Myths of Babylonia and Assyria

[193]Vana Parva section of the Mahábhárata (Roy's trans.), p. 818 et seq., and Indian Myth and Legend, p. 413.

[194]The Koran (with notes from approved commentators), trans. by George Sale, P-246, n.

[195]The Life and Exploits of Alexander the Great, E. Wallis Budge (London, 1896), pp. 277-8, 474-5.

[196] Campbell's West Highland Tales, vol. iii, pp. 251-4 (1892 ed.).

[197]Religion of the Ancient Egyptians, A. Wiedemann, p. 141.

[198]Adi Parva section of the Mahàbhàrata (Hymn to Garuda), Roy's trans., p. 88, 89.

[199] Herodian, iv, 2.

[200] The image made by Nebuchadnezzar is of interest in this connection. He decreed that "whoso falleth not down and worshippeth" should be burned in the "fiery furnace". The Hebrews, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, were accordingly thrown into the fire, but were delivered by God. Daniel, iii, 1-30.

[201] The Assyrian and Phoenician Hercules is discussed by Raoul Rochette in Mémoires de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres (Paris, 1848), pp. 178 et seq.

[202] G. Sale's Koran, p. 246, n.

[203] In the Eddic poem "Lokasenna" the god Byggvir (Barley) is addressed by Loki, "Silence, Barleycorn!" The Elder Edda, translation by Olive Bray, pp. 262, 263.

[204]De Nat. Animal., xii, 21, ed. Didot, p. 210, quoted by Professor Budge in The Life and Exploits of Alexander the Great, p. 278, n.

[205]Isaiah, lvii, 4 and 5.

[206]The Golden Bough (Adonis, Attis, Osiris vol.), "The Gardens of Adonis", pp. 194 et seq. (3rd ed.).

[207]Daniel, iv, 33. It is possible that Nebuchadnezzar, as the human representative of the god of corn and fertility, imitated the god by living a time in the wilds like Ea-bani.

[208] Pronounce ch guttural.

[209] On a cylinder seal the heroes each wrestle with a bull.

[210] Alexander the Great in the course of his mythical travels reached a mountain at the world-end. "Its peak reached to the first heaven and its base to the seventh earth."--Budge.

[211] Jastrow's trans., Aspects of Religious Belief and Practice in Babylonia and Assyria, p. 374.

[212]Development of Religion and Thought in Ancient Egypt (1912), J.H. Breasted, pp. 183-5.

[213]Ecclesiastes, ix, 7-9.

[214] Ibid., xii, 13.

[215] Perhaps brooding and undergoing penance like an Indian Rishi with purpose to obtain spiritual power.

[216] Probably to perform the ceremony of pouring out a libation.

[217]Saxo, iii, 71.

[218] Ibid., viii, 291.

[219]The Elder Edda, O. Bray, pp. 157 et seq. See also Teutonic Myth and Legend.

[220]The Life and Exploits of Alexander the Great, E. Wallis Budge, pp. xl et seq., 167 et seq.

[221]The Koran, trans, by G. Sale, pp. 222, 223 (chap. xviii).

[222]Vana Parva section of the Mahàbhàrata (Roy's trans.), pp. 435-60, and Indian Myth and Legend, pp. 105-9.

[223]Vana Parva section of the Mahàbhàrata (Roy's translation), pp. 832, 833.

Myths of Babylonia and Assyria

Chapter VIII. Deified Heroes: Etana and Gilgamesh

Source notes