The Religion of Babylonia and Assyria Part 41

[649] Still further misplaced.

[650] Where the young one was born.

[651] _I.e._, the flocks.

[652] Boissler's text has 'man,'--probably in error for 'king.'

[653] IIIR. 65, no. 2, obverse.

[654] Of the master.

[655] Lit., 'cut off.'

[656] Of the owner.

[657] The wife of the owner of the mare appears to be meant.

[658] See above, p. 138.

[659] See Jevons, _Introduction to the History of Religion_, chapters vi.-ix.

[660] Robertson Smith; _Religion of the Semites_, pp. 143, 273.

[661] Lenormant, _Choix des Textes Cuneiformes,_ no. 89; Boissier, _Doc.u.ments, etc._, p. 104.

[662] _I.e._, the ruler of the palace.

[663] Lit., 'dark colored.'

[664] 'Not,' perhaps omitted.

[665] Boissier, p. 103.

[666] By vomiting on him.

[667] Out of which one eats.

[668] _I.e._, keep away from it.

[669] See p. 182.

[670] According to Hilprecht (_Old Babylonian Inscriptions_, I. part 2, p. 35), 'a goose or similar water-bird' was originally pictured by the sign, though he admits that the picture was 'later' used for swallow.

[671] _Vorgeschichte der Indo-Europaer,_ pp. 451-55.

[672] The term used is _Unagga_, Bezold's _Catalogue of the Koujunjik Collection_, p. 1841. See Jensen, _Kosmologie_, p. 153.

[673] Bezold, _Catalogue_, p. 1710.

[674] Boissier, _Doc.u.ments, etc_., pp. 3, 4.

[675] Bezold, _Catalogue_, pp. 1437, 1438.

[676] Bezold, _ib._ p. 918.

[677] _I.e._, over him.

[678] Chapter ii. 4-6.

[679] Chapter ii. 31-35, and vii. 2-12.

CHAPTER XXI.

THE COSMOLOGY OF THE BABYLONIANS.

Various traditions were current in Babylonia regarding the manner in which the universe came into existence. The labors of the theologians to systematize these traditions did not succeed in bringing about their unification. Somewhat like in the Book of Genesis, where two versions of the creation story have been combined by some editor,[680] so portions of what were clearly two independent versions have been found among the remains of Babylonian literature. But whereas in the Old Testament the two versions are presented in combination so as to form a harmonic whole, the two Babylonian versions continued to exist side by side.

There is no reason to suppose that the versions were limited to two. In fact, a variant to an important episode in the creation story has been discovered which points to a third version.[681]

The suggestion has been thrown out that these various versions arose in the various religious centers of the Euphrates Valley. So far as the editing of the versions is concerned, the suggestion is worthy of consideration, for it is hardly reasonable to suppose that the theological schools of one and the same place should have developed more than one cosmological system. The traditions themselves, however, apart from the literary form which they eventually a.s.sumed, need not have been limited to certain districts nor have been peculiar to the place where the systematization took place. Nothing is more common than the interchange of myths and popular traditions. They travel from one place to the other, and contradictory accounts of one and the same event may be circulated, and find credence in one and the same place.

The two distinct Babylonian versions of the creation of the world that have up to the present time been found, have come to us in a fragmentary form. Of the one, indeed, only some forty lines exist, and these are introduced incidentally in an incantation text;[682] of the other version, portions of six tablets[683] have been recovered; while of two fragments it is doubtful[684] whether they belong to this same version or represent a third version, as does certainly a fragment containing a variant account of the episode described in the fourth tablet of the larger group. The fragments of the longer version--in all 23--enable us to form a tolerably complete picture of the Babylonian cosmology, and with the help of numerous allusions in historical, religious and astronomical texts and in cla.s.sical writers, we can furthermore fill out some of the gaps.

Taking up the longer version, which must for the present serve as our chief source for the cosmology of the Babylonians, it is important to note at the outset that the series const.i.tutes, in reality, a grand hymn in honor of Marduk. The account of the beginning of things and of the order of creation is but incidental to an episode which is intended to ill.u.s.trate the greatness of Marduk, the head of the Babylonian pantheon.

This episode is the conquest of a great monster known as Tiamat,--a personification, as we shall see, of primaeval chaos. What follows upon this episode, likewise turns upon the overshadowing personality of Marduk. This prominence given to Marduk points of course to Babylon as the place where the early traditions received their literary form.

Instead of designating the series as a 'Creation Epic' it would be quite as appropriate to call it 'The Epic of Marduk.'

The G.o.d of Babylon is the hero of the story. To him the creation of the heavenly bodies is ascribed. It is he who brings order and light into the world. He supplants the roles originally belonging to other G.o.ds.

Bel and Ea give way to him. Anu and the other great G.o.ds cheerfully acknowledge Marduk's power. The early traditions have all been colored by the endeavor to glorify Marduk; and since Marduk is one of the latest of the G.o.ds to come into prominence, we must descend some centuries below Hammurabi before reaching a period when Marduk's position was so generally recognized as to lead to a transformation of popular traditions at the hands of the theologians.

The evident purpose of the 'epic' to glorify Marduk also accounts for the imperfect manner in which the creation of the universe is recounted.

Only the general points are touched upon. Many details are omitted which in a cosmological epic, composed for the specific purpose of setting forth the order of creation, would hardly have been wanting. In this respect, the Babylonian version again resembles the Biblical account of creation, which is similarly marked by its brevity, and is as significant for its omissions as for what it contains.

It but remains before pa.s.sing on to an a.n.a.lysis of the 'epic' to note the great care bestowed upon its literary form. This is evidenced not only by the poetic diction, but by its metrical form,--a point to which Budge was the first to direct attention[685] and which Zimmern[686]

clearly established. Each line consists of two divisions, and as a general thing four or eight lines const.i.tute a stanza. The principle of parallelism, so characteristic of Biblical poetry, is also introduced, though not consistently carried out.

The epic was known from its opening words as the series 'when above.'

Through this name we are certain of possessing a portion of the first tablet--but alas! only a portion. A fragment of fifteen lines and these imperfectly preserved is all that has as yet been found. So far as decipherable, it reads:

There was a time when above the heaven was not named.[687]

Below, the earth bore no name.

Apsu was there, the original, their begettor,[2]

Mummu [and] Tiamat, the mother of them all.[688]

But their waters[689] were gathered together in a ma.s.s.

No field was marked off, no marsh[690] was seen.