In the earlier days, when the bodies were placed on the ground or only a short distance below it, the building of the grave-mound was a ceremony to which importance was attached. In the stele of vultures, attendants are portrayed—perhaps priests—with baskets on their heads, containing the earth to be placed over the fallen soldiers.[1279] These attendants are bare to the waist. The removal of the garments is probably a sign of mourning, just as among the Hebrews and other Semites it was customary to put on the primitive loin-cloth[1280] as a sign of grief. In somewhat later times, we find sorrowing relatives tearing their clothing[1281]— originally tearing off their clothing—and cutting their hair as signs of mourning.

The formal lament for the dead was another ceremony upon which stress was laid. It lasted from three to seven days.[1282] The professional wailers, male and female, can be traced back to the earliest days of Babylonian history. Gudea speaks of them.[1283] It would appear that at this early period persons were engaged, as is the case to this day in the Orient, to sing dirges in memory of the dead.[1284] The function is one that belongs naturally to priests and priestesses; and, while in the course of time, the connection with the temple of those who acted as wailers became less formal, it is doubtful whether that connection was ever entirely cut off. The 'dirge singers, male and female,' referred to in the story of Ishtar's journey[1285] were in the service of some temple. The hymns to Nergal[1286] may be taken as samples of the Babylonian dirges.

The praise of Nergal and Allatu was combined with the lament for the sad fate of the dead. Gilgamesh weeping for his friend Eabani[1287] furnishes an illustration. Gilgamesh is described as stretched out on the ground. The same custom is referred to in the inscriptions of Cyrus,[1288] and it is interesting to note that a similar mode of manifesting grief still prevails in the modern Orient. In the Babylonian dirges, it would seem, the references to the virtues of the deceased (which are prominently introduced into the dirges of the present day) were few. The refrain forms a regular feature of these dirges,—an indication that, as is still the case in the Orient, there was a leader who sang the dirge, while the chorus chimed in at the proper moment. The principle of the stanza of two lines, one long and one short, that, as Budde has shown,[1289] controls the wailing songs in the Old Testament (including the Book of Lamentations, which is based upon this very custom of lamenting the dead), may be detected in the Babylonian compositions. The accompaniment of musical instruments to the dirges also appears to be a very old custom in Babylonia. In the story of Ishtar's journey the wailers are called upon to strike their instruments. What kind of instruments were used in ancient times we do not know. In the Assyrian period, the harp and flute appear to be the most common.[1290]

At the time that food and drink were placed with the dead in the grave, some arrangements must have been made for renewing the nourishment. Entrances to tombs have been found,[1291] and Koldewey[1292] is of the opinion that the clay drains found in quantities in the tombs, served as well to secure a supply of fresh water for the dead. The wailing for the dead took place not only immediately after death, but subsequently. Ashurbanabal speaks of visiting the graves of his ancestors. He appears at the tomb with rent garments, pours out a libation to the memory of the dead, and offers up a prayer addressed to them. We have every reason to believe that the graves were frequently visited by the survivors. The festival of Tammuz became an occasion[1293] when the memory of those who had entered Aralu was recalled.

While there are many details connected with the ceremonies for the dead still to be determined, what has been ascertained illustrates how closely and consistently these ceremonies followed the views held by the Babylonians and Assyrians regarding the life after death. Everything connected with death is gloomy. The grave is as dark as Aralu; the funeral rites consist of dirges that lament not so much the loss sustained by the living as the sad fate in store for the dead. Not a ray of sunshine illumines the darkness that surrounds these rites. All that is hoped for is to protect the dead against the attack of demons greedy for human flesh, to secure rest for the body, and to guard the dead against hunger and thirst.

It is almost startling to note, to what a degree the views embodied in Old Testament writings regarding the fate of the dead, coincide with Babylonian conceptions. The descriptions of Sheol found in Job, in the Psalms, in Isaiah, Ezekiel, and elsewhere are hardly to be distinguished from those that we have encountered in Babylonian literature. For Job,[1294] Sheol is

The land of darkness and deep shadows. The land of densest gloom and not of light. Even where there is a gleam, there it is as dark night.[1295]

The description might serve as a paraphrase of the opening lines in the story of Ishtar's journey. The Hebrew Sheol is situated, like the Babylonian Aralu, deep down in the earth.[1296] It is pictured as a cavern. The entrance to it is through gates that are provided with bolts. Sheol is described as a land filled with dust. Silence reigns supreme. It is the gathering-place of all the living, without exception. He who sinks into Sheol does not rise up again.

He does not return to his house. His place knows him no more.[1297]

It is, clearly, 'a land without return,' as the Babylonians conceived it. The condition of the dead in Sheol is sad, precisely as the Babylonians pictured the life in Aralu. The dead are designated by a name[1298] that indicates their weak condition. They can only talk in whispers or they chirp like birds. Their gait is unsteady. In general, they are pictured as lying quiet, doomed to inactivity. Death is lamented as an evil. The dead have passed out of the control of Yahwe, whose concern is with the living. Yahwe's blessings are meted out in this world, but not in Sheol. These blessings consist chiefly of long life and plenty of offspring. The dead need not praise Yahwe. Ecclesiastes—although a late composition—expresses the old popular view in the summary of the fate of the dead,[1299] when it is said that the dead know nothing of what is going on. Their memory is gone; they neither love nor hate, and they are devoid of any ambition. There is no planning, no wisdom, no judgment in Sheol.

Like the Babylonians, the Hebrews also believed that the condition of the individual at the time of death was an index of the condition in store for him in Sheol. He who goes to Sheol in sorrow is pursued by sorrow after death. Jacob does not want to go down to Sheol in sorrow,[1300] because he knows that in that case sorrow will be his fate after death. To die neglected by one's family was fatal to one's well-being in Sheol. Life in Sheol was a continuation, in a measure, of the earthly existence. Hence, the warrior is buried with his weapons; the prophet is recognized by his cloak; the kings wear their crowns; the people of various lands are known by their dress.[1301] Even deformities, as lameness, follow the individual into the grave. On the other hand, while the dead were weak and generally inactive, although capable of suffering, they were also regarded by the Hebrews as possessing powers superior to those of the living. As among the Babylonians, the dead stand so close to the higher powers as to be themselves possessed of divine qualities. Schwally aptly characterizes this apparent contradiction by saying 'that the dead are Refa'im (weak), but, at the same time, Elohim, i.e. divine beings.'[1302] Yahwe has no power over the dead, but they receive some of his qualities. They are invoked by the living. The dead can furnish oracles, precisely as Yahwe can. They not only appear to the living in dreams, but their shades can be raised up from Sheol. A certain amount of worship was certainly paid to the dead by the ancient Hebrews.

Naturally, these popular views were subjected to considerable modification with the development of the religion of the Hebrews. While many features remained, as is shown by the occurrence of the primitive conception of Sheol in comparatively late productions, in one important particular, more especially, did the spread of an advanced ethical monotheism lead to a complete departure from the Babylonian conceptions. While, in the popular mind, the belief that there was no escape from Sheol continued for a long time, this belief was inconsistent with the conception of a Divine Being, who, as creator and sole ruler of the universe, had control of the dead as well as the living. As long as Yahwe was merely one god among many, no exception was made of the rule that the concern of the gods was with the living; but Yahwe as the one and only god, could not be pictured as limited in his scope. He was a god for the dead, as well as for the living. The so-called song of Hannah[1303] expresses the new view when it praises Yahwe as the one 'who kills and restores to life, who leads to Sheol, and who can lead out of it.' Such a description of Yahwe is totally different from the Babylonians' praise of Ninib, Gula, or Marduk as the 'restorer of the dead to life,' which simply meant that these gods could restrain Allatu. The power to snatch the individual from the grasp of Sheol was also ascribed to the national god, Yahwe. Elijah's restoration of the widow's child[1304] to life is an instance of this power, and Jonah,[1305] who praises Yahwe for having delivered him when the gates of Sheol already seemed bolted, may not have had anything more in mind than what the Babylonians meant; but when the Psalmist, to indicate the universal rule of Yahwe, exclaims

If I mount to heaven, thou art there, If I make Sheol my couch, thou art there,[1306]

the departure from the old Hebrew and Babylonian views of the limitation of divine power is clearly marked. The inconsistency between the view held of Yahwe and the limitation of his power was not, however, always recognized. Hence, even in late portions of the Old Testament, we find views of the life after death that are closely allied to the popular notions prevailing in the earlier productions. It is not, indeed, till we reach a period bordering close on our era that the conflict between the old and the new is brought to a decided issue in the disputes of the sects that arose in Palestine.[1307] The doctrines of retribution and of the resurrection of the dead are the inevitable consequences of the later ethical faith and finally triumph; but the old views, which bring the ancient Hebrews into such close connection with the Babylonians, left their impress in the vagueness that for a long time characterized these doctrines, even after their promulgation. The persistency of the old beliefs is a proof of the strong hold that they acquired, as also of the close bond uniting, at one time and for a long period, Hebrews and Babylonians. What applies to the beliefs regarding the dead holds good also for the rites. Many a modern Jewish custom[1308] still bears witness to the original identity of the Hebrew and Babylonian methods of disposing of and caring for the dead.

There is but one explanation for this close agreement,—the same explanation that was given for the identity of traditions regarding the creation of the world, and for the various other points of contact between the two peoples that we have met with. When the Hebrew clans left their homes in the Euphrates Valley, they carried with them the traditions, beliefs, and customs that were current in that district, and which they shared with the Babylonians. Under new surroundings, some new features were added to the traditions and beliefs, but the additions did not obscure the distinctive character impressed upon them by Babylonian contact. We now know that relations with Babylonia were never entirely broken off by the Hebrews. The old traditions survived all vicissitudes. They were adapted to totally changed phases of belief, but the kernel still remained Babylonian. Beliefs were modified, new doctrines arose; but, with a happy inconsistency, the old was embodied in the new. Hence it happens, that in order to understand the Hebrews, their religion, their customs, and even their manner of thought, we must turn to Babylonia.

Further discoveries beneath the mounds of Mesopotamia and further researches in Babylonian literature will add more evidence to the indebtedness of the Hebrews to Babylonia. It will be found that in the sacrificial ordinances of the Pentateuch, in the legal regulations, in methods of justice and punishment, Babylonian models were largely followed, or, what is an equal testimony to Babylonian influence, an opposition to Babylonian methods was dominant. It is not strange that when by a curious fate, the Hebrews were once more carried back to the 'great river of Babylon,'[1309] the people felt so thoroughly at home there. It was only the poets and some ardent patriots who hung their harps on the willows and sighed for a return to Zion. The Jewish population steadily increased in Babylonia, and soon also the intellectual activity of Babylonian Jews outstripped that of Palestine.[1310] The finishing touches to the structure of Judaism were given in Babylonia—on the soil where the foundations were laid.

FOOTNOTES:

[1112] See above, p. 448.

[1113] See pp. 487, 489, 511, 512.

[1114] Or Arallu.

[1115] IIR. 61, 18. Jensen, Kosmologie, p. 220, takes this as the name of a temple; but, since Aralu was pictured as a 'great house,' there is no reason why the designation should not refer to the nether world.

[1116] See the admirable argument in Jensen, Kosmologie, pp. 185-195.

[1117] Or, more fully, Kharsag-gal-kurkura, 'great mountain of all lands.'

[1118] See above, p. 458.

[1119] See the following chapter.

[1120] See the passages in Jeremias' Die Babylonisch-Assyrischen Vorstellungen vom Leben nach dem Tode, p. 62.

[1121] Sargon Annals, I. 156. Jensen's interpretation of the passage (Kosmologie, p. 231) is forced, as is also his explanation of IIR. 51, 11a, where a mountain Aralu is clearly designated.

[1122] Kosmologie, pp. 222-224.

[1123] Gunkel's Schoepfung und Chaos, p. 154, note 5.

[1124] In an article on 'Shualu' published in the American Journal of Semitic Languages (xiv.), I have set forth my reasons for accepting this word as a Babylonian term for the nether world.

[1125] In the later portions of the Old Testament, the use of Sheol is also avoided. See the passages in Schwally, Das Leben nach dem Tode nach den Vorstellungen des Alten Israels, pp. 59, 60.

[1126] Not 'Ort der Entscheidung,' as Jeremias, ib. p. 109, proposes.

[1127] See above, p. 329.

[1128] I Sam. xxviii. 11.

[1129] See p. 511.

[1130] See Schwally, ib. pp. 59-63.

[1131] Isaiah, viii. 19.

[1132] One of the names for the priest in Babylonia is Sha'ilu, i.e., 'inquirer,' and the corresponding Hebrew word Sho'el is similarly used in a few passages of the Old Testament; e.g., Deut. xviii. 11; Micah, vii. 3. See an article by the writer on "The Stem Sha'al and the Name of Samuel," in a forthcoming number of the Journal of the Society of Biblical Literature.

[1133] See above, pp. 333 seq.

[1134] See p. 167.

[1135] See above, p. 167, and Scheit, Le Culte de Gudea, etc. (Recueil des Travaux, xviii. 64 seq.)

[1136] Thureau-Dangin, Le Culte des Rois dans la periode Prebabylonienne (Recueil des Travaux, etc., xix. 486).

[1137] See above, p. 36. The text is published IIIR. pl. 4, no. 7. Recently, Mr. Pinches has published a variant version of this story (Proc. Soc. Bibl. Arch. xviii. 257, 258).

[1138] IVR. 34.

[1139] In view of recent discussions of the subject, it is important to note that Tiele already fifteen years ago recognized that Sargon was a historical personage. See his remarks, Babyl. Assyr. Gesch., p. 112.

[1140] Chapter ii.

[1141] See Winterbotham, "The Cult of Father Abraham," in the Expositor, 1897, pp. 177-186.

[1142] See Jensen's Kosmologie, p. 215, and Meissner, Altbabylonisches Privatrecht, p. 21. The word is used for the foundation of a building, and is an indication, therefore, of the great depth at which the nether world was placed.

[1143] See below, p. 567, and Jensen's Kosmologie, p. 259.

[1144] See pp. 65, 66.

[1145] Kabru and Gegunu ('dark place').

[1146] See also below, pp. 566, 567.

[1147] Published IV Rawlinson (2nd edition), pl. 31.

[1148] See p. 483.

[1149] The Old Testament recognizes only two seasons, summer and winter. See, e.g., Gen. viii. 22.

[1150] See the discussion in Robertson Smith's Religions of the Semites, pp. 391-394; and also Farnall, The Cults of the Greek States, ii. 644-649.

[1151] See above, p. 484.

[1152] See above, p. 510.

[1153] I.e., according to one version (p. 511). Another version of this part of the Gilgamesh epic, which, however, is influenced by the tale of Ishtar's visit, is published in Haupt's Nimrodepos, pp. 16-19. In this version Eabani gives Gilgamesh a description of Aralu, which tallies with the one found in the Ishtar tale.

[1154] Text defective. Jeremias' suggestion, "the land that thou knowest," misses the point. The person addressed does not know the land. 'Decay' is Schrader's conjecture (Die Hoellenfahrt der Istar, p. 24). See Haupt's Nimrodepos, pp. 17, 40, and Delitzsch's Assyr. Woerterbuch, p. 321, note.

[1155] Lit., 'the one who has entered it.'

[1156] I.e., of the inhabitants.

[1157] The inhabitants.

[1158] See p. 461.

[1159] See below, p. 591.

[1160] See pp. 502, 511.

[1161] Particularly by Herbert Spencer and his followers.

[1162] Isaiah, xiv 9-20, and Ezekiel, xxxii. 18-31. In Isaiah, the Babylonian Aralu is specifically described, while Ezekiel writes under the influence of Babylonian ideas.

[1163] Isaiah, viii. 19.

[1164] The Hebrew word for 'the dead,' refaim, conveys this idea.

[1165] See p. 512.

[1166] See Sara Y. Stevenson, "On Certain Symbols used in the Decoration of Some Potsherds from Daphne and Naukratis" (Philadelphia, 1892), p. 8.

[1167] See above, p. 83.

[1168] 'Eating' appears to be a metaphor for destruction in general.

[1169] The portals (?).

[1170] Jensen, Kosmologie, pp. 173 seq.

[1171] Here used as an epithet of the nether world. See above, p. 563.

[1172] Or 'palace.' The lower world, it will be recalled, is pictured as a house or a country. Here the two terms are combined. See Delitzsch, Assyr. Woerterbuch, p. 341.

[1173] The phrases used are the ordinary terms of greeting. See, e.g., VR. 65, 17b.

[1174] Gibil-Nusku may be meant. See the hymn, p. 278. Pap-sukal is a title of Nabu (p. 130), but also of other gods.

[1175] Lit., 'liver.'

[1176] For the translation of these lines see Jensen, Kosmologie, p. 233.

[1177] See above, p. 441.

[1178] So Jeremias' Vorstellungen, etc.; see p. 39. Zikutu from the same stem means a 'drinking bowl.'

[1179] A biting of the lips is elsewhere introduced as a figure. See the author's monograph, "A Fragment of the Babylonian Dibbarra Epic," p. 14.

[1180] See Delitzsch, Assyr. Woerterbuch, p. 341.

[1181] So far as the domestic animals are concerned, it is true that they throw off their young in the spring. The reference to a similar interruption in the case of mankind (see above, p. 571) may embody the recollection of a period when a regular pairing season and breeding time existed among mankind. See Westermarck, The History of Human Marriage, pp. 27 seq.

[1182] Allatu.

[1183] I.e., of the dead person.

[1184] Ishtar.

[1185] See p. 475.

[1186] Vorstellungen, pp. 6-8.

[1187] Some instrument is mentioned.

[1188] IVR. 30, no. 3, obverse 23-35.

[1189] The word is explained by a gloss, 'Shamash has made him great.'

[1190] I.e., the month in which one dies.

[1191] See p. 175.

[1192] See pp. 505, 506.

[1193] Vorstellungen, p. 81.

[1194] Psalms, vi. 6.

[1195] L'Enfer Assyrien (Revue Archaeologique, 1879, pp. 337-349). See also Perrot and Chiplez, History of Art in Chaldaea and Assyria, I. 349 seq.

[1196] Described by Schell in the Recucil de Travaux, etc., xx. nos. 1 and 2. Schell regards the Zurghul duplicate as older than the other.

[1197] Only four on the Zurghul duplicate.

[1198] For the interpretation of these symbols, see Luschan, Ausgrabungen in Sendschirli, pp. 17-27, and Scheil's article. On the Zurghul tablet there are eight symbols, while the other contains nine.

[1199] See pp. 263, 264. A text IVR. 5, col. i. compares each of the seven spirits to some animal. On the duplicate six demons are placed in the second division and the seventh in the third.

[1200] On the duplicate those two demons do not occur.

[1201] Schell thinks that the face is that of a dog.

[1202] On the Zurghul duplicate the horse is not pictured.

[1203] See p. 529.

[1204] This division is not marked in the duplicate from Zurghul.

[1205] Not occurring on the duplicate.

[1206] Scheil questions whether the divisions have this purpose. While perhaps not much stress is laid by the artist upon this symbolism, its existence can hardly be questioned. Note the five divisions of the universe in Smith's Miscellaneous Texts, p. 16. The water certainly represents the Apsu. Allatu rests upon the bark. We do not find among the Babylonians (as Scheil supposes) the view that the dead are conveyed across a sheet of water to the nether world. The dead are buried, and by virtue of this fact enter Aralu, which is in the earth. Egyptian influence is possible, but unlikely.

[1207] IVR. 26, no. 1.

[1208] I.e., the nether world.

[1209] IVR. 30, no. 1; obverse 5, 14.

[1210] See Jensen's valuable articles, "The Queen in the Babylonian Hades and her Consort," in the Sunday School Times, March 13 and 20, 1897. The text is published, Winckler and Abel, Der Thontafelfund von El-Amarna, iii. 164, 165.

[1211] Written phonetically e-ri-ish. The word is entered as a synonym of sharratum, 'queen,' VR. 28, no. 2; obverse 31. This phonetic writing furnishes the reading for Nin in Nin-Klgal.

[1212] See pp. 418, 419.

[1213] See p. 428.

[1214] See below, p. 588 seq.

[1215] See below, p. 590.

[1216] See above, p. 79.

[1217] See pp. 448, 511.

[1218] See Farnell, The Cults of the Greek States, ii. 627.

[1219] See the reference in note 3 to p. 519.

[1220] Wellhausen, Reste Arabischen Heidenthums, pp. 28, 29. That the Syro-Arabian Allat resembles Ishtar rather than Allatu, points again to the original identity of the two goddesses.

[1221] See p. 546 seq.

[1222] See below, p. 594, note 1, and Jensen's Kosmologie, pp. 145, 480, 483, 487.

[1223] Sunday School Times, 1897, p. 139.

[1224] See p. 574.

[1225] See Frazer, The Golden Bough, i. 240 seq. and 274, 275.

[1226] See p. 574.

[1227] See p. 417.

[1228] Cheyne (Expository Times, 1897, pp. 423, 424) ingeniously regards Belili as the source of the Hebrew word Beliyaal or Belial, which, by a species of popular etymology, is written by the ancient Hebrew scholars as though compounded of two Hebrew words signifying 'without return.' The popular etymology is valuable as confirming the proposition to place Belili in the pantheon of the lower world. From its original meaning, the word became a poetical term in Hebrew for 'worthless,' 'useless,' and the like, e.g., in the well-known phrase "Sons of Belial."

[1229] See p. 482.

[1230] See p. 537.

[1231] See above, p. 523.

[1232] IIR. 59; reverse 33-35.

[1233] See above, p. 175.

[1234] IIR. 57, 51a, a star, Nin-azu, is entered as one of the names of the planet Ninib.

[1235] See above, p. 565. The name occurs also in Haupt's Nimrodepos, pp. 19, 29.

[1236] Vorstellungen, p. 68.

[1237] The name of the goddess is written throughout the story Nin-Kigal; i.e., 'queen of the nether world.' Nin-Eresh. See p. 584, note 2.

[1238] Smith, Miscellaneous Texts, p. 16.

[1239] Jensen, Kosmologie, p. 259, note.

[1240] IVR. 1, col. i. 12; col iii. 8-10.

[1241] Te'u. See IVR. 22, 512, and Bartels, Zeitschrift fuer Assyriologie, viii. 179-184.

[1242] See above, pp. 183, 560.

[1243] Obverse ll. 33, 37.

[1244] See above, p. 185.

[1245] See p. 186.

[1246] See p. 183.

[1247] See pp. 417, 598.

[1248] Jensen's Kosmologie, pp. 483, 484. In the new fragment of the Deluge story discovered by Scheil (referred to above, p. 507, and now published in the Recueil de Travaux, xix. no. 3) the word di-ib-ba-ra occurs, and the context shows that it means 'destruction.' In view of this, the question is again opened as to the reading of the name of the god of war and pestilence. The identification of this god with Girra (pp. 528, 588) may belong to a late period.

[1249] See p. 529.

[1250] See pp. 111, 171, 190.

[1251] See chapter v.

[1252] So at Zurghul (or Zerghul) and el-Hibba. See Koldewey in Zeitschrift fuer Assyriologie, ii. 403-430.

[1253] See the valuable chapter in Peters' work on Nippur, ii. 214-234.

[1254] Proceedings of the American Oriental Society, 1896, p. 166. The dead are often conveyed hundreds of miles to be interred in Nejef and Kerbela.

[1255] Peters' Nippur, ii. 325, 326.

[1256] See below, p. 597.

[1257] Koldewey, Zeitschrift fuer Assyriologie, ii. 406 seq.

[1258] Ib.

[1259] Travels and Researches in Chaldaea and Susiana, chapter xviii.

[1260] Peters' Nippur, ii. 234. Other mounds examined by Peters between Warka and Nippur bear out the conclusion.

[1261] De Sarzec, Decouvertes en Chaldee, pl. 3.

[1262] On the stele of vultures, the dead are naked.

[1263] Book I, Sec. 195.

[1264] See p. 512.

[1265] Such sacrifices are pictured on the stele of vultures.

[1266] IIIR. 43, col. iv. l. 20; Belser, Beitraege zur Assyriologie, ll. 175, 18; Pinches, Babylonian Texts, p. 18.

[1267] For this custom see Trumbull, The Threshold Covenant, p. 25; Peters' Nippur, ii. 202, 203.

[1268] Recently, Scheil has discovered some private dwellings at Abu-Habba, which will be described in his forthcoming volume on his explorations at that place. See also Peters' Nippur, ii. 200, 201.

[1269] Peters' Nippur, ii. 220.

[1270] See p. 597. The date of the monument is prior to Sargon; i.e., earlier than 3800 B.C.

[1271] VR. 61, col. vi. ll. 54, 55.

[1272] Rassam Cylinder, col. iii. l. 40.

[1273] Rassam Cylinder, col. iv. ll. 74-76.

[1274] Ib. col. vi. ll. 70-76.

[1275] Rassam Cylinder, col. iii. l. 64. The favorite mutilation was the cutting off of the head. On one of the sculptured slabs from the palace of Ashurbanabal, a pyramid of heads is portrayed. The cutting off of the hands, the lips, the nose, and the male organ, as well as the flaying of the skin, were also practised. (See Sennacherib's account IR. 42, col. vi. ll. 1-6; Rassam Cylinder (Ashurbanabal), ii. 4 and iv. 136.)

[1276] Rassam Cylinder, col. vii. ll. 46-48.

[1277] ekimmu. See p. 580.

[1278] See p. 578.

[1279] Heuzey offers another explanation of the scene which is less plausible. (See De Sarzec, Decouvertes en Chaldee, p. 98.)

[1280] Hebrew word Sak. The other rite of mourning among the Hebrews, the putting of earth on the head (e.g., I Sam. iv. 12; II Sam. i. 2 and xv. 32; Neh. ix. 1), is a survival of the method of burial as portrayed in the 'stele of vultures.' The earth was originally placed in a basket on the head and used to cover the dead body.

[1281] The mourning garb mentioned in the Adapa legend (p. 546) is probably a 'torn' garment.

[1282] Hagen, Cyrus-Texte (Beitraege zur Assyriologie, ii. 219, 223).

[1283] Inscription B, col. v. ll. 3-5.

[1284] Lane, Modern Egyptians, ll. 286.

[1285] See p. 575.

[1286] Ib.

[1287] See p. 487.

[1288] Hagen, Cyrus-Texte, ib. and p. 248.

[1289] "The Folk-Song of Israel," The New World, ii. 35; also his article "Das Hebraeische Klagelied," Zeitschrift fuer Alttestamentliche Wissenschaft, ii. 1-52.

[1290] In Egypt at present the tambourine is used to accompany the dirges (Lane, ib. p. 278).

[1291] Peter's Nippur, ii. 173, and elsewhere.

[1292] Zeitschrift fuer Assyriologie, ii. 414.

[1293] See above, p. 575.

[1294] Job, x. 21, 22.

[1295] I.e., the darkness is so dense that no light can remove it.

[1296] See the references in Schwally, Das Leben nach dem Tode nach den Vorstellungen des Alten Israels, pp. 59-68, and Jeremias' Vorstellungen, pp. 106-116.

[1297] Job, vii. 10.

[1298] Refa'im.

[1299] Chapter ix. 5-10.

[1300] Gen. xlii. 38.

[1301] Incidentally, a proof that the dead were not buried naked.

[1302] Das Leben nach dem Tode, etc, p. 67.

[1303] I Sam. ii. Recognized by the critics as an insertion. See Budde, Die Buecher Richter und Samuel, p. 197.

[1304] I Kings, xvii. 21, 22.

[1305] Chapter ii. 7.

[1306] Psalms, cxxxix. 8; a very late production.

[1307] Schuerer, A History of the Jewish People in the Time of Jesus Christ, vol. II. Division li. pp. 38, 39, 179-181.

[1308] E.g., the custom still in vogue among Orthodox Jews of placing the body wrapped in a shroud upon a board, instead of in a coffin.

[1309] Professor Haupt has recently shown (in a paper read before the American Oriental Society, April, 1897, and before the Eleventh International Congress of Orientalists, September, 1897) that such is the meaning of the phrase, Psalms, cxxxvii. 1, which is ordinarily translated 'rivers of Babylon.'

[1310] The Talmud of Babylonia, and not the Talmud of Palestine, became the authoritative work in the Jewish Church.



CHAPTER XXVI.

THE TEMPLES AND THE CULT.

The religious architecture of Babylonia and Assyria is of interest chiefly as an expression of the religious earnestness of rulers and people, and only in a minor degree as a manifestation of artistic instincts. The lack of a picturesque building material in the Euphrates Valley was sufficient to check the development of such instincts. Important as the adaptation of the clay soil of Babylonia for simple construction was for the growth of Babylonian culture, the limitations to the employment of bricks as a building material are no less significant. Ihering has endeavored to show[1311] by an argument that is certainly brilliant and almost convincing, that the settlement of Semites in a district, the soil of which could be so readily used to replace the primitive habitations of man by solid structures, made the Semites the teachers of the Aryans in almost everything that pertains to civilization. House-building produced the art of measuring, led to more elaborate furnishings of the habitation, created various trades, introduced social distinctions, necessitated divisions of time, and gave the stimulus to commercial intercourse. But, on the other hand, the artistic possibilities of brick structures were soon exhausted. The house could be indefinitely extended in length and even height, but such an extension only added to the monotonous effect. With clay as a building material, so readily moulded into any desired shape, and that could be baked, if need be, by the action of the sun without the use of fire, it was almost as easy to build a large house as a small one. But the addition of rooms and wings and stories which differentiated the house from the palace and the palace from the temple, served to make hugeness the index of grandeur. The best specimens of the religious architecture of Babylonia and Assyria are characterized by such hugeness. A proportionate increase of external beauty could only be secured by a modification of architectural style; but the conservative instincts of the people discouraged any deviation from the conventional shapes of the temples, which appear indeed to have been firmly established long before the days of Hammurabi. The influence of conventionality finds a striking illustration in the manner in which the temples of Assyria follow Babylonian models. Soft and hard stone suitable for permanent structures was easily procured in the mountainous district adjacent to Assyria. The Assyrians used this material for statues, altars, and for the slabs with which they decorated the exterior and interior walls of their great edifices. Had they also employed it as a building material, we should have had the development of new architectural styles; but the Assyrians, so dependent in everything pertaining to culture upon the south, could not cut themselves loose from ancient traditions, and continued to erect huge piles of brick, as the homage most pleasing in the eyes of their gods. The Book of Genesis characterized the central idea of the Babylonian and Assyrian temples when it represented the people gathered in the valley of Shinar—that is, Babylonia—as saying: 'Come, let us build a city and a tower that shall reach up to heaven.'[1312] The Babylonian and Assyrian kings pride themselves upon the height of their temples. Employing, indeed, almost the very same phrase that we find in the Old Testament, they boast of having made the tops of their sacred edifices as high as 'heaven.'[1313] The temple was to be in the literal sense of the word a 'high place.' But, apart from the factor of natural growth, there was a special reason why the Babylonians aimed to make their sacred edifices high. The oldest temple of Babylonia at the present time known to us, the temple of Bel at Nippur, bears the characteristic name of E-Kur, 'mountain house.' The name is more than a metaphor. The sacred edifices of Babylonia were intended as a matter of fact to be imitations of mountains. It is Jensen's merit to have suggested the explanation for this rather surprising ideal of the Babylonian temple.[1314] According to Babylonian notions, it will be recalled, the earth is pictured as a huge mountain. Among other names, the earth is called E-Kur, 'mountain house.' The popular and early theology conceived the gods as sprung from the earth. They are born in Kharsag-kurkura,[1315] 'the mountain of all lands,' which is again naught but a designation for the earth, though at a later period some particular part of the earth, some mountain peak, may have been pictured as the birthplace of the gods, much as among the Indians, Persians, and Greeks we find a particular mountain singled out as the one on which the gods dwell. The transfer of the gods or of some of them to places in the heavens was, as we saw,[1316] a scholastic theory, and not a popular belief. It was a natural association of ideas, accordingly, that led the Babylonians to give to their temples the form of the dwelling which they ascribed to their gods. The temple, in so far as it was erected to serve as a habitation for the god and an homage to him, was to be the reproduction of the cosmic E-Kur,—'a mountain house' on a small scale, a miniature Kharsag-kurkura. In confirmation of this view, it is sufficient to point out that E-Kur is not merely the name of the temple to Bel at Nippur, but is frequently used as a designation for temple in general; and, moreover, a plural is formed of the word which is used for divinities.[1317] In Assyria we find one of the oldest temples bearing the name E-kharsag-kurkura,[1318] that stamps the edifice as the reproduction of the 'mountain of all lands'; and there are other temples that likewise bear names[1319] in which the idea of a mountain is introduced.

To produce the mountain effect, a mound of earth was piled up and on this mound a terrace was formed that served as the foundation plane for the temple proper, but it was perfectly natural also that instead of making the edifice consist of one story, a second was superimposed on the first so as to heighten the resemblance to a mountain. The outcome of this ideal was the so-called staged tower, known as the zikkurat. The name signifies simply a 'high' edifice, and embodies the same idea that led the Canaanites and Hebrews to call their temples 'high places.'[1320]

The oldest zikkurat as yet found is the one excavated by Drs. Peters and Haynes at Nippur,[1321] the age of which can be traced back to the second dynasty of Ur—about 2700 B.C. This appears to have consisted of three stages, one superimposed on the other. There is a reference to a zikkurat in the inscriptions of Gudea that may be several centuries older; but since beneath the zikkurat at Nippur remains of an earlier building were found, it is a question whether the staged tower represents the oldest type of a Babylonian temple. At no time does any special stress appear to have been laid upon the number of stories of which the zikkurat was to consist. It is not until a comparatively late period that rivalry among the rulers and natural ambition led to the increase of the superimposed stages until the number seven was reached. The older zikkurats were imposing chiefly because of the elevation of the terrace on which they were erected, and inasmuch as the ideal of the temple is realized to all practical purposes by the erection of a high edifice on an elevated mound, the chief stress was laid upon the height of the terrace. The terrace, in a certain sense, is the original zikkurat—the real 'high place'—and the temple of one story naturally precedes the staged tower, and may have remained the type for some time before the more elaborate structure was evolved. However this may be, we are justified in associating the mountain motif with the beginnings of religious architecture in the Euphrates Valley, precisely as the underlying cosmic notions belong to the earliest period of which we have any knowledge. That the staged tower when once evolved was regarded as the most satisfactory expression of the religious ideas follows from the fact that all the large centers of Babylonia had a zikkurat of some kind dedicated to the patron deity, and probably many of the smaller places likewise. A list of zikkurats[1322] furnishes the names of no less than twenty; and while all of the important places are included, there are others which do not appear to have played an important part in either the religious or political history of the country, and which nevertheless had their zikkurat. To judge from the fact that in this list several names of zikkurat are connected with one and the same place, more than one zikkurat, indeed, could be found in a large religious center.[1323]

The Construction and Character of the Zikkurats.

The zikkurat was quadrangular in shape. The orientation of the four corners towards the four cardinal points was only approximate.[1324] Inasmuch as the rulers of Babylonia from a very early period call themselves 'king of the four regions,'[1325] it has been supposed that the quadrangular shape was chosen designedly; but there is no proof that any stress was laid upon symbolism of this kind, or upon the orientation of the corners of the sacred edifices. More attention was bestowed upon making the brick structure huge and massive.

The height of the zikkurats varied. Those at Nippur and Ur[1326] appear to have been about 90 feet high, while the tower at Borsippa which Sir Henry Rawlinson carefully examined[1327] attained a height of 140 feet. The base of this zikkurat, which may be regarded as a specimen of the tower in its most elaborate form, was a quadrangular mass 272 feet square and 26 feet high. The second and third stories were of equal height, but the square mass diminished with each story by 42 feet. The height of the four upper stories was 15 feet each. At the same time, the mass diminished steadily at the rate of 42 feet, so that the seventh story consisted of a mass of only 20 feet square. Sargon's zikkurat at Khorsabad (the suburb of Nineveh) was about the same height.

The average number of stages of the zikkurat appears to have been three, as at Nippur and Ur, or four, as at Larsa.[1328] In the pictorial representations of the towers,[1329] we similarly find either three or four. In these smaller zikkurats, the height of each tower, as in the first three stories of the tower at Borsippa, appears to have been alike; but the mass diminished in proportion in order to secure a space for a staircase leading from one story to the other. This method of ascent was older than the winding balustrade, which was better adapted to the more elaborate structures of later times. No doubt, as the towers increased in height, other variations were introduced—as, e.g., in the proportions of the stories—without interfering with the essential principle of the zikkurat.

The ungainly appearance presented by the huge towers was somewhat relieved by decorations of the friezes and by the judicious use of color. Enameled bricks of bright hues, such as yellow and blue,[1330] became common, and in the case of some of the towers it would appear that a different color was chosen for each story. Whether all the bricks in each story were colored or only those at the edge, or, perhaps, some rows, it is impossible to say. From Herodotus' description of the seven concentric walls of Ecbatana,[1331] in which each wall was distinguished by a certain color, the conclusion has been drawn that the same colors—white, black, scarlet, blue, orange, silver, and gold—were employed by the Babylonians for the stages of their towers; but there is no satisfactory evidence that this was the case. That these colors were brought into connection with the planets, as some scholars have supposed, is highly improbable.

As already pointed out, no special stress seems to have been laid upon the number of stories of which the zikkurat consisted, but the natural result of ambition and rivalry among builders tended towards an increase of the height, and this end could be most readily attained by adding to the number of stories. Still, there may have been some symbolism which led to the choice of three, four, or seven stories, inasmuch as these numbers have a sacred import among so many nations.[1332] For the number seven, the influence of cosmological associations is quite clear. The two most famous of the zikkurats of seven stages were those in Babylon and in Borsippa, opposite Babylon. The latter bears the significant name E-ur-imin-an-ki,[1333] i.e., 'the house of the seven directions of heaven and earth.' The 'seven directions' were interpreted by the Babylonian theologians as a reference to the seven great celestial bodies,—the sun and moon and the five planets Ishtar, Marduk, Ninib, Nergal, and Nabu.[1334] To each of these gods one story was supposed to be dedicated, and the tower thus became a cosmological symbol, elaborating in theological fashion the fundamental idea of the zikkurat as a reproduction of the dwelling-place of the gods. The identification of the five gods with the planets is a proof of the scholastic character of the interpretation, and hence of its comparatively late origin. This interpretation of the number seven, however, was not the only one proposed in the Babylonian schools. Two much older towers than those of Babylon and Borsippa bear names in which 'seven' is introduced. One of these is the zikkurat to Nin-girsu at Lagash, which Gudea[1335] describes as 'the house of seven divisions of the world'; the other, the tower at Uruk,[1336] which bore the name 'house of seven zones.' The reference in both cases is, as Jensen has shown,[1337] to the seven concentric zones into which the earth was divided by the Babylonians. It is a conception that we encounter in India and Persia, and that survives in the seven 'climates' into which the world was divided by Greek and Arabic geographers. It seems clear that this interpretation of the number seven is older than the one which identified each story with one of the planets.[1338] Both interpretations have a scholastic aspect, however, and the very fact that there are two interpretations, justifies the suspicion that neither furnishes the real explanation why the number seven was chosen.

It by no means follows from the names borne by the zikkurats at Lagash and Uruk that they actually consisted of seven stories. The 'seven divisions' and the 'seven zones' are merely terms equivalent to 'universe.' The names given to the towers would have been equally appropriate if they consisted—as they probably did—of fewer stories than seven. But, on the other hand, the introduction of the number seven into the names may be regarded as a factor which influenced ambitious builders to make the number of stories seven. Over and above this, however, seven was chosen, primarily, because it was a large number, and, secondly, because it was a sacred number,—sacred in part because large, since 'largeness' and 'sacredness' are correlated ideas in the popular phases of early religious thought. In the same way, it is because seven was popularly sacred that the world was divided into seven zones and that the planets were fixed at seven, not vice versa.

The opinion of some scholars[1339] that the zikkurats were used for astronomical observations remains a pure conjecture, of which it cannot even be said that it has probability in its favor. It is certain that the astronomical observations, since they were conducted by the priests, were made in the temple precincts; but a small room at the top of a pyramid difficult of access seems hardly a spot adapted for the purpose. Moreover, the sacred character of the zikkurat speaks against the supposition that it should have been put to such constant use, and for purposes not directly connected with the cult. In the numerous astronomical reports that we have, there is not a single reference from which one could conclude that the observations reported were made from the top of a zikkurat.

But, on the other hand, it would appear that as the zikkurat developed from a one-story edifice into a tower, and as the number of the stages increased, the zikkurat assumed more of an ornamental character. While the ascent of the tower continued to be regarded to the latest days as a sacred duty, pleasing in the eyes of the deity, for the ordinary and more practical purposes of the cult, other buildings were erected near the tower. Within the temple area and bordering on it there were smaller shrines, while in front of the zikkurat there was a large open place, where the pilgrims who flocked to the sacred city, congregated. The sacrifices which formed the essential feature of worship were brought, not at the top of the zikkurat, but on altars that were erected at the base.

The ideographic designation of the zikkurat as a 'conspicuous house,'[1340] which accords admirably with the motive ascribed in the eleventh chapter of Genesis to the builders of a zikkurat to erect an edifice that "could be seen," supports the view here taken of the more decorative position which the staged tower came to occupy,—an homage to the gods rather than a place where they were to be worshipped, something that suggested the dwelling-place of a god, to be visited only occasionally by the worshipper—in short, a monument forming part of a religious sanctuary, but not coextensive with the sanctuary. The differentiation that thus arose between the dwelling-place of the god and the place where he was to be worshipped is a perfectly natural one. To emphasize the fact that the zikkurat was the temple for the god, a small room was built at the top of the zikkurat,[1341] and it was a direct consequence of this same distinction between a temple for the gods and a temple for actual worship that led to assigning to zikkurats special names, and such as differed from the designation of the sacred quarter of which the zikkurat formed the most conspicuous feature.

Thus the name E-Kur, 'mountain house,' though evidently an appropriate designation for the zikkurat, becomes the term for the sacred area which included in time a large series of buildings used for the cult, whereas the zikkurat itself receives the special name of 'house of oracle';[1342] and similarly in the case of the various other religious centers of Babylonia, the name of the zikkurat is distinct from that of the sacred quarter—the temple in the broader sense.

The special position which the zikkurat thus came to occupy is, of course, merely an outcome of the growth of the religious centers of the country, and involves no departure from the religious ideals of earlier days. The distinction is much of the same order as we find in the case of the Hebrew temple at Jerusalem, where the court in which the worshippers gathered was distinct from the 'holy of holies,' which was originally regarded as the dwelling of Yahwe, and in later times was viewed as the spot where he manifested himself. The name 'house of oracle' given to the zikkurat at Nippur is a valuable indication of the special sanctity that continued to be attached to the staged tower.

The Temple and the Sacred Quarter.

But the zikkurat, while the most characteristic expression of the religious spirit of Babylonia, was by no means the only kind of sacred edifice that prevailed.

The excavations at Nippur have afforded us for the first time a general view of a sacred quarter in an ancient Babylonian city. The extent of the quarter was considerable. Dr. Peters' estimate is eight areas for the zikkurat and surrounding structures, and to this we may add several acres more, since beyond the limits of the great terrace there were buildings to the southeast and southwest, used for religious purposes. It is likely that the extent of E-Sagila at Babylon was even greater. Outside of the temple area at Nippur, Peters[1343] and Haynes unearthed a court of considerable size, lined with brick columns. The court was open to the sky, but the columns supported a roof which was apparently of wood. Similar courts have been found elsewhere, so that we are justified in regarding the Nippur structure as characteristic of the architecture of Babylonia. The court was attached to an edifice of considerable size, which contained among other things rooms in which the temple records were kept. The entrance to the court was by a large gateway, supported on each side by a brick column, double the diameter of those that surrounded the court. While the nature of the building is not perfectly clear, still the presence of the temple archives and the gateway make it probable that the structure was used in connection with the cult of some deity worshipped at Nippur. Lending weight to this supposition are the points of resemblance between this structure and the sacred edifices of the ancient Hebrews and Arabs. A court of sixty columns—made of wood, quadrangular in shape, with the supports and tops of metal—was the characteristic feature of the tabernacle.[1344] Within this court, open to the sky, the people gathered for worship. The altar and the basin for ablutions stood in the court, while the holy tent containing the ark was set up near the eastern end of the place. Similarly at Mecca,[1345] the Kaaba, the pulpit, and the sacred fountain are grouped within a space enclosed on all sides by colonnades. Again, surrounding the Solomonic temple on three sides was a spacious court. This court was enclosed with colonnades.[1346] It may well be, therefore, that the edifice around or near the fine court of columns at Nippur was a sacred structure, erected in honor of some deity. The two large brick columns at the entrance to the Nippur court are paralleled in the case of the Solomonic temple by the two large columns, known as Yakhin and Boaz, that stood at the gateway. These names are as yet unexplained. Their symbolic character, apart from other evidence, may be concluded from the circumstance that, as Schick has shown,[1347] the columns stood free, and did not serve as a support for any part of the gateway.[1348] There is no need, therefore, for any hesitation in comparing these two columns, whose presence in the Solomonic structure is certainly due to foreign influence, to those found at Nippur.[1349]

That the columns at Nippur were erected in accordance with recognized custom follows from De Sarzec's discovery of two enormous round columns within the sacred quarter of Lagash.[1350] In the light of Peters' excavations, the significance of the columns at Lagash becomes clear. Unfortunately, De Sarzec's excavations at Lagash at the point of the mound in question were interrupted, but he gives reasons for believing that other columns existed near the two large ones found by him.[1351] There is, therefore, every reason to conclude that at Lagash, as at Nippur and no doubt elsewhere, the two columns belonged to a great gateway leading into a large court of columns. That these columns served a symbolic purpose in the Babylonian temple as they did at Jerusalem, cannot be maintained with certainty, but is eminently likely.

The court of columns was surrounded by a series of rooms. If the view taken of the building is correct, these rooms were used for the temple administration. However this may be, there can be no doubt that the structures of various size found around the zikkurat at Nippur served as dwellings for the priests and the temple attendants, as stalls for the temple cattle, as shops for the manufacture and sale of votive objects, and the like. Within the temple area proper were the schools where young priests were trained to be scribes, and received instructions in the doctrines and rites. The astronomical observatories, too, were situated near the temple. The schools served, as they still do in the orient, as the gathering-place of the mature scholars. The systematized pantheon, and the cosmological and astronomical systems represent the outcome of the intellectual activity that manifested itself within the sacred quarters of the cities of Babylonia. The execution of justice being in the hands of the priests, the sacred area also contained the rooms where the judges sat. It is interesting to note that Gudea mentions a hall of judgment in the temple to Nin-girsu at Lagash. The number of such buildings attached to the temple precinct varied, of course, according to the needs and growth of each place. In Nippur, the numbers appear to have been very large. We may assume, likewise, that at Sippar, Uruk, Ur, and Larsa the zikkurat was the center of a considerable group of buildings, while at Babylon in the days of her greatest power, the temple area of E-Sagila must have presented the appearance of a little city by itself, shut off from the rest of the town by a wall which invariably enclosed the sacred quarter. Within this large wall there were smaller ones, marking the several divisions of the temple buildings. The construction of the smaller edifices does not appear to have varied from the ordinary form chosen for the one-story dwelling-houses in the city proper. The material used for all structures—the large and the small ones—was brick. In earlier times the bricks were merely dried in the sun. The buildings, as a consequence, suffered much from the influence of the heat and rain, and required frequent repairs. Often the tower would crumble away, and an entirely new edifice would have to be erected. The later custom of kiln-dried bricks was an improvement, and still more solidity was insured when the exterior series of brick was glazed. In the older buildings, the bricks were merely piled together, without cement. Afterwards straw was mixed with the clay, but as early as Gudea's days the bitumen, abounding in the valley, became the common cement employed in all edifices of importance. Wood was used in the case of smaller sanctuaries (as also in palaces) for the roof, and the kings often refer with pride to the efforts they made to obtain the precious cedars of the Lebanon forests for their building enterprises. The decoration was confined largely to the facades, the doors, and the floors. A pleasing effect also was produced by the judicious distribution of glazed and enameled bricks in the walls. Colors were used with still greater lavishness in the decorations of the interior. The brilliancy was heightened by the use of precious stones and gold and silver for the walls and floors and ceilings. The aim of the builders was, as they constantly tell us, to make the buildings as brilliant as the sunlight. The decorations of the brick walls and floors suggest textile patterns, and to account for this, some scholars have supposed that prior to the use of colored bricks, it was customary to cover the walls and floors of temples and palaces with draperies and rugs. The suggestion lacks proof, but has much in its favor. In exterior architecture no profound changes were ever introduced, but within the prescribed limits, the builders did their utmost to make their edifices testimonials of their zeal and power. They imported gold, copper, and diorite from the Sinai peninsula and Arabia, precious stones from Armenia and the Upper Euphrates, wood from Bahrein and from various parts of the Amanus range, and so all quarters of the ancient world of culture were ransacked for contributions to add to the splendor of the Babylonian and Assyrian cities. Much care was bestowed in the course of time upon the portals. The wooden gates were covered with bronze, in which art of decoration great skill was developed.[1352] The columns of stone appear only in Assyrian edifices as decorations in the front of palaces, supporting a portal or portico that projects from the temple proper.[1353] The introduction appears to be due to foreign influence, perhaps Hittite.[1354]

To determine the interior arrangement of a sacred structure, we have two small Assyrian temples, excavated by Layard at Nimrod, to serve as our guide.[1355] A long hall constituted the chief feature. At the extreme end of this hall was a small room, in which stood a statue of the god to whom the temple was dedicated. This room, known as the papakhu or parakku, was the most sacred part of the temple, and it is doubtful whether any but the king or the highest officials had access to it. Certainly, no one could approach the presence of the deity without the mediation of a priest. Both terms for this room convey the idea of its being "shut off"[1356] from the rest of the building, precisely as the holy of holies in the temple of Jerusalem containing the ark, was separated from the central hall. Gudea[1357] describes the papakhu as the "dark" (or inner) chamber.

We are fortunate in having a pictorial representation of such a papakhu. A stone tablet found at Sippar[1358] represents Shamash seated in the "holy of holies" of the temple E-Babbara. The god sits on a low throne. In front of him is an altar table on which rests a wheel with radiant spokes,—a symbol of the sun-god. Into this sanctuary the worshipper, who is none other than the king Nabubaliddin, is led by a priest. The king is at pains to tell us in the inscription attached to the design, that he was careful to restore the image of Shamash after an ancient model, and his motive in adding an illustration to this tablet is that future builders may have no excuse for not being equally careful. We may, therefore, take the illustration as a sample of the general character of the sacred chambers in the Babylonian and Assyrian temples in the great centers. The papakhu was decorated with great lavishness. The floors and walls and also the ceiling were studded with precious stones. We may believe Herodotus[1359] when he tells us that the statue of Marduk in his temple at Babylon and the table in front of it was of gold. It was to the papakhu that the priests retired when they desired to obtain an oracle direct from the god; and as in the course of time the sanctity of the spot increased, we may well suppose that the occasions when the deity was directly approached in his papakhu became rarer. Through the influence of the schools attached to the Marduk cult at Babylon, the New Year's Festival—the character of which we will have occasion to explain later on—came to be regarded as the season most appropriate for approaching the oracular chamber. During this festival, Marduk was supposed to decide the fate of mankind for the whole year, and the intercession of the priests on the occasion was fraught with great importance.

A special significance, moreover, came to be attached to the sacred chamber in the Marduk temple. Complementing in a measure, the cosmological associations that have been noted in connection with the zikkurat, the papakhu of Marduk was regarded as an imitation of a cosmical 'sacred chamber.' As the zikkurat represented the mountain on which the gods were born and where they were once supposed to dwell, so the sacred room was regarded as the reproduction of a portion of the great mountain where the gods assembled in solemn council. This council chamber was situated at the eastern end of the great mountain, and was known as Du-azagga, that is, 'brilliant chamber.' The chamber itself constituted the innermost recess of the eastern limit of the mountain, and the special part of the mountain in which it lay was known as Ubshu-kenna, written with the ideographic equivalents to 'assembly room.' It will be apparent that such a view of the papakhu is the result of theological speculation, and is not due, as is the conception of the zikkurat, to popular beliefs.

The assembly of the gods presupposes a systematization of the pantheon, and the fact that it is only the papakhu in Marduk's temple which is known as Du-azagga[1360] is a sufficient indication of the influences at work which produced this conception. In the creation epic, there is a reference to the Ubshu-kenna[1361] which shows the main purpose of a divine assembly in the eyes of the priests of Babylon. The gods meet there in order to do homage to Marduk. They gather around the victorious vanquisher of Tiamat, as the princes gather round the throne of the supreme ruler,—the king of Babylon and of Babylonia.

One can see, however, that, as is generally the case with theological doctrines, there is a popular starting-point from which these views were developed. The Du-azagga is older than the Ubshu-kenna. Situated in the extreme east, the 'brilliant chamber' is evidently the place whence the sun rises in the morning. A hymn to Shamash[1362] expressly speaks of the sun rising out of the Du-azagga, and, since the sun also appears to rise up out of the ocean, the Du-azagga is placed at a point close to the great Apsu, which flows underneath the mountain. In confirmation of this view, a syllabary[1363] identifies the Du-azagga with the Apsu. Marduk, by virtue of his original quality as a solar deity, would naturally be pictured as coming forth from Du-azagga. In this sense the title Mar-Du-azaga,[1364] 'son of Du-azagga,' is applied to him, just as he is called Mar-Apsi, the son of Apsu. But the same conception would hold good of Shamash, of Ninib, and of some other solar deities, though not of all. That Du-azagga came to be especially associated with Marduk is due simply to the preeminent rank that he came to occupy. Whether there was also a popular basis for the conception of an Ubshu-kenna, an 'assembly room' of the gods, is a question more difficult to answer. Certainly, the view that the gods gathered together in one place belongs to an age which attempted to fix, at least in some measure, the relationship of the divine beings to one another. The popular phase of the conception of a general assembly house could, in any case, hardly have proceeded further than the assumption of some particular part of the great mountain, where the gods were wont to come together. The connection of this assembly place with the Du-azagga is distinctly the work of the theologians of Babylon. In their desire to make Marduk the central figure of the pantheon, they bring all the gods to his side. The Ubshu-kenna is thus transferred to the region whence the sun issues on his daily journey. The 'chamber' of Marduk becomes the most sacred spot in this region, and the Ubshu-kenna the general name for the region itself. As Marduk in Babylon was surrounded by his court, so in Ubshu-kenna the gods assemble to pay homage to the one freely acknowledged by them as the greatest, and who is pictured as sitting on his throne in Du-azagga. The further speculation which brought the gods together yearly on the occasion of the great Marduk festival belongs likewise, and as a matter of course, to the period when Marduk's sway was undisputed.

The ideas that were thus attached to the papakhu in E-Sagila are a valuable indication of the sanctity attached to that part of the temple where the god sat enthroned. In a general way, what holds good of Marduk's papakhu applies to every sacred chamber in a temple, and no doubt views were once current of the papakhu of Bel at Nippur and of the 'holy of holies' in E-Babbara[1365] and elsewhere that formed in some measure, a parallel to what the Marduk priests told of their favorite sanctuary.

Coming back now to the large hall which led into the papakhu, the absence of bas-reliefs in this hall in the case of the Assyrian temples excavated by Layard, suggests that the walls of this hall were not lined with sculptured slabs, as was the case in the large rooms of the palaces; and we may conclude that in Babylonian temples, likewise, the decoration of the walls was confined as a general thing to enameled bricks, interspersed, perhaps, with metallic panels, and that mythological scenes—such as the contest with Tiamat or Gilgamesh's adventures—were only occasionally portrayed. An aim which, as the rulers themselves tell us in their inscriptions, they always kept in view was to make both the exterior and interior of the temples resplendent with brilliant coloring—"brilliant as the sun." At the entrances to the Assyrian temples stood lions, chiseled out of soft limestone or the harder alabaster. At Telloh various fragments of large lion heads were found,[1366] so that there is every reason not only to trace this custom to Babylonia, but to carry it back to a very early period. Besides the lion, a favorite religious symbol, as we have seen,[1367] was the bull, and, since Nebuchadnezzar speaks of retaining the "bull" statue of the old temple to Nana (or Ishtar) at Erech, we may suppose that the representation of colossal bulls at the entrances to the temples also belongs to the characteristic features of Babylonian religious architecture. The lion, it will be recalled, is more particularly the symbol of Nergal, but he appears originally, like the bull, to have been a symbol of other gods as well—perhaps, indeed, of the gods in general. Similarly, the eagle, which becomes the special symbol of Ashur, appears prominently on the monuments of Entemena[1368] and other ancient rulers, centuries before the Ashur cult comes into prominence.

In the large court in front of the zikkurats there stood the jars used in connection with the cult, and the presence of these jars furthermore suggests that there was an altar in the great court, precisely as in the case of the Solomonic temple.[1369] In the larger of the temples found by Layard, there was a smaller hall in front of the large one. We may assume that the same was the case with the larger temples of Babylonia, and this three-fold division of the interior,—the vestibule, or pronaos, the main hall, or naos, and the papakhu,—further warrants the comparison of a Babylonian sacred edifice with the Solomonic temple,[1370] where likewise we have the vestibule, the hall known as the 'holy' part, and the 'holy of holies,' the one leading into the other. As to the further disposition of the rooms in the main temple, we must be content to wait for further excavations. What we know is sufficient to warrant the supposition that there was practical uniformity in the interior arrangement of the Babylonian and Assyrian temples. What variation there existed was probably confined to the decoration of the walls, doorways, and to the facades. Meanwhile, it is something to have reached general results. The zikkurat was surrounded by a varying number of shrines that were used as places of assembly for worshippers. The latter gathered also in the large court in front of the zikkurat, where the chief altar probably stood.[1371] In the large halls of the shrines, there were in all probabilities likewise altars. It seems natural to suppose that the hall of judgment, mentioned already in Gudea's inscription,[1372] was attached to some shrine. Besides the zikkurats and shrines, there were smaller structures used as dwellings for the priests and temple officials, for storehouses, for the archives, and as stalls for the animals to be used in the sacrifices. At Nippur a smithy was found near the temple precinct. There were workshops near the temple where the furnishings for the temple, such as the curtains and the utensils, were made, and there were magazines where votive tablets and offerings were manufactured and sold. The number of these structures varied, naturally, in each religious center, and increased in proportion to the growth of the center. The zikkurat, the great court, the shrines, and the smaller structures formed a sacred precinct, and it was this precinct as a whole that constituted the temple in the larger sense, and received some appropriate name. Thus E-Kur at Nippur, E-Sagila at Babylon, E-Zida at Borsippa are used to denote the entire sacred precinct in these cities, and not merely the chief structure. The zikkurat always had a special name of its own.

A factor that contributed largely to the growth of the sacred precinct in the large centers was the circumstance that the political importance of such centers as Nippur, Lagash, Ur, Babylon, and Nineveh led the rulers to group around the worship of the chief deity, the cult of the minor ones who constituted the family or the court of the chief god. The kings measured their importance by the number of the gods upon whose assistance they could rely. The priests came to the assistance of the kings in connecting the gods of the royal pantheon in such a way, as to satisfy the pride of both their royal and divine masters.[1373] The ambition of the kings, more especially of the Assyrian empire, led also to the addition of foreign deities to the pantheon. For these also shrines were built within or near the sacred precinct.

Gudea sets the example for his successors by parading a large pantheon at the close of his inscriptions,[1374] and a list of temples in Lagash, recently published by Scheil,[1375] shows that most, if not all, of the gods invoked by the ruler had a sanctuary erected in his or her honor. There were, as we have seen, several quarters in Lagash, and therefore several sacred precincts, so that we cannot be certain that all of these sanctuaries stood in one and the same quarter. But, since the list in question furnishes the name of no less than thirteen sacred edifices, we are certain that as many as four or five smaller chapels surrounded the precinct in which stood the great temple E-Ninnu, sacred to Gudea's chief god Ningirsu-Ninib.

The list is headed by the sanctuary to Nin-girsu. There follow temples to Bau, to Nin-gishzida, Nin-mar, Nina, Dumuzi-zu-aba, Nin-si-a, Ga-tum-dug known to us from the inscriptions of Gudea, besides others, like Shabra (?), Nin-sun, Nin-tu, that appear here for the first time. In Nippur, we find traces of the worship of Belit (or Nin-lil), of Ninib, and of Nusku, though with the exception of the first named, the worship of these gods has not been traced back further than the days of the Cassite dynasty. Subsequent excavations may, of course, change the present aspect; but one gains the impression from the most ancient inscriptions found at Nippur that at an early period Bel was a god much like the Hebrew Yahwe, "jealous" of having others at his side. Such a conception would help to account for the title 'lord' being applied to him above all others, and also aids us in understanding the lasting impression he made upon the people of Babylonia,—an impression so profound that when the time came for En-lil to yield his supremacy to Marduk, no better means could be found of emphasizing the latter's authority, than by transferring to him the names and titles of the older Bel.[1376] In this respect, however, Nippur was an exception, and in later times the Bel cult was affected by the same influences that led Gudea to group around the sanctuary to Nin-girsu, edifices sacred to other gods and goddesses. Lugalzaggisi[1377] of Erech enumerates an extensive pantheon,[1378] which contains most of the chief deities, and from which we may conclude that the temple of Nana was similarly the center of a large precinct in which the cult of other deities was carried on. When we come to the cult of Marduk at Babylon and of Nabu at Borsippa, the inscriptions, chiefly those of Nebuchadnezzar, come to our aid in showing us the arrangement of the various chapels that were comprised within the sacred precincts of E-Sagila and E-Zida, respectively. In the first place, the close relationship between Marduk and Nabu was emphasized by placing a papakhu to Nabu in the precinct of E-Sagila, which—built in imitation of E-Zida at Borsippa—was called by the same name.[1379] This papakhu, it would seem, was independent of a special temple to Nabu known as E-Makh-tila, and which lay in Borsippa. The consort of Marduk, Sarpanitum, likewise had her temple in Babylon, and naturally close to the chief sanctuary of Marduk.[1380] Ea, the father of Marduk, had a small sanctuary known as E-kar-zaginna in the sacred precinct.[1381] It does not follow, of course, that all the temples in a center like Babylon or Borsippa were concentrated in one place. Indeed, when Nebuchadnezzar speaks of three temples to Gula being erected in Borsippa,[1382] it is certain that they could not have been within the precinct of E-Zida, and so the temples to Shamash and Ramman, Sin and Ishtar, as well as to Nabu in Babylon, had an independent position; but we are at least warranted in concluding that they were not far removed from E-Sagila, and so, likewise, the numerous temples enumerated by Nebuchadnezzar as erected or improved by him in Borsippa were not far distant from Nabu's sanctuary,—the famous E-Zida. The palaces of the kings were also erected near the temples. In Babylon, we know that before Nebuchadnezzar's days, the palace stood so close to E-Sagila that an enlargement of it was impossible without encroaching on the sacred quarter.[1383] The tendency to combine with the worship of the chief god, the cult of others is as characteristic of Assyrian rulers as of their Babylonian predecessors. We are fortunate in possessing an extensive list,[1384] enumerating the various deities worshipped in the temples of Assyria, and the occasions on which they are to be invoked. The information to be gained from this list is all the more welcome since the Assyrian kings are chiefly interested in transmitting an account of their military expeditions, and tell us comparatively little of the religious edifices in their capitols. From this list we learn that in the old temple sacred to Anu and Ramman,[1385] in the city of Ashur—the oldest Assyrian temple known to us,[1386]—some twenty deities were worshipped. Images at least of these deities must have stood in the temple;[1387] but, since there is a distinct reference zikkurats[1388] in the list, for some of them special sanctuaries of some kind must have been erected within the precinct. From the same list we learn that there was a temple to Marduk[1389] in Ashur in which the cult of the Shamash, Sarpanitum, Ramman, Ninib, Anunit was also carried on; similarly, in the temples of Ashur, of Gula, and of Ninib, other gods were worshipped. Provisions of some kind for the cult of these deities must have been made, and one cannot escape the conclusion that in the Assyrian capitols, the sacred precincts likewise covered considerable territory, and that the tendency existed towards a steady increase of the structures erected in connection with the cult of the patron deity. Sennacherib proudly describes Nineveh as the city which contained the shrines of all gods and goddesses.[1390]

The Names of the Zikkurats and Temples.

We have seen that every sacred edifice had a special name by which it was known. This custom belongs to the oldest period of Babylonian history, and continues to the latest. Through these names, to which, no doubt, considerable significance was attached, we obtain a valuable insight into the religious spirit of the Babylonians; but it is important to note that the custom does not appear to have been as general[1391] in Assyria, where the temples are simply known as the house of this or that god or goddess. Of special interest are those names which were suggested by the original design of the temples. Such are E-Kur, 'the mountain house' at Nippur, E-kharsag-kurkura, 'the house of the mountain of all lands,' the name of several temples.[1392] The same idea finds expression also in such names as E-kharsag-ella, or 'house of the glorious mountain,' the name of a temple to Gula in Babylon; E-kharsag, 'the mountain house,' a temple in Ur;[1393] E-khur-makh, 'the house of the great mountain,' which a text[1394] declares to be equivalent to E-kharsag-kalama. Closely allied with these names are those indicating in one way or the other, the height or greatness of the buildings, as the general aim of the builders. Prominent among such names are E-Sagila, 'the lofty house,' the famous temple and temple area at Babylon; E-makh, 'the great house,' a chapel to Nin-kharsag, situated perhaps within E-Sagila; E-gal-makh, 'the great palace,' an old temple in Ur; E-anna, 'the heavenly house,' that is, the house reaching up to heaven, which is the name of the temple of Ishtar or Nana at Erech; E-lgi-e-nir-kidur-makh,[1395] 'the tower of the great dwelling' sacred to Ninni at Kish. To the same class belong such designations as E-dur-an-ki, 'the link of heaven and earth,'[1396] the name of a zikkurat at Larsa; E-an-dadia, 'the house reaching to heaven,' the zikkurat at Agade; E-pa, 'the summit house,' the zikkurat to Nin-girsu at Lagash; E-gubba-an-ki, 'the point of heaven and earth,' one of the names of the zikkurat in Dilbat; E-dim-anna, 'the house of heavenly construction,' the chapel to Sin within the precinct of E-Zida at Borsippa,—a name that again conveys the notion of an edifice reaching up to heaven. The names of the zikkurats at Erech and Borsippa, 'the house of seven zones' and 'the house of the seven divisions of heaven and earth,' respectively, while conveying, as we saw,[1397] cosmological conceptions of a more specific character, may still be reckoned in the class of names that embody the leading purpose of the tower in Babylonia, as may also a name like E-temen-an-ki, 'the foundation stone of heaven and earth,' assigned to the zikkurat to Marduk in Babylonia.

The sacred edifice, as the dwelling of the god to whom it is dedicated, leads to such names as E-Zida, 'the true house or fixed house,'[1398] the famous temple to Nabu in Borsippa; E-dur-gina,[1399] 'the house of the established seat,' a temple of Bel-sarbi[1400] in Baz; E-ki-dur[1401]-garza, 'the sacred dwelling,' a temple to Nin-lil-anna in Babylon; E-kua, 'the dwelling-house,' the name of the papakhu of Marduk in E-Sagila; E-gi-umunna, 'the permanent dwelling'; E-esh[1402]-gi, a shrine to Nin-girsu at Lagash with the same meaning, 'permanent house.'

Another class is formed by such names as are suggested by the attributes of the deity to whom the edifices are dedicated. Such are E-babbara, 'the brilliant house,' which, as the name of the temples to Shamash at Sippar and Larsa, recalls at once the character of the sun-god. Similarly, E-gish-shir-gal, 'the house of the great luminary,' was an appropriate name for the temple to the moon-god at Ur. The staff or sceptre being the symbol of the god Nabu, suggests as the name of a sanctuary to him in Babylonia, the name E-pad-kalama-suma, 'the house of him who gives the sceptre of the world,' while the character of Shamash as the god of justice finds an expression in the name E-ditar-kalama, 'the house of the universal judge,' given to his temple or chapel in Babylon. The association of the number fifty with Ningirsu-Ninib leads to the name E-ninnu, 'house of fifty,'[1403] for his temple in Lagash. Again, the position of Anu in the pantheon accounts for the name E-adda, 'house of the father,' given to his temple, just as E-nin-makh, 'the house of the great lady,' the name of a chapel in Babylon, at once recalls a goddess like Ishtar. Other names that describe a temple by epithets of the gods to whom they are sacred, are E-nun-makh, 'the house of the great lord,' descriptive of Sin; E-me-te-ur-sagga, 'the house of the glory of the warrior,' a temple sacred to Zamama-Ninib; E-U-gal, 'the house of the great lord,' a temple to En-lil. A name like E-edinna, 'house of the field,' a temple to the consort of Shamash at Sippar, may also have been suggested by some attribute of the goddess.[1404]

Lastly, we have a class of names that might be described as purely ornamental, or as embodying a pious wish. Of such we have a large number. Examples of this class are E-tila, 'house of life.' Names extolling the glory and splendor of the temples are common. In a list of temples[1405] we find such designations as 'house of light,' 'house of the brilliant precinct,' 'great place,' 'lofty and brilliant wall,'[1406] 'house of great splendor,' 'the splendor of heaven and earth,' 'house without a rival,' 'light of Shamash.' The seat of Sarpanitum in E-Sagila, is known as 'the gate of widespread splendor'; E-salgisa, 'the treasury,' as the name of a temple in Girsu, may belong here. A temple to Gula in Sippar was called E-ulla; that is, 'the beautiful house.' The old temple to Sin at Harran bore the significant name E-khulkhul, 'house of joys,' while the pious wish of the worshipper is again expressed in the name 'threshold of long life,' given to the zikkurat in Sippar.[1407] Among a series of names,[1408] illustrating the religious sentiments of the people are the following: 'the heart of Shamash,' 'the house of hearkening to prayers,'[1409] 'the house full of joy,' 'the brilliant house,' 'the life of the world,' 'the place of fates,' and the like.