The Religion of Babylonia and Assyria

to them exist. Naturally it is not in some cases easy to distinguish well between the special functions of these supernatu

vince in bringing misfortune, or tormenting, or causing pain and sickness, was assigned. All the spirits, however, were not evil, even those whose names wou

the will of Anu, the god of the heavens. There was the /u

me as the divine bull sent by I?tar to attack Gilgame?, and killed by Enki-du. It

u/, "to seize." In reality, however, it was an ordinary spirit, and the word is used for the wraiths

gesting something which is visible by the light it gives-possibly a will-o'-the-wisp,-though others are inclined to regard the word as being connected with /gala/, "great." In any case, its mea

nally one of the deities of Tiawath's brood, up

s a spirit which lay in wa

re were seven evil spirits of this kind, who were apparentl

ntly a spirit which overthrew, that being the

apparently so called as "the seizer," tha

t." Its origin, however, is Sumerian, from /lila/, regarded as meaning "mist." To the word /lilu/ the ancient Babylonians formed a feminine, /lil?thu/, which entered the Hebrew language

as regarded as the beloved son of Bêl, and offspring of /Ere?-ki-gal/ or Persephone, and he had a spouse named /Hu?-bi-?aga/. A

ng. In a good sense the /?êdu/ was a protecting deity, guarding against hostile attacks. Erech and the temple

sus-a winged man-headed bull or lion. It is these creatures which the kings placed at the sides of the doors of their palaces, to pro

men inc

/utukku/, the /utukku/ of the plain, of the mountain, of the sea, and of the grave; the evil /?êdu/, the glorious /al?/, or divine bull, and the evil unsparing wind. There was also that which takes the form of a man, the evil face, the evil eye, the evil mouth, the evil tongue, the evil lip, the evil breath; also the afflicting /asakku/ (regarded as the demon of fever), the /asakku/ which does not leave a man: the afflicting /namtaru/ (fate), the severe /namtaru/, the /namtaru/ which does not

spun, and fastened to the side and canopy of the afflicted person's bed-the white to the side and

aid of /lilu/, sorcery, enchantment, magic, disaster, machination which is not good-may they not set their head to his head, their hand t

lier-in-wait depart, and stand aside, and a propitious /?êdu/ and a propitious /labartu/ reside in his body. The gates right and left having been thus, so to say, shut close, the evil gods, demons, and sp

man, by an of

ining bronze shal

r tha

all give

rst-born son

to purify

, mayest thou ex

yest thou

nd cere

onies, the due carrying out of which was necessary for the attainment of the g

emony recorded is that

the /zikkurat/ or pea

the ship which had sav

's description of th

he four winds, I p

ing on the peak

n I set incens

poured cane, cedar,

smelled

melled a s

d like flies ove

nstantly rendering to their gods the glory for everything which they succeeded in bringing to a successful issue

rship of the gods wa

ering to I?tar was

l the people of his land were

, seem to have been constantly made-in any case, offerings of cattle and fowl, in list-form, are fairly numerous. Many a cylinder-seal has a representation of the owner bringing a young animal-a kid or a lamb-as an offering to the deity whom he worshipp

h is the 'head-ra

the fatling

head of the fat

neck of the fat

reast of the fatli

hey represented a human offering to the gods. Hayes Ward, however, is inclined to doubt this explanation, and more evidence would seem, therefore, to be needed. He is inclined to think that,

o pour out, apparently, a libation to the gods before departing upon some expedition, and priests bringing offerings, either animal or vegetable, are also represented. A??ur-ban?-apli, who is