The Seven Great Monarchies Of The Ancient Eastern World Volume I Part 6

The worship of Ana by the kings of the Chaldaean series is certain. Not only did Shanias-vul, the son of Ismi-dagon, raise a temple to the honor of Ana and his son Vul at Kileh-Shergat (or a.s.shur) about B.C. 1830-- whence that city appears in later times to have borne the name of Telane, or "the mound of Ana"--but Urukh himself mentions him as a G.o.d in an inscription quoted above; and there is reason to believe that from at least as early a date he was recognized as the presiding deity at Erech or Warka. This is evident from the fact, that though the worship of Beltis superseded that of Ana in the great temple at that place from a very remote epoch, yet the temple itself always retained the t.i.tle of Bit-Ana (or Beth-Ana), "the house of Ana;" and Beltis herself was known commonly as "the lady of Bit-Ana," from the previous dedication to this G.o.d of the shrine in question. Ana must also have been worshipped tolerably early at Nipur (Rifer), or that city could scarcely have acquired, by the time of Moses, the appellation of Calneh in the Septuagint translation, which is clearly Kal Ana, "the fort of Ana."

Ana was supposed to have a wife, Anata, of whom a few words will be said below. She bore her husband a numerous progeny. One tablet shows a list of nine of their children, among which, however, no name occurs of any celebrity. But there are two sons of Ana mentioned elsewhere, who seem ent.i.tled to notice. One is the G.o.d of the atmosphere, Vul (?), of whom a full account will be hereafter given. The other bears the name of Martu, and may be identified with the _Brathy_ of Sanchoniathon. He represents "Darkness," or "the West," corresponding to the Erebus of the Greeks.

ANATA.

Anat or Anata has no peculiar characteristics. As her name is nothing but the feminine form of the masculine Ana, so she herself is a mere reflection of her husband. All his epithets are applied to her, with a simple difference of gender. She has really no personality separate from his, resembling Amente in Egyptian mythology, who is a mere feminine Ammon. She is rarely, if ever, mentioned in the historical and geographical inscriptions.

BIL, or ENU.

Bil or Enu is the second G.o.d of the first Triad. He is, probably, the Illinus (_Il-Enu_ or "G.o.d Enu ") of Damascius. His name, which seems to mean merely "lord," is usually followed by a qualificative adjunct, possessing great interest. It is proposed to read this term as _Nipru,_ or in the feminine _Niprut,_ a word which cannot fail to recall the Scriptural Nimrod, who is in the Septuagint Nebroth. The term nipru seems to be formed from the root napar, which is in Syriac to "pursue,"

to "make to flee," and which has in a.s.syrian nearly the same meaning.

Thus Bil-Nipru would be aptly translated as "the Hunter Lord," or "the G.o.d presiding over the chase," while, at the same time, it might combine the meaning of "the Conquering Lord" or "the Great Conqueror."

On these grounds it is reasonable to conclude that we have, in this instance, an admixture of hero-worship in the Chaldaean religion.

Bil-Nipru is probably the Biblical Nimrod, the original founder of the monarchy, the "mighty hunter" and conqueror. At the same time, however, that he is this hero deified, he represents also, as the second G.o.d of the first Triad, the cla.s.sical Jupiter. He is "the supreme," "the father of the G.o.ds," "the procreator," "the Lord," _par excellence,_ "the king of all the spirits," "the lord of the world," and again, "the lord of all the countries." There is some question whether he is altogether to be identified with the Belus of the Greek writers, who in certain respects rather corresponds to Merodach. When Belus, however, is called the first king, the founder of the empire, or the builder of Babylon, it seems necessary to understand Bil-Nipru or Bel-Nimrod. Nimrod, we know, built Babylon; and Babylon was called in a.s.syrian times "the city of Bil-Nipru," while its famous defences--the outer and the inner wall--were known, even under Nebuchadnezzar, by the name of the same G.o.d.--Nimrod, again, was certainly the founder of the kingdom; and, therefore, if Bil-Nipru is his representative, he would be Belus under that point of view.

The chief seat of Bel-Nimrod's worship was undoubtedly Nipur (Niffer) or Calneh. Not only was this city designated by the very same name as the G.o.d, and specially dedicated to him and to his wife Beltis, but Bel-Nimrod is called "Lord of Nipra," and his wife "Lady of Nipra," in evident allusion to this city or the tract wherein it was placed.

Various traditions, as will be hereafter shown, connect Nimrod with Niffer, which may fairly be regarded as his princ.i.p.al capital. Here then he would be naturally first worshipped upon his decease; and here seems to have been situated his famous temple called Kharris-Nipra, so noted for its wealth, splendor, and antiquity, which was an object of intense veneration to the a.s.syrian kings. Besides this celebrated shrine, he does not appear to have possessed many others. He is sometimes said to have had four "arks" or "tabernacles;" but the only places besides Niffer, where we know that he had buildings dedicated to him, are Calah (Nimrud) and Dur-Kurri-galzu (Akkerkuf). At the same time he is a G.o.d almost universally acknowledged in the invocations of the Babylonian and a.s.syrian kings, in which he has a most conspicuous place. In a.s.syria he seems to be inferior only to a.s.shur; in Chaldaea to Ra and Ana.

Of Beltis, the wife of Bel-Nimrod, a full account will be given presently. Nin or Ninip--the a.s.syrian Hercules--was universally regarded as their son; and he is frequently joined with Bel-Nimrod in the invocations. Another famous deity, the Moon-G.o.d, Sin or Hurki, is also declared to be Bel-Nimrod's son in some inscriptions. Indeed, as "the father of the G.o.ds," Bel-Nimrod might evidently claim an almost infinite paternity.

The worship of Bel-Nimrod in Chaldaea extends through the whole time of the monarchy. It has been shown that he was probably the deified Nimrod, whose apotheosis would take place shortly after his decease. Urukh, the earliest monumental king, built him a temple at Niffer; and Kurri-galzu, one of the latest, paid him the same honor at Akkerkuf. Urukh also frequently mentions him in his inscriptions in connection with Hurki, the Moon-G.o.d, whom he calls his "eldest son."

BELTIS.

Beltis, the wife of Bel-Nimrod, presents a strong contrast to Anata, the wife of Ana. She is far more than the mere female power of Bel-Nimrod, being in fact a separate and very important deity. Her common t.i.tle is "the Great G.o.ddess." In Chaldaea her name was Mulita or Enuta--both words signifying "the Lady;" in a.s.syria she was Bilta or Bilta-Nipruta, the feminine forms of Bil and Bilu-Nipru. Her favorite t.i.tle was "the Mother of the G.o.ds," or "the Mother of the Great G.o.ds:" whence it is tolerably clear that she was the "Dea Syria" worshipped at Hierapolis under the Arian appellation of Mabog. Though commonly represented as the wife of Bel-Nimrod, and mother of his son Nin or Ninip, she is also called "the wife of Nin," and in one place "the wife of a.s.shur." Her other t.i.tles are "the lady of Bit-Ana," "the lady of Nipur," "the Queen of the land" or "of the lands," "the great lady," "the G.o.ddess of war and battle," and the "queen of fecundity." She seems thus to have united the attributes of the Juno, the Ceres or Demeter, the Bellona, and even the Diana of the cla.s.sical nations: for she was at once the queen of heaven, the G.o.ddess who makes the earth fertile, the G.o.ddess of war and battle, and the G.o.ddess of hunting. In these latter capacities she appears, however, to have been gradually superseded by Ishtar, who sometimes even appropriates her higher and more distinctive appellations.

The worship of Beltis was wide-spread, and her temples were very numerous. At Erech (Warka) she was worshipped on the same platform, if not even in the same building with Ana. At Calneh or Nipur (Niffer), she shared fully in her husband's honors. She had a shrine at Ur (Mugheir), another at Rubesi, and another outside the walls of Babylon. Some of these temples were very ancient, those at Warka and Niffer being built by Urukh, while that at Mugheir was either built or repaired by Ismi-dagon.

According to one record, Beltis was a daughter of Ana. It was especially as "Queen of Nipur" that she was the wife of her son Nin. Perhaps this idea grew up out of the fact that at Nipur the two were a.s.sociated together in a common worship. It appears to have given rise to some of the Greek traditions with respect to Semiramis, who was made to contract an incestuous marriage with her own son Ninyas, although no explanation can at present be given of the application to Beltis of that name.

HEA, or HOA.

The third G.o.d of the first Triad was Hea, or Hoa, probably the Aus of Damascus. His appellation is perhaps best rendered into Greek by the [--] of h.e.l.ladius--the name given to the mystic animal, half man, half fish, which came up from the Persian Gulf to teach astronomy and letters to the first settlers on the Euphrates and Tigris. It is perhaps contained also in the word by which Berosus designates this same creature--Oannes--which may be explained as _Hoa-ana,_ or "the G.o.d Hoa."

There are no means of strictly determining the precise meaning of the word in Babylonian; but it is perhaps allowable to connect it, provisionally, with the Arabic Hiya, which is at once life and "a serpent," since, according to the best authority, there are very strong grounds for connecting Hea or Hoa with the serpent of Scripture and the Paradisaical traditions of the tree of knowledge and the tree of life.

Hoa occupies, in the first Triad, the position which in the cla.s.sical mythology is filled by Poseidon or Neptune, and in some respects he corresponds to him. He is "the lord of the earth," just as Neptune is [Greek]; he is "the king of rivers;" and he comes from the sea to teach the Babylonians; but he is never called "the lord of the sea." That t.i.tle belongs to Nin or Ninip. Hoa is "the lord of the abyss," or of "the great deep," which does not seem to be the sea, but something distinct from it. His most important t.i.tles are those which invest him with the character, so prominently brought out in Oe and Oannes, of the G.o.d of science and knowledge. He is "the intelligent guide," or, according to another interpretation, "the intelligent fish," "the teacher of mankind," "the lord of understanding." One of his emblems is the "wedge" or "arrowhead," the essential element of cuneiform writing, which seems to be a.s.signed to him as the inventor, or at least the patron of the Chaldaean alphabet. Another is the serpent which occupies so conspicuous a place among the symbols of the G.o.ds on the black stones recording benefactions, and which sometimes appears upon the cylinders.

[PLATE XIX., Fig. 3.] This symbol, here as elsewhere, is emblematic of superhuman knowledge--a record of the primeval belief that the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field. The stellar name of Hoa was Kimmut; and it is suspected that in this aspect he was identified with the constellation Draco, which is perhaps the Kimah of Scripture.

Besides his chief character of "G.o.d of knowledge," Hoa is also "G.o.d of life," a capacity in which the serpent would again fitly symbolize him.

He was likewise "G.o.d of glory," and "G.o.d of giving," being, as Berosus said, the great giver of good gifts to man.

The monuments do not contain much evidence of the early worship of Hoa.

His name appears on a very ancient stone tablet brought from Mugheir (Ur); but otherwise his claim to be accounted one of the primeval G.o.ds must rest on the testimony of Berosus and h.e.l.ladius, who represent him as known to the first settlers. He seems to have been the tutelary G.o.d of Is or Hit, which Isidore of Charax calls Aeipolis, or "Hea's city;"

but there is no evidence that this was a very ancient place. The a.s.syrian kings built him temples at a.s.shur and Calah.

Hoa had a wife Dav-Kina, of whom a few words will be said presently.

Their most celebrated son was Merodach or Bel-Merodach, the Belus of Babylonian times. As Kimmut, Hoa was also the father of Nebo, whose functions bear a general resemblance to his own.

DAV-KINA.

Dav-Kina, the wife of Hoa, is clearly the Dauke or Davke of Damascius who was the wife of Ails and mother of Belus (Bel-Merodach). Her name is thought to signify "the chief lady." She has no distinctive t.i.tles or important position in the Pantheon, but, like Anata, takes her husband's epithets with a mere distinction of gender.

SIN, or HURKI.

The first G.o.d of the second Triad is Sin, or Hurki, the moon-deity. It is in condescension to Greek notions that Berosus inverts the true Chaldaean order, and places the sun before the moon in his enumeration of the heavenly bodies. Chaldaean mythology gives a very decided preference to the lesser luminary, perhaps because the nights are more pleasant than the days in hot countries. With respect to the names of the G.o.d, we may observe that Sin, the a.s.syrian or Semitic term, is a word of quite uncertain etymology, which, however, is found applied to the moon in many Semitic languages; while Hurki, which is the Chaldaean or Hamitic name, is probably from a root cognate to the Hebrew _Ur_, "vigilare," whence is derived the term sometimes used to signify "an angel" _Ir,_ "a watcher."

The t.i.tles of Hurki are usually somewhat vague. He is "the chief," "the powerful," "the lord of the spirits," "he who dwells in the great heavens;" or, hyperbolically, "the chief of the G.o.ds of heaven and earth," "the king of the G.o.ds," and even "the G.o.d of the G.o.ds."

Sometimes, however, his t.i.tles are more definite and particular: as, firstly, when they belong to him in respect of his being the celestial luminary--e.g., "the bright," "the shining," "the lord of the month;"

and, secondly, when they represent him as presiding over buildings and architecture, which the Chaldaeans appear to have placed under his special superintendence. In this connection he is called "the supporting architect," "the strengthener of fortifications," and, more generally, "the lord of building" (Bel-zuna). Bricks, the Chaldaean building material, were of course under his protection; and the sign which designates them is also the sign of the month over which he was considered to exert particular care. His ordinary symbol is the crescent or new moon, which is commonly represented as large, but of extreme thinness: though not without a certain variety in the forms.

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The most curious and the most purely conventional representations are a linear semicircle, and an imitation of this semicircle formed by three straight lines. The illuminated part of the moon's disk is always turned directly towards the horizon, a position but rarely seen in nature.

The chief Chaldaean temple to the moon-G.o.d was at Ur or Hur (Mugheir), a city which probably derived its name from him, and which was under his special protection. He had also shrines at Babylon and Borsippa, and likewise at Calah and Dur-Sargina (Khorsabad). Few deities appear to have been worshipped with such constancy by the Chaldaean kings. His great temple at Ur was begun by Urukh, and finished by his son Ilgi--the two most ancient of all the monarchs. Later in the series we find him in such honor that every king's name during some centuries comprise the name of the moon-G.o.d in it. On the restoration of the Chaldaean power he is again in high repute. Nebuchadnezzar mentions him with respect; and Nabonidus, the last native monarch, restores his shrine at Ur, and acc.u.mulates upon him the most high-sounding t.i.tles.

The moon-G.o.d is called, in more than one inscription, the eldest son of Bel-Ninnod. He had a wife (the moon-G.o.ddess) whose t.i.tle was "the great lady," and who is frequently a.s.sociated with him in the lists. She and her husband were conjointly the tutelary deities of Ur or Hur; and a particular portion of the great temple there was dedicated to her honor especially.--Her "ark" or "tabernacle," which was separate from that of her husband was probably, as well as his, deposited in this sanctuary.

It bore the t.i.tle of "the lesser light," while his was called, emphatically, "the light."

SAN, or SANSI.

San, or Sansi, the sun-G.o.d, was the second member of the second Triad.

The main element of this name is probably connected with the root _shani_ which is in Arabic, and perhaps in Hebrew, "bright." Hence we may perhaps compare our own word "sun" with the Chaldaean "San;" for "sun" is most likely connected etymologically with "sheen" and "shine." Shamas or Shemesh, the Semitic t.i.tle of the G.o.d, is altogether separate and distinct, signifying as it does, the Ministering office of the sun, and not the brilliancy of his light. A trace of the Hamitic name appears in the well-known city Bethsain, whose appellation is declared by Eugesippus to signify "domus Solis," "the house of the sun."

The t.i.tles applied to the sun-G.o.d have not often much direct reference to his physical powers or attributes. He is called indeed, in some places, "the lord of fire," "the light of the G.o.ds," "the ruler of the day," and "he who illumines the expanse of heaven and earth." But commonly he is either spoken of in a more general way, as "the regent of all things,"

"the establisher of heaven and earth;" or, if special functions are a.s.signed to him, they are connected with his supposed "motive" power, as inspiring warlike thoughts in the minds of the kings, directing and favorably influencing their expeditions; or again, as helping them to discharge any of the other active duties of royalty. San is "the supreme ruler who casts a favorable eye on expeditions," "the vanquisher of the king's enemies," "the breaker-up of opposition." He "casts his motive influence" over the monarchs, and causes them to "a.s.semble their chariots and warriors"--he goes forth with their armies, and enables them to extend their dominions--he chases their enemies before them, causes opposition to cease, and brings them back with victory to their own countries. Besides this, he helps them to sway the sceptre of power, and to rule over their subjects with authority. It seems that, from observing the manifest agency of the material sun in stimulating all the functions of nature, the Chaldaeans came to the conclusion that the sun-G.o.d exerted a similar influence on the minds of men, and was the great motive agent in human history.

The chief seats of the sun-G.o.d's worship in Chaldaea appear to have been the two famous cities of Larsa (Ellasar?) and Sippara. The great temple of the Sun, called Bit-Parra, at the former place, was erected by Urukh, repaired by more than one of the later Chaldaean monarchs, and completely restored by Nebuchadnezzar. At Sippara, the worship of the sun-G.o.d was so predominant, that Abydenus, probably following Berosus, calls the town Heliopolis. There can be little doubt that the Adrammelech, or "Fire-king," whose worship the Sepharvites (or people of Sippara) introduced into Samaria, was this deity. Sippara is called Tsipar sha Shamas, "Sippara of the Sun," in various inscriptions, and possessed a temple of the G.o.d which was repaired and adorned by many of the ancient Chaldaean kings, as well as by Nebuchadnezzar and Nabonidus.

The general prevalence of San's worship is indicated most clearly by the cylinders. Few comparatively of those which have any divine symbol upon them are without his. The symbol is either a simple circle, a quartered disk a four-rayed orb of a more elaborate character.

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San or Sansi had a wife, Ai, Gula, or Anunit, of whom it now follows to speak.

Al, GULA, or ANUNIT.

Ai, Gula, or Anunit, was the female power of the sun, and was commonly a.s.sociated with San in temples and invocations. Her names are of uncertain signification, except the second, Gula, which undoubtedly means "great," being so translated in the vocabularies. It is suspected that the three terms may have been attached respectively to the "rising," the "culminating," and the "setting sun," since they do not appear to interchange; while the name Gula is distinctly stated in one inscription to belong to the "great" G.o.ddess, "the wife of the meridian Sun." It is perhaps an objection to this view, that the male Sun, who is decidedly the superior deity, does not appear to be manifested in Chaldaea under any such threefold representation.

As a substantive deity, distinct from her husband, Gula's characteristics are that she presides over life and over fecundity. It is not quite clear whether these offices belong to her alone, or whether she is a.s.sociated in each of them with a sister G.o.ddess. There is a "Mistress of Life," who must be regarded as the special dispenser of that blessing; and there is a "Mistress of the G.o.ds," who is expressly said to "preside over births." Concerning these two personages we cannot at present determine whether they are really distinct deities, or whether they are not rather aspects of Gula, sufficiently marked to be represented in the temples by distinct idols.