Chapter XXVI: The Temples and the Cult (3)

To Ea,[1513] his lord, Bel-zir,
Son of Ea-Ban,
For the preservation of his life
Made and presented.

The formulas are thus seen to be conventional ones, though occasionally the inscription is somewhat longer. So, for example, Nazi-Maruttash, another Cassite king, puts a little prayer on a votive offering:

[To Bel, his lord]
Nazi-Maruttash,
Son of Kurigalzu,
To hearken to his supplication,
To be favorable to his prayer,
To accept his entreaty,
To lengthen his days,
[He made and presented].

This inscription appears, as Dr. Hilprecht informs us,[1514] on an ax made of imitation lapis lazuli.[1515] Other votive inscriptions are found on rings and on knobs of ivory or magnesite.[1516] These various designs no doubt all had some symbolical significance. The ring suggests some ultimate connection between votive offerings and amulets. The seal cylinders, we know, although put to practical use in impressing the design on a clay tablet as a substitute for a personal signature, were also regarded as amulets, and this accounts for the frequency with which scenes of religious worship were introduced as designs on the cylinders. The ring is distinctly an amulet in Babylonia as elsewhere, and hence it is by no means improbable that the custom of carrying little inscribed tablets, discs, or knobs about the person as a protection against mischances preceded the use of such tablets as votive offerings to be placed in a temple.

A very common votive object in Babylonia, especially in the earlier period, was the clay cone. Such cones were found in large numbers at Lagash, while at Nippur Peters came across what may be safely regarded as a magazine where such cones (and other votive objects) were manufactured in large numbers.[1517] The cones of Gudea bear conventional inscriptions of a votive character addressed to Nin-girsu. In other temples, other gods were similarly remembered. It has been customary to regard these cones as phallic symbols;[1518] but it should be noted that not only is the evidence for this lacking, but that what we know of the popular practices of the Babylonians does not warrant us in assuming any widespread phallic symbolism. The point of the cones suggests rather that the objects were intended to be stuck into the ground or into walls. At Lagash De Sarzec found, besides cones, a large number of copper statuettes[1519] of gods and goddesses and of animals,--chiefly bulls,--all terminating in a sharp point or attached to a cone-shaped object. Others again are clearly human figures, either male personages holding the cone in their hands,[1520] or females holding baskets on their heads,--the customary attitude of making an offering. These curious statuettes frequently bear inscriptions of a votive character, and there can be no doubt that they were used to be stuck into some substance. At one place, De Sarzec found a series set up in concentric circles[1521] in the corners of an edifice and under the floor. Heuzey is of the opinion that these statuettes thus arranged were to serve as a warning for the demons, but it is more in keeping with the general character of the Babylonian religion to look upon these objects simply as votive offerings placed at various parts of a building as a means of securing the favor of the gods. The cone, I venture to think, is merely the conventionalized shape of a votive object originally intended to be stuck into some part of a sacred building. The large quantity of cones that have been found at Lagash, Nippur, and elsewhere is an indication of their popular use. It is not improbable that at one time, and, at all events, in certain temples, the cones and statuettes represented the common votive offerings with which worshippers provided themselves upon entering the sacred precinct. To facilitate the reproduction of the statuettes, moulds were used,--another indication of the widespread use of these objects. Clay figures of gods and goddesses were also made in moulds or modelled by hand and served as votive offerings. At Nippur, the images represent chiefly Bel and Belit,[1522] either separately or in combination; but figurines of Ishtar have also been found.[1523] In some the goddess is represented as suckling a child. Often she is pictured as naked, clasping her breasts or her womb. The attitude which was suggested by the character of the goddess as the promoter of fertility appears to have been too obscene to a more refined age, and, accordingly, we find in later times the sexual parts suppressed or the figure properly clothed. The character of these figurines varied naturally with each religious center, and even in the same center modifications were introduced.

Whether these clay figurines, cones, and metallic statuettes were also placed by individuals in their dwellings, like the "plague" tablets,[1524] we cannot as yet definitely say, but it is more than likely that such was the case. The _teraphim_ familiar to us from the references in the Old Testament,[1525] and evidently used as talismans, belong to the class of votive offerings under consideration. The figurines and cones, and also (though to a smaller degree) the copper statuettes, thus introduce us to the popular phases of the cult. As symbols of homage they appear to have survived to a late period, and their use as talismans did not materially affect their character as offerings, made by the people upon seeking the sanctuaries. The more costly objects, as vases,[1526] artistically worked weapons, handsome "seas" bowls, altars, and statues of the gods and other furniture for the temples were left to the rulers. Such offerings were made with great pomp. They were formally dedicated by large processions of priests, with the accompaniment of hymns and music. The kings of Assyria presented the captured gods as votive gifts pleasing to their deity.[1527] They bring back with them from their campaigns the beams of the edifices that they destroyed and offer them to Ishtar.[1528] Upon coming to Babylonia, they do not fail to bring presents of gold, silver, precious stones, copper, iron, purple, precious garments, and scented woods to Marduk and Sarpanitum, to Nabu and Tashmitum, and the other great gods.[1529] The first fruits of extensive groves are offered by Ashurnasirbal to Ashur and the temples of his land.[1530] The rulers of Assyria vie with the kings of Babylonia in presenting gardens[1531] and lands to the gods as votive offerings; but for all that, in ancient Babylonia and Assyria, as among other peoples of antiquity, the more fervent religious spirit was manifested in the small tokens of the masses, whose attachment to the temples was of a different order from that which prompted the rulers of the north and south to a display, in which vanity and the desire to manifest their power play a larger part as one generation succeeds the other.

Festivals.

We have seen[1532] that in the developed system of the Babylonian religion, every day of the year had some significance, and that certain days in each month--so, _e.g._, the 7th, 14th, 19th, 21st, and 28th--had a special significance. It has also been pointed out that in different religious centers, the days singled out for special significance differed. In view of this, we must be prepared to find that the festival days were not the same in all parts of Babylonia, nor necessarily identical in the various periods of Babylonian and Assyrian history.

The common name for festival was _isinnu_. If we may judge from the use of _assinnu_ as a general name for priest,[1533]--a servant of a deity,--the underlying stem appears to signify simply 'to serve.' Another name that reveals more as to the character of the Babylonian festivals is _tashiltu_, which is used as a synonym for 'joy, delight.' The festivals were indeed joyous occasions, marked by abundance of offerings and merry-making, though, as we shall see, the somber note in the rejoicings was not absent. The kings dedicate their temples and palaces amidst manifestation of rejoicing. They pray that the gods may occupy the dwellings prepared for them "in joy and jubilance,"[1534] and the reference to festivals in the historical texts are all of such a character as to make us feel that the Babylonian could appreciate the Biblical injunction to "rejoice"[1535] in the divine presence, on the occasions set apart as, in a peculiar sense, sacred.

Defective as our knowledge of the ancient Babylonian festivals still is, the material at our disposal shows that at a comparatively early period, there was one day in the year on which a festival was celebrated in honor of a god or goddess that had a more important character than any other. In the developed zodiacal system of Babylonia each month is sacred to a deity.[1536] This system was perfected under the direct influence of the theological schools of Babylonia, but so much of it, at all events, rests upon ancient traditions which assigns a month to each god; and since Marduk is not accorded the first place, but takes his position in a group of solar deities, and since, moreover, these solar deities have a position in the calendar which accords with their specific solar character,[1537] we may proceed a step further and assume with some confidence that the Babylonian scholars were guided--in large part, at least--by ancient traditions in parceling out the months as they did. Anu, Bel, and Ea, it is true, may have been assigned to the first three months because of the preeminent position of these three gods as a special triad; but even here the antiquity of the triad furnishes a guarantee that the association of some month with some deity belongs to a very ancient period of Babylonian history. This being the case, it would be natural that the first day of the month sacred to a deity would be regarded as his or her festival _par excellence_, and in the case of the cult of a deity spreading beyond its original limits, this festival would assume a more general character. On this day the people would come from all parts of the district within which the cult was carried on, to pay their homage to the god or goddess. In the days of Gudea, we find Bau occupying this superior rank. Her festival had assumed such importance as to serve for reckoning the commencement of the year.

Hence it became known simply as the day of zag-muku,[1538] that is, the New Year's Day.[1539] Whether this festival of Bau was recognized as the New Year's Day throughout Babylonia, we do not know, but it must have been observed in a considerably extensive district, or Gudea would have made the attempt to give some festival connected with his favorite deity Nin-girsu this character. As it is, he can only combine Bau's festival with the cult of Nin-girsu, by making the New Year's Day the occasion of a symbolical marriage between the god and the goddess. Nin-girsu is represented as offering marriage gifts to Bau,[1540] on the Zagmuku. How early Bau came to occupy so significant a rank has not been ascertained. It is her quality as the 'great mother,' as the goddess of fertility and abundance,[1541] rather than any political supremacy of the district in which she was worshipped, that constitutes the chief factor in giving Bau this preeminence, just as we have found in the case of the other great goddesses of Babylonia,--Nina, Nana, Ishtar,--specific traits and not political importance lending them the significance they acquired.

At one time we may well suppose that the festival of En-lil at Nippur, which brought worshippers from all parts of Babylonia, was recognized as a 'New Year's Day,' and we may some day find evidence that at a still earlier period the first day of a month sacred to some other god,--Sin or Shamash or Nana-Ishtar of Erech,--was recognized in some districts as the starting-point for the year; but to an agricultural community, the spring, when the seeds are sown, or the fall, after the harvest has been gathered, are the two most natural periods for reckoning the beginning of the year. Since we know that at the time when Babylon acquired her supremacy the year began in the spring, the conservatism attaching to religious observances makes it more than probable that Bau's festival also fell in the spring.

After the ancient religious and political centers of the south yielded their privileges to Babylon, it was natural for the priests of Marduk to covet the honor of the New Year's festival for the new head of the pantheon. Accordingly, we find the Zagmuku transformed into a Marduk festival. That it did not originally belong to Marduk follows from the fact that it was celebrated in the month of Nisan,--the first month,--whereas the month sacred to Marduk was Arakh-shamna (or Marcheshwan),--the eighth month. The deliberate transfer of the Zagmuku to Marduk is also indicated by the fact that the festival of Nisan has another name by which it is more commonly designated,--Akitu.[1542] The name seems to have been originally a general term for a festival, and it is natural that Marduk's festival should have come to be known as _the_ festival, just as among the Hebrews the annual fall pilgrimage to the sanctuary at Jerusalem became known as _the_ Hag,--the pilgrimage _par excellence_. To distinguish it from other festivals, Marduk's festival is sometimes spoken of as the "great" or the "lofty" Akitu. The first day was properly the Zagmuku, whereas the Akitu itself extended at least over the first eleven days of Nisan[1543] and may indeed have lasted the entire month; but Zagmuku was also used for the festival period. The New Year's Day was marked by a solemn procession. The union of Nabu and Marduk was symbolized by a visit which the former paid to his father, the chief of the Babylonian pantheon. In his ship, magnificently fitted out,[1544] Nabu was carried along the street known as Ai-ibur-shabu,[1545] leading from Borsippa across the Euphrates to Babylon.

The street was handsomely paved,[1546] and everything was done to heighten the impressiveness of the ceremony. The visit of Nabu marked the homage of the gods to Marduk; and Nabu set the example for other gods, who were all supposed to assemble in E-Sagila during the great festival. We have already pointed out that the cult of Nabu at Borsippa at one time was regarded with greater sanctity than the Marduk worship in Babylon. As a concession to the former supremacy of Nabu, the priests of E-Sagila, carrying the statue of Marduk, escorted Nabu back to Borsippa. The return visit raises the suspicion that it was originally Marduk who was obliged to pay an annual homage to Nabu.

However this may be, the double ceremony became to such an extent the noteworthy feature of the Zagmuku or Akitu that when the chroniclers wish to indicate that, because of political disturbances, the festival was not celebrated, they use the simple formula:

Nabu did not come to Babylon.
Bel [_i.e._, Marduk] did not march out.[1547]

The Akitu festival brought worshippers from all parts of Babylonia and Assyria to the capitol. Kings and subjects alike paid their devotions to Marduk. The former approached the divine presence directly, and, seizing hold of the hands of Marduk's statue, were admitted into a kind of covenant with the god. The ceremony became the formal rite of royal installation in Babylonia. "To seize the hands of Bel" was equivalent to legitimizing one's claim to the throne of Babylonia, and the chroniclers of the south consistently decline to recognize Assyrian rulers as kings of Babylonia until they have come to Babylon and "seized the hands of Bel."[1548] That this ceremony was annually performed by the kings of Babylonia after the union of the southern states is quite certain. It marked a renewal of the pledge between the king and his god. The Assyrian kings, however, contented themselves with a single visit. Of Tiglathpileser II.[1549] and Sargon,[1550] we know that they came to Babylonia for the purpose of performing the old ceremony; and others did the same.

The eighth and eleventh days of the festival month were invested with special sanctity. On these days all the gods were brought together in the "chamber of fates" of Marduk's temple. In symbolical imitation of the assembly of the gods in Ubshu-kenna,[1551] Marduk sits on his throne and the gods are represented as standing in humble submission before him, while he decrees the fates of mankind for the coming year. The Zagmuku festival in its developed form has striking points of resemblance to the Jewish New Year's Day. On this day, according to the popular Jewish tradition, God sits in judgment with a book before Him in which He inscribes the fate of mankind. Nine days of probation are allowed, and on the tenth day--the Day of Atonement--the fates are sealed. The Jewish New Year is known as Rosh-hash-shana,[1552] which is an exact equivalent of the Babylonian _resh shatti_ (or zag-muku). A difference, however, between the Babylonian and the Jewish festival is that the latter is celebrated in the seventh month. It is not correct, therefore, to assume that the Hebrews borrowed their Rosh-hash-shana from the Babylonians. Even after they adopted the Babylonian calendar,[1553] they continued to regard the seventh month--the harvest month--as the beginning of the year. That among the Babylonians the seventh month also had a sacred character may be concluded from the meaning of the ideographs with which the name is written.[1554] The question may, therefore, be raised whether at an earlier period and in some religious center--Nippur, Sippar, or perhaps Ur--the seventh month may not have been celebrated as the Zagmuku. At all events, we must for the present assume that the Hebrews developed their New Year's Day, which they may have originally received from Babylonia, independently of Marduk's festival, though, since the Rosh-hash-shana does not come into prominence among the Jews until the period of the so-called Babylonian exile, the possibility of a direct Babylonian influence in the _later_ conceptions connected with the day cannot be denied.[1555]

Of the other festivals of the Babylonians and Assyrians but few details are known. Several references have already been made to the Tammuz festival.[1556] Originally a solar festival, celebrated in the fourth month at the approach of the summer solstice, it became through the association of ideas suggested by the mourning of Ishtar for her lost consort Tammuz a kind of 'All Souls' Day,' on which the people remembered their dead. Dirges were sung by the wailing women to the accompaniment of musical instruments; offerings were made to the dead, and it is plausible to assume that visits were paid to the graves. The mourning was followed by a festival of rejoicing, symbolizing the return of the solar-god. The Tammuz festival appears to have had a strong hold upon the masses, by reason of the popularity of the Tammuz myth; nor was it limited to the Babylonians. Among the Phoenicians the cult of Tammuz, known by his title Adon (whence Adonis), was maintained to a late period, and the Hebrews, likewise, as late as the days of Ezekiel,[1557] commemorated with rites of mourning the lost Tammuz. The calendar of the Jewish Church still marks the 17th day of Tammuz as a fast, and Houtsma has shown[1558] that the association of the day with the capture of Jerusalem by the Romans represents merely the attempt to give an ancient festival a worthier interpretation. The day was originally connected with the Tammuz cult. Eerdmans[1559] has recently endeavored to show that the festival of Hosein, celebrated by the Shiitic sect of Mohammedanism in memory of the tragic death of the son of Ali, is in reality a survival of the Babylonian-Phoenician Tammuz festival. The spread of the Tammuz-Adonis myth and cult to the Greeks[1560] is but another indication of the popularity of this ancient Semitic festival.

The old Zagmuku festival in honor of Bau and the Tammuz festival, celebrated in spring and summer, respectively, are also closely associated with agricultural life. The spring as the seedtime is, as we have seen, a natural period for beginning the calculation of the New Year, while a first harvest of the wheat and barley is reaped in Babylonia at the time of the summer solstice. We should expect, therefore, to find a third festival in the fall, at the close of the harvest and just before the winter rains set in. The seventh month--Tishri--was a sacred month among the ancient Hebrews as well as among the Babylonians, but up to the present no distinct traces of a festival period in Tishri have been found in Babylonian texts. We must content ourselves, therefore, with the conjecture, above thrown out, that an Akitu was originally celebrated in this month at some ancient religious center of the Euphrates Valley. Further publications of cuneiform texts may throw light upon this point. The unpublished material in European and American museums harbors many surprises.

In Ashurbanabal's annals[1561] there is an interesting reference to a festival celebrated in honor of the goddess Gula, the goddess of healing,[1562] on the twelfth day of Iyyar, the second month. The festival is described ideographically as Si-gar,[1563] but from the fact that the same ideographs are used elsewhere to describe a day sacred to Sin and Shamash,[1564] it would appear that Si-gar is not a specific appellation, but a general name again for festival. This month Iyyar and this particular day, as a "favorable one," is chosen by Ashurbanabal for his installation as king of Assyria. The same month is selected for a formal pilgrimage to Babylonia for the purpose of restoring to E-Sagila a statue of Marduk that a previous Assyrian king had taken from its place,[1565] and Lehmann is probably correct in concluding[1566] that this month of Iyyar was a particularly sacred one in Assyria, emphasized with intent perhaps by the kings, as an offset against the sacredness of Nisan in Babylonia.

Festivals in honor of Ninib were celebrated in Calah in the months of Elul--the sixth month--and Shabat--the eleventh month.[1567] The sixth month, it will be recalled, is sacred to Ishtar.[1568] Ninib being a solar deity, his festival in Elul was evidently of a solar character. From Ashurbanabal,[1569] again, we learn that the 25th day of Siwan--the third month--was sacred to Belit of Babylon, and on that day a procession took place in her honor. The Belit meant is Sarpanitum in her original and independent role as a goddess of fertility. The statue of the goddess, carried about, presumably in her ship, formed the chief feature of the procession. Ashurbanabal chooses this "favorable" day as the one on which to break up camp in the course of one of his military expeditions. We would naturally expect to find a festival month devoted to the god Ashur in Assyria. This month was Elul--the sixth month.[1570] The choice of this month lends weight to the supposition that Ashur was originally a solar deity.[1571] The honors once paid to Ninib in Calah in this month could thus easily be transferred to the head of the Assyrian pantheon. Although in the calendar the sixth month is sacred to Ishtar, her festival was celebrated in the fifth month, known as Ab.[1572] This lack of correspondence between the calendar and the festivals is an indication of the greater antiquity of the latter.

In the great temple to Shamash at Sippar, there appear to have been several days that were marked by religious observances. Nabubaliddin[1573] (ninth century) emphasizes that he presented rich garments to the temple for use on six days of the year,--the 7th day of Nisan (first month), 10th of Iyyar (second month), 3rd of Elul (sixth month), 7th of Tishri (seventh month), 15th of Arakh-shamna (or Marcheshwan, eighth month), and the 15th of Adar (twelfth month). These garments are given to Shamash, to his consort Malkatu, and to Bunene.[1574] Since from a passage in a Babylonian chronicle[1575] it appears that it was customary for Shamash on his festival to leave his temple, we may conclude that the garments were put on Shamash and his associates, for the solemn procession on the six days in question.

The festivals in Nisan and Elul are distinctly of a solar character. The choice of two other months immediately following Nisan and Elul cannot be accidental. The interval of thirty-three days between the Nisan and Iyyar festivals and thirty-four days between the Elul and Tishri festivals may represent a sacred period.[1576] Tishri, moreover, as has been pointed out, is a sacred month in a peculiar sense. Marcheshwan, it may be well to bear in mind, is sacred to Marduk,--a solar deity,--while the 15th of Adar, curiously enough, is an old solar festival that, modified and connected with historical reminiscences, became popular among the Jews of Persia and Babylonia during the Persian supremacy in the Semitic Orient, and survives to this day under the name of the Purim festival.[1577] At all events, the six days may be safely regarded as connected in some way, direct or indirect, with solar worships, and it is natural to find that in so prominent a center of sun-worship as Sippar, _all_ the solar festivals were properly and solemnly observed.

It is disappointing that up to the present so little has been ascertained of the details of the moon-cult--the great rival to Shamash worship--in the old cities of Ur and Harran. In the Babylonian calendar, the third month--Siwan--is sacred to Sin, but since, as we have found, the festivals in honor of the gods do not always correspond to the assignment of the months, we cannot be certain that in this month a special festival in honor of Sin was observed. Lastly, besides the regular and fixed festivals, the kings, and more especially the Assyrian rulers, did not hesitate to institute special festivals in memory of some event that contributed to their glory. Agumkakrimi[1578] instituted a festival upon restoring the statues of Marduk and Sarpanitum to Babylon, and Sargon does the same upon restoring the palace at Calah.[1579] Dedications of temples and palaces were in general marked by festivities, and so when the kings return in triumph from their wars, laden with spoils and captives, popular rejoicings were instituted. But such festivals were merely sporadic, and, while marked by religious ceremonies, were chiefly occasions of general jollification combined with homage to the rulers. Such a festival was not called an _isinnu_, but a _nigatu_,[1580]--a 'merrymaking.'[1581] More directly connected with the cult was a ceremony observed in Assyria upon the installation of an official, known as the _limmu_, who during his year of service enjoyed the privilege of having official documents dated with his name.[1582] The ceremony involved a running[1583] of some kind, and reminds one of the running between the two hills Marwa and Safa in Mekka that forms part of the religious observances in connection with a visit to the Kaaba.[1584] The name of the ceremony appears to have been puru (or buru). To connect this word with the Jewish festival of Purim, as Sayce proposes,[1585] is wholly unwarranted. The character of the Puru ceremony points to its being an ancient custom, the real significance of which in the course of time became lost. Fast days instituted for periods of distress might also be added to the cult, but these, too, like the special festivals, were not permanent institutions. For such occasions many of the penitential psalms which were discussed in a previous chapter[1586] were composed. To conciliate angered gods whose temples had been devastated in days of turmoil, atonement and purification rites were observed. So Ashurbanabal[1587] upon his conquest of Babylonian cities tells us that he pacified the gods of the south with penitential psalms and purified the temples by magic rites; and Nabubaliddin,[1588] incidental to his restoration of the Shamash cult at Sippar, refers to an interesting ceremony of purification, which consisted in his taking water and washing his mouth according to the purification ritual of Ea and Marduk,[1589] preliminary to bringing sacrifices to Shamash in his shrine. Sippar had been overrun by nomads,[1590] the temple had been defiled, and before sacrifices could again be offered, the sacred edifice and sacred quarter had to be purified. The king's action was a symbol of this purification. Many such customs must have been in vogue in Babylonia and Assyria. Some--and these were the oldest--were of popular origin. On the seal cylinders there is frequently represented a pole or a conventionalized form of a tree, generally in connection with a design illustrating the worship of a deity.[1591] This symbol is clearly a survival of some tree worship[1592] that was once popular. The comparison with the _ashera_ or pole worship among Phoenicians and Hebrews[1593] is fully justified, and is a proof of the great antiquity of the symbol, which, without becoming a formal part of the later cult, retained in some measure a hold upon the popular mind. Other symbols and customs were introduced under the influence of the doctrines unfolded in the schools of thought in the various intellectual centers, and as an expression of the teachings of the priests. The cult of Babylonia, even more so than the literature, is a compound of these two factors,--popular beliefs and the theological elaboration and systematization of these beliefs. In the course of this elaboration, many new ideas and new rites were introduced. The official cult passed in some important particulars far beyond popular practices.

FOOTNOTES:

[1311] _Vorgeschichte der Indo-Europaer_, pp. 126-141.

[1312] Gen. xi. 4.

[1313] _E.g._, Tiglathpileser I., col. vii. ll. 102, 103; Meissner, _Altbabylonisches Privatrecht_, no. 46; Nebopolassar Cylinder (Hilprecht, _Old Babylonian Inscriptions_, i. 1, pls. 32, 33), col. i. l. 38. Or 'as high as mountains'; _e.g._, Nebuchadnezzar II., IR. 58, col. viii. ll. 61-63; and so frequently the Neo-Babylonian kings.

[1314] _Kosmologie_, pp. 185-195.

[1315] Or _Kharsag-gal-kurkura_; see p. 558.

[1316] See p. 458.

[1317] _Ekurrati_; Delitzsch, _Assyr. Handwoerterbuch_, p. 718b.

[1318] IR. 35, no. 3, 22.

[1319] See below.

[1320] Hebrew _Bamoth_. Through the opposition of the Hebrew prophets, the term acquires distasteful associations that were originally foreign to it.

[1321] See Peters' _Nippur_, ii. 124 _seq._

[1322] IIR. 50, obverse.

[1323] Perhaps, however, these several names all designate a single zikkurat.

[1324] Peters' _Nippur_, i. 246; ii. 120.

[1325] For the meaning of this phrase, see Winckler's _Altorientalische Forschungen_, iii. 208-222, and Jensen's _Kosmologie_, p. 167.

[1326] From Heuzey's note in De Sarzec, _Decourveries en Chaldee_, p. 31, it would appear that at Lagash there was a zikkurat of modest proportions, but Dr. Peters informs me that from his observations at Telloh, he questions whether the building in question represents a zikkurat at all, though, as we know from other sources, a zikkurat existed there in the days of Gudea.

[1327] _Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society_, xviii.

[1328] Of Sargon's zikkurat at Khorsabad, also, only four stories have been found. Perrot and Chiplez (_History of Art in Chaldaea and Assyria_, i. 388) suppose that there may have been seven.

[1329] _E.g._ Perrot and Chiplez, _ib._ p. 128. Hommel, _Geschichte Babyloniens und Assyriens_, p. 19.

[1330] Peters (_Nippur_, i. 214) found many yellow-colored bricks at Borsippa.

[1331] Book I, Sec. 98.

[1332] See a paper by E. W. Hopkins on _The Holy Numbers of the Rig-Veda_ (Oriental Studies, Boston, 1894, pp. 141-147).

[1333] Written ideographically, as the names of the zikkurats and of all sacred edifices invariably are.

[1334] See above, p. 459.

[1335] Inscription G, col. i. l. 14; D, col. ii. l. 11.

[1336] IIR. 50; obverse 20. See p. 472.

[1337] _Kosmologie_, pp. 171-174.

[1338] The suggestion is worthy of consideration whether the name 'seven directions of heaven and earth' may not also point to a conception of seven zones dividing the _heavens_ as well as the earth. One is reminded of the 'seven' heavens of Arabic theology.

[1339] So _e.g._, Kaulen, _Assyrien und Babylonien_ (3d edition), p. 58; Vigouroux, _La Bible et les Decouvertes Modernes_ (4th edition), i. 358.

[1340] Lit., 'house to be seen,' _Igi-e-nir_. See, _e.g._, VR. 29, no. 4, 40, and Delitzsch, _Assyr. Handwoerterbuch_, p. 262.

[1341] So at Babylon, at least, according to Herodotus. Traces of such a room were also found in connection with the zikkurat at Nippur (Peters, _Nippur_, ii. 122.)

[1342] _Bit pirishti_. IIR. 50, obverse, 6. Another name (or perhaps the name of a second zikkurat at Nippur; see p. 616, note 2) is _Im-kharsag_, _i.e._, 'mountain of awe.' Peters' rendering (_Nippur_, ii. 122) of the names is inaccurate.

[1343] Peters' _Nippur_, ii. chapter vi.

[1344] Schick, _Die Stiftschuette, der Tempel, und der Tempelplatz der Jetztzeit_, pp. 8, 9.

[1345] Snouck-Hurgronje _Mekka_ (Atlas, pl. 1). The present structure, though comparatively modern, is built after ancient models.

[1346] Schick, _ib._ pp. 125-131.

[1347] _Die Stiftshuette, der Tempel, und der Tempelplatz der Jeiztzeit_, p. 82.

[1348] On the significance of the gate in sacred edifices, see Trumbull, _The Threshold Covenant_, pp. 102-108.

[1349] Dr. Peters is of the opinion that at the entrance to the temple area proper at Nippur there also stood two large columns.

[1350] _Decouvertes en Chaldee_, pp. 62-64. Heuzey, in a valuable note, already suggests the comparison with the two columns of Solomon's which is here maintained on the basis of the excavations at Nippur.

[1351] _Ib._ p. 64.

[1352] The best example for Assyria is furnished by the magnificent bronze gates of Balawat, now in The British Museum. See Birch and Pinches, _The Bronze Ornaments of the Palace Gates of Balawat_ (London, 1881).

[1353] See the illustrations in Perrot and Chiplez, _History of Art in Chaldea and Assyria_, i. 142, 143.

[1354] So Puchstein and Friedrich, but see Meissner-Rost, _Noch einmal das Bithillani und die Assyrische Saeule_ (Leipzig, 1893).

[1355] _Discoveries among the Ruins of Nineveh and Babylon_, plan 2.

[1356] Papakhu for Pakhpakhu, from the stem _pakhu_, "to close." Parakku, from Paraku, "to shut off, to lock."

[1357] Inscription D, col. ii. l. 9.

[1358] V. Rawlinson, pl. 60.

[1359] Book i. sec. 183.

[1360] See the chief passage, IR. 54, col. ii, ll. 54-65; another name is E-Kua, 'dwelling.'

[1361] See p. 423.

[1362] VR. 50, col. i. l. 5.

[1363] VR. 41, No. 1, Rev. 18.

[1364] IVR. 57, 24a. Jensen's suggestion (_Kosmologie_, p. 242) to read Mar-duku is out of the question.

[1365] What Jensen says (_Kosmologie_, p. 10) of the temple at Sippar would apply to the papakhu in the temple, rather than to the whole structure.

[1366] De Sarzec, _Decouvertes en Chaldee_, pls. 24, 25 _bis_, etc.

[1367] See p. 537.

[1368] De Sarzec, _Decouvertes en Chaldee_, pls. 4, 4 _bis_ and 43 _bis_. On the latter, bulls, lions, and eagle in combination.

[1369] See p. 653.

[1370] See the plan in Schick, _Die Stiftshuette_, pl. 5. Layard (_Discoveries among the Ruins of Nineveh and Babylon_, pp. 642-648) points out some analogies between the constructions at Nimrod and Solomon's buildings, but what he says applies chiefly to the palaces.

[1371] Herodotus, book i. sec. 183, speaks of two altars outside of the temple of Marduk in Babylon. In the case of so important a structure, the number of altars was naturally more numerous.

[1372] See Heuzey's note in De Sarzec's _Decouvertes en Chaldee_, p. 65.

[1373] See pp. 109 _seq._

[1374] See p. 106.

[1375] _Recueil des Travaux_, etc., xvii. 39.

[1376] See pp. 140 _seq._

[1377] The date of this king has recently been pushed down by Thureau-Dangin, considerably later than the date assigned to him by Hilprecht (_Revue Semitique_, v. 265-269).

[1378] See p. 110.

[1379] Nebuchadnezzar, IR. 65, col. i. ll. 34, 35.

[1380] This is to be concluded from Nebuchadnezzar, ib. l. 32.

[1381] See Tiele's note, _Zeitschrift fuer Assyriologie_, ii. 184, note.

[1382] IR. 55, col. iv. ll. 54-57.

[1383] See Tiele, _Zeitschrift fuer Assyriologie_, ii. 190.

[1384] III Rawlinson, pl. 66. The list also contains objects in the temples used for the cult.

[1385] IIIR. 66. obverse, col. ii. ll. 2-25.

[1386] See p. 207.

[1387] The sign for image occurs in connection with some of the gods.

[1388] The term can hardly be used here in the strict sense of 'towers,' but appears to have become a general word for a sacred structure.

[1389] _Ib._ col. iii. ll. 22-34.

[1390] Meissner-Rost, _Bauinschriften Sanherib's_, p. 7.

[1391] See, _e.g._, the list IIIR. 66. An exception is formed by the temple to Ramman in the city of Asshur, which has a special name. See the following note.

[1392] Including the one to Ramman in Asshur.

[1393] IR. 2. nos. 11, 2.

[1394] IIR, 50, obverse 13.

[1395] Lge-e-nir = zikkurat; Kidur = shubtu (dwelling); Makh = rabu (great).

[1396] The name approaches closely to the conception of a zikkurat in the Book of Genesis, as a 'ladder' connecting heaven and earth. Gen. xxviii. 12.

[1397] See above, p. 619.

[1398] The ideas 'true, fixed, established, eternal' are all expressed by the element _Zida_.

[1399] I adopt this reading as the one generally used.

[1400] See above, p. 242.

[1401] Or _tush_. Cf. Bruennow, Sign List, no. 10523.

[1402] Or _ab_. See Jensen, _Keils Bibl._ 3, i. pp. 15, 173.

[1403] See above, p. 57.

[1404] Compare the name 'Belit-seri,' 'mistress of the fields,' as the name of a goddess who belongs to the pantheon of the lower world. See p. 588.

[1405] IIR. 61, nos. 1, 2, 6.

[1406] Text, _Kar_, _i.e._, 'dam,' 'wall,' or 'quay.'

[1407] IIR. 50, l. 8.

[1408] Bezold Catalogue, etc., p. 1776.

[1409] One is reminded of Isaiah's sentiment (lvi. 7) regarding the temple of Yahwe, which is to be called 'a house of prayer for the world.'

[1410] Lit., 'enclosure.'

[1411] The synagogue is called a 'house' just as the Babylonian temple is, and among names of synagogues (or of congregations) in modern times that form close parallels to the names of Babylonian temples may be instanced 'house of prayer,' 'glory of Israel,' 'tree of life.' The custom of naming Christian churches after the apostles represents a further development along the order of ideas current in Babylonia.

[1412] _E.g._, IIR. 50 (zikkurats); IIR. 61; IIIR. 66.

[1413] See Bezold Catalogue, etc., p. 1776 and elsewhere.

[1414] _E.g._, IIR. 54-60; IIIR. 67-69; VR. 43, 46.

[1415] IIR. 60, no. 1, obverse.

[1416] See p. 172. Some of the gods invoked by Sennacherib (see p. 238), as Gaga, Sherua, and perhaps also Khani, are foreign deities.

[1417] Assyrian and Babylonian Religious Texts, i. 56-59.

[1418] As Lagamal, Kanishurra.

[1419] See Peters' _Nippur_, ii. chapter x, "The History of Nippur."

[1420] _Ib._ ll. 260. (Published in Hilprecht's _Old Babylonian Inscriptions_, I. 1. pl. 21, no. 43. See also pl. 8, no. 15.)

[1421] VR. 63.

[1422] VR. pls. 60, 61.

[1423] So, _e.g._, as late as the days of Nebopolassar (Scheil, _Recueil des Travaux_, xviii. 16).

[1424] Besides this temple, there were two others, perhaps only chapels, dedicated to Sin at Ur: (_a_) E-te-im-ila (mentioned first by Ur-Bau, IR. pl. 1, no. 4), and (_b_) E-Kharsag (mentioned first by Dungi, IR. 2, II. no. 2). The zikkurat at Ur had, of course, a special name (IIR. 50, obverse 18).

[1425] See Noeldeke, _Zeitschrift fuer Assyriologie_, xi. 107-109. Hilprecht's theory (_Old Babylonian Inscriptions_, i. 2, 55) has not been accepted by scholars.

[1426] VR. 64, col. i. 3-9; col. ii. 46.

[1427] See p. 444.

[1428] See p. 81.

[1429] See pp. 126 _seq._

[1430] See p. 129.

[1431] So Antiochus Soter, VR. 66, col. i. l. 3.

[1432] For a further account of the financial side of the temple establishments, see Peiser's excellent remarks in his _Babylonische Vertraege des Berliner Museums_, pp. xvii-xxix.

[1433] Hilprecht, _Old Babylonian Inscriptions_, i. 2, p. 24.

[1434] Nine magnificent diorite statues of Gudea were found by De Sarzec at Telloh.

[1435] Ashes--the trace of sacrifices--were also found on the altar.

[1436] See the illustrations in Perrot and Chiplez, _History of Art in Chaldea_, etc., i. 143, 255. Similar horns existed on the Hebrew and Ph[oe]nician altars.

[1437] See the illustrations in Perrot and Chiplez, _ib._, i. 194, 256, 257. On seal cylinders altar titles are frequently represented.

[1438] Book i. sec. 183.

[1439] See Schick, _Die Stiftshuette_, etc., pp. 119 _seq._

[1440] _Keils Bibl._ 3, 1, p. 13; see also p. 89.

[1441] Inscription G, col 1. ll. 15-17. See p. 621.

[1442] Described in De Sarzec's _Decouvertes en Chaldee_, pp. 216, 217. For other specimens, see _ib._ pp. 106, 171; and see also Hilprecht, _Old Babylonian Inscriptions_, i. 2. p. 39, note.

[1443] Inscription D, col. iii, 1-12.

[1444] See Winckler's note, _Keils Bibl._ 3, 2, p. 16.

[1445] IR. 54, col. iii. l. 10.

[1446] _Ib._ 55, col. iv. l. 1, 2.

[1447] IIR. 61. no. 2, obverse.

[1448] See Perrot and Chiplez, _History of Art in Chaldea and Assyria_, i. 75, 76.

[1449] See the illustration in Snouck-Hurgronje _Mekka_, pl. V.

[1450] _I.e._, of the god, E-Kua being the name of the sacred chamber in Marduk's temple at Babylon. See p. 629, note 1.

[1451] See p. 60.

[1452] See p. 282.

[1453] The largest canal in Babylonia.

[1454] _E.g._, _ishakku_.

[1455] _Sha_ and _naku_, _i.e._, 'the one over the sacrifice.' _Zeitschrift fuer Assyriologie_, vii., 174, note.

[1456] That these terms represent classes of priests is indicated by the fact that the abstract derivatives shangutu, kalutu, ishipputu, and also ramkutu (see below) are used as general terms for priesthood.

[1457] IIR. 32, no. 3.

[1458] 'A spear carrier of Marduk' occurs in contract tablets.

[1459] _Dupsharru_.

[1460] _Daianu_.

[1461] _E.g._, IIIR. 48, no. 6, ll. 26, 27.

[1462] _Shangu_ = priest; _makhu_ = great.

[1463] See above, p. 657.

[1464] Delitzsch, _Assyr. Handwoerterbuch_, p. 149b.

[1465] See pp. 356 _seq._

[1466] On these night watches, see Delitzsch's article in the _Zeitschrift fuer Keilschriftforschung_, ll. 284-294.

[1467] See above, pp. 267, 343.

[1468] _Kharimtu_, _Kisritu_, _Ukhatu_, _Shamuktu_. See IIR, 32, no. 2, ll. 31-36, and above, pp. 475, 484.

[1469] See his article on "Sacrifice" in the 9th edition of the _Encyclopaedia Britannica_ and his _Religion of the Semites_, Lectures VI-XI.

[1470] So in the regulations of the priestly code (Lev. iii. 14-17).

[1471] Inscription G, cols, iii-vi.

[1472] Hardly 'roosters,' as Jensen (_Kosmologie_, p. 517) proposes.

[1473] See, _e.g._, Gudea, Inscription F, cols. iii, iv.

[1474] See on this general subject Marillier's admirable articles, "La Place du Totemisme dans l'evolution religieuse" (_Revue de l'Histoire des Religions_, xxxvi).

[1475] See pp. 397, 398.

[1476] See Peters' _Nippur_, ll. 131, and Hilprecht, _Cuneiform Texts_, ix. pl. xiii.

[1477] See Ward, "On Some Babylonian Cylinders supposed to represent Human Sacrifices" (_Proc. Amer. Oriental Soc._ May, 1888, pp. xxvlii-xxx).

[1478] See, _e.g._, Layard, _Monuments of Nineveh_, 1st series, pls. 7, 23; Place, _Nineve et l'Assyrie_, pl. 46, etc.

[1479] "The Winged Figures of the Assyrian and Other Ancient Monuments," _Proc. Soc. Bibl. Arch._ xii. 383-393; see also Bonavia, "The Sacred Trees of the Assyrian Monuments," _Babylonian and Oriental Record_, vols. iii, iv, whose conclusions, however, are not always acceptable.

[1480] See chapter xix, "Oracles and Omens."

[1481] See pp. 295-299.

[1482] See, _e.g._, Sennacherib, IR. 47, col. v. ll. 50-54; Ashurbanabal, Rassam Cylinder, col. ii. l. 116, and col. iv. l. 9.

[1483] IIR. 67, 11, 12.

[1484] Cylinder, l. 4.

[1485] Winckler, _Die Keilschrifttexte Sargon's Prunkinschrift_, ll. 134, 135.

[1486] Hilprecht, _Old Babylonian Inscriptions_, i. 1, pl. 33, col. ii. ll. 54-56.

[1487] VR. 65, col. ii. l. 13.

[1488] See, _e.g._, Tiglathpileser I., IR. 16, col. viii. ll. 56, 57; Sennacherib, IR. 47, col. vi. l. 67-71.

[1489] VR. 64, col. ii. ll. 43-45.

[1490] Gen. xxviii. 18.

[1491] _Religion of the Semites_, p. 364.

[1492] See Robertson Smith, ib. p. 215.

[1493] VR. 61, col. iv. ll. 33, 34.

[1494] IR. 7, no. ix.

[1495] Heuzey in De Sarzec's _Decouvertes en Chaldee_, p. 209.

[1496] Several examples occur in De Sarzec's _Decouvertes en Chaldee_. See also Ward, _Proc. Amer. Oriental Soc._, May, 1888, p. xxix, and Peters' _Nippur_, ii. pl. 2.

[1497] Wellhausen, _Reste Arabischen Heidenthums_, p. 106.

[1498] Grotefend Cylinder, col. li. ll. 36-39.

[1499] They are also used in the sense of any permanent provision for a temple through an endowment.

[1500] Lit., 'the steady' sacrifice. See the technical employment, Dan. viii. 11.

[1501] VR. 61, col. iv. l. 48-col v. l. 6; see also Ashurbanabal, Rassam Cylinder, col. iv. l. 90.

[1502] Belit here used for Ashur's consort; see p. 226.

[1503] See p. 652.

[1504] Inscription B, cols. vii-viii.

[1505] Chapter iii. 1-7.

[1506] This touch appears to have been added by the Hebrew writer. Nebuchadnezzar is but a disguise for Antiochus Epiphanes.

[1507] VR. 33, col. ii. l. 22-col. iii. l. 12.

[1508] VR. 61, col. vi. ll. 1-13.

[1509] Hilprecht, _Old Babylonian Inscriptions_, i. 1, pl. 23, no. 62.

[1510] In the museum at Copenhagen. Described by Knudtzon in the _Zeits. f. Assyr._, xil. 255.

[1511] Tiele, _Babylonisch-Assyrische Geschichte_, p. 287.

[1512] In the Berlin Museum (Knudtzon, _ib._). It is also on a knob which contains remains of an iron stick, to which, evidently, the knob was fastened.

[1513] Written A-e.

[1514] Hilprecht, _Old Babylonian Inscriptions_, i. 1, p. 58.

[1515] In reality, glass colored with cobalt. On this production of false lapis lazuli, see Peters' _Nippur_, ii. 134.

[1516] For examples, see Hilprecht, _ib._, pl. 18, no. 34; pl. 23, nos. 56, 57; pl. 25, nos. 66, 69; pl. 26, no. 70.

[1517] Peters' _Nippur_, ii. 77, 133.

[1518] So, _e.g._, Peters' _Nippur_, ii. 237, 238, 378, 379.

[1519] De Sarzec, _Decouvertes en Chaldee_, pls. 1 bis and 28.

[1520] The opinion has been advanced that the personage who holds the cone-shaped object is the fire-god turning the fire drill, but this is highly improbable.

[1521] _Decouvertes en Chaldee_, p. 239.

[1522] Peters' _Nippur_ ii. 376, and Hilprecht, _Cuneiform Texts_, ix. pl. 12.

[1523] Peters _ib._ pp. 374, 375.

[1524] See p. 536.

[1525] _E.g._, Gen. xxxi. 19.

[1526] See the specimens and descriptions in _Decouvertes en Chaldee_, pl. 44 and p. 234.

[1527] Tiglathpileser I. (IR. 12, col. iv. l. 23) presents twenty-five gods of the land of Sugi.

[1528] Ashurnasirbal, IR. 25, col. iii. ll. 91, 92.

[1529] Winckler, _Die Keilschrifttexte Sargon's Prunkinschrift_, ll. 141-143.

[1530] IR. 27, 8-10.

[1531] VR. 60, col. ii. ll. 11-16.

[1532] See pp. 373-383.

[1533] See above, p. 658.

[1534] This is a standing phrase in the inscriptions of Nebuchadnezzar, as well as of other kings. See Delitzsch, _Assyr. Handwoerterbuch_, p. 270b.

[1535] Deut. xii. 18; xvi. 14, etc.

[1536] See pp. 462, 463.

[1537] See _ib._

[1538] Or zag-mu. Gudea, Inscription G, col. iii. In the later inscriptions we find zag-mu-ku. The _k_ or _ku_ appears to be an afformative. See Amlaud, _Zeits. f. Assyr._ iii. 41. The reading za-am-mu-ku is found, IR. 67, col. i. l. 34.

[1539] _resh shatti_. See p. 681.

[1540] Inscription G, _ib._, and Inscription D, col. ii. ll. 1-9. See also p. 59.

[1541] See above, _ib._

[1542] See, _e.g._, Pognon Wadi Brissa, col. ix. ll. 12-18.

[1543] This follows from a passage in Nebuchadnezzar's Inscription, IR. 54, col. ii. l. 57.

[1544] See p. 654.

[1545] Signifying 'may the enemy not wax strong.'

[1546] See Nebuchadnezzar's Inscription, IR. 56, col v. ll. 38-54.

[1547] So, _e.g._ during the closing years of Nabonnedos' reign. Winckler, _Untersuchungen zur Altorient. Gesch._ i. 154; obv. 6 (7th year); 11 (9th year); 20 (10th year); 24 (11th year).

[1548] On the meaning and importance of the rite, see Winckler, _Zeits. f. Assyr._ ii. 302-304, and Lehmann's _Shamash-shumukin_, pp. 44-53.

[1549] Eponym List, IIR. 52, no. 1 obv. 45.

[1550] Winckler, _Die Keilschrifttexte Sargon's_, pp. 52, 124; of Ashurbanabal, the chronicler tells us that he proceeded to Babylonia in the month of Iyyar, but, this not being the proper month, he did not "seize the hands of Bel." See also Winckler, _ib._ p. xxxvi, note.

[1551] See pp. 423 and 629 _seq._

[1552] _I.e._, 'The beginning of the year.' See on this subject Karppe's article, _Revue Semitique_, ii. 146-151.

[1553] See p. 464.

[1554] See _ib._, note 3.

[1555] The opinion of many scholars that the Rosh hash-shana dates from the Babylonian exile because not referred to in the Book of Deuteronomy is open to serious objections. The festival has traces of antiquity (like the Day of Atonement), and appears to have been _revived_ during the captivity, under Babylonian influence.

[1556] See especially pp. 484 and 575.

[1557] Ezekiel, viii. 14. There is probably a reference also to the Tammuz festival in Zech, xii. 10, 11. The interpretation offered by Robertson Smith (_Religion of the Semites_, p. 392, note) for the mourning rites appears strained.

[1558] _Over de Israelietische Vastendagen_ (Amsterdam, 1897, pp. 4-6; 12-17).

[1559] _Zeits. f. Assyr._ ix. 290 _seq._

[1560] See Farnell, _The Cults of the Greek States_, ii. 648 _seq._

[1561] Rassam Cylinder, col. i. ll. 11, 12.

[1562] See pp. 105 and 173 _seq._

[1563] The readings Suni-gar and Shum-gar (so Jensen, _Keils Bibl._ ii. 155) are also possible.

[1564] IVR. 32, 49b, where the 20th day of the intercalated Elul is so designated. An official--'the great Si-gar'--is mentioned in a list,--IIR. 31, no. 5, 33a.

[1565] See the discussion (and passages) in Lehmann's _Shamash-shumukin_, pp. 43 _seq._ One is tempted to conclude that Marduk's statue was removed to Nineveh, not in a spirit of vandalism, but in order to enable Assyrian kings to 'seize the hands of Bel' without proceeding to E-Sagila. The Babylonians, no doubt, were offended by such an act, and in order to conciliate them, Ashurbanabal, who pursues a mild policy towards the south, orders the statue to be restored at the time that he appoints his brother Shamash-shumukin as governor of the southern provinces.

[1566] _Ib._ p. 53, note.

[1567] Ashurnasirbal's Inscription, IR. 23, col. ii. l. 134.

[1568] See above, p. 462.

[1569] Rassam Cylinder, col. viii. ll. 96-100.

[1570] George Smith, _The History of Ashurbanipal_, p. 126 (Cylinder B, col. v. l. 77). See also Rassam Cylinder, col. iii. l. 32.

[1571] See above, pp. 195, 196.

[1572] See Ashurbanabal Cylinder B, col. v. l. 16 (_Keils Bibl._ ii. 248; also Meissner, _Beitraege zum Altbabylonischen Privatrecht_, no. 14, p. 23).

[1573] VR. 61. col. v. l. 51-vi. l. 8.

[1574] See above, pp. 74 and 176.

[1575] Winckler, _Zeits. f. Assyr._ ii. 155 (col. ii. l. 41).

[1576] One is reminded of the sanctity attaching in the Jewish ritual to the "counting" of the seven weeks intervening between Passover (the old Nisan festival) and Pentecost (an old summer festival). See Deut. xvi. 9. The 33d day of this period has a special significance in the Jewish Church.

[1577] The non-Jewish origin of the Purim festival is generally accepted by critical scholars. Lagarde (_Purim--Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der Religions_) endeavors to trace it back to a Persian fire festival; Zimmern (_Zeits. f. Alt. Wiss._, 1891, pp. 160 _seq._) connects it with the Babylonian Zagmuku. Sayce's supposition (_Proc. Soc. Bibl. Arch._ xix. 280, 281) is not to be taken seriously. The origin of the Jewish feast and fast of Purim is still obscure. The fact that there is both a fast (14th Adar) and a festival (15th Adar) is a safe indication of antiquity. Zimmern's view of a possible relationship between Purim and Zagmuku is untenable, but that there is a connection between Purim and _some_ Babylonian festival follows from the fact that the two chief personages in the Book of Esther--namely, Mordecai and Esther--bear names identical with the two Babylonian deities, Marduk and Ishtar. This cannot be an accident. On the other hand, Haman and Vashti, according to Jensen (_Wiener Zeits. f.d. Kunde des Morgenlandes_, vi. 70), are Elamitic names of deities corresponding to the Babylonian Marduk and Ishtar. The case for Vashti is not clearly made out by Jensen, but, for all that, it is certain that the Babylonian elements in the institution have been combined with some bits of Persian mythology. The historical setting is the work of the Jewish compiler of the tale, that has of course some historical basis. See now Toy, _Esther as a Babylonian Goddess_ (_The New World_, vi. 130-145).

[1578] VR. 33, col. v. l. 40.

[1579] Winckler, _Die Keilschrifttexte Sargon's_, p. 172 and p. xxvi, note.

[1580] _E.g._, Sargon's _Annals_, l. 179; Cylinder, l. 20, VR. 33, col. v. l. 40 (_nigatu_).

[1581] Not necessarily 'music festival,' as Delitzsch proposes (_Assyr. Handw._, p. 447a).

[1582] For examples, see the Assyrian contract tablets translated by Peiser, _Keils Bibl._ iv. 98 and _passim._

[1583] See the passage Shalmanaser obelisk, ll. 174, 175, and Peiser's comment, _Keils Bibl._ iv. 106, note.

[1584] Burton, _A Pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina_, iii. chapter vii.

[1585] See above, p. 686.

[1586] Chapter xviii.

[1587] Rassam Cylinder, col. iv. ll. 86-89.

[1588] VR. 61, col. ii. ll. 22-27.

[1589] Ea and Marduk, it will be recalled, are the chief gods invoked in magic rites involving purification. See pp. 275, 276.

[1590] See p. 646.

[1591] See numerous examples in Menant's _Collection de Clercq_ (Paris, 1888).

[1592] See above, p. 662.

[1593] Stade, _Geschichte des Volkes Israel_, i. 458 seq.