Myths of Babylonia and Assyria

[325] "The sun... is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race." (Psalm xix, 4 et seq.) The marriage of the sun bridegroom with the moon bride appears to occur in Hittite mythology. In Aryo-Indian Vedic mythology the bride of the sun (Surya) is Ushas, the Dawn. The sun maiden also married the moon god. The Vedic gods ran a race and Indra and Agni were the winners. The sun was "of the nature of Agni". Indian Myth and Legend, pp. 14, 36, 37.

[326] Or golden.

[327] The later reference is to Assyria. There was no Assyrian kingdom when these early beliefs were developed.

[328]Primitive Constellations, R. Brown, jun., vol. ii, p. 1 et seq.

[329] In India "finger counting" (Kaur guna) is associated with prayer or the repeating of mantras. The counting is performed by the thumb, which, when the hand is drawn up, touches the upper part of the third finger. The two upper "chambers" of the third finger are counted, then the two upper "chambers" of the little finger; the thumb then touches the tip of each finger from the little finger to the first; when it comes down into the upper chamber of the first finger 9 is counted. By a similar process each round of 9 on the right hand is recorded by the left up to 12; 12 X 9 = 108 repetitions of a mantra. The upper "chambers" of the fingers are the "best" or "highest" (uttama), the lower (adhama) chambers are not utilized in the prayer-counting process. When Hindus sit cross-legged at prayers, with closed eyes, the right hand is raised from the elbow in front of the body, and the thumb moves each time a mantra is repeated; the left hand lies palm upward on the left knee, and the thumb moves each time nine mantras have been counted.

[330]Primitive Constellations, R. Brown, jun., vol. ii, p. 61; and Early History of Northern India, J.F. Hewitt, pp. 551-2.

[331]Rigveda-Samhita, vol. iv (1892), p. 67.

[332]Vedic Index, Macdonell & Keith, vol. ii, pp. 192 el seq.

[333]Indian Myth and Legend

[334] Pp. 107 et seq.

[335]Primitive Constellation, R. Brown, jun., vol. i, 1. 333. A table is given showing how 120 saroi equals 360 degrees, each king being identified with a star.

[336] "Behold, his majesty the god Ra is grown old; his bones are become silver, his limbs gold, and his hair pure lapis lazuli." Religion of the Ancient Egyptians, A. Wiedemann, p. 58. Ra became a destroyer after completing his reign as an earthly king.

[337] As Nin-Girau, Tammuz was associated with "sevenfold" Orion.

[338]Babylonian and Assyrian Life, pp. 61, 62.

[339] Herodotus (ii, 52) as quoted in Egypt and Scythia (London, 1886), p. 49.

[340]Babylonian Magic and Sorcery, L.W. King (London, 1896), pp. 43 and 115.

[341]Vedic Index, Macdonell & Keith, vol. ii, p. 229.

[342]Ibid vol. i, pp. 409, 410.

[343]Ibid vol. i, p. 415.

[344]Primitive Constellations, vol. i, p. 343.

[345]Custom and Myth, pp. 133 et seq.

[346] Dr. Alfred Jeremias gives very forcible reasons for believing that the ancient Babylonians were acquainted with the precession of the equinoxes. Das Alter der Babylonischen Astronomie (Hinrichs, Leipzig, 1908), pp. 47 et seq.

[347]Aspects of Religious Belief and Practice in Babylonia and Assyria, pp. 207 et seq.

[348]A History of the Babylonians and Assyrians, p. 93.

[349]Babylonians and Assyrians: Life and Customs, pp. 219, 220.

[350]Primitive Constellations, vol. ii, pp. 147 et seq.

[351] The Aryo-Indians had a lunar year of 360 days (Vedic Index, ii, 158).

[352]A History of the Babylonians and Assyrians, p. 94.

[353]Twelfth Night, act ii, scene 5.

[354]Childe Harold, canto iii, v, 88.