The Religion of Babylonia and Assyria

[213] The technical name for this class of monuments was Kudurru, i.e., mark, and then used like the German word Mark both for boundary and for the territory included within the bounds. A notable contribution to the interpretation of the Kudurru monuments was made by Belser, in the Beiträge zur Assyriologie, ii. 111-203.

[214] The question has been raised (see Belser, ib. p. 111) by Pinches whether these representations are not the symbols of the zodiac, but, as Belser justly remarks, the attempt to interpret the pictures in this way has not been successful. It still seems most plausible to regard the pictures as symbols of spirits or demons. Such an interpretation is in accord with the Babylonian and general Semitic view of land ownership. At the same time it must be confessed that we are still in the dark as to the motives underlying the choice of the animals portrayed. There may be some ultimate connection with some of the signs of the zodiac,—so Hommel believes,—but such connection would have to be judged from the earlier forms that animism takes on, and not in the light of an advanced theology such as appears in the zodiacal system of the Babylonians.

[215] See Perrot and Chiplez, History of Art in Chaldaea and Assyria, I. 351.

[216] The element ki is sometimes omitted. The force of na is not clear, unless it be a phonetic complement merely.

[217]Semitische Völker, p. 369.

[218] Very many of the names of the Semitic gods and heroes signify strong, e.g., El, Adon, Baal, Etana, Kemosh, etc.

[219] The final vowel i would, on the basis of the explanation offered, be paralleled by the i of Igigi—an indication of the plural. See Delitzsch, Assyr. Gram. § 67, 1.

[220] The Igigi are designated ideographically as v plus ii, and Hommel (Semitische Völker, p. 491) properly suggests that this peculiar writing points to an earlier use of five as constituting the group. Hommel, however, does not see that neither five nor seven are to be interpreted literally, but that both represent a large round number, and, therefore, also a holy one.

[221] IR. 55, col. iv. ll. 7-13.