The Religion of Babylonia and Assyria Part 60

The earth appears as a mountain, the sea has become a pool (?).

A second double hour he (_i.e._, the eagle) carried him on high.

The eagle spoke to Etana: Look, my friend, how the earth appears; The sea is a mere belt (?) around the earth.

A third double hour he carried him on high.

The eagle spoke to Etana: Look, my friend, how the earth appears; The sea is a mere gardener's ditch.[1024]

In this way they reach the gate of Anu, Bel, and Ea in safety, where they take a rest. The eagle is not yet satisfied, and urges Etana to follow him to the domain of Ishtar.

Come, my friend [let me carry thee to Ishtar], With Ishtar, the mistress [of the G.o.ds, thou shall dwell], In the glory of Ishtar, the mistress of the G.o.ds, [thou shall sit?].

On my side place thy side, On my pinion place thy palms.

The G.o.ds, it will be seen, dwell on high in accordance with the view developed by astronomical speculations.[1025] Anu, Bel, and Ea are here evidently identified with the fixed stars bearing their names,[1026]

while under Ishtar the planet Ishtar-Venus is meant. Etana yields to the eagle's suggestion. They mount still higher. Earth and ocean grow still smaller, the former appearing only as large as 'a garden bed,' the latter like 'a courtyard.' For three double hours they fly. Etana appears to warn the eagle to desist from his rash intention, but the warning comes too late. Etana and the eagle are thrown down from the lofty regions. With lightning speed the descent takes place, until the two reach the ground. The further course of the narrative is obscure.

Was Etana punished by being sent to the nether world, where we find him in the Gilgamesh epic?[1027] There is a reference, unfortunately quite obscure, to the death of Etana, and perhaps to his shade,[1028] in a portion of the tablet. One certainly expects both Etana and the eagle to be punished for their rash act, but until we can determine with certainty what became of both, and with what purport the tale is introduced into the career of Etana, the question must be left open, as also the possibility of a connection between this flight of Etana and the similar Greek myth of Ganymede. The introduction of the eagle points clearly to the mythological character of the tale, but flights of eagles occur so frequently in the myths and legends of various nations that no great stress is to be laid upon further parallels that might be adduced.[1029] The story found in Aelian and which has already been referred to[1030] alone calls for mention here. According to this story, Gilgamesh, whose birth is feared by his cruel grandfather Sokkaros, king of Babylonia, is thrown from the tower where his mother was imprisoned and in which he was born, but in falling is caught by an eagle and taken to a gardener who rears the child. The eagle being the a.s.sociate of Etana, the suspicion is justified that the child thus miraculously saved is in reality Etana and not Gilgamesh. At all events, there must be some connection between the story of Aelian and the Babylonian legend under consideration. The fate of the eagle is recounted in another tablet of the Etana series,[1031] which again furnishes an episode paralleled in the mythologies of other nations.

The eagle has lost favor with Shamash. Enmity has arisen between the eagle and the serpent, and, curiously enough, the latter stands under the protection of the sun-G.o.d. What the cause of the enmity between eagle and serpent was, may have been recounted in a missing portion of the tablet. The eagle forms a plan of destroying the serpent's brood. He is warned against this act by a young eagle, who is designated as a 'very clever young one.'

Do not eat, O my father, the net of Shamash is laid (?); The trap, the ban of Shamash, will fall upon thee and catch thee.

Who transgresses the law of Shamash, from him Shamash will exact revenge.

But the eagle, we are told, paid no heed to the warning.

He descended and ate of the young of the serpent.

The serpent appeals to Shamash. He tells the sun-G.o.d of the cruel deed of the eagle:

See, O Shamash, the evil that he has done to me.

Help (?), O Shamash, thy net is the broad earth.

Thy trap is the distant heavens.

Who can escape thy net?[1032]

Zu,[1033] the worker of evil, the source of evil [did not escape?[1034]].

Shamash responds to the appeal:

Upon his hearing the lament of the serpent, Shamash opened his mouth and spoke to the serpent: Go and ascend the mountain; The carca.s.s of a wild ox make thy hiding-place.

Open him, tear open his belly.

Make a dwelling place [of his belly].

All the birds of heaven will come down; The eagle with them will come down.

Upon penetrating to the meat he will hastily proceed, Making for the hidden parts.[1035]

As soon as he has reached the inside,[1036] seize him by his wing, Tear out his wing, his feather (?), his pinion, Tear him to pieces, and throw him into a corner, To die a death of hunger and thirst.

This devilish plan is successfully carried out. With considerable skill the narrative describes how the eagle, suspecting some mischief, did not join the other birds, but when he saw that they escaped without harm felt rea.s.sured. He tells his brood:

Come, let us go and let us also pounce down upon the carca.s.s of the wild ox and eat, we too.

The eagle is again warned by his "very clever" offspring. The rest of his brood join in the appeal, but

He did not hearken to them, and obeyed not the advice of his brood, He swooped down and stood upon the wild ox.

Still, he is not entirely free from suspicion, and the narrative continues:

The eagle inspected the carca.s.s, looking carefully to the front and behind him.

He again inspected the carca.s.s, looking carefully to the front and behind him.

Detecting nothing to justify his suspicions, he digs his beak into the carca.s.s, but scarcely has he done so when the serpent seizes hold of him. The eagle cries for mercy, and promises the serpent a present of whatever he desires. The serpent is relentless. To release the eagle would be to play false to Shamash.

If I release thee ...

Thy punishment will be transferred to me.

Thus the serpent justifies what he is about to do. In accordance with the instructions of the sun-G.o.d, the eagle is stripped of his wings and feathers, and left to die a miserable death. In its present form this tale of the eagle and serpent forms part of the Etana story.[1037]

Jeremias is right in questioning whether it originally had anything to do with Etana.[1038] Two distinct stories have been combined, much as in the Gilgamesh epic several tales have been thrown together. The a.s.sociation of Etana with the eagle suggests the introduction of the episode of the eagle's discomfiture. If one may judge of the two episodes related of Etana, he is not a personage regarded with favor by the compilers. In both episodes we find him in distress. His flight with the eagle is regarded as a defiance of the G.o.ds, though more blame attaches to the eagle than to him. Shamash can hardly have regarded with favor the ambition of a human being to mount to the dwelling of the G.o.ds. Gilgamesh makes no such attempt, and Parnapishtim is not carried on high, but to "the confluence of the streams." Gilgamesh, it will also be recalled, is unable to pa.s.s to the nether world where Eabani is placed, and in the following chapter we will come across a tale intended to ill.u.s.trate the impossibility of any one ever returning from the hollow under the earth where the dead dwell. The story of Etana appears, therefore, to emphasize the equal impossibility for any mortal to ascend to the dwelling of the G.o.ds. Etana is deified, but he belongs permanently to the region where all mortals go after their career on earth is ended,--the nether world. One gains the impression, therefore, that Etana is a hero of antiquity who is not approved of by the Babylonian priests. Similarly, the conflict between the eagle and the serpent suggests an opposition to the view which makes the eagle the symbol and messenger of Shamash. The eagle recalls the winged disc, the symbol of Ashur,[1039] and the eagle occurs also as a standard among the Hitt.i.tes,[1040] with whom, as we know, the Babylonians came into contact. The story of Shamash, himself, laying the trap for the eagle looks like a myth produced with some specific intent, an ill.u.s.tration of legitimate sun-worship against rival cults. As a matter of course, in the case of such a myth, it is difficult to say where its popular character ends and the speculative or scholastic theory begins. But whatever may have been the original purport of the tale, for our purposes its significance consists in the view unfolded of Shamash as the one who wreaks vengeance on the evil-doer. Shamash appears in the episode in the role of the just judge that characterizes him in the hymns and incantations. Etana's reliance upon the eagle leads to disgrace and defeat. In a representation of the hero's flight on a seal cylinder,[1041] the disapproval of the act is indicated by the addition of two dogs in a crouching position, their gaze directed towards the bird. The dogs are a symbol of the solar-G.o.d Marduk.[1042]

The Legend of Dibbarra.

Of more direct religious import is a story recounted in a series comprising five tablets of the deeds of the war and plague-G.o.d whose name is provisionally read Dibbarra.[1043] He is a solar deity identified in the theological system of the Babylonians with Nergal, but originally distinct and in all probability one of the numerous local solar deities of Babylonia like Nin-girsu and Nin-gishzida, Ishum and others, whose roles are absorbed by one or the other of the four great solar deities,--Shamash, Marduk, Ninib, and Nergal. Nergal representing the sun of midday and of the summer solstice, which brings in its wake destruction of various kinds, it was appropriate that a G.o.d who came to be specifically viewed as the G.o.d who causes disease should be regarded as an aspect of the terrible Nergal. In the legend that we are about to consider, Dibbarra appears as the G.o.d of war. He is designated as the 'warrior.' The name of the G.o.d is written ideographically with a sign that has the meaning of 'servant' and 'man.' To this sign the phonetic complement _ra_ is added. In view of a pa.s.sage in a lexicographical tablet, according to which the name of the G.o.d is designated as the equivalent of the G.o.d Gir-ra, Jensen concluded that the name was to be read Gira, and Delitzsch[1044] is inclined to follow him. A difficulty, however, arises through the circ.u.mstance that the element _Gir_ in the name Gir-ra is itself an ideograph. In any case, the designation of the G.o.d as a 'servant' shows that he is described here by an epithet,[1045]

and not by his real name, which is to be sought rather in the sense of 'strong,' that is one of the meanings of the ideograph _gir_. The epithet 'servant' belongs to the period when the G.o.d took his place in the theological system as one of the attendants of the great Nergal, just as the plague-G.o.d is himself accompanied by a G.o.d Ishum, who acts as a kind of messenger or attendant to him. It should be added that what little evidence there was for the conventional reading Dibbarra[1046]

has now been dispelled, so that but for the desire to avoid useless additions to the nomenclature of the Babylonian deities, the form Gir-ra would have been introduced here, as for the present preferable.

Where the cult of Dibbarra centered we do not know, but that he presided over a district that must have played a prominent part at some period of Babylonian history is shown by the elaborate legend of his deeds for which, as in the case of Gilgamesh and Etana, we are justified in a.s.suming an historical background. In fact, the legend of Dibbarra is naught but a poetic and semi-mythical disguise for severe conflicts waged against certain Babylonian cities by some rival power that had its seat likewise in the Euphrates Valley.

Of the five tablets, but four fragments have as yet been found in such a condition as to be utilized. The longest of these contains an address to Dibbarra by his faithful attendant Ishum, in which the power of the war-G.o.d is praised and some of his deeds recounted.

[The sons of] Babylon were (as) birds And thou their falconer.

In a net thou didst catch them, enclose them, and destroy them, O! Warrior Dibbara, Leaving the city,[1047] thou didst pa.s.s to the outside, Taking on the form of a lion, thou didst enter the palace.

The people saw thee and drew (?) their weapons.

The reference in these lines is to an attack upon the city of Babylon.

The war-G.o.d is pictured as striking out in all directions, imprisoning the inhabitants of Babylon within the city walls, working havoc outside of the city, and not stopping short at entering the palace. The metaphor of the war-G.o.d taking on the form of a lion confirms the identification of Dibbarra with Nergal, who is generally pictured as a lion.

In the following lines the enemy who makes this attack on Babylon is introduced. He is designated as a 'governor,' and Dibbarra is represented as giving him certain instructions to carry out. The t.i.tle 'governor' given to this enemy may be taken as an indication that the epic deals with the rivalry existing among the states of Babylonia, each represented by its capital. Ishum continues his address to Dibbarra:

The heart of the governor, intent upon taking vengeance on Babylon, was enraged, For capturing the possessions of the enemy, he sends out his army, Filled with enmity towards the people.

Dibbarra is represented as addressing this governor:

In the city whither I send thee, Thou shall fear no one, nor have compa.s.sion.

Kill the young and old alike, The tender suckling likewise--spare no one.

The treasures of Babylon carry off as booty.

Ishum continues his narrative:

The royal host was gathered together and entered the city.

The bow was strung, the sword unsheathed.

Thou didst blunt[1048] (?) the weapons of the soldiers, The servitors of Anu and Dagan.

Their blood thou caused to flow like torrents of water through the city's highways.

Thou didst tear open their intestines, and cause the stream to carry them off.