of decisions." Nin-?ah would seem to h

rly translated "warrior," is applied to several deities, among t

dad as "the thunderer." The second comes

atercourses," probably the artificial ch

a name o

under which he was wo

by

r, was identified with Nirig. One of this titles was /bêl

lso a god of irrigation, and may have presided over ceremonial purification. He i

s, but short as the list necessarily is, the nature, if not the full co

es and titles, hence their exceeding multiplicity. In such an extensive pantheon, many of the gods composing it necessarily overlap, and identification of eac

d the heave

ing the sun and the moon. This leads to the supposition that the Babylonians, bearing these two deities in mind, may have asked themselves why, if these two were represented by heavenly bodies, the others s

n the

ama? the

-sig-êa Jup

le-bat Ve

g-u? Saturn Niri

at-gud Me

?tabarru

ta

of divinity, but in other inscriptions the dete

an dialectic form, the original

and

no doubt whatever. The reason why the moon is placed before the sun is that the sun, as already explained, was regarded as his son. It was noteworthy also that the moon was accredited with two other offspring, namely, Ma

r and

story of the Creation (or Bel and the Dragon). This is explained by him as being due to the comparatively rapid and extensive path of Jupiter on the ecliptic, and it would seem probable that the names of Saturn, /Kaawanu/ and /Sag-u?/ (the former, which is Semitic Ba

sunrise a

as yet unknown mythological story concerning her. According to this, she was a female at sunset, and a male at sunrise; I?tar of

he vario

was the star of the water-channel, Ik?, which was Merodach's star in Sivan (May-June), and in Marcheswan her star was Rabbu, which also belonged to Merodach in the same month. It

tified wit

trologers called him Umun-sig-êa in Nisan (March-April), Dapinu in Tammuz (June-July), Nibiru in Tisri (September-October),

gs, and probably contain references, in their names and descriptions, to many legends. In the sixth tablet of the

the stations of

keness-he set

ear, he outlined th

twelve months t

the year begins,

um, and are completed by a tablet which gives them in list-form, in one case with explanations. Until these are properly identified, however, it will be impossible to estimate

ign Equ

Apr.) The La

ulmula/ and the Bul

b-zi-anna/ and the g

ly) /Allul/ or

) The Lion (or

e Ear of corn(?) Th

ct.) The Scal

-Nov.) The Scorp

Dec.) /Pa-bil-

/Sahar-ma?/, the

eb.) /Gula/ T

e Water Channel and

in Babylon

lation may refer to Tammuz, the divine shepherd; whilst "the scorpion" reminds us of the scorpion-men who guarded the gate of the sun (?ama?), when Gilgame? was journeying to gain information concerning his friend Enki-du, who had departe

star

storm-bird-Pegasus; "the Serpent," explained as Ere?-ki-gal, the queen of Hades, who would therefore seem to have been conceived in that form; "the Scorpion," which is given as /I?hara tanti

e represented. O

threatens her with a pointed weapon which he carries. Another, published by the same scholar, shows a deity, whom he regards as being Merodach, driven in a chariot drawn by a winged lion, upon whose shoulders stands a naked goddess, holding thunderbolts in each hand, whom he describes as Zer-pan?tum. Another cylinder-seal shows the corn-deity, probably Nisaba, seated in flounced robe and horned hat, with corn-stalks springing out from h

ary-ston

; a thunderbolt for Rimmon or Hadad, the god of thunder, lightning, wind, and storms; a lamp for Nusku, etc. A bird, perhaps a hawk, stood for Utu-gi?gallu, a deity whose name has been translated "the southern sun," and is explained in the bilingual inscriptions as ?ama?, the sun-god, and Nirig, one of the gods of war. The emblem of Gal-alim, who is ident

ivine f

his endless course. The position of Merodach as sun-god is confirmed by the small lapis-lazuli relief found by the German expedition at the mound known as Amran ibn 'Ali, as he also carries a staff and a ring, and his robe is covered with ornamental circles, showing, in all probability, his solar nature. In the same place another small relief represen