The History of the Ancient Civilizations. Duncker Max

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 (minæ) of spice.—De Rougé, "Notice," pp. 16, 18.

[349] Oppert, "Empires," pp. 16, 17; G. Rawlinson, "Five Monarchies," 1, 63, 64, 137; Ménant, "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; "Assyrisch-babylonische Keilschriften," s. 162; Sayce, "Zeitschrift für ægypt. Sprache," 1870, s. 151; Ménant, "Babylone," p. 98.

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

[354] Lenormant, "Lettres Assyr." 1, 249.

[355] Oppert, "Empires," p. 28; Ménant, "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] Ménant, "Babylone," pp. 127, 128.

      CHAPTER II.

      THE RELIGION AND SCIENCE OF THE CHALDÆANS.

       Table of Contents

      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 Chaldæans 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 Chaldæans 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 Chaldæans in brick are unsurpassed in size, strength, and height by any nation or period. To what antiquity the hydraulic works of the Chaldæans 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 primæval 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