The civilization of Babylonia and Assyria

Its remains, language, history, religion, commerce, law, art, and literature

by Morris Jastrow | 1915 | 168,585 words

This work attempts to present a study of the unprecedented civilizations that flourished in the Tigris-Euphrates Valley many thousands of years ago. Spreading northward into present-day Turkey and Iran, the land known by the Greeks as Mesopotamia flourished until just before the Christian era....

Ea stands in a particularly close relation to the god who with the rise of the city of Babylon as the political centre becomes the head of the pantheon Marduk. The latter is invariably designated as the son of Ea, and since Marduk 's sanctuary at Babylon bears the same name, E-sagila ("the lofty house"), as that of Ea at Eridu, we are perhaps justified in concluding that the settlement of Babylon itself is an offshoot of Eridu. Marduk is originally a solar deity like Anu, Ninib, Shamash and Nergal. As such he may very well have been worshipped at Eridu by the side of Ea until his cult was transferred to Babylon.

But however we are to explain the association of Ea with Marduk, the relationship of father and son points to a dependence of the latter upon the former, and a dependence of so decided a character that, although Marduk comes to be the lord over gods and mankind, he never ceases to acknowledge Ea's priority, even though in the religious literature the honor of Marduk is protected by representing Ea as rejoicing in the supreme position attained by his well-beloved son. So in the incantation texts, when the appeal is made to Marduk to release the sufferer from the grasp of the demons, Marduk, the dutiful son, goes to his father, Ea, and asks what can be done for the sufferer. Ea invariably replies,

"My son, what dost thou not know that I could tell thee? What I know, thou also knowest." [1]

In this manner, the way is paved for the application of the Eridu ritual, but through Marduk Ea's authorship is acknowledged, and at the same time Marduk 's equality with his father is indicated. Marduk owes his position in the pantheon to the union of the Euphratean states definitely brought about by Hammurapi (c. 2120 B.C.), as a consequence of which Babylon becomes the political capital of the kingdom, setting aside for all times the prerogatives formerly enjoyed by Nippur, Uruk, Eridu, Lagash, Kish,, Sippar, Ur or any of the other centres of the Euphrates Valley. Even Enlil must yield some of his prestige to Marduk.

Naturally, Enlil retains his position as the second member of the triad, but Enlil transfers of his own accord the headship of the pantheon to Marduk. He is represented as doing this at the close of a tale in which Marduk 's triumph over a monster, Tiamat, symbolizing the primeval chaos, is described in detail. [2]

All the gods assemble to celebrate Marduk's great deed. They bestow fifty glorious names upon him, the names symbolizing the attributes of Marduk, on whom, as the head of the pantheon, the qualities of all the gods and goddesses grouped around him as the courtiers gather around the royal throne are thus heaped. Enlil steps forward and bestows his name as "lord" upon Marduk. The bestowal of the name, according to the prevalent view in antiquity, carries with it the power and position of the one bearing it. The god Ea follows Enlil 's example, and thus without a conflict the rule passes to Marduk.

The ritual of Nippur is carried over to a large extent to Babylon, with additions so as to adapt it to the cult of Marduk. Instead of the "word" of Enlil, that of Marduk is celebrated. The "lord of lands" is no longer Enlil but Marduk who becomes the beluor Baal par excellence to such a degree that Bel becomes a common designation of a god, passing beyond the confines of Babylonia to other countries. "There is no god like Marduk" is the burden of the many hymns in honor of the god that have fortunately been preserved for us. So we read in a text found at Sippar, [3]

"Mighty lord of gods, strong Marduk,
Counsellor, beloved of Ea, of all pervading command,
Before his mighty command the great Igigi [4] bow;
(In thy?) holy chamber the Anunnaki bow before thee;
Lord of all below, merciful one, producer of fertility,
Guardian of sacrifices for the gods, founder of cities,
Guide of the sources, opener of fountains,
Lord of lands, king of heaven and earth, granting prosperity,
God without whom in the depth the fate of mankind is not determined.
Thou lookest on the habitations of the wicked and destroyest their power.
What god in heaven or earth is like to thee?
Supreme art thou over all gods;
Among the gods, thy counsel prevails; Thou art superior to Ea, the father who produced thee."

The hymn may well have been originally a composition in honor of Ea, composed for his cult at Eridu and then recast so as to adapt it to Marduk, with the express purpose of emphasizing the transfer of Ea's attributes to the head of the pantheon, who, although the son of Ea, becomes, as the hymn declares, superior to his father.

It is interesting to compare this hymn with one [5] in which in a similar manner descriptions belonging to Enlil as the storm-god and whose "word" is heard in the roar of the thunder are transferred to Marduk.

"Who can escape thy gaze?
Thy word is a great net stretching over heaven and earth ;
It encloses the sea, and the sea is stirred up,
It encloses the marsh, and the marsh groans,
It encloses the billows of the Euphrates.
The word of Marduk troubles the river bed( ?).
Lord, thou art supreme, who is like unto thee?
Marduk, among all the great gods thou art supreme."

The net is a metaphor for the storm which sweeps along in fury. The description fits a storm-god but is hardly appropriate for a solar deity, such as Marduk is. In the descriptions of EnliFs "word" of which a specimen has been given above, [6] the same picture of a great, all encompassing net is introduced. There is no reason to question that the hymn in question also represents such a modification of an old composition in honor of Enlil, intentionally made to emphasize that Marduk has usurped the place of the older head of the pantheon.

In a large proportion of the hymns to Marduk that have been preserved, these two aspects of the god his functions derived from Ea and those transferred from Enlil are prominently dwelled upon and indeed to such an extent as to overshadow his original role as a solar deity. Anu is also associated with Enlil and Ea, in according to Marduk supremacy over the gods so that all three figures of the triad combine in doing homage to him. A particularly impressive hymn to Marduk [7] begins as follows :

"I pay homage to thy name, Marduk, the strong one of the gods, the ruler of heaven and earth,
Glorious being, who alone is supreme,
Thou possessest the power of Anu, the power of Enlil, the power of Ea rulership and majesty,
Thou art in control of all wisdom, perfect in strength,
Circumspect counsellor, lofty ruler, powerful and mighty,
Whose rule Anu praised as a preparation for the conflict. [8]
In heaven thou art supreme, on earth thou rulest, wise counsellor (of the gods),
Founder of all settlements, who holds the ends of the starry heavens in his grasp."

The hymn ends in a direct appeal to the god for divine grace and long life.

"I implore thee, mighty, powerful lord, may thy enangered heart be appeased, thy stirred up liver be quieted, [9]
Have mercy, let me live in fear of thee, ruler of the gods, supreme Marduk,
The splendor of Sarpanit, thy great consort, wife of En-bilulu, [10] daughter-in-law of Ea.
I will glorify, the son of Mummu [11] will I humbly glorify forever."

The humble petitioner who has felt the anger of his god is no doubt, as in most of the hymns, the king himself. Some misfortune has come over the land or over the royal house, and in a penitent spirit the king seeks out the divine throne for forgiveness. This attitude of the king, setting the example for the people, is further illustrated by the prayers to Marduk which we find in considerable number attached to royal inscriptions, particularly those of the neo-Babylonian dynasty.

In eloquent and impassioned terms the great Nebuchadnezzar, the son of Nebopolassar, addresses his god upon ascending the throne of his father. [12]

"0, eternal ruler, lord of the universe, grant that the name of the king whom thou lovest, whose name thou hast proclaimed, nourish as may be pleasing to thee. Lead him in the right path. I am the prince who is subservient to thee, the creature of thy hand. Thou hast created me and thou hast entrusted the rule of mankind to me. According to thy mercy, O lord, which thou bestowest upon all, may thy supreme rulership be merciful. The fear of thy divinity implant in my heart. Grant me what may seem good to thee, for thou art the one who has granted me life."

Such prayers, [13] beautiful and simple in diction and filled with a deep religious fervor, show us the religion of Babylonia at its best. The spirit of humility and reverence does not fall short of the attitude towards iFahweh in the Psalms, and the conception of Marduk rises to a height of spiritual aspiration which comes to us as a surprise in a religion that remained steeped in polytheism and that was associated with practices and rites of a much lower order of thought.

Marduk, as the supreme god, naturally assumes the role of creator of the universe, and the creation marking the beginning of the calculation of time, Marduk 's festival is coincident with the new year. This festival which, as we have seen, [14] was celebrated at Nippur in honor of Ninib and Gula, and at Lagash was sacred to Ningirsu and Bau, becomes in Babylon the season dedicated to Marduk. In its developed form the New Year's festival of Babylon extended over eleven days with special rites for each day.

The transition motif was also carried over from ancient days, as shown in the current conception which represents Marduk sitting in a sacred chamber, surrounded by the other members of the pantheon and determining the fate of individuals for the coming year. This point of view lent a sombre aspect to the New Year's festival. The statue of the god in E-sagila was carried in solemn procession to the special shrine which contained the "chamber of fates" as it was called, and at the close of the conclave of the gods was brought back to its resting place, accompanied as accorded with his dignity by the images of the other great gods.

The process involved in the absorption of the roles and attributes of other gods which we have noted in the case of Enlil, Ninib and Shamash appears to have gone to even greater lengths in the case of Marduk, who is addressed in terms which give one the impression as though he were the one and only deity. The monotheistic strain in the prayers and hymns addressed to Marduk is sometimes so pronounced that if one substitutes Yahweh or God for Marduk, they might form part of a Jewish or Christian service of to-day. A god on whom the other gods bestow fifty names [15] is well advanced on the way to become the one and only power, as the source of all the phenomena of nature.

Still, the limitations of the monotheistic tendency in Babylonia must be recognized. Not only do the other gods of the pantheon continue to receive recognition in their temples and sanctuaries scattered throughout the land, but neither Babylonians nor Assyrians ever passed beyond the point of regarding gods as personifications of powers of nature. Marduk, too, remains on this basis.

Just as Marduk is invariably associated with Ea as his father, so another deity, Nabu, whose name we have already encountered is closely attached to Marduk as his son. Like all the other gods of Babylonia, Nabu starts on his career as a local patron. He belongs to the city of Borsippa, lying in such close proximity to Babylon on the west bank of the Euphrates as to become, with the extension of Babylon, almost a suburb of the latter.

It is this close relationship between the two cities that finds an expression in making Nabu the son of Marduk. There are reasons, however, for believing that Borsippa rose to importance earlier than Babylon, and that for some time Nabu was a serious rival to Marduk. The original character of the deity of Borsippa is still in doubt, but indications point to his being originally a water-god perhaps the waterspirit in the Euphrates and as such he would naturally become also a god of vegetation, since the fertility of the land is -dependent upon the overflow of the rivers during the rainy season.

The association of water with knowledge and culture which, we have seen, [16] dominates the views held in regard to Ea would account for the chief trait of Nabu as revealed in inscriptions' and in the religious literature, to wit, his role as the god of writing more particularly and then in general as the god who gives understanding and wisdom. His symbol is the stylus of the scribe. He is the secretary of the gods who, at the time of the New Year's assembly of the pantheon when the fates of individuals are determined for the coming year, records the decisions of the gods.

It is he who inspires the priests to collect the hymns, incantations, omens and other parts of the ritual as a guide for further ages. Secular wisdom is also due to him. Writing is his invention communicated to mankind, and Ashurbanapal in the .subscripts to the tablets of his royal library rarely fails to acknowledge the aid of Nabu and of his consort, Tashmit, as the ones who inspired the ruler with the idea of collecting the literary productions of the past.

PLATE XXIX

Fig. 1 (left), The God Nabu
Fig. 2 (middle), Ishtar as the Goddess of War
Fig. 3 (right), Ishtar as the Mother Goddess

The close association with Marduk leads naturally to a similarity in the teems in which they are addressed, but the distinctive character of Nabu as the god of writing on whose tablets one can read the future is rarely omitted even in the prayers of late Babylonian rulers like Nebuchadnezzar, where Nabu is generally invoked only in connection with his father. A prayer of this ruler on the completion of the tower attached to Nabu's temple at Borsippa reads as follows: [17]

"Oh Nabu, legitimate son, [18] sublime messenger, triumphant, beloved of Marduk, graciously look in joy on my handiwork. Long life, numerous progeny, a firmly established throne, enduring rule, conquest of the enemy 's land grant me as a gift ! On thy unchangeable tablet which marks the bounds of heaven and earth, proclaim length of days for me, inscribe offspring (for me) ! Before Marduk, the king of heaven and earth, the father who produced thee, make my deeds pleasing, intercede on my behalf and proclaim that Nebuchadnezzar is indeed a king who beautifies."

The tablet of Nabu is the starry expanse on which the future is written for him who can read the signs in the heavens. Nabu, however, is merely the recorder of the decision which rests with Marduk.

This close association of Nabu with Marduk finds many other expressions both in the cult and in the religious literature. Babylon and Borsippa were combined so as to form practically a single conception in the minds of pmests and populace. The one could hardly be thought of without the other. In Babylon, shrines and sanctuaries to the leading members of the pantheon were grouped around the central temple, E-sagila, as was done in earlier days at Nippur, [19] where E-kur, the temple of Enlil, grew to be the designation of the sacred quarter of the city.

In the official correspondence it became customary to introduce in the greeting with which the letters began the names of Marduk and Nabu, and similarly in historical inscriptions the two names were constantly entwined. Indeed it would appear that at times attempts were made to play off the one god against the other. It is probably not accidental that three of the rulers of the neo-Babylonian empire [20] bear names compounded with Nabu, and it looks as though the founder of this dynasty wished to place the son on an equality with the father.

Cyrus, who overthrew this empire, claims to have come to Babylon to reinstate Marduk in his full dignity. In Assyria, where Marduk was regarded as in a manner the rival of Ashur, the head of the Assyrian pantheon, we find the kings disposed to pay their homage to the son rather than to the father as the chief figure of the Babylonian pantheon. An official of one of these kings, Adad-nirari IV (810-782 B.C.), erects a statue to Nabu and inscribes on it: [21]

"0 offspring, rely on Nabu. Put your trust in no other god."

Ashurbanapal, the greatest of the Assyrian kings (668-626 B.C.), is among those who pay homage to Nabu in a manner which betrays the tendency to make him more than a mere appendage to Marduk.

It is interesting to note that the cult of Nabu (as that of Marduk) survives the fall of the Babylonian empire and even the substitution of Greek governors for the Persian rule. We have a prayer of the Seleucid ruler, Antiochus Soter (281-261 B.C.), addressed to Nabu on the occasion of that ruler's restoration of Nabu's temple, E-zida, at Borsippa. The prayer, though modelled upon those of the rulers of the neo-Babylonian dynasty, is nevertheless of sufficient interest to warrant an extract here. [22]

"O Nabu, sublime son, mighty lord of the great gods, whom to praise seems meet, first-born son of Marduk, offspring of Erua, [23] the queen, creator, look in joy! At thy supreme unchangeable command which has brought about my victory over the enemy, grant a just kingdom, an auspicious rule, years of prosperity, plentiful progeny to the kingdom of Antiochus and of Seleucus, his son.

By thy supreme stylus which fixes the bounds of heaven and earth, through thy glorious utterance may my salvation be proclaimed. May my hands conquer the lands from sunrise to sunset, [24] compel their tribute in order to complete E-sagila and E-zida. O Nabu, royal son, upon thy entering into thy legitimate temple, [25] proclaim favor for Antiochus, the king of (all) lands, for the king Seleucus, his son, and for the queen Stratonike."Even in this late composition Nabu is still the scribe who writes down the decrees of the gods. The king is careful also to drag in Marduk and his temple, and as an interesting new touch he includes in his prayer his son, associated presumably with the father in the government, and his queen.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

This conversation occurs again and again in the incantation rituals, e.g., Cun. Texts, xvi, PI. 20, 128-138; 45, 119-148; xvii, PI. 12, 20-31; 19, 31; 21, 118-142; 26, 48-63, etc.

[2]:

See below, p. 442.

[3]:

Scheil, Une Saison de Fouilles a Sippar (Cairo, 1902) pp. 97-98.

[4]:

A collective name, like Anunnaki, for a series of minor deities.

[5]:

Rawlinson IV 2 PI. 26, No. 4.

[6]:

P. 195.

[7]:

Craig, Assyrian-Babylonian Religious Texts, I PL, 29-31.

[8]:

An allusion to Marduk's conflict which Tiamat to which he is encouraged by Anu who declares that Marduk alone can overthrow the monster. See below p. 433 seq.

[9]:

Heart and liver are in this way very frequently combined, the heart as the seat of the intellect, and the liver as the seat of the emotions.

[10]:

A title of Marduk.

[11]:

A personification of the watery deep and here used as a designation of Ea. The son of Mummu is, therefore, Marduk. See p. 428.

[12]:

Rawlinson I, PI. 53, Col. I, 55-11, 1.

[13]:

For further specimens see Jastrow, Religion Bdbyloniens und Assyrians, I, pp. 400-420. and below pp. 465-469.

[14]:

Above, p. 199.

[15]:

See above, p. 212 and below, p. 443.

[16]:

Above, p. 210.

[17]:

Rawlinson I, PI. 51, No. 1, Col. II, 16-31

[18]:

Sc. of Marduk.

[19]:

Above, p. 196.

[20]:

See above, p. 182, seq.

[21]:

Eawlinson I, PI. 35, No. 2, line 12.

[22]:

Rawlinson V, PI. 66, Col. I, 16-11, 29.

[23]:

A title of Sarpanit, the consort of Marduk.

[24]:

I.e., from east to west.

[25]:

With an allusion to the name of Nabu's temple, E-zida, "the legitimate house".

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