Myths of Babylonia and Assyria Part 24

Merodach, like Osiris-Sokar, was a "lord of many existences", and likewise "the mysterious one, he who is unknown to mankind[313]". It was impossible for the human mind "a greater than itself to know".

Evidence has not yet been forthcoming to enable us to determine the period at which the chief Babylonian deities were identified with the planets, but it is clear that Merodach's ascendancy in astral form could not have occurred prior to the rise of that city G.o.d of Babylon as chief of the pantheon by displacing Enlil. At the same time it must be recognized that long before the Hammurabi age the star-gazers of the Tigro-Euphrates valley must have been acquainted with the movements of the chief planets and stars, and, no doubt, they connected them with seasonal changes as in Egypt, where Isis was identified with Sirius long before the Ptolemaic age, when Babylonian astronomy was imported. Horus was identified not only with the sun but also with Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars.[314] Even the primitive Australians, as has been indicated, have their star myths; they refer to the stars Castor and Pollux as two young men, like the ancient Greeks, while the African Bushmen a.s.sert that these stars are two girls. It would be a mistake, however, to a.s.sume that the prehistoric Sumerians were exact astronomers. Probably they were, like the Aryo-Indians of the Vedic period, "not very accurate observers".[315]

It is of special interest to find that the stars were grouped by the Babylonians at the earliest period in companies of seven. The importance of this magical number is emphasized by the group of seven demons which rose from the deep to rage over the land (p. 71). Perhaps the sanct.i.ty of Seven was suggested by Orion, the Bears, and the Pleiad, one of which constellations may have been the "Sevenfold"

deity addressed as "one". At any rate arbitrary groupings of other stars into companies of seven took place, for references are made to the seven Tikshi, the seven Lumashi, and the seven Mashi, which are older than the signs of the Zodiac; so far as can be ascertained these groups were selected from various constellations. When the five planets were identified, they were a.s.sociated with the sun and moon and connected with the chief G.o.ds of the Hammurabi pantheon. A bilingual list in the British Museum arranges the sevenfold planetary group in the following order:--

The moon, Sin.

The sun, Shamash.

Jupiter, Merodach.

Venus, Ishtar.

Saturn, Ninip (Nirig).

Mercury, Nebo.

Mars, Nergal.

An ancient name of the moon was Aa, a, or Ai, which recalls the Egyptian Aah or Ah. The Sumerian moon was Aku, "the measurer", like Thoth of Egypt, who in his lunar character as a Fate measured out the lives of men, and was a G.o.d of architects, mathematicians, and scribes. The moon was the parent of the sun or its spouse; and might be male, or female, or both as a bis.e.xual deity.

As the "bull of light" Jupiter had solar a.s.sociations; he was also the shepherd of the stars, a t.i.tle shared by Tammuz as Orion; Nin-Girsu, a developed form of Tammuz, was identified with both Orion and Jupiter.

Ishtar's identification with Venus is of special interest. When that planet was at its brightest phase, its rays were referred to as "the beard" of the G.o.ddess; she was the "bearded Aphrodite"--a bis.e.xual deity evidently. The astrologers regarded the bright Venus as lucky and the rayless Venus as unlucky.

Saturn was Nirig, who is best known as Ninip, a deity who was displaced by Enlil, the elder Bel, and afterwards regarded as his son.

His story has not been recovered, but from the references made to it there is little doubt that it was a version of the widespread myth about the elder deity who was slain by his son, as Saturn was by Jupiter and Dyaus by Indra. It may have resembled the lost Egyptian myth which explained the existence of the two Horuses--Horus the elder, and Horus, the posthumous son of Osiris. At any rate, it is of interest to find in this connection that in Egypt the planet Saturn was Her-Ka, "Horus the Bull". Ninip was also identified with the bull.

Both deities were also connected with the spring sun, like Tammuz, and were terrible slayers of their enemies. Ninip raged through Babylonia like a storm flood, and Horus swept down the Nile, slaying the followers of Set. As the divine sower of seed, Ninip may have developed from Tammuz as Horus did from Osiris. Each were at once the father and the son, different forms of the same deity at various seasons of the year. The elder G.o.d was displaced by the son (spring), and when the son grew old his son slew him in turn. As the planet Saturn, Ninip was the ghost of the elder G.o.d, and as the son of Bel he was the solar war G.o.d of spring, the great wild bull, the G.o.d of fertility. He was also as Ber "lord of the wild boar", an animal a.s.sociated with Rimmon[316].

Nebo (Nabu), who was identified with Mercury, was a G.o.d of Borsippa.

He was a messenger and "announcer" of the G.o.ds, as the Egyptian Horus in his connection with Jupiter was Her-ap-sheta, "Horus the opener of that which is secret[317]". Nebo's original character is obscure. He appears to have been a highly developed deity of a people well advanced in civilization when he was exalted as the divine patron of Borsippa. Although Hammurabi ignored him, he was subsequently invoked with Merodach, and had probably much in common with Merodach. Indeed, Merodach was also identified with the planet Mercury. Like the Greek Hermes, Nebo was a messenger of the G.o.ds and an instructor of mankind.

Jastrow regards him as "a counterpart of Ea", and says: "Like Ea, he is the embodiment and source of wisdom. The art of writing--and therefore of all literature--is more particularly a.s.sociated with him.

A common form of his name designates him as the 'G.o.d of the stylus'."[318] He appears also to have been a developed form of Tammuz, who was an incarnation of Ea. Professor Pinches shows that one of his names, Mermer, was also a non-Semitic name of Ramman.[319]

Tammuz resembled Ramman in his character as a spring G.o.d of war. It would seem that Merodach as Jupiter displaced at Babylon Nebo as Saturn, the elder G.o.d, as Bel Enlil displaced the elder Ninip at Nippur.

The G.o.d of Mars was Nergal, the patron deity of Cuthah,[320] who descended into the Underworld and forced into submission Eresh-ki-gal (Persephone), with whom he was afterwards a.s.sociated. His "name", says Professor Pinches, "is supposed to mean 'lord of the great habitation', which would be a parallel to that of his spouse, Eresh-ki-gal".[321] At Erech he symbolized the destroying influence of the sun, and was accompanied by the demons of pestilence. Mars was a planet of evil, plague, and death; its animal form was the wolf. In Egypt it was called Herdesher, "the Red Horus", and in Greece it was a.s.sociated with Ares (the Roman Mars), the war G.o.d, who a.s.sumed his boar form to slay Adonis (Tammuz).

Nergal was also a fire G.o.d like the Aryo-Indian Agni, who, as has been shown, links with Tammuz as a demon slayer and a G.o.d of fertility. It may be that Nergal was a specialized form of Tammuz, who, in a version of the myth, was reputed to have entered the Underworld as a conqueror when claimed by Eresh-ki-gal, and to have become, like Osiris, the lord of the dead. If so, Nergal was at once the slayer and the slain.

The various Babylonian deities who were identified with the planets had their characters sharply defined as members of an organized pantheon. But before this development took place certain of the prominent heavenly bodies, perhaps all the planets, were evidently regarded as manifestations of one deity, the primeval Tammuz, who was a form of Ea, or of the twin deities Ea and Anu. Tammuz may have been the "sevenfold one" of the hymns. At a still earlier period the stars were manifestations of the Power whom the jungle dwellers of Chota Nagpur attempt to propitiate--the "world soul" of the cultured Brahmans of the post-Vedic Indian Age. As much is suggested by the resemblances which the conventionalized planetary deities bear to Tammuz, whose attributes they symbolized, and by the Egyptian conception that the sun, Jupiter, Saturn, and Mars were manifestations of Horus. Tammuz and Horus may have been personifications of the Power or World Soul vaguely recognized in the stage of Naturalism.

The influence of animistic modes of thought may be traced in the idea that the planets and stars were the ghosts of G.o.ds who were superseded by their sons. These sons were identical with their fathers; they became, as in Egypt, "husbands of their mothers". This idea was perpetuated in the Aryo-Indian _Laws of Manu_, in which it is set forth that "the husband, after conception by his wife, becomes an embryo and is born again of her[322]". The deities died every year, but death was simply change. Yet they remained in the separate forms they a.s.sumed in their progress round "the wide circle of necessity".

Horus was remembered as various planets--as the falcon, as the elder sun G.o.d, and as the son of Osiris; and Tammuz was the spring sun, the child, youth, warrior, the deity of fertility, and the lord of death (Orion-Nergal), and, as has been suggested, all the planets.

The stars were also the ghosts of deities who died daily. When the sun perished as an old man at evening, it rose in the heavens as Orion, or went out and in among the stars as the shepherd of the flock, Jupiter, the planet of Merodach in Babylonia, and Attis in Asia Minor. The flock was the group of heavenly spirits invisible by day, the "host of heaven"--manifestations or ghosts of the emissaries of the controlling power or powers.

The planets presided over various months of the year. Sin (the moon) was a.s.sociated with the third month; it also controlled the calendar; Ninip (Saturn) was a.s.sociated with the fourth month, Ishtar (Venus) with the sixth, Shamash (the sun) with the seventh, Merodach (Jupiter) with the eighth, Nergal (Mars) with the ninth, and a messenger of the G.o.ds, probably Nebo (Mercury), with the tenth.

Each month was also controlled by a zodiacal constellation. In the Creation myth of Babylon it is stated that when Merodach engaged in the work of setting the Universe in order he "set all the great G.o.ds in their several stations", and "also created their images, the stars of the Zodiac,[323] and fixed them all" (p. 147).

Our signs of the Zodiac are of Babylonian origin. They were pa.s.sed on to the Greeks by the Phoenicians and Hitt.i.tes. "There was a time ", says Professor Sayce, "when the Hitt.i.tes were profoundly affected by Babylonian civilization, religion, and art...." They "carried the time-worn civilizations of Babylonia and Egypt to the furthest boundary of Egypt, and there handed them over to the West in the grey dawn of European history.... Greek traditions affirmed that the rulers of Mykenae had come from Lydia, bringing with them the civilization and treasures of Asia Minor. The tradition has been confirmed by modern research. While certain elements belonging to the prehistoric culture of Greece, as revealed at Mykenae and elsewhere, were derived from Egypt and Phoenicia, there are others which point to Asia Minor as their source. And the culture of Asia Minor was. .h.i.tt.i.te."[324]

The early Babylonian astronomers did not know, of course, that the earth revolved round the sun. They believed that the sun travelled across the heavens flying like a bird or sailing like a boat.[325] In studying its movements they observed that it always travelled from west to east along a broad path, swinging from side to side of it in the course of the year. This path is the Zodiac--the celestial "circle of necessity". The middle line of the sun's path is the Ecliptic. The Babylonian scientists divided the Ecliptic into twelve equal parts, and grouped in each part the stars which formed their constellations; these are also called "Signs of the Zodiac". Each month had thus its sign or constellation.

The names borne at the present day by the signs of the Zodiac are easily remembered even by children, who are encouraged to repeat the following familiar lines:

The _Ram_, the _Bull_, the heavenly _Twins_, And next the _Crab_, the _Lion_ shines.

The _Virgin_ and the _Scales_; The _Scorpion, Archer_, and _Sea goat_, The man that holds the _water pot_, And _Fish_ with glitt'ring[326] tails.

The table on p. 308 shows that our signs are derived from ancient Babylonia.

The celestial regions were also divided into three or more parts.

Three "fields" were allotted to the ancient triad formed by Ea, Anu, and Bel. The zodiacal "path" ran through these "fields". Ea's field was in the west, and was a.s.sociated with Amurru, the land of the Amorites; Anu's field was in the south, and was a.s.sociated with Elam; and Bel's central "field" was a.s.sociated with the land of Akkad. When the rulers of Akkad called themselves "kings of the four quarters", the reference was to the countries a.s.sociated with the three divine fields and to Gutium[327](east = our north-east). Was Gutium a.s.sociated with demons, as in Scandinavia the north-east was a.s.sociated with the giants against whom Thor waged war?

+---------------------------------------------------------------------+ | | Date of Sun's Entry | | |Constellations.|(Babylonian Month in | Babylonian Equivalent. | | | brackets). | | |---------------+---------------------+-------------------------------| |Aries (the |20th March (Nisan = |The Labourer or Messenger. | |Ram). |March-April) | | |---------------+---------------------+-------------------------------| |Taurus (the |20th April (Iyyar = |A divine figure and the "bull | |Bull). |April-May) |of heaven". | |---------------+---------------------+-------------------------------| |Gemini (the |21st May (Sivan = |The Faithful Shepherd and Twins| |Twins). |May-June). |side by side, or head to head | | | |and feet to teet. | |---------------+---------------------+-------------------------------| |Cancer (the |21st June (Tammuz = |Crab or Scorpion. | |Crab). |June-July). | | |---------------+---------------------+-------------------------------| |Leo (the Lion).|22nd July (Ab = |The big dog (Lion). | | |July-August). | | |---------------+---------------------+-------------------------------| |Virgo (the |23rd August (Elul = |Ishtar, the Virgin's ear of | |Virgin). |August-Sept.). |corn. | |---------------+---------------------+-------------------------------| |Libra (the |23rd September (Tisri|The Balance. | |Balance). |= Sept.-Oct.). | | |---------------+---------------------+-------------------------------| |Scorpio (the |23rd October | | |Scorpion). |(Marcheswan = |Scorpion of darkness. | | |Oct.-Nov.). | | |---------------+---------------------+-------------------------------| |Sagittarius |22nd November |Man or man-horse with bow, or | |(the Archer). |(Chisleu = |an arrow symbol. | | |Nov.-Dec.). | | |---------------+---------------------+-------------------------------| |Capricornus |21st December (Tebet |Ea's goat-fish. | |(the Goat). |= Dec.-Jan.). | | |---------------+---------------------+-------------------------------| |Aquarius (the |19th January (Sebat =|G.o.d with water urn. | |Water Carrier).|Jan.-Feb.). | | |---------------+---------------------+-------------------------------| |Pisces (the |18th February (Adar =|Fish tails in ca.n.a.l. | |Fishes). |Feb.-March). | | +---------------------------------------------------------------------+

The Babylonian Creation myth states that Merodach, having fixed the stars of the Zodiac, made three stars for each month (p. 147). Mr.

Robert Brown, jun., who has dealt as exhaustively with the astronomical problems of Babylonia as the available data permitted him, is of opinion that the leading stars of three constellations are referred to, viz.: (1) the central or zodiacal constellations, (2) the northern constellations, and (3) the southern constellations. We have thus a scheme of thirty-six constellations. The "twelve zodiacal stars were flanked on either side by twelve non-zodiacal stars". Mr. Brown quotes Diodorus, who gave a resume of Babylonian astronomico-astrology, in this connection. He said that "the five planets were called 'Interpreters'; and in subjection to these were marshalled 'Thirty Stars', which were styled 'Divinities of the Council'.... The chiefs of the Divinities are twelve in number, to each of whom they a.s.sign a month and one of the twelve signs of the Zodiac." Through these twelve signs sun, moon, and planets run their courses. "And with the zodiacal circle they mark out twenty-four stars, half of which they say are arranged in the north and half in the south."[328] Mr. Brown shows that the thirty stars referred to "const.i.tuted the original Euphratean Lunar Zodiac, the parent of the seven ancient lunar zodiacs which have come down to us, namely, the Persian, Sogdian, Khorasmian, Chinese, Indian, Arab, and Coptic schemes".

The three constellations a.s.sociated with each month had each a symbolic significance: they reflected the characters of their months.

At the height of the rainy season, for instance, the month of Ramman, the thunder G.o.d, was presided over by the zodiacal constellation of the water urn, the northern constellation "Fish of the Ca.n.a.l", and the southern "the Horse". In India the black horse was sacrificed at rain-getting and fertility ceremonies. The months of growth, pestilence, and scorching sun heat were in turn symbolized. The "Great Bear" was the "chariot" = "Charles's Wain", and the "Milky Way" the "river of the high cloud", the Celestial Euphrates, as in Egypt it was the Celestial Nile.

Of special interest among the many problems presented by Babylonian astronomical lore is the theory of Cosmic periods or Ages of the Universe. In the Indian, Greek, and Irish mythologies there are four Ages--the Silvern (white), Golden (yellow), the Bronze (red), and the Iron (black). As has been already indicated, Mr. R. Brown, jun., shows that "the Indian system of Yugas, or ages of the world, presents many features which forcibly remind us of the Euphratean scheme". The Babylonians had ten antediluvian kings, who were reputed to have reigned for vast periods, the total of which amounted to 120 saroi, or 432,000 years. These figures at once recall the Indian Maha-yuga of 4,320,000 years = 432,000 x 10. Apparently the Babylonian and Indian systems of calculation were of common origin. In both countries the measurements of time and s.p.a.ce were arrived at by utilizing the numerals 10 and 6.

When primitive man began to count he adopted a method which comes naturally to every schoolboy; he utilized his fingers. Twice five gave him ten, and from ten he progressed to twenty, and then on to a hundred and beyond. In making measurements his hands, arms, and feet were at his service. We are still measuring by feet and yards (standardized strides) in this country, while those who engage in the immemorial art of knitting, and, in doing so, repeat designs found on neolithic pottery, continue to measure in finger breadths, finger lengths, and hand breadths as did the ancient folks who called an arm length a cubit. Nor has the span been forgotten, especially by boys in their games with marbles; the s.p.a.ce from the end of the thumb to the end of the little finger when the hand is extended must have been an important measurement from the earliest times.

As he made progress in calculations, the primitive Babylonian appears to have been struck by other details in his anatomy besides his sets of five fingers and five toes. He observed, for instance, that his fingers were divided into three parts and his thumb into two parts only;[329] four fingers multiplied by three gave him twelve, and multiplying 12 by 3 he reached 36. Apparently the figure 6 attracted him. His body was divided into 6 parts--2 arms, 2 legs, the head, and the trunk; his 2 ears, 2 eyes, and mouth, and nose also gave him 6.

The basal 6, multiplied by his 10 fingers, gave him 60, and 60 x 2 (for his 2 hands) gave him 120. In Babylonian arithmetic 6 and 60 are important numbers, and it is not surprising to find that in the system of numerals the signs for 1 and 10 combined represent 60.

In fixing the length of a mythical period his first great calculation of 120 came naturally to the Babylonian, and when he undertook to measure the Zodiac he equated time and s.p.a.ce by fixing on 120 degrees.

His first zodiac was the Sumerian lunar zodiac, which contained thirty moon chambers a.s.sociated with the "Thirty Stars" of the tablets, and referred to by Diodorus as "Divinities of the Council". The chiefs of the Thirty numbered twelve. In this system the year began in the winter solstice. Mr. Hewitt has shown that the chief annual festival of the Indian Dravidians begins with the first full moon after the winter festival, and Mr. Brown emphasizes the fact that the list of Tamil (Dravidian) lunar and solar months are named like the Babylonian constellations.[330] "Lunar chronology", wrote Professor Max Mailer, "seems everywhere to have preceded solar chronology."[331] The later Semitic Babylonian system had twelve solar chambers and the thirty-six constellations.

Each degree was divided into sixty minutes, and each minute into sixty seconds. The hours of the day and night each numbered twelve.

Multiplying 6 by 10 (pur), the Babylonian arrived at 60 (soss); 60x10 gave him 600 (ner), and 600x6, 3600 (sar), while 3600x10 gave him 36,000, and 36,000x12, 432,000 years, or 120 saroi, which is equal to the "sar" multiplied by the "soss"x2. "Pur" signifies "heap"--the ten fingers closed after being counted; and "ner" signifies "foot". Mr.

George Bertin suggests that when 6x10 fingers gave 60 this number was multiplied by the ten toes, with the result that 600 was afterwards a.s.sociated with the feet (ner). The Babylonian sign for 10 resembles the impression of two feet with heels closed and toes apart. This suggests a primitive record of the first round of finger counting.

In India this Babylonian system of calculation was developed during the Brahmanical period. The four Yugas or Ages, representing the four fingers used by the primitive mathematicians, totalled 12,000 divine years, a period which was called a Maha-yuga; it equalled the Babylonian 120 saroi, multiplied by 100. Ten times a hundred of these periods gave a "Day of Brahma".

Each day of the G.o.ds, it was explained by the Brahmans, was a year to mortals. Multiplied by 360 days, 12,000 divine years equalled 4,320,000 human years. This Maha-yuga, multiplied by 1000, gave the "Day of Brahma" as 4,320,000,000 human years.

The shortest Indian Yuga is the Babylonian 120 saroi multiplied by 10=1200 divine years for the Kali Yuga; twice that number gives the Dvapara Yuga of 2400 divine years; then the Treta Yuga is 2400 + 1200 = 3600 divine years, and Krita Yuga 3600 + 1200 = 4800 divine years.

The influence of Babylonia is apparent in these calculations. During the Vedic period "Yuga" usually signified a "generation", and there are no certain references to the four Ages as such. The names "Kali", "Dvapara", "Treta", and "Krita" "occur as the designations of throws of dice".[332] It was after the arrival of the "late comers", the post-Vedic Aryans, that the Yuga system was developed in India.[333]

In _Indian Myth and Legend[334] it is shown that the Indian and Irish Ages have the same colour sequence: (1) White or Silvern, (2) Red or Bronze, (3) Yellow or Golden, and (4) Black or Iron. The Greek order is: (1) Golden, (2) Silvern, (3) Bronze, and (4) Iron.

The Babylonians coloured the seven planets as follows: the moon, silvern; the sun, golden; Mars, red; Saturn, black; Jupiter, orange; Venus, yellow; and Mercury, blue.

As the ten antediluvian kings who reigned for 120 saroi had an astral significance, their long reigns corresponding "with the distances separating certain of the princ.i.p.al stars in or near the ecliptic",[335] it seems highly probable that the planets were similarly connected with mythical ages which were equated with the "four quarters" of the celestial regions and the four regions of the earth, which in Gaelic story are called "the four red divisions of the world".