The History of Antiquity Volume I Part 15

[332] G. Smith, "a.s.surbanipal," p. 200, 234-236, 249-251. As in two pa.s.sages 1,635 years are given with quotation of the Neres and Sosses, this number must be kept in the third pa.s.sage instead of 1,535 years.

The conquest of Susa did not follow immediately on the conquest of Babylon, in the year 647; see below.

[333] Sayce, "Bibl. Arch." 3, 479; Oppert, "Empires de Chaldee et d'a.s.syrie," p. 27.

[334] G. Smith, "Discov." p. 234; "Early Hist." p. 58.

[335] Genesis, xiv. 1-12; G. Smith, "a.s.surb." p. 228.

[336] Also in Menant, "Les Achemenides," p. 136.

[337] G. Smith, "a.s.surbanipal," p. 224, ff.

[338] Sayce, "Transact. Bibl. Arch." 3, 465, 485.

[339] So Rawlinson, Norris, Mordtmann, "Zeitschrift d. d. M. G." 1870, s. 7, 76, and Sayce, _loc. cit._

[340] Norris, "Dict." I. 50.

[341] Such is also the opinion of Eberhard Schrader.

[342] Schrader, "Abstammung und Ursitze der Chaldaeer," s. 405 ff., 416 ff.

[343] Strabo, p. 735, 765, 767; Pliny, "Hist. Nat." 6, 23, 27. 5, 20.

[344] On the correct interpretation of the pa.s.sage, Isaiah xxiii. 13, see Schrader, "Keilschriften und Alt. Test." s. 269; on the Armenian Chaldaeans, the Chalybian Chaldaeans, Schrader, "Abstammung der Chaldaeer,"

s. 399, 400. The former are to be sought for in the valley of the Lycus, and are known to the Armenians as Chalti: Kiepert, "Monats-Berichte der B. Akad. d. W." 1869. Arphaxad, _i.e._ the high mountain district Albak (Kiepert, _loc. cit_. s. 200), on the Upper Zab, was on the other hand undoubtedly colonised by Semitic tribes; but these probably came from Mesopotamia and a.s.syria. Arphaxad is the younger brother of Elam and a.s.shur. Where to look for Kir, whence, according to Amos ix. 7; i. 5, the Syrians came, we do not know.

[345] Schrader, "a.s.syrisch-babyl. Keilschriften," s. 382, 18, 42, 165, 225.

[346] Schrader, "Keilschriften und Alt. Test." s. 383.

[347] Oppert, "Inscript. des Sargonides," p. 55 ff.

[348] Above, pp. 132, 151, 152. From Naharina Tuthmosis III. received, among other things, forty-seven tiles of lead, forty-five pounds of gold, eighty-one mana (minae) of spice.--De Rouge, "Notice," pp. 16, 18.

[349] Oppert, "Empires," pp. 16, 17; G. Rawlinson, "Five Monarchies," 1, 63, 64, 137; Menant, "Babylone," pp. 74, 75, 254.

[350] G. Smith, "Early History," p. 36; G. Rawlinson, "Five Monarchies,"

pp. 69, 94, 157 ff.

[351] Oppert, "Empires," p. 21.

[352] Schrader, "Keilsch. und Alt. Test." s. 47; "a.s.syrisch-babylonische Keilschriften," s. 162; Sayce, "Zeitschrift fur aegypt. Sprache," 1870, s. 151; Menant, "Babylone," p. 98.

[353] Oppert, "Empires," p. 36.

[354] Lenormant, "Lettres a.s.syr." 1, 249.

[355] Oppert, "Empires," p. 28; Menant, "Babylone," pp. 118, 121.

[356] G. Rawlinson, "Five Monarchies," pp. 169, 170.

[357] G. Smith, "Discov." p. 236 ff., gives a deed of gift of Merodach-Baladan, the son of Milihiru, the grandson of Kurigalzu.

[358] Menant, "Babylone," pp. 127, 128.

CHAPTER II.

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 a.s.sistance. 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 unsurpa.s.sed 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 ca.n.a.l 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, wors.h.i.+pped twelve G.o.ds 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 G.o.d of the Babylonians was El (Il), after whom they named their capital, Babel, "Gate of El." After El came the G.o.ds Anu, Bel (Bil), Hea, Sin, Samas, and Bin; and after these the G.o.ds of the planets; Adar, Merodach, Nergal, Istar, and Nebo. Of El we only know that he was the supreme G.o.d, who sat enthroned above the other G.o.ds.

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 t.i.tle not only Bel himself, but El and other G.o.ds 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 G.o.ds," "the warrior." In a.s.syrian inscriptions he is the "lamp of the G.o.ds," "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 G.o.d 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 G.o.d 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 G.o.ds fled horror-stricken before the storm into the heaven of Anu. In a.s.syrian inscriptions the G.o.d has frequently the epithet Malik (_i.e._ "king"). As the Hebrews inform us that the men of Sepharvaim wors.h.i.+pped 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 a.s.sume that the Oan of Berosus and the Anu of the inscriptions are the same G.o.d. The nature of the next deities, Sin, Samas, and Bin, is more intelligible. Sin is the G.o.d 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 wors.h.i.+p is Ur (Mugheir), where, as we have seen, Urukh built him a temple, and Nabonetus, the last king of Babylon, prays this G.o.d "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-G.o.d 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 wors.h.i.+pped a deity of the heaven, Bin, the G.o.d 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 G.o.d 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 G.o.d. The Hebrews tell us that the men of Sepharvaim wors.h.i.+pped 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-G.o.d, their images which they had made,"[365] Sichuth-Melech can be no other G.o.d than Sakkut-Malik, _i.e._ Adar, and by Kewan is meant the Kaivanu (Saturn) of the inscriptions.[366] Nebo (Nabu), the G.o.d 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. a.s.syrian inscriptions ent.i.tle him the "prince of the G.o.ds." 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 wors.h.i.+pped at the city of Kutha. The inscriptions name him the "king of the battle," the "ruler of the storm," or simply the "lion-G.o.d."[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 a.s.syrian 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 G.o.d," the "lord of heaven and earth."[368]

To this circle of planet-G.o.ds belongs also the female deity, whom the Babylonians wors.h.i.+pped with much zeal--the G.o.ddess Bilit, _i.e._ "Lady,"

the Mylitta of Herodotus. Her star is Venus. The inscriptions name her "Queen of the G.o.ds," "Mother of the G.o.ds." As she is also called the "Lady of Offspring," it is clear that she was regarded by the Babylonians as the G.o.ddess of fertility and birth. They recognised the power of the G.o.ddess 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 wors.h.i.+ppers 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 wors.h.i.+p the G.o.ddess by the sacrifice of their virginity; once in her life each was expected to sell her body in honour of the G.o.ddess, and thus to redeem herself. Hence on the festivals of Mylitta the maidens of Babylon sat in long rows in the grove of the G.o.ddess, 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 wors.h.i.+p the G.o.ddess, 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 G.o.ddess. "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 G.o.ddess), sat by the wayside, and burnt bran for perfume, and she who was drawn away by the pa.s.ser-by reproached her fellow that she had not been thought worthy of the honour, and that her cord was not broken."[371] The G.o.ddess 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 G.o.ddess of fertility, procreation, and birth, stood Istar, the G.o.ddess of war, of ruin, and destruction. She is often mentioned in inscriptions as "the Queen of Babylon;" according to a.s.syrian inscriptions she carries a bow, and western writers tell us of the wors.h.i.+p of Artemis by the Babylonians. That this G.o.ddess united with Bilit, and sent alternately blessing and fruit, death and ruin, is placed beyond doubt, by the a.n.a.logous wors.h.i.+p of Baltis, Ashera, and Astarte by the Syrians, and more especially by the Phoenicians and Carthaginians. Moreover the planet Venus belonged to this G.o.ddess in both her forms. In the tablets of the flood, Istar boasts that men owed their existence to her (p. 243), and an a.s.syrian syllabarium tells us that "the star of Venus (Dilbat, the Delephat of the Greeks), at sunrise, is Istar among the G.o.ds; the same star at sunset is Bilit among the G.o.ds."[373] On a.s.syrian 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 G.o.d 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 pa.s.sed through he took the great crown from her head; and when she pa.s.sed through the second gate he took the rings from her ears; and when she pa.s.sed through the third gate he took the necklace from her neck; and when she pa.s.sed through the fourth gate he took the ornaments from her breast; and when she pa.s.sed through the fifth gate he took the girdle of her robe; and when she pa.s.sed through the sixth gate he took the rings from her arms and legs; and when she pa.s.sed 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 a.s.s the female," and the G.o.d 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 G.o.d Dakan, or Dagani; and we also meet the name of this G.o.d in the name of the king Ismidagon, whom we found it necessary to place before the year 2000 B.C. a.s.surbanipal of a.s.syria boasts of the favour of Anu and Dagon. These two G.o.ds appear in the same connection in other inscriptions. Sargon, king of a.s.syria, 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 G.o.d Dakan the fish-G.o.d of the Babylonians; the G.o.d who out of moisture gives plenty, fertility, and increase. That the Canaanites also wors.h.i.+pped 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 G.o.d. 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 G.o.ds Oan and Dagon, Anu and Dakan.

The chief seats of the religious wors.h.i.+p of the Babylonians were Babylon itself, when it had become the metropolis of the land, Borsippa and Kutha. The kings of a.s.syria, 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 a.s.surbanipal 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 wors.h.i.+p of Nana, Ur contained the temple of the moon-G.o.d, 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 G.o.d Samas; the moon, as we have seen, belonged to Sin, Saturn to Adar, Jupiter to Merodach, Mercury to Nebo, Mars to the war-G.o.d Nergal, Venus to Istar-Bilit. From the inscriptions of Nebuchadnezzar II. we learn that there existed at Borsippa, the seat of the wors.h.i.+p 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 G.o.ds.[377] Among them Jupiter and Venus (Merodach and Istar-Bilit) pa.s.sed 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 G.o.d 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 a.s.sumed the influence and character of the constellations in which they pa.s.sed over the earth.

They divided the path of the sun into twelve stations or houses, according to the constellations which it pa.s.ses 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 G.o.ds."[379] On the other hand thirty other fixed stars are "counselling G.o.ds," 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 cla.s.ses 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 G.o.d; the first to the G.o.d 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 wors.h.i.+pped "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 G.o.ds 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 pa.s.sed 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."