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BABYLONIAN AND ASSYRIAN RELIGION
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BABYLONIAN AND See also:ASSYRIAN See also:RELIGION . The development of the religion of Babylonia, so far as it can be traced with the material at See also:hand, follows closely along the lines of the periods to be distinguished in the See also:history of the See also:Euphrates valley. Leaving aside the See also:primitive phases of the religion as lying beyond the See also:ken of See also:historical investigation, we may See also:note the See also:sharp distinction to be made between the pre-Khammurabic See also:age and the See also:post-Khammurabic age. While the See also:political See also:movement represented by Khammurabi may have been proceeding for some See also:time See also:prior to the See also:appearance of the See also:great conqueror, the See also:period of c. 2250 B.C., when the See also:union of the Euphratean states was effected by Khammurabi, marks the beginning of a new See also:epoch in the religion as well as in the political history of the Euphrates valley. Corresponding to the states into which we find the See also:country divided before 2250 B.C., we have a various number of religious centres such as See also:Nippur, See also:Erech, Kutha (Cuthah), Ur, See also:Sippara (Sippar), Shirgulla (See also:Lagash), See also:Eridu and Agade, in each of which some See also:god was looked upon as the See also:chief deity around whom there were gathered a number of See also:minor deities and with whom there was invariably associated a See also:female See also:consort. The See also:jurisdiction of this chief god was, however, limited to the political extent or See also:control of the See also:district in which the See also:main seat of the cult of the deity in question See also:lay. Mild attempts, to be sure, to See also:group the chief deities associated with the most important religious and political centres into a See also:regular See also:pantheon were made —notably in Nippur and later in Ur—but such attempts lacked the enduring quality which attaches to Khammurabi's avowed policy to raise Marduk—the See also:patron deity of the future See also:capital, Babylon—to the See also:head of the entire Babylonian pantheon, as
1 Even in the See also:case of the " Semitic " name of the famous See also:Sargon I. (q.v.), whose full name is generally read Sharru-kenu-sha-alz, and interpreted as " the legitimate See also: The older incantations, associated with Ea, were re-edited so as to give to Marduk the supreme power over demons, witches and sorcerers; the See also:hymns and See also:lamentations composed for the cult of Bel, Shamash and of Adad were transformed into paeans and appeals to Marduk, while the ancient myths arising in the various religious and political centres underwent a similar process of See also:adaptation to changed conditions, and as a consequence their See also:original meaning was obscured by the endeavour to assign all mighty deeds and acts, originally symbolical of the See also:change of seasons or of occurrences in nature, to the patron deity of Babylon—the supreme head of the entire Babylonian pantheon. Besides the chief deities and their consorts, various minor ones, representing likewise patron gods of less important localities and in most cases of a solar See also:character were added at one time or the other to the See also:court' of Marduk, though there is also to be noted a tendency on the See also:part of the chief solar deity, Shamash of Sippara, and for the chief moon-god to absorb the solar and lunar deities of less important sites, leading in the case of the solar gods to the differentiation of the functions of Shamash during the various seasons of the See also:year and the various times of the See also:day among these minor deities. In this way See also:Ninib, whose chief seat appears to have been at Shirgulla (Lagash), became the See also:sun-god of the springtime and of the See also:morning, bringing joy and new See also:life to the See also:earth, while Nergal of Kutha was regarded as the sun of the summer See also:solstice and of the noonday heat—the See also:harbinger of suffering and See also:death. There were, however, two deities who appear to have retained an See also:independent existence—Anu (q.v.), the god of See also:heaven, and See also:Ishtar (q.v.), the great See also:mother-goddess, who symbolized fertility and vitality in See also:general. There are some reasons for believing that the See also:oldest seat, and possibly the original seat, of the See also:Anu cult was in Erech, as it is there where the Ishtar cult that subsequently spread throughout Babylonia and See also:Assyria took its rise. While Anu, with whom there was associated as a See also:pale reflection a consort Antum, assigned to him under the See also:influence of the widely prevalent view among the See also:early Semites which conceived of gods always in pairs, remained more or less of an See also:abstraction during the various periods of the Babylonian-Assyrian religion and taking little part in the active cult of the temples, his unique position as the chief god of the highest heavens was always recognized in the theological See also:system See also:developed by the priests, which found an expression in making him the first figure of a triad, consisting of Anu, Bel and Ea, among whom the priests divided the three divisions of the universe, the heavens, the earth with the See also:atmosphere above it, and the watery expanse respectively. Postponing the discussion of this triad, it is to be noted that the systematization of the pantheon after the days of Khammurabi did not seriously interfere with the See also:independence of the goddess Ishtar. While frequently associated with Marduk, and still more closely with the chief god of Assyria, the god See also:Assur '(who occupies in the See also:north the position accorded to Marduk in the See also:south), so much so as to be sometimes spoken of as Assur's consort—the See also:lady or See also:Belit See also:par excellence—the belief that as the source of all life she stands apart never lost its hold upon thepeople and found an expression also in the system devised by the priests. By the See also:side of the first triad, consisting of Anu, Bel and Ea—disconnected in this See also:form entirely from all See also:local associations—we encounter a second triad composed of Sharnash, Sin and Ishtar. As the first triad symbolized the three divisions of the universe—the heavens, earth and the watery element—so the second represented the three great forces of nature—the sun, the moon and the life-giving power. According as the one or the other aspect of such a power is brought into the foreground, Ishtar becomes the mother of mankind, the fertile earth, the goddess of sexual love, and the creative force among animals, while at times she appears in hymns and myths as the general personification of nature. We thus find in the post-Khammurabic period the pantheon assuming distinct shapes. The strong tendency towards concentrating in one deity—Marduk—the attributes of all others was offset by the natural See also:desire to make the position of Marduk See also:accord with the See also:rank acquired by the See also:secular rulers. As these emphasized their supremacy by grouping around them a court of loyal attendants dependent in rank and ready to do their See also:master's bidding, so the gods of the chief centres and those of the minor local cults formed a group around Marduk; and the larger the group the greater was the reflected See also:glory of the chief figure. Hence throughout the subsequent periods of Babylonian history, and despite a decided progress towards a monotheistic conception of divine See also:government of the universe, the recognition of a large number of gods and their consorts by the side of Marduk remained a firmly embedded See also:doctrine in the Babylonian religion as it did in the Assyrian religion, with the important variation, however, of transferring the role of the head of the pantheon from Marduk to Assur. Originally the patron god of the city of Assur (q.v.), when this city became the centre of a growing and independent district, Assur was naturally advanced to the same position in the north that Marduk occupied in the south. The religious predominance of the city of Babylon served to maintain for Marduk recognition even on the part of the Assyrian rulers, who, on the political side likewise, conceded to Babylonia the form at least of an independent district even when, as See also:kings of Assyria, they exercised See also:absolute control over it. They appointed their sons or See also:brothers See also:governors of Babylonia, and in the See also:long See also:array of titles that the kings gave themselves, a See also:special phrase was always set aside to indicate their mastery over Babylonia. " To take the hand of Bel-Marduk was the ceremony of See also:installation which Assyrian rulers recognized equally with Babylonians as an essential preliminary to exercising authority in the Euphrates valley. Marduk and Assur became rivals only when Babylonia gave the Assyrians trouble; and when in 68g B.C. See also:Sennacherib, whose See also:patience had been exhausted by the difficulties en-countered in maintaining See also:peace in the south, actually besieged and destroyed the city of Babylon, he removed the statue of Marduk to See also:Nineveh as a See also:symbol that the god's See also:rule had come to an end. His See also:grandson Assur-bani-See also:pal, with a view of re-establishing amicable relations, restored the statue to the See also:temple E-Saggila,in Babylon and performed the time-honoured ceremony of " taking the hand of Bel " as a symbol of his See also:homage to the ancient head of the Babylonian pantheon. But for the substitution of Assur for Marduk, the Assyrian pantheon was the same as that set up in the south, though some of the gods were endowed with attributes which differ slightly from those which See also:mark the same gods in the south. The warlike nature of the Assyrians was reflected in their conceptions of the gods, who thus became little Assurs by the side of the great See also:protector of arms, the big Assur. The cult and See also:ritual in the north likewise followed the See also:models set up in the south. The hymns composed for the temples of Babylonia were transferred to Assur, See also:Calah, See also:Harran, See also:Arbela and Nineveh in the north; and the myths and legends also wandered to Assyria, where, to be sure, they underwent certain modifications. To all See also:practical purposes, however, the religion of Assyria was identical with that practised in the south. We thus obtain four periods in the development of the Babylonian-Assyrian religion: (r) the oldest period from C. 3500 B.C. to the time of Khammurabi (c. 2250 B.c.); (2) the post-Khammurabic period in Babylonia; (3) the Assyrian period (c. 2000 B.C.) to the destruction of Nineveh in 6o6 B.c.; (4) the neo-Babylonian period beginning with Nabopolassar (625-604 B.C.), the first independent ruler under whom Babylonia inaugurates a new though See also:short-lived era of power and prosperity, which ends with See also:Cyrus's See also:conquest of Babylon and Babylonia in 539 B.C., though since the religion proceeds om its undisturbed course for several centuries after the end of the political independence, we might legitimately carry this period to the See also:Greek conquest of the Euphrates valley (331 B.C.), when new influences began to make themselves See also:felt which gradually led to the extinction of the old cults. In this long period of c. 3500 to c. 300 B.C., the changes introduced after the See also:adjustment to the new conditions produced by Khammurabi's union of the Euphratean states are of a minor character. As already indicated, the local cults in the important centres of the south and north maintained themselves despite the tendency towards centralization, and while the cults themselves varied according to the character of the gods worshipped in each centre, the general principles were the same and the See also:rites differed in minor details rather than in essential See also:variations. An important See also:factor which thus served to maintain the rites in a more or less See also:stable See also:condition was the predominance of what may be called the astral See also:theology as the theoretical substratum of the Babylonian religion, and which is equally pronounced in the religious system of Assyria. The essential feature of this astral theology is the See also:assumption of a See also:close See also:link between the movements going on in the heavens and occurrences on earth, which led to identifying the gods and goddesses with heavenly bodies—planets and stars, besides sun and moon—and to assigning the seats of all the deities in the heavens. The personification of the two great luminaries—the sun and the moon—was the first step in the unfolding of this system, and this was followed by placing the other deities where Shamash and Sin had their seats. This process, which reached its See also:culmination in the post-Khammurabic period, led to identifying the See also:planet See also:Jupiter with Marduk, See also:Venus with Ishtar, See also:Mars with Nergal, See also:Mercury with Nebo, and See also:Saturn with Ninib. The system represents a harmonious See also:combination of two factors, one of popular origin, the other the outcome of See also:speculation in the See also:schools attached to the temples of Babylonia. The popular factor is the belief in the influence exerted by the movements of the heavenly bodies on occurrences on earth—a belief naturally suggested by the dependence of life, vegetation and guidance upon the two great luminaries. Starting with this belief the priests built up the theory of the close See also:correspondence between occurrences on earth and phenomena in the heavens. The heavens presenting a See also:constant change even to the superficial observer, the conclusion was See also:drawn of a connexion between the changes and the ever-changing movement in the See also:fate of individuals and of nature as well as in the appearance of nature. To read the signs of the heavens was therefore to understand the meaning of occurrences on earth, and with this accomplished it was also possible to foretell what events were portended by the position and relationship to one another of sun, moon, See also:planets and certain stars. Myths that symbolized changes in See also:season or occurrences in nature were projected on the heavens, which were mapped out to correspond to the divisions of the earth. All the gods, great and small, had their places assigned to them in the heavens, and facts, including such as See also:fell within the domain of political history, were interpreted in terms of astral theology. So completely did this system in the course of time sway men's minds that the cult, from being an expression of animistic beliefs, took on the See also:colour derived from the " astral " See also:interpretation of occurrences and doctrines. It See also:left its trace in incantations, omens and hymns, and it gave See also:birth to See also:astronomy, which was assiduously cultivated because a knowledge of the heavens was the very See also:foundation of the system of belief unfolded by the priests of Babylonia and Assyria. " Chaldaean See also:wisdom " became in the classical See also:world the synonym of this See also:science, which in its character was so essentially religious. The persistentprominence which See also:astrology (q.v.) continued to enjoy down to the border-See also:line of the scientific movement of our own days, and which is directly traceable to the See also:divination methods perfected in the Euphrates valley, is a See also:tribute to the See also:scope and influence attained by the astral theology of the Babylonian and Assyrian priests. As an illustration of the manner in which. the doctrines of the religion were made to conform to the all-pervading astral theory, it will be sufficient to refer to the modification undergone in this process of the view developed in a very early period which apportioned the control of the universe among the three gods Anu, Bel and Ea. Disassociating these gods from all local connexions, Anu became the power presiding over the heavens, to Bel was assigned the earth and the atmosphere immediately above it, while Ea ruled over the deep. With the See also:transfer of all the gods to the heavens, and under the influence of the doctrine of the correspondence between the heavens and the earth, Anu, Bel and Ea became the three " ways " (as they are called) on the heavens. The " ways " appear in this instance to have been the designation of the See also:ecliptic circle, which was divided into three sections or zones—a See also:northern, a See also:middle and a See also:southern See also:zone, Anu being assigned to the first, Bel to the second, and Ea to the third zone. The astral theology of the Babylonian-Assyrian religion, while thus bearing the See also:ear-marks of a system devised by the priests, succeeded in assimilating the beliefs which represented the earlier attempts to systematize the more popular aspects of the religion, and in this way a unification of diverse elements was secured that led to interpreting the contents and the form of the religion in terms of the astral-theological system. The most noteworthy outcome of this system in the See also:realm of religious practice was, as already intimated, the growth of an elaborate and complicated method of See also:divining the future by the observation of the phenomena in the heavehs. It is significant that in the royal collection of See also:cuneiform literature made by King Assur-bani-pal of Assyria (668-626 B.C.) and deposited in his See also:palace at Nineveh, the See also:omen collections connected with the astral theology of Babylonia and Assyria form the largest class. There are also indications that the extensive texts dealing with divination through the See also:liver of sacrificial animals, which represents a more popular origin than divination through the observations of the heavens, based as it is on the primitive view which regarded the liver as the seat of life and of the soul, were brought into connexion with astral divination. Less influenced by the astral-theological system are the old See also:incantation texts which were gathered together into See also:series. In these series we can trace the See also:attempt to gather the incantation formulae and prayers produced in different centres, and to make them See also:con-form to the tendency to centralize the cult in the See also:worship of Marduk and his consort in the south, and of Assur and Ishtar in the north. Incantations originally addressed to Ea of Eridu, as the god of the watery See also:element, and to See also:Nusku, as the god of See also:fire, were transferred to Marduk. This was done by making Ea confer on Marduk as his son the See also:powers of the See also:father, and by making Nusku a messenger between Ea and Marduk. At the same time, since the invoking of the divine powers was the essential element in the incantations, in See also:order to make the magic formulae as effective as possible, a large number of the old local deities are introduced to add their power to the chief ones; and it is here that the astral system comes into See also:play through the introduction of names of stars, as well as through assigning attributes to the gods which clearly reflect the conception that they have their seats in the heavens. The incantations pass over naturally into hymns and prayers. The connexion between the two is illustrated by the application of the See also:term shiptu, " incantation," to the See also:direct appeals to the gods, as well as by the introduction, on the one hand, of genuine prayers into the incantations and by the addition, on the other hand, of incantations to prayers and hymns, pure and See also:simple. In another See also:division of the religious literature of Babylonia which is largely represented in Assur-bani-pal's collection—the myths and legends—tales which originally symbolized the change of seasons, or in which historical occurrences are overcast with more or less copious admixture of See also:legend and myth, were transferred to the heavens, and so it happens that creation myths, and the accounts of wanderings and adventures of heroes of the past, are referred to movements among the planets and stars as well as to occurrences or supposed occurrences on earth. The ritual alone which accompanied divination practices and incantation formulae and was a chief factor in the celebration of festival days and of days set aside for one See also:reason or the other to the worship of some god or goddess or group of deities, is See also:free from traces of the astral theology. The more or less elaborate ceremonies prescribed for the occasions when the gods were approached are directly connected with the popular elements of the religion. See also:Animal See also:sacrifice, libations, ritualistic See also:purification, sprinkling of See also:water, and symbolical rites of all kinds accompanied by short prayers, represent a religious practice which in the Babylonian-Assyrian religion, as in all religions, is older than any theology and survives the changes which the theoretical substratum of the religion undergoes. On the ethical side, the religion of Babylonia more particularly, and to a less extent that of Assyria, advances to noticeable conceptions of the qualities associated with the gods and goddesses and of the duties imposed on See also:man. Shamash the sun-god was invested with See also:justice as his chief trait, Marduk is portrayed as full of See also:mercy and kindness, Ea is the protector of mankind who is grieved when, through a deception practised upon Adapa, humanity is deprived of See also:immortality. The gods, to be sure, are easily aroused to anger, and in some of them the dire aspects predominated, but the view becomes more and more pronounced that there is some cause always for the divine wrath. Though, in accounting for the anger of the gods, no sharp distinction is made between moral offences and a ritualistic oversight or neglect, yet the stress laid in the hymns and prayers, as well as in the elaborate See also:atonement ritual prescribed in order to appease the anger of the gods, on the need of being clean and pure in the sight of the higher powers, the inculcation of a proper aspect of humility, and above all the need of confessing one's See also:guilt and sins without any reserve—all this bears testimony to the strength which the ethical factor acquired in the domain of the religion.
This factor appears to less See also:advantage in the unfolding of the views concerning life after death: Throughout all periods of Babylonian-Assyrian history, the conception prevailed of a large dark cavern below the earth, not far from the Apsu—the ocean encircling and flowing underneath the earth—in which all the dead were gathered and where they led a miserable existence of inactivity amid gloom and dust. Occasionally a favoured individual was permitted to See also:escape from this general fate and placed in a pleasant See also:island. It would appear also that the rulers were always singled out for divine See also:grace, and in the earlier periods of the history, owing to the prevailing view that the rulers stood nearer to the gods than other mortals, the kings were deified after death, and in some instances divine honours were paid to them even during their lifetime.
The influence exerted by the Babylonian-Assyrian religion was particularly profound on the Semites, while the astral theology affected the ancient world in general, including the Greeks and See also:Romans. The impetus to the purification of the old Semite religion to which the See also:Hebrews for a long time clung in See also:common with their fellows—the various branches of nomadic Arabs—was largely furnished by the remarkable See also:civilization unfolded in the Euphrates valley and in many of the traditions, myths and legends embodied in the Old Testament; traces of direct borrowing from Babylonia maybe discerned, while the indirect influences in the domain of the prophetical books, as also in the See also:Psalms and in the so-called " Wisdom Literature," are even more note-worthy. Even when we reach the New Testament period, we have not passed entirely beyond the See also:sphere of Babylonian-Assyrian influences. In such a movement as early See also:Christian See also:gnosticism, Babylonian elements—modified, to be sure, and transformed—are largely See also:present, while the growth of an apocalyptic literature is ascribed with apparent justice by many scholars to the recrudescence of views the ultimate source of
which is to be found in the astral-theology of the Babylonian and Assyrian priests.
(See also:Paris, 1906– ); See also:Craig, Astrological-Astronomical Texts (See also:Leipzig, 1892) ; See also: On the religious literature of Babylonia and Assyria, see also chapters xv. to See also:xxiv. in Jastrow's See also:work (See also:German and See also:English edition), Carl Bezold's Ninive and Babylon (See also:Bielefeld, 1905), chapters vi. to xii., and the same author's monumental See also:catalogue of the cuneiform tablets ih the Kuyunjik collection of the See also:British Museum (5 vols., See also:London, 1889–1899). (M. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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