Myths of Babylonia and Assyria Part 5

Sun worship was of great antiquity in Babylonia, but appears to have been seasonal in its earliest phases. No doubt the sky G.o.d Anu had his solar as well as his lunar attributes, which he shared with Ea. The spring sun was personified as Tammuz, the youthful shepherd, who was loved by the earth G.o.ddess Ishtar and her rival Eresh-ki-gal, G.o.ddess of death, the Babylonian Persephone. During the winter Tammuz dwelt in Hades, and at the beginning of spring Ishtar descended to search for him among the shades.[67] But the burning summer sun was symbolized as a destroyer, a slayer of men, and therefore a war G.o.d. As Ninip or Nirig, the son of Enlil, who was made in the likeness of Anu, he waged war against the earth spirits, and was furiously hostile towards the deities of alien peoples, as befitted a G.o.d of battle. Even his father feared him, and when he was advancing towards Nippur, sent out Nusku, messenger of the G.o.ds, to soothe the raging deity with soft words.

Ninip was symbolized as a wild bull, was connected with stone worship, like the Indian destroying G.o.d Shiva, and was similarly a deity of Fate. He had much in common with Nin-Girsu, a G.o.d of Lagash, who was in turn regarded as a form of Tammuz.

Nergal, another solar deity, brought disease and pestilence, and, according to Jensen, all misfortunes due to excessive heat. He was the king of death, husband of Eresh-ki-gal, queen of Hades. As a war G.o.d he thirsted for human blood, and was depicted as a mighty lion. He was the chief deity of the city of Cuthah, which, Jastrow suggests, was situated beside a burial place of great repute, like the Egyptian Abydos.

The two great cities of the sun in ancient Babylonia were the Akkadian Sippar and the Sumerian Larsa. In these the sun G.o.d, Shamash or Babbar, was the patron deity. He was a G.o.d of Destiny, the lord of the living and the dead, and was exalted as the great Judge, the lawgiver, who upheld justice; he was the enemy of wrong, he loved righteousness and hated sin, he inspired his worshippers with rect.i.tude and punished evildoers. The sun G.o.d also illumined the world, and his rays penetrated every quarter: he saw all things, and read the thoughts of men; nothing could be concealed from Shamash. One of his names was Mitra, like the G.o.d who was linked with Varuna in the Indian _Rigveda_. These twin deities, Mitra and Varuna, measured out the span of human life. They were the source of all heavenly gifts: they regulated sun and moon, the winds and waters, and the seasons.[68]

These did the G.o.ds establish in royal power over themselves, because they were wise and the children of wisdom, and because they excelled in power.--_Prof. Arnold's trans. of Rigvedic Hymn_.

Mitra and Varuna were protectors of hearth and home, and they chastised sinners. "In a striking pa.s.sage of the _Mahabharata_" says Professor Moulton, "one in which Indian thought comes nearest to the conception of conscience, a kingly wrongdoer is reminded that the sun sees secret sin."[69]

In Persian mythology Mitra, as Mithra, is the patron of Truth, and "the Mediator" between heaven and earth[70]. This G.o.d was also worshipped by the military aristocracy of Mitanni, which held sway for a period over a.s.syria. In Roman times the worship of Mithra spread into Europe from Persia. Mithraic sculptures depict the deity as a corn G.o.d slaying the harvest bull; on one of the monuments "cornstalks instead of blood are seen issuing from the wound inflicted with the knife".[71] The a.s.syrian word "metru" signifies rain[70]. As a sky G.o.d Mitra may have been a.s.sociated, like Varuna, with the waters above the firmament. Rain would therefore be gifted by him as a fertilizing deity.

In the Babylonian Flood legend it is the sun G.o.d Shamash who "appointed the time" when the heavens were to "rain destruction" in the night, and commanded Pir-napishtim, "Enter into the midst of thy ship and shut thy door". The solar deity thus appears as a form of Anu, G.o.d of the sky and upper atmosphere, who controls the seasons and the various forces of nature. Other rival chiefs of city pantheons, whether lunar, atmospheric, earth, or water deities, were similarly regarded as the supreme deities who ruled the Universe, and decreed when man should receive benefits or suffer from their acts of vengeance.

It is possible that the close resemblances between Mithra and Mitra of the Aryan-speaking peoples of India and the Iranian plateau, and the sun G.o.d of the Babylonians--the Semitic Shamash, the Sumerian Utu--were due to early contact and cultural influence through the medium of Elam. As a solar and corn G.o.d, the Persian Mithra links with Tammuz, as a sky and atmospheric deity with Anu, and as a G.o.d of truth, righteousness, and law with Shamash. We seem to trace in the sublime Vedic hymns addressed by the Indian Aryans to Mitra and Varuna the impress of Babylonian religious thought:

Whate'er exists within this earth, and all within the sky, Yea, all that is beyond, King Varuna perceives....

_Rigveda_, iv, 16.[72]

O Varuna, whatever the offence may be That we as men commit against the heavenly folk, When through our want of thought we violate thy laws, Chastise us not, O G.o.d, for that iniquity.

_Rigveda_, vii, 89.[73]

Shamash was similarly exalted in Babylonian hymns:

The progeny of those who deal unjustly will not prosper.

What their mouth utters in thy presence Thou wilt destroy, what issues from their mouth thou wilt dissipate.

Thou knowest their transgressions, the plan of the wicked thou rejectest.

All, whoever they be, are in thy care....

He who takes no bribe, who cares for the oppressed, Is favoured by Shamash,--his life shall be prolonged.[74]

The worshippers of Varuna and Mitra in the Punjab did not cremate their dead like those who exalted the rival fire G.o.d Agni. The grave was the "house of clay", as in Babylonia. Mitra, who was identical with Yama, ruled over departed souls in the "Land of the Pitris"

(Fathers), which was reached by crossing the mountains and the rushing stream of death.[75] As we have seen, the Babylonian solar G.o.d Nergal was also the lord of the dead.

As Ma-banda-anna, "the boat of the sky", Shamash links with the Egyptian sun G.o.d Ra, whose barque sailed over the heavens by day and through the underworld of darkness and death during the night. The consort of Shamash was Aa, and his attendants were Kittu and Mesharu, "Truth" and "Righteousness".

Like the Hitt.i.tes, the Babylonians had also a sun G.o.ddess: her name was Nin-sun, which Jastrow renders "the annihilating lady". At Erech she had a shrine in the temple of the sky G.o.d Anu.

We can trace in Babylonia, as in Egypt, the early belief that life in the Universe had a female origin. Nin-sun links with Ishtar, whose Sumerian name is Nana. Ishtar appears to be identical with the Egyptian Hathor, who, as Sekhet, slaughtered the enemies of the sun G.o.d Ra. She was similarly the G.o.ddess of maternity, and is depicted in this character, like Isis and other G.o.ddesses of similar character, suckling a babe. Another Babylonian lady of the G.o.ds was Ama, Mama, or Mami, "the creatress of the seed of mankind", and was "probably so called as the 'mother' of all things".[76]

A characteristic atmospheric deity was Ramman, the Rimmon of the Bible, the Semitic Addu, Adad, Hadad, or Dadu. He was not a presiding deity in any pantheon, but was identified with Enlil at Nippur. As a hammer G.o.d, he was imported by the Semites from the hills. He was a wind and thunder deity, a rain bringer, a corn G.o.d, and a G.o.d of battle like Thor, Jupiter, Tarku, Indra, and others, who were all sons of the sky.

In this brief review of the representative deities of early Babylonia, it will be seen that most G.o.ds link with Anu, Ea, and Enlil, whose attributes they symbolized in various forms. The prominence accorded to an individual deity depended on local conditions, experiences, and influences. Ceremonial practices no doubt varied here and there, but although one section might exalt Ea and another Shamash, the religious faith of the people as a whole did not differ to any marked extent; they served the G.o.ds according to their lights, so that life might be prolonged and made prosperous, for the land of death and "no return"

was regarded as a place of gloom and misery.

When the Babylonians appear before us in the early stages of the historical period they had reached that stage of development set forth so vividly in the _Orations_ of Isocrates: "Those of the G.o.ds who are the source to us of good things have the t.i.tle of Olympians; those whose department is that of calamities and punishments have harsher t.i.tles: to the first cla.s.s both private persons and states erect altars and temples; the second is not worshipped either with prayers or burnt sacrifices, but in their case we perform ceremonies of riddance".[77]

The Sumerians, like the Ancient Egyptians, developed their deities, who reflected the growth of culture, from vague spirit groups, which, like ghosts, were hostile to mankind. Those spirits who could be propitiated were exalted as benevolent deities; those who could not be bargained with were regarded as evil G.o.ds and G.o.ddesses. A better understanding of the character of Babylonian deities will therefore be obtained by pa.s.sing the demons and evil spirits under review.

CHAPTER IV.

DEMONS, FAIRIES, AND GHOSTS

Spirits in Everything and Everywhere--The Bringers of Luck and Misfortune--Germ Theory Antic.i.p.ated--Early G.o.ds indistinguishable from Demons--Repulsive form of Ea--Spirit Groups as Attendants of Deities--Egyptian, Indian, Greek, and Germanic parallels--Elder G.o.ds as Evil G.o.ds--Animal Demons--The Babylonian "Will-o'-the-Wisp"--"Foreign Devils"--Elves and Fairies--Demon Lovers--"Adam's first wife, Lilith"--Children Charmed against Evil Spirits--The Demon of Nightmare--Ghosts as Enemies of the Living--The Vengeful Dead Mother in Babylonia, India, Europe, and Mexico--Burial Contrast--Calling Back the Dead--Fate of Childless Ghosts--Religious Need for Offspring--Hags and Giants and Composite Monsters--Tempest Fiends--Legend of Adapa and the Storm Demon--Wind Hags of Ancient Britain--Tyrolese Storm Maidens--Zu Bird Legend and Indian Garuda Myth--Legend of the Eagle and the Serpent--The Snake Mother G.o.ddess--Demons and the Moon G.o.d--Plague Deities--Cla.s.sification of Spirits, and Egyptian, Arabian, and Scottish parallels--Traces of Progress from Animism to Monotheism.

The memorable sermon preached by Paul to the Athenians when he stood "in the midst of Mars' hill", could have been addressed with equal appropriateness to the ancient Sumerians and Akkadians. "I perceive", he declared, "that in all things ye are too superst.i.tious.... G.o.d that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; neither is worshipped with men's hands as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things ... for in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring. Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of G.o.d, we ought not to think that the G.o.dhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man's device."[78]

Babylonian temples were houses of the G.o.ds in the literal sense; the G.o.ds were supposed to dwell in them, their spirits having entered into the graven images or blocks of stone. It is probable that like the Ancient Egyptians they believed a G.o.d had as many spirits as he had attributes. The G.o.ds, as we have said, appear to have evolved from early spirit groups. All the world swarmed with spirits, which inhabited stones and trees, mountains and deserts, rivers and ocean, the air, the sky, the stars, and the sun and moon. The spirits controlled Nature: they brought light and darkness, sunshine and storm, summer and winter; they were manifested in the thunderstorm, the sandstorm, the glare of sunset, and the wraiths of mist rising from the steaming marshes. They controlled also the lives of men and women. The good spirits were the source of luck. The bad spirits caused misfortunes, and were ever seeking to work evil against the Babylonian. Darkness was peopled by demons and ghosts of the dead. The spirits of disease were ever lying in wait to clutch him with cruel invisible hands.

Some modern writers, who are too p.r.o.ne to regard ancient peoples from a twentieth-century point of view, express grave doubts as to whether "intelligent Babylonians" really believed that spirits came down in the rain and entered the soil to rise up before men's eyes as stalks of barley or wheat. There is no reason for supposing that they thought otherwise. The early folks based their theories on the acc.u.mulated knowledge of their age. They knew nothing regarding the composition of water or the atmosphere, of the cause of thunder and lightning, or of the chemical changes effected in soils by the action of bacteria. They attributed all natural phenomena to the operations of spirits or G.o.ds.

In believing that certain demons caused certain diseases, they may be said to have achieved distinct progress, for they antic.i.p.ated the germ theory. They made discoveries, too, which have been approved and elaborated in later times when they lit sacred fires, bathed in sacred waters, and used oils and herbs to charm away spirits of pestilence.

Indeed, many folk cures, which were originally a.s.sociated with magical ceremonies, are still practised in our own day. They were found to be effective by early observers, although they were unable to explain why and how cures were accomplished, like modern scientific investigators.

In peopling the Universe with spirits, the Babylonians, like other ancient folks, betrayed that tendency to symbolize everything which has ever appealed to the human mind. Our painters and poets and sculptors are greatest when they symbolize their ideals and ideas and impressions, and by so doing make us respond to their moods. Their "beauty and their terror are sublime". But what may seem poetic to us, was invariably a grim reality to the Babylonians. The statue or picture was not merely a work of art but a manifestation of the G.o.d or demon. As has been said, they believed that the spirit of the G.o.d inhabited the idol; the frown of the brazen image was the frown of the wicked demon. They entertained as much dread of the winged and human-headed bulls guarding the entrance to the royal palace as do some of the Arab workmen who, in our own day, a.s.sist excavators to rescue them from sandy mounds in which they have been hidden for long centuries.

When an idol was carried away from a city by an invading army, it was believed that the G.o.d himself had been taken prisoner, and was therefore unable any longer to help his people.

In the early stages of Sumerian culture, the G.o.ds and G.o.ddesses who formed groups were indistinguishable from demons. They were vaguely defined, and had changing shapes. When attempts were made to depict them they were represented in many varying forms. Some were winged bulls or lions with human heads; others had even more remarkable composite forms. The "dragon of Babylon", for instance, which was portrayed on walls of temples, had a serpent's head, a body covered with scales, the fore legs of a lion, hind legs of an eagle, and a long wriggling serpentine tail. Ea had several monster forms. The following description of one of these is repulsive enough:--

The head is the head of a serpent, From his nostrils mucus trickles, His mouth is beslavered with water; The ears are like those of a basilisk, His horns are twisted into three curls, He wears a veil in his head band, The body is a suh-fish full of stars, The base of his feet are claws, The sole of his foot has no heel, His name is Sa.s.su-wunnu, A sea monster, a form of Ea.

_R.C. Thompson's Translation._[79]

Even after the G.o.ds were given beneficent attributes to reflect the growth of culture, and were humanized, they still retained many of their savage characteristics. Bel Enlil and his fierce son, Nergal, were destroyers of mankind; the storm G.o.d desolated the land; the sky G.o.d deluged it with rain; the sea raged furiously, ever hungering for human victims; the burning sun struck down its victims; and the floods played havoc with the d.y.k.es and houses of human beings. In Egypt the sun G.o.d Ra was similarly a "producer of calamity", the composite monster G.o.d Sokar was "the lord of fear".[80] Osiris in prehistoric times had been "a dangerous G.o.d", and some of the Pharaohs sought protection against him in the charms inscribed in their tombs.[81] The Indian Shiva, "the Destroyer", in the old religious poems has also primitive attributes of like character.

The Sumerian G.o.ds never lost their connection with the early spirit groups. These continued to be represented by their attendants, who executed a deity's stern and vengeful decrees. In one of the Babylonian charms the demons are referred to as "the spleen of the G.o.ds"--the symbols of their wrathful emotions and vengeful desires.

Bel Enlil, the air and earth G.o.d, was served by the demons of disease, "the beloved sons of Bel", which issued from the Underworld to attack mankind. Nergal, the sulky and ill-tempered lord of death and destruction, who never lost his demoniac character, swept over the land, followed by the spirits of pestilence, sunstroke, weariness, and destruction. Anu, the sky G.o.d, had "sp.a.w.ned" at creation the demons of cold and rain and darkness. Even Ea and his consort, Damkina, were served by groups of devils and giants, which preyed upon mankind in bleak and desolate places when night fell. In the ocean home of Ea were bred the "seven evil spirits" of tempest--the gaping dragon, the leopard which preyed upon children, the great Beast, the terrible serpent, &c.

In Indian mythology Indra was similarly followed by the stormy Maruts, and fierce Rudra by the tempestuous Rudras. In Teutonic mythology Odin is the "Wild Huntsman in the Raging Host". In Greek mythology the ocean furies attend upon fickle Poseidon. Other examples of this kind could be multiplied.

As we have seen (Chapter II) the earliest group of Babylonian deities consisted probably of four pairs of G.o.ds and G.o.ddesses as in Egypt.

The first pair was Apsu-Rishtu and Tiamat, who personified the primordial deep. Now the elder deities in most mythologies--the "grandsires" and "grandmothers" and "fathers" and "mothers"--are ever the most powerful and most vengeful. They appear to represent primitive "layers" of savage thought. The Greek Cronos devours even his own children, and, as the late Andrew Lang has shown, there are many parallels to this myth among primitive peoples in various parts of the world.

Lang regarded the Greek survival as an example of "the conservatism of the religious instinct".[82] The grandmother of the Teutonic deity Tyr was a fierce giantess with nine hundred heads; his father was an enemy of the G.o.ds. In Scotland the hag-mother of winter and storm and darkness is the enemy of growth and all life, and she raises storms to stop the gra.s.s growing, to slay young animals, and prevent the union of her son with his fair bride. Similarly the Babylonian chaos spirits, Apsu and Tiamat, the father and mother of the G.o.ds, resolve to destroy their offspring, because they begin to set the Universe in order. Tiamat, the female dragon, is more powerful than her husband Apsu, who is slain by his son Ea. She summons to her aid the G.o.ds of evil, and creates also a brood of monsters--serpents, dragons, vipers, fish men, raging hounds, &c.--so as to bring about universal and enduring confusion and evil. Not until she is destroyed can the beneficent G.o.ds establish law and order and make the earth habitable and beautiful.

But although Tiamat was slain, the everlasting battle between the forces of good and evil was ever waged in the Babylonian world.

Certain evil spirits were let loose at certain periods, and they strove to accomplish the destruction of mankind and his works. These invisible enemies were either charmed away by performing magical ceremonies, or by invoking the G.o.ds to thwart them and bind them.

Other spirits inhabited the bodies of animals and were ever hovering near. The ghosts of the dead and male and female demons were birds, like the birds of Fate which sang to Siegfried. When the owl raised its melancholy voice in the darkness the listener heard the spirit of a departed mother crying for her child. Ghosts and evil spirits wandered through the streets in darkness; they haunted empty houses; they fluttered through the evening air as bats; they hastened, moaning dismally, across barren wastes searching for food or lay in wait for travellers; they came as roaring lions and howling jackals, hungering for human flesh. The "shedu" was a destructive bull which might slay man wantonly or as a protector of temples. Of like character was the "lama.s.su", depicted as a winged bull with human head, the protector of palaces; the "alu" was a bull-like demon of tempest, and there were also many composite, distorted, or formless monsters which were vaguely termed "seizers" or "overthrowers", the Semitic "labashu" and "ach-chazu", the Sumerian "dimmea" and "dimme-kur". A dialectic form of "gallu" or devil was "mulla". Professor Pinches thinks it not improbable that "mulla" may be connected with the word "mula", meaning "star", and suggests that it referred to a "will-o'-the-wisp".[83] In these islands, according to an old rhyme,

Some call him Robin Good-fellow, Hob-goblin, or mad Crisp, And some againe doe tearme him oft By name of Will the Wisp.

Other names are "Kitty", "Peg", and "Jack with a lantern". "Poor Robin" sang: