The Religion of Babylonia and Assyria

[416] Inscription D, col. v. ll. 2-7.

[417] Abel-Winckler, Keilschrifttexte, p. 33, col. iii. ll. 52-58.

[418] Ball, Proc. Soc. Bibl. Arch. xi. 124 seq.

[419]Annals, Cylinder B, col. v. ll. 30-46.

[420] Without proper burial,—the greatest misfortune that could happen to the dead.

[421]I.e., life.

[422]I.e., called to the throne.

[423] See p. 296.

[424] The prayers and hymns of the Babylonians are only beginning to receive the attention they deserve at the hands of scholars. Sayce, e.g., in the specimens attached to his Hibbert Lectures, pp. 479-520, does not even distinguish properly between pure hymns and mere incantations. Now that Dr. Bezold's great catalogue of the Koujunjik collection of the British Museum is completed, the opportunity is favorable for some one to study the numerous unpublished fragments of hymns in the British Museum, and produce in connection with those that have been published a comprehensive work on the subject. Knudtzon's Assyrische Gebete an den Sonnengott may serve as a model for such a work.

[425] IVR. 28, no. 1.

[426] Some specification of the kind of vessel meant.

[427] Inscriptions were written on various metals,—gold, silver, antimony, lead, copper, etc.

[428] IVR. 20, no. 2.

[429] See above, p. 286.

[430] Published by Bertin in the Revue d'Assyriologie, no. 4, and translated by Sayce, Hibbert Lectures, p. 573. I adopt Sayce's translation, Bertin's publication being inaccessible to me.

[431] Probably 'horizon.'

[432] Lit., speak to thee of peace.

[433]I.e., may thy anger depart.

[434] IVR. 9.

[435] 'The illuminator,' one of the names of Sin. See above, p. 75.

[436] The name of Sin's temple at Ur.

[437] A metaphor descriptive of the moon, because of the resemblance of the crescent to a horn.

[438] The moon-god is pictured with a long beard on the seal cylinders. See p. 76.

[439]I.e., unlike other products, the moon's fullness is self-created.

[440] A reference perhaps to the supposed influence of the moon on the tides.

[441] The rest of the hymn—some dozen lines—is too fragmentary to warrant translation.

[442] We have, however, a list (IIR. 58, no. 5) giving many titles and names of Ea that must have been prepared on the basis of Ea hymns.

[443] IVR. 20, no. 3.

[444]I.e., of Marduk.

[445] This weapon plays a part in some of the Babylonian myths.

[446] The weapon is miraculous—It kills instantly, but without causing blood to flow. The reference is to the lightning stroke.

[447] IVR. 29, no. 1.

[448] Perhaps a reference to Ea.

[449] Name for the inhabitants of Babylonla, and then used in general for mankind. Cf. p. 281.

[450] IVR. 18, no. 2. Badly preserved.

[451]I.e., call upon thee to be pacified.

[452]I.e., salute thee.

[453] Bel.

[454] The strongly fortified city of Babylon is compared to a bolt and the temple to an enclosure.

[455] IVR. 28, no. 2.