Myths of Babylonia and Assyria Part 7

The moon G.o.d Sin, "the seed of mankind", was darkened by the demons who raged, "rushing loose over the land" like to the wind. Bel called upon his messenger, whom he sent to Ea in the ocean depths, saying: "My son Sin ... hath been grievously bedimmed". Ea lamented, and dispatched his son Merodach to net the demons by magic, using "a two-coloured cord from the hair of a virgin kid and from the wool of a virgin lamb".[101]

As in India, where s.h.i.tala, the Bengali G.o.ddess of smallpox, for instance, is worshipped when the dreaded disease she controls becomes epidemic, so in Babylonia the people sought to secure immunity from attack by worshipping spirits of disease. A tablet relates that Ura, a plague demon, once resolved to destroy all life, but ultimately consented to spare those who praised his name and exalted him in recognition of his bravery and power. This could be accomplished by reciting a formula. Indian serpent worshippers believe that their devotions "destroy all danger proceeding from snakes".[102]

Like the Ancient Egyptians, the Babylonians also had their kindly spirits who brought luck and the various enjoyments of life. A good "labartu" might attend on a human being like a household fairy of India or Europe: a friendly "shedu" could protect a household against the attacks of fierce demons and human enemies. Even the spirits of Fate who served Anu, G.o.d of the sky, and that "Norn" of the Underworld, Eresh-ki-gal, queen of Hades, might sometimes be propitious: if the deities were successfully invoked they could cause the Fates to smite spirits of disease and bringers of ill luck. Damu, a friendly fairy G.o.ddess, was well loved, because she inspired pleasant dreams, relieved the sufferings of the afflicted, and restored to good health those patients whom she selected to favour.

In the Egyptian _Book of the Dead_ the kindly spirits are overshadowed by the evil ones, because the various magical spells which were put on record were directed against those supernatural beings who were enemies of mankind. Similarly in Babylonia the fragments of this cla.s.s of literature which survive deal mainly with wicked and vengeful demons. It appears probable, however, that the highly emotional Sumerians and Akkadians were on occasion quite as cheerful a people as the inhabitants of ancient Egypt. Although they were surrounded by bloodthirsty furies who desired to shorten their days, and their nights were filled with vague lowering phantoms which inspired fear, they no doubt shared, in their charm-protected houses, a comfortable feeling of security after performing magical ceremonies, and were happy enough when they gathered round flickering lights to listen to ancient song and story and gossip about crops and traders, the members of the royal house, and the family affairs of their acquaintances.

The Babylonian spirit world, it will be seen, was of complex character. Its inhabitants were numberless, but often vaguely defined, and one cla.s.s of demons linked with another. Like the European fairies of folk belief, the Babylonian spirits were extremely hostile and irresistible at certain seasonal periods; and they were fickle and perverse and difficult to please even when inclined to be friendly.

They were also similarly manifested from time to time in various forms. Sometimes they were comely and beautiful; at other times they were apparitions of horror. The Jinn of present-day Arabians are of like character; these may be giants, cloudy shapes, comely women, serpents or cats, goats or pigs.

Some of the composite monsters of Babylonia may suggest the vague and exaggerated recollections of terror-stricken people who have had glimpses of unfamiliar wild beasts in the dusk or amidst reedy marshes. But they cannot be wholly accounted for in this way. While animals were often identified with supernatural beings, and foreigners were called "devils", it would be misleading to a.s.sert that the spirit world reflects confused folk memories of human and b.e.s.t.i.a.l enemies.

Even when a demon was given concrete human form it remained essentially non-human: no ordinary weapon could inflict an injury, and it was never controlled by natural laws. The spirits of disease and tempest and darkness were creations of fancy: they symbolized moods; they were the causes which explained effects. A sculptor or storyteller who desired to convey an impression of a spirit of storm or pestilence created monstrous forms to inspire terror. Sudden and unexpected visits of fierce and devastating demons were accounted for by a.s.serting that they had wings like eagles, were nimble-footed as gazelles, cunning and watchful as serpents; that they had claws to clutch, horns to gore, and powerful fore legs like a lion to smite down victims. Withal they drank blood like ravens and devoured corpses like hyaenas. Monsters were all the more repulsive when they were partly human. The human-headed snake or the snake-headed man and the man with the horns of a wild bull and the legs of a goat were horrible in the extreme. Evil spirits might sometimes achieve success by practising deception. They might appear as beautiful girls or handsome men and seize unsuspecting victims in deathly embrace or leave them demented and full of grief, or come as birds and suddenly a.s.sume awesome shapes.

Fairies and elves, and other half-human demons, are sometimes regarded as degenerate G.o.ds. It will be seen, however, that while certain spirits developed into deities, others remained something between these two cla.s.ses of supernatural beings: they might attend upon G.o.ds and G.o.ddesses, or operate independently now against mankind and now against deities even. The "namtaru", for instance, was a spirit of fate, the son of Bel-Enlil and Eresh-ki-gal, queen of Hades.

"Apparently", writes Professor Pinches, "he executed the instructions given him concerning the fate of men, and could also have power over certain of the G.o.ds."[103] To this middle cla.s.s belong the evil G.o.ds who rebelled against the beneficent deities. According to Hebridean folk belief, the fallen angels are divided into three cla.s.ses--the fairies, the "nimble men" (aurora borealis), and the "blue men of the Minch". In _Beowulf_ the "brood of Cain" includes "monsters and elves and sea-devils--giants also, who long time fought with G.o.d, for which he gave them their reward".[104] Similarly the Babylonian spirit groups are liable to division and subdivision. The various cla.s.ses may be regarded as relics of the various stages of development from crude animism to sublime monotheism: in the fragmentary legends we trace the floating material from which great mythologies have been framed.

CHAPTER V.

MYTHS OF TAMMUZ AND ISHTAR

Forms of Tammuz--The Weeping Ceremony--Tammuz the Patriarch and the Dying G.o.d--Common Origin of Tammuz and other Deities from an Archaic G.o.d--The Mediterranean Racial Myth--Animal Forms of G.o.ds of Fertility--Two Legends of the Death of Tammuz--Attis, Adonis, and Diarmid Slain by a Boar--Laments for Tammuz--His Soul in Underworld and the Deep--Myth of the Child G.o.d of Ocean--Sargon Myth Version--The Germanic Scyld of the Sheaf--Tammuz Links with Frey, Heimdal, Agni, &c.--a.s.syrian Legend of "Descent of Ishtar"--Sumerian Version--The Sister Belit-sheri and the Mother Ishtar--The Egyptian Isis and Nepthys--G.o.ddesses as Mothers, Sisters, and Wives--Great Mothers of Babylonia--Immortal G.o.ddesses and Dying G.o.ds--The Various Indras--Celtic G.o.ddess with Seven Periods of Youth--Lovers of Germanic and Cla.s.sic G.o.ddesses--The Lovers of Ishtar--Racial Significance of G.o.ddess Cult--The Great Fathers and their Worshippers--Process of Racial and Religious Fusion--Ishtar and Tiamat--Mother Worship in Palestine--Women among G.o.ddess Worshippers.

Among the G.o.ds of Babylonia none achieved wider and more enduring fame than Tammuz, who was loved by Ishtar, the amorous Queen of Heaven--the beautiful youth who died and was mourned for and came to life again. He does not figure by his popular name in any of the city pantheons, but from the earliest times of which we have knowledge until the pa.s.sing of Babylonian civilization, he played a prominent part in the religious life of the people.

Tammuz, like Osiris of Egypt, was an agricultural deity, and as the Babylonian harvest was the gift of the rivers, it is probable that one of his several forms was Dumu-zi-abzu, "Tammuz of the Abyss". He was also "the child", "the heroic lord", "the sentinel", "the healer", and the patriarch who reigned over the early Babylonians for a considerable period. "Tammuz of the Abyss" was one of the members of the family of Ea, G.o.d of the Deep, whose other sons, in addition to Merodach, were Nira, an obscure deity; Ki-gulla, "world destroyer", Burnunta-sa, "broad ear", and Bara and Baragulla, probably "revealers"

or "oracles". In addition there was a daughter, Khi-dimme-azaga, "child of the renowned spirit". She may have been identical with Belit-sheri, who is referred to in the Sumerian hymns as the sister of Tammuz. This family group was probably formed by symbolizing the attributes of Ea and his spouse Damkina. Tammuz, in his character as a patriarch, may have been regarded as a hostage from the G.o.ds: the human form of Ea, who instructed mankind, like King Osiris, how to grow corn and cultivate fruit trees. As the youth who perished annually, he was the corn spirit. He is referred to in the Bible by his Babylonian name.

When Ezekiel detailed the various idolatrous practices of the Israelites, which included the worship of the sun and "every form of creeping things and abominable beasts"--a suggestion of the composite monsters of Babylonia--he was brought "to the door of the gate of the Lord's house, which was towards the north; and, behold, there sat women weeping for Tammuz".[105]

The weeping ceremony was connected with agricultural rites. Corn deities were weeping deities, they shed fertilizing tears; and the sowers simulated the sorrow of divine mourners when they cast seed in the soil "to die", so that it might spring up as corn. This ancient custom, like many others, contributed to the poetic imagery of the Bible. "They that sow in tears", David sang, "shall reap in joy. He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him."[106] In Egypt the priestesses who acted the parts of Isis and Nepthys, mourned for the slain corn G.o.d Osiris.

G.o.ds and men before the face of the G.o.ds are weeping for thee at the same time, when they behold me!...

All thy sister G.o.ddesses are at thy side and behind thy couch, Calling upon thee with weeping--yet thou are prostrate upon thy bed!...

Live before us, desiring to behold thee.[107]

It was believed to be essential that human beings should share the universal sorrow caused by the death of a G.o.d. If they remained unsympathetic, the deities would punish them as enemies. Worshippers of nature G.o.ds, therefore, based their ceremonial practices on natural phenomena. "The dread of the worshippers that the neglect of the usual ritual would be followed by disaster, is particularly intelligible", writes Professor Robertson Smith, "if they regarded the necessary operations of agriculture as involving the violent extinction of a particle of divine life."[108] By observing their ritual, the worshippers won the sympathy and co-operation of deities, or exercised a magical control over nature.

The Babylonian myth of Tammuz, the dying G.o.d, bears a close resemblance to the Greek myth of Adonis. It also links with the myth of Osiris. According to Professor Sayce, Tammuz is identical with "Daonus or Daos, the shepherd of Pantibibla", referred to by Berosus as the ruler of one of the mythical ages of Babylonia. We have therefore to deal with Tammuz in his twofold character as a patriarch and a G.o.d of fertility.

The Adonis version of the myth may be summarized briefly. Ere the G.o.d was born, his mother, who was pursued by her angry sire, as the river G.o.ddesses of the folk tales are pursued by the well demons, transformed herself into a tree. Adonis sprang from the trunk of this tree, and Aphrodite, having placed the child in a chest, committed him to the care of Persephone, queen of Hades, who resembles the Babylonian Eresh-ki-gal. Persephone desired to retain the young G.o.d, and Aphrodite (Ishtar) appealed to Zeus (Anu), who decreed that Adonis should spend part of the year with one G.o.ddess and part of the year with the other.

It is suggested that the myth of Adonis was derived in post-Homeric times by the Greeks indirectly from Babylonia through the Western Semites, the Semitic t.i.tle "Adon", meaning "lord", having been mistaken for a proper name. This theory, however, cannot be accepted without qualifications. It does not explain the existence of either the Phrygian myth of Attis, which was developed differently from the Tammuz myth, or the Celtic story of "Diarmid and the boar", which belongs to the archaeological "Hunting Period". There are traces in Greek mythology of pre-h.e.l.lenic myths about dying harvest deities, like Hyakinthos and Erigone, for instance, who appear to have been mourned for. There is every possibility, therefore, that the Tammuz ritual may have been attached to a harvest G.o.d of the pre-h.e.l.lenic Greeks, who received at the same time the new name of Adonis. Osiris of Egypt resembles Tammuz, but his Mesopotamian origin has not been proved. It would appear probable that Tammuz, Attis, Osiris, and the deities represented by Adonis and Diarmid were all developed from an archaic G.o.d of fertility and vegetation, the central figure of a myth which was not only as ancient as the knowledge and practice of agriculture, but had existence even in the "Hunting Period". Traces of the Tammuz-Osiris story in various forms are found all over the area occupied by the Mediterranean or Brown race from Sumeria to the British Isles. Apparently the original myth was connected with tree and water worship and the worship of animals. Adonis sprang from a tree; the body of Osiris was concealed in a tree which grew round the sea-drifted chest in which he was concealed. Diarmid concealed himself in a tree when pursued by Finn. The blood of Tammuz, Osiris, and Adonis reddened the swollen rivers which fertilized the soil. Various animals were a.s.sociated with the harvest G.o.d, who appears to have been manifested from time to time in different forms, for his spirit pervaded all nature. In Egypt the soul of Osiris entered the Apis bull or the ram of Mendes.

Tammuz in the hymns is called "the pre-eminent steer of heaven", and a popular sacrifice was "a white kid of the G.o.d Tammuz", which, however, might be subst.i.tuted by a sucking pig. Osiris had also a.s.sociations with swine, and the Egyptians, according to Herodotus, sacrificed a pig to him annually. When Set at full moon hunted the boar in the Delta marshes, he probably hunted the boar form of Osiris, whose human body had been recovered from the sacred tree by Isis. As the soul of Bata, the hero of the Egyptian folk tale,[109] migrated from the blossom to the bull, and the bull to the tree, so apparently did the soul of Osiris pa.s.s from incarnation to incarnation. Set, the demon slayer of the harvest G.o.d, had also a boar form; he was the black pig who devoured the waning moon and blinded the Eye of Ra.

In his character as a long-lived patriarch, Tammuz, the King Daonus or Daos of Berosus, reigned in Babylonia for 36,000 years. When he died, he departed to Hades or the Abyss. Osiris, after reigning over the Egyptians, became Judge of the Dead.

Tammuz of the Sumerian hymns, however, is the Adonis-like G.o.d who lived on earth for a part of the year as the shepherd and agriculturist so dearly beloved by the G.o.ddess Ishtar. Then he died so that he might depart to the realm of Eresh-ki-gal (Persephone), queen of Hades. According to one account, his death was caused by the fickle Ishtar. When that G.o.ddess wooed Gilgamesh, the Babylonian Hercules, he upbraided her, saying:

On Tammuz, the spouse of thy youth, Thou didst lay affliction every year.

_King's Translation_.

References in the Sumerian hymns suggest that there also existed a form of the legend which gave an account of the slaying of the young G.o.d by someone else than Ishtar. The slayer may have been a Set-like demon--perhaps Nin-shach, who appears to have symbolized the destroying influence of the sun. He was a war deity, and his name, Professor Pinches says, "is conjectured to mean 'lord of the wild boar'". There is no direct evidence, however, to connect Tammuz's slayer with the boar which killed Adonis. Ishtar's innocence is emphasized by the fact that she mourned for her youthful lover, crying:

Oh hero, my lord, ah me! I will say; Food I eat not ... water I drink not ...

Because of the exalted one of the nether world, him of the radiant face, yea radiant, Of the exalted one of the nether world, him of the dove-like voice, yea dove-like.[110]

The Phrygian Attis met his death, according to one legend, by self-mutilation under a sacred tree. Another account sets forth, however, that he was slain by a boar. The Greek Adonis was similarly killed by a boar. This animal was a form of Ares (Mars), G.o.d of war and tempest, who also loved Aphrodite (Ishtar). The Celtic Diarmid, in his character as a love G.o.d, with lunar attributes, was slain by "the green boar", which appears to have been one of the animals of a ferocious Hag, an earth and air "mother" with various names. In one of the many Fingalian stories the animal is

... That venomous boar, and he so fierce, That Grey Eyebrows had with her herd of swine.[111]

Diarmid had eloped with the wife of Finn-mac-Coul (Fingal), who, like Ares, plotted to bring about his rival's death, and accordingly set the young hero to hunt the boar. As a thunder G.o.d Finn carried a hammer with which he smote his shield; the blows were heard in Lochlann (Scandinavia). Diarmid, like Tammuz, the "G.o.d of the tender voice and shining eyes", had much beauty. When he expired, Finn cried:

No maiden will raise her eye Since the mould has gone over thy visage fair...

Blue without rashness in thine eye!

Pa.s.sion and beauty behind thy curls!...

Oh, yesternight it was green the hillock, Red is it this day with Diarmid's blood.[112]

Tammuz died with the dying vegetation, and Diarmid expired when the hills apparently were a.s.suming their purple tints.[113] The month of Tammuz wailings was from 20th June till 20th July, when the heat and dryness brought forth the demons of pestilence. The mourners chanted:

He has gone, he has gone to the bosom of the earth, And the dead are numerous in the land....

Men are filled with sorrow: they stagger by day in gloom ...

In the month of thy year which brings not peace hast thou gone.

Thou hast gone on a journey that makes an end of thy people.

The following extract contains a reference to the slaying of the G.o.d:

The holy one of Ishtar, in the middle of the year the fields languish...

The shepherd, the wise one, the man of sorrows, why have they slain?...

In his temple, in his inhabited domain, The child, lord of knowledge, abides no more...

In the meadows, verily, verily, the soul of life perishes.

There is wailing for Tammuz "at the sacred cedar, where the mother bore thee", a reference which connects the G.o.d, like Adonis and Osiris, with tree worship:

The wailing is for the herbs: the first lament is, "they are not produced".

The wailing is for the grain, ears are not produced.

The wailing is for the habitations, for the flocks which bring forth no more.

The wailing is for the perishing wedded ones; for the perishing children; the dark-headed people create no more.

The wailing is also for the shrunken river, the parched meadows, the fishpools, the cane brakes, the forests, the plains, the gardens, and the palace, which all suffer because the G.o.d of fertility has departed. The mourner cries:

How long shall the springing of verdure be restrained?