Assyria, Its Princes, Priests and People Part 10

Hazael utterly routed by Shalmaneser II on the heights of Shenir; camp, chariots, and carriages captured, and siege laid to Damascus, 31.

Helbon noted for its wines; still called Halbn, 127.

Highroads and brickyards placed under commissioners, 131-2.

Human sacrifices an Accadian inst.i.tution; children burnt to death as expiatory offerings by their fathers, 75.

Hymn to the Sun-G.o.d, a mixture of exalted thought and debasing superst.i.tion, 113-5.

Hymns in honour of the different deities collected into a sacred book; Semitic translations made, but the hymns recited long afterwards in the original Accadian language, 67-8.

I.

Inferior deities cla.s.sed among 'the 300 spirits of heaven' and 'the 600 spirits of earth,' 57.

Inscription containing Hezekiah's name transliterated and translated, 101-8.

Israelite officials witnesses of deed of sale, 137.

Istar, the great Accadian G.o.ddess, unlike the Beltis or Bilat, wife of Baal, had independent attributes as strongly marked as those of the G.o.ds, and was known as the evening star, 57; she became the Semitic Ashtoreth, and was the G.o.ddess of love, war, and the chase; she was a.s.sociated with Tammuz; her different attributes, temples, and worship in different places, 62-4.

J.

Jehu's tribute to Shalmaneser II, gold and silver drinking vessels, a sceptre, and spear handles, 32.

Jewish seals probably earlier than the Babylonish exile found at Diarbekr and other places near the Tigris and Euphrates, 138.

K.

Kandalanu, viceroy of Babylon twenty-two years; the father of Nabopola.s.sar, 53.

Karkar or Aroer, battle of, and defeat of Benhadad and his allies, 31.

Khumbaba the tyrant, slain by Gisdhubar 'in the land of the pine trees,'

111.

King only supreme in military affairs, and a.s.sisted by two commanders-in-chief; lists of officials, their t.i.tles and duties, 144.

L.

Legend of Lubara, the plague demon, smiting the evil-doers of Babylon and Erech, and its partial resemblance to the angel of the Lord standing with a drawn sword over Jerusalem as a punishment of David's sins, 78.

Libraries early established in all the great cities, as a.s.sur, Calah, and Nineveh; the last filled by a.s.sur-bani-pal with copies of the plundered books of Babylonia, 99; lexical and grammatical phrase books, and lists of the names of animals, birds, reptiles, fish, stones, vegetables, and t.i.tles of military and civil officers, were contained in the different books stored up for reference, 100-1; all the branches of learning then known were included; also dispatches of generals, reports of astronomers, royal letters, and lists of eponyms, 102.

Library of Nineveh, rich in poetical literature, comprised epics, hymns to the G.o.ds, psalms, and songs; songs to a.s.sur of a.s.syrian origin, the epics, Babylonian, Accadian, and partly Semitic, by native poets, 109-10.

Liturgy contained rubrics for particular days, and direction of the priests, 68.

M.

March, order of, in a campaign; the king and his attendants, charioteers, heavy and light cavalry, bowmen and infantry variously equipped, 125-6; king and n.o.bles only allowed tents; a royal chair called a _nimedu_ carried for the king's use; bas-relief of Sennacherib seated on one, before Lachish, 126.

Medicines, cla.s.sification of diseases, prescriptions, and incantations, 119-20.

Merodach, originally a form of the Sun-G.o.d; a benevolent and intercessory deity, represented as continually pa.s.sing between earth and heaven, informing Ea of the sufferings of mankind, and striving to alleviate them; he destroyed the demon Tiamat, and was commonly addressed as 'Bel' or 'Lord;' his star Jupiter; and his wife Zir-panitu, 60.

Merodach-Baladan's envoys induced Hezekiah to join the confederacy of Phnicia, Moab, Edom, Philistia, and Egypt, against the a.s.syrians; but Sargon's rapid movements surprised them; Phnicia and Judah were overrun, and Ashdod burnt before the arrival of the Egyptians; Merodach-Baladan in his own country made vigorous efforts to repel the attack of the conqueror on his return; but the Elamite allies were put to flight, and Sargon entered Babylon in triumph; the following year Merodach-Baladan was pursued to Beth-Yagina, which was taken by storm, and the defenders sent in chains to Nineveh; Merodach-Baladan escaped, and two years afterwards again seized Babylon, but was defeated at the battle of Kis, and a second time became a fugitive, 40-1.

Modes of a.s.saulting fortified towns, and fearful atrocities committed by the conquerors, 126-8.

Monotheists who flourished in Chaldaea in pre-Semitic times, resolved the various deities into manifestations of one supreme G.o.d, Anu; old hymns refer to 'the one G.o.d,' 58-9.

Myths common to all old forms of faith, 77-8.

N.

Nabopola.s.sar renounced his allegiance to Nineveh, and prepared the way for his son Nebuchadnezzar's empire, 53.

Names of a.s.syrian kings explained, 54.

Nebo the G.o.d of oratory and literature, said to have invented the cuneiform system of writing; great temple at Borsippa dedicated to him; his worship carried to Canaan, as seen in the names of a city and a mountain; had a temple at Bahrein under the name of Enzak; as a planetary deity he represented Mercury, and was often adored as Nusku, perhaps, the Nisroch of the Bible, 61.

Nergal, the G.o.d of hunting and war, also presided with Anu over the regions of the dead, 65.

Nineveh, probably coeval with the city of a.s.sur, but only became the capital at a much later period; after the fall of the a.s.syrian Empire its site was forgotten for ages; Rich's conjecture verified by Layard's excavations, and its buried treasures again brought to light, 25-6.

O.

'Observations of Bel,' the great work on astronomy and astrology, compiled at Accad for Sargon, mostly a record of eclipses of the sun and moon, conjunctions and phases of Venus and Mars; the time of the new year; the zodiacal signs named, and the divisions of the year, 102, 115-6.

Observatories in all the great cities; specimens of the astronomers'

fortnightly reports, 117-8.

Official lists and t.i.tles almost endless; rank and office of the princ.i.p.al, 144.

Omens, work on, in 137 books compiled for Sargon, known to the last days of the Empire, 102.

Ox-driver's labour song in the fields, 109.

P.