Myths of Babylonia and Assyria Part 27

The Persian G.o.d Ahura Mazda hovers above the king in sculptured representations of that high dignitary, enclosed in a winged wheel, or disk, like Ashur, grasping a ring in one hand, the other being lifted up as if blessing those who adore him.

Shamash, the Babylonian sun G.o.d; Ishtar, the G.o.ddess of heaven; and other Babylonian deities carried rings as the Egyptian G.o.ds carried the ankh, the symbol of life. Shamash was also depicted sitting on his throne in a pillar-supported pavilion, in front of which is a sun wheel. The spokes of the wheel are formed by a star symbol and threefold rippling "water rays".

In Hitt.i.te inscriptions there are interesting winged emblems; "the central portion" of one "seems to be composed of two crescents underneath a disk (which is also divided like a crescent). Above the emblem there appear the symbol of sanct.i.ty (the divided oval) and the hieroglyph which Professor Sayce interprets as the name of the G.o.d Sandes." In another instance "the centre of the winged emblem may be seen to be a rosette, with a curious spreading object below. Above, two dots follow the name of Sandes, and a human arm bent 'in adoration' is by the side...." Professor Garstang is here dealing with sacred places "on rocky points or hilltops, bearing out the suggestion of the sculptures near Boghaz-Keui[393], in which there may be reasonably suspected the surviving traces of mountain cults, or cults of mountain deities, underlying the newer religious symbolism". Who the deity is it is impossible to say, but "he was identified at some time or other with Sandes".[394] It would appear, too, that the G.o.d may have been "called by a name which was that used also by the priest". Perhaps the priest king was believed to be an incarnation of the deity.

Sandes or Sandan was identical with Sandon of Tarsus, "the prototype of Attis",[395] who links with the Babylonian Tammuz. Sandon's animal symbol was the lion, and he carried the "double axe" symbol of the G.o.d of fertility and thunder. As Professor Frazer has shown in _The Golden Bough_, he links with Hercules and Melkarth.[396]

All the younger G.o.ds, who displaced the elder G.o.ds as one year displaces another, were deities of fertility, battle, lightning, fire, and the sun; it is possible, therefore, that Ashur was like Merodach, son of Ea, G.o.d of the deep, a form of Tammuz in origin. His spirit was in the solar wheel which revolved at times of seasonal change. In Scotland it was believed that on the morning of May Day (Beltaine) the rising sun revolved three times. The younger G.o.d was a spring sun G.o.d and fire G.o.d. Great bonfires were lit to strengthen him, or as a ceremony of riddance; the old year was burned out. Indeed the G.o.d himself might be burned (that is, the old G.o.d), so that he might renew his youth. Melkarth was burned at Tyre. Hercules burned himself on a mountain top, and his soul ascended to heaven as an eagle.

These fiery rites were evidently not unknown in Babylonia and a.s.syria.

When, according to Biblical narrative, Nebuchadnezzar "made an image of gold" which he set up "in the plain of Dura, in the province of Babylon", he commanded: "O people, nations, and languages... at the time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, dulcimer, and all kinds of musick... fall down and worship the golden image". Certain Jews who had been "set over the affairs of the province of Babylonia", namely, "Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego", refused to adore the idol. They were punished by being thrown into "a burning fiery furnace", which was heated "seven times more than it was wont to be heated". They came forth uninjured.[397]

In the Koran it is related that Abraham destroyed the images of Chaldean G.o.ds; he "brake them all in pieces except the biggest of them; that they might lay the blame on that".[398] According to the commentators the Chaldaeans were at the time "abroad in the fields, celebrating a great festival". To punish the offender Nimrod had a great pyre erected at Cuthah. "Then they bound Abraham, and putting him into an engine, shot him into the midst of the fire, from which he was preserved by the angel Gabriel, who was sent to his a.s.sistance."

Eastern Christians were wont to set apart in the Syrian calendar the 25th of January to commemorate Abraham's escape from Nimrod's pyre.[399]

It is evident that the Babylonian fire ceremony was observed in the spring season, and that human beings were sacrificed to the sun G.o.d. A mock king may have been burned to perpetuate the ancient sacrifice of real kings, who were incarnations of the G.o.d.

Isaiah makes reference to the sacrificial burning of kings in a.s.syria: "For through the voice of the Lord shall the a.s.syrian be beaten down, which smote with a rod. And in every place where the grounded staff shall pa.s.s, which the Lord shall lay upon him, it shall be with tabrets and harps: and in battles of shaking will he fight with it.

For Tophet is ordained of old; yea, for the king it is prepared: he hath made it deep and large: the pile thereof is fire and much wood: the breath of the Lord, like a stream of brimstone, doth kindle it."[400] When Nineveh was about to fall, and with it the a.s.syrian Empire, the legendary king, Sardanapalus, who was reputed to have founded Tarsus, burned himself, with his wives, concubines, and eunuchs, on a pyre in his palace. Zimri, who reigned over Israel for seven days, "burnt the king's house over him with fire"[401]. Saul, another fallen king, was burned after death, and his bones were buried "under the oak in Jabesh".[402] In Europe the oak was a.s.sociated with G.o.ds of fertility and lightning, including Jupiter and Thor. The ceremony of burning Saul is of special interest. Asa, the orthodox king of Judah, was, after death, "laid in the bed which was filled with sweet odours and divers kinds of spices prepared by the apothecaries' art: and they made a very great burning for him" (_2 Chronicles_, xvi, 14). Jehoram, the heretic king of Judah, who "walked in the way of the kings of Israel", died of "an incurable disease. And his people made no burning for him like the burning of his fathers"

(_2 Chronicles_, xxi, 18, 19).

The conclusion suggested by the comparative study of the beliefs of neighbouring peoples, and the evidence afforded by a.s.syrian sculptures, is that Ashur was a highly developed form of the G.o.d of fertility, who was sustained, or aided in his conflicts with demons, by the fires and sacrifices of his worshippers.

It is possible to read too much into his symbols. These are not more complicated and vague than are the symbols on the standing stones of Scotland--the crescent with the "broken" arrow; the trident with the double rings, or wheels, connected by two crescents; the circle with the dot in its centre; the triangle with the dot; the large disk with two small rings on either side crossed by double straight lines; the so-called "mirror", and so on. Highly developed symbolism may not indicate a process of spiritualization so much, perhaps, as the persistence of magical beliefs and practices. There is really no direct evidence to support the theory that the a.s.syrian winged disk, or disk "with protruding rays", was of more spiritual character than the wheel which encloses the feather-robed archer with his trident-shaped arrow.

The various symbols may have represented phases of the G.o.d. When the spring fires were lit, and the G.o.d "renewed his life like the eagle", his symbol was possibly the solar wheel or disk with eagle's wings, which became regarded as a symbol of life. The G.o.d brought life and light to the world; he caused the crops to grow; he gave increase; he sustained his worshippers. But he was also the G.o.d who slew the demons of darkness and storm. The Hitt.i.te winged disk was Sandes or Sandon, the G.o.d of lightning, who stood on the back of a bull. As the lightning G.o.d was a war G.o.d, it was in keeping with his character to find him represented in a.s.syria as "Ashur the archer" with the bow and lightning arrow. On the disk of the a.s.syrian standard the lion and the bull appear with "the archer" as symbols of the war G.o.d Ashur, but they were also symbols of Ashur the G.o.d of fertility.

The life or spirit of the G.o.d was in the ring or wheel, as the life of the Egyptian and Indian G.o.ds, and of the giants of folk tales, was in "the egg". The "dot within the circle", a widespread symbol, may have represented the seed within "the egg" of more than one mythology, or the thorn within the egg of more than one legendary story. It may be that in a.s.syria, as in India, the crude beliefs and symbols of the ma.s.ses were spiritualized by the speculative thinkers in the priesthood, but no literary evidence has survived to justify us in placing the a.s.syrian teachers on the same level as the Brahmans who composed the Upanishads.

Temples were erected to Ashur, but he might be worshipped anywhere, like the Queen of Heaven, who received offerings in the streets of Jerusalem, for "he needed no temple", as Professor Pinches says.

Whether this was because he was a highly developed deity or a product of folk religion it is difficult to decide. One important fact is that the ruling king of a.s.syria was more closely connected with the worship of Ashur than the king of Babylonia was with the worship of Merodach.

This may be because the a.s.syrian king was regarded as an incarnation of his G.o.d, like the Egyptian Pharaoh. Ashur accompanied the monarch on his campaigns: he was their conquering war G.o.d. Where the king was, there was Ashur also. No images were made of him, but his symbols were carried aloft, as were the symbols of Indian G.o.ds in the great war of the _Mahabharata_ epic.

It would appear that Ashur was sometimes worshipped in the temples of other G.o.ds. In an interesting inscription he is a.s.sociated with the moon G.o.d Nannar (Sin) of Haran. Esarhaddon, the a.s.syrian king, is believed to have been crowned in that city. "The writer", says Professor Pinches, "is apparently addressing a.s.sur-bani-apli, 'the great and n.o.ble Asnapper':

"When the father of my king my lord went to Egypt, he was crowned (?) in the _ganni_ of Harran, the temple (lit. 'Bethel') of cedar. The G.o.d Sin remained over the (sacred) standard, two crowns upon his head, (and) the G.o.d Nusku stood beside him. The father of the king my lord entered, (and) he (the priest of Sin) placed (the crown?) upon his head, (saying) thus: 'Thou shalt go and capture the lands in the midst'. (He we)nt, he captured the land of Egypt. The rest of the lands not submitting (?) to a.s.sur (Ashur) and Sin, the king, the lord of kings, shall capture (them)."[403]

Ashur and Sin are here linked as equals. a.s.sociated with them is Nusku, the messenger of the G.o.ds, who was given prominence in a.s.syria.

The kings frequently invoked him. As the son of Ea he acted as the messenger between Merodach and the G.o.d of the deep. He was also a son of Bel Enlil, and like Anu was guardian or chief of the Igigi, the "host of heaven". Professor Pinches suggests that he may have been either identical with the Sumerian fire G.o.d Gibil, or a brother of the fire G.o.d, and an impersonation of the light of fire and sun. In Haran he accompanied the moon G.o.d, and may, therefore, have symbolized the light of the moon also. Professor Pinches adds that in one inscription "he is identified with Nirig or En-reshtu" (Nin-Girsu = Tammuz).[404]

The Babylonians and a.s.syrians a.s.sociated fire and light with moisture and fertility.

The astral phase of the character of Ashur is highly probable. As has been indicated, the Greek rendering of Anshar as "a.s.soros", is suggestive in this connection. Jastrow, however, points out that the use of the characters Anshar for Ashur did not obtain until the eighth century B.C. "Linguistically", he says, "the change of Ashir to Ashur can be accounted for, but not the transformation of An-shar to Ashur or Ashir; so that we must a.s.sume the 'etymology' of Ashur, proposed by some learned scribe, to be the nature of a play upon the name."[405]

On the other hand, it is possible that what appears arbitrary to us may have been justified in ancient a.s.syria on perfectly reasonable, or at any rate traditional, grounds. Professor Pinches points out that as a sun G.o.d, and "at the same time not Shamash", Ashur resembled Merodach. "His identification with Merodach, if that was ever accepted, may have been due to the likeness of the word to Asari, one of the deities' names."[406] As Asari, Merodach has been compared to the Egyptian Osiris, who, as the Nile G.o.d, was Asar-Hapi. Osiris resembles Tammuz and was similarly a corn deity and a ruler of the living and the dead, a.s.sociated with sun, moon, stars, water, and vegetation. We may consistently connect Ashur with Aushar, "water field", Anshar, "G.o.d of the height", or "most high", and with the eponymous King a.s.shur who went out on the land of Nimrod and "builded Nineveh", if we regard him as of common origin with Tammuz, Osiris, and Attis--a developed and localized form of the ancient deity of fertility and corn.

Ashur had a spouse who is referred to as Ashuritu, or Beltu, "the lady". Her name, however, is not given, but it is possible that she was identified with the Ishtar of Nineveh. In the historical texts Ashur, as the royal G.o.d, stands alone. Like the Hitt.i.te Great Father, he was perhaps regarded as the origin of life. Indeed, it may have been due to the influence of the northern hillmen in the early a.s.syrian period, that Ashur was developed as a father G.o.d--a Baal.

When the Hitt.i.te inscriptions are read, more light may be thrown on the Ashur problem. Another possible source of cultural influence is Persia. The supreme G.o.d Ahura-Mazda (Ormuzd) was, as has been indicated, represented, like Ashur, hovering over the king's head, enclosed in a winged disk or wheel, and the sacred tree figured in Persian mythology. The early a.s.syrian kings had non-Semitic and non-Sumerian names. It seems reasonable to a.s.sume that the religious culture of the ethnic elements they represented must have contributed to the development of the city G.o.d of a.s.shur.

CHAPTER XV.

CONFLICTS FOR TRADE AND SUPREMACY

Modern Babylonia--History repeating itself--Babylonian Trade Route in Mesopotamia--Egyptian Supremacy in Syria--Mitanni and Babylonia--Bandits who plundered Caravans--Arabian Desert Trade Route opened--a.s.syrian and Elamite Struggles with Babylonia--Rapid Extension of a.s.syrian Empire--Hitt.i.tes control Western Trade Routes--Egypt's Nineteenth Dynasty Conquests--Campaigns of Rameses II--Egyptians and Hitt.i.tes become Allies--Babylonian Fears of a.s.syria--Shalmaneser's Triumphs--a.s.syria Supreme in Mesopotamia--Conquest of Babylonia--Fall of a Great King--Civil War in a.s.syria--Its Empire goes to pieces--Babylonian Wars with Elam--Revival of Babylonian Power--Invasions of a.s.syrians and Elamites--End of the Ka.s.site Dynasty--Babylonia contrasted with a.s.syria.

It is possible that during the present century Babylonia may once again become one of the great wheat-producing countries of the world.

A scheme of land reclamation has already been inaugurated by the construction of a great dam to control the distribution of the waters of the Euphrates, and, if it is energetically promoted on a generous scale in the years to come, the ancient ca.n.a.ls, which are used at present as caravan roads, may yet be utilized to make the whole country as fertile and prosperous as it was in ancient days. When that happy consummation is reached, new cities may grow up and flourish beside the ruins of the old centres of Babylonian culture.

With the revival of agriculture will come the revival of commerce.

Ancient trade routes will then be reopened, and the slow-travelling caravans supplanted by speedy trains. A beginning has already been made in this direction. The first modern commercial highway which is crossing the threshold of Babylonia's new Age is the German railway through Asia Minor, North Syria, and Mesopotamia to Baghdad.[407] It brings the land of Hammurabi into close touch with Europe, and will solve problems which engaged the attention of many rival monarchs for long centuries before the world knew aught of "the glory that was Greece and the grandeur that was Rome".

These sudden and dramatic changes are causing history to repeat itself. Once again the great World Powers are evincing much concern regarding their respective "spheres of influence" in Western Asia, and pressing together around the ancient land of Babylon. On the east, where the aggressive Elamites and Ka.s.sites were followed by the triumphant Persians and Medes, Russia and Britain have a.s.serted themselves as protectors of Persian territory, and the influence of Britain is supreme in the Persian Gulf. Turkey controls the land of the Hitt.i.tes, while Russia looms like a giant across the Armenian highlands; Turkey is also the governing power in Syria and Mesopotamia, which are being crossed by Germany's Baghdad railway.

France is constructing railways in Syria, and will control the ancient "way of the Philistines". Britain occupies Cyprus on the Mediterranean coast, and presides over the destinies of the ancient land of Egypt, which, during the brilliant Eighteenth Dynasty, extended its sphere of influence to the borders of Asia Minor. Once again, after the lapse of many centuries, international politics is being strongly influenced by the problems connected with the development of trade in Babylonia and its vicinity.

The history of the ancient rival States, which is being pieced together by modern excavators, is, in view of present-day political developments, invested with special interest to us. We have seen a.s.syria rising into prominence. It began to be a great Power when Egypt was supreme in the "Western Land" (the land of the Amorites) as far north as the frontiers of Cappadocia. Under the Ka.s.site regime Babylonia's political influence had declined in Mesopotamia, but its cultural influence remained, for its language and script continued in use among traders and diplomatists.

At the beginning of the Pharaoh Akhenaton period, the supreme power in Mesopotamia was Mitanni. As the ally of Egypt it const.i.tuted a buffer state on the borders of North Syria, which prevented the southern expansion from Asia Minor of the Hitt.i.te confederacy and the western expansion of aggressive a.s.syria, while it also held in check the ambitions of Babylonia, which still claimed the "land of the Amorites". So long as Mitanni was maintained as a powerful kingdom the Syrian possessions of Egypt were easily held in control, and the Egyptian merchants enjoyed preferential treatment compared with those of Babylonia. But when Mitanni was overcome, and its territories were divided between the a.s.syrians and the Hitt.i.tes, the North Syrian Empire of Egypt went to pieces. A great struggle then ensued between the nations of western Asia for political supremacy in the "land of the Amorites".

Babylonia had been seriously handicapped by losing control of its western caravan road. Prior to the Ka.s.site period its influence was supreme in Mesopotamia and middle Syria; from the days of Sargon of Akkad and of Naram-Sin until the close of the Hammurabi Age its merchants had naught to fear from bandits or petty kings between the banks of the Euphrates and the Mediterranean coast. The city of Babylon had grown rich and powerful as the commercial metropolis of Western Asia.

Separated from the Delta frontier by the broad and perilous wastes of the Arabian desert, Babylonia traded with Egypt by an indirect route.

Its caravan road ran northward along the west bank of the Euphrates towards Haran, and then southward through Palestine. This was a long detour, but it was the only possible way.

During the early Ka.s.site Age the caravans from Babylon had to pa.s.s through the area controlled by Mitanni, which was therefore able to impose heavy duties and fill its coffers with Babylonian gold. Nor did the situation improve when the influence of Mitanni suffered decline in southern Mesopotamia. Indeed the difficulties under which traders operated were then still further increased, for the caravan roads were infested by plundering bands of "Suti", to whom references are made in the Tell-el-Amarna letters. These bandits defied all the great powers, and became so powerful that even the messengers sent from one king to another were liable to be robbed and murdered without discrimination.

When war broke out between powerful States they harried live stock and sacked towns in those areas which were left unprotected.

The "Suti" were Arabians of Aramaean stock. What is known as the "Third Semitic Migration" was in progress during this period. The nomads gave trouble to Babylonia and a.s.syria, and, penetrating Mesopotamia and Syria, sapped the power of Mitanni, until it was unable to resist the onslaughts of the a.s.syrians and the Hitt.i.tes.

The Aramaean tribes are referred to, at various periods and by various peoples, not only as the "Suti", but also as the "Achlame", the "Arimi", and the "Khabiri". Ultimately they were designated simply as "Syrians", and under that name became the hereditary enemies of the Hebrews, although Jacob was regarded as being of their stock: "A Syrian ready to perish", runs a Biblical reference, "was my father (ancestor), and he went down into Egypt and sojourned there with a few, and became there a nation, great, mighty, and populous".[408]

An heroic attempt was made by one of the Ka.s.site kings of Babylonia to afford protection to traders by stamping out brigandage between Arabia and Mesopotamia, and opening up a new and direct caravan road to Egypt across the Arabian desert. The monarch in question was Kadashman-Kharbe, the grandson of Ashur-uballit of a.s.syria. As we have seen, he combined forces with his distinguished and powerful kinsman, and laid a heavy hand on the "Suti". Then he dug wells and erected a chain of fortifications, like "block-houses", so that caravans might come and go without interruption, and merchants be freed from the imposts of petty kings whose territory they had to penetrate when travelling by the Haran route.

This bold scheme, however, was foredoomed to failure. It was shown scant favour by the Babylonian Ka.s.sites. No record survives to indicate the character of the agreement between Kadashman-Kharbe and Ashur-uballit, but there can be little doubt that it involved the abandonment by Babylonia of its historic claim upon Mesopotamia, or part of it, and the recognition of an a.s.syrian sphere of influence in that region. It was probably on account of his p.r.o.nounced pro-a.s.syrian tendencies that the Ka.s.sites murdered Kadashman-Kharbe, and set the pretender, known as "the son of n.o.body", on the throne for a brief period.

Kadashman-Kharbe's immediate successors recognized in a.s.syria a dangerous and unscrupulous rival, and resumed the struggle for the possession of Mesopotamia. The trade route across the Arabian desert had to be abandoned. Probably it required too great a force to keep it open. Then almost every fresh conquest achieved by a.s.syria involved it in war with Babylonia, which appears to have been ever waiting for a suitable opportunity to cripple its northern rival.

But a.s.syria was not the only power which Babylonia had to guard itself against. On its eastern frontier Elam was also panting for expansion.

Its chief caravan roads ran from Susa through a.s.syria towards Asia Minor, and through Babylonia towards the Phoenician coast. It was probably because its commerce was hampered by the growth of a.s.syrian power in the north, as Servia's commerce in our own day has been hampered by Austria, that it cherished dreams of conquering Babylonia.

In fact, as Ka.s.site influence suffered decline, one of the great problems of international politics was whether Elam or a.s.syria would enter into possession of the ancient lands of Sumer and Akkad.

Ashur-uballit's vigorous policy of a.s.syrian expansion was continued, as has been shown, by his son Bel-nirari. His grandson, Arik-den-ilu, conducted several successful campaigns, and penetrated westward as far as Haran, thus crossing the Babylonian caravan road. He captured great herds of cattle and flocks of sheep, which were transported to a.s.shur, and on one occasion carried away 250,000 prisoners.

Meanwhile Babylonia waged war with Elam. It is related that Khur-batila, King of Elam, sent a challenge to Kurigalzu III, a descendant of Kadashman-Kharbe, saying: "Come hither; I will fight with thee". The Babylonian monarch accepted the challenge, invaded the territory of his rival, and won a great victory. Deserted by his troops, the Elamite king was taken prisoner, and did not secure release until he had ceded a portion of his territory and consented to pay annual tribute to Babylonia.

Flushed with his success, the Ka.s.site king invaded a.s.syria when Adad-nirari I died and his son Arik-den-ilu came to the throne. He found, however, that the a.s.syrians were more powerful than the Elamites, and suffered defeat. His son, Na'zi-mar-ut'tash[409], also made an unsuccessful attempt to curb the growing power of the northern Power.