The Religion of Babylonia and Assyria

[116] The name is also written Ma-ru-duk, which points to its having been regarded (for which there is other evidence) as a compound of maru, 'son,' and an element, duk(u), which in religious and other texts designates the 'glorious chamber' in which the god determines the fate of humanity. Such an 'etymology' is, however, merely a play upon the name, similar to the plays upon proper names found in the Old Testament. The real etymology is unknown. The form Marduk is Semitic, and points to an underlying stem, rdk. Marduk appears under a variety of names which will be taken up at their proper place. See Schrader's Assyrisch-Babyl. Keilschriften, p. 129; and the same author's Cuneiform Inscrip. and the O. T. (p. 422) for other etymologies.

[117] Hommel's view that Gish-galla, in Gudea's inscriptions, is Babylon lacks convincing evidence, but the city may be as old as Gudea's days for all that.

[118] Near Sippar.

[119]Bêl matâti.

[120] Sayce, Religion of the Ancient Babylonians, pp. 98 seq.; Jensen, Kosmologie der Babylonier, p. 88.

[121] So Delitzsch, Beiträge sur Assyriologie, ii. 623. The first part of the name is also used to designate the 'young bullock,' and it is possible, therefore, that the god was pictured in this way, as both Anu and Sin are occasionally called 'bulls.'

[122] Louvre Inscription II, col ii. ll. 12-17.

[123] There is also a goddess Eria worshipped in Elam, who may be identical with Erua. The scribes in the days of Nebuchadnezzar (c. 1140 B.C.), at least, appear to have thought so, for they associate her with Bel, just as Sarpanitum is associated with Del-Marduk. (See the Inscription VR. 57, col. ii. ll. 11, 12.)

[124] Whether, however, this was the real meaning of the name is doubtful, for the name of the goddess is also written Aru and Arua, which points to a different verbal stem.

[125] See below under Tashmitum.

[126] There are indications also of an arrested amalgamation of Erua-Sarpanitum with Tashmitum, the wife of Nabu. (See Sayce, Hibbert Lectures, p. 112.)

[127] Rawlinson, ii. 60, 30.

[128]Hibbert Lectures, p. 117.

[129] See further on, sub Ea.

[130]Kosmologie, p. 239.

[131]Sub Nusku, chapter xiii.

[132] Tiele, Geschichte d. Religion i. Alterthum, i. 171 and 188, is of the opinion that Nabu is a late deity whose worship dates from a period considerably subsequent to Hammurabi. This conclusion from the non-occurrence of the god in early inscriptions is not justified. There is no reason why Nabu should have been added as a deity in later times, and in general we must be on our guard against assuming new deities subsequent to Hammurabi. It is much more plausible to assume the restored popularity of very old ones.

[133] Bel being Marduk, the title was equivalent to that of 'governor of Babylonia.'

[134] So, Tiele, Geschichte d. Religion i. Alterthum, i. 191.

[135] The Hebrew word for prophet, nabi, is of the same stem as the Assyrian Nabu, and the popular tradition is placing the last scene in the life of Moses on Mt. Nebo is apparently influenced by the fact that Moses was a nabi.

[136] See above, p. 123.

[137] So in the cylinder of Shamash-shum-ukin (Lehmann's publication, pls. viii. seq.).

[138]E.g., in the so-called Grotefend Cylinder, col. ii. 34.

[139]Wiener Zeitschrift für die Kunde d. Morgenlandes, iv. 301-307.

[140] We only know the name through Eusebius' extract from Alexander Polyhistor's digest of Berosus. The form, therefore, cannot be vouched for. The various modern attempts to explain the name have failed (see e.g., Lenormant's Magic und Wahrsagekunst der Chaldaer, 2d German edition, pp. 376-379). There may be some ultimate connection between Oannes and Jonah (see Trumbull in Journal of Bibl. Liter. xl. 58, note).

[141] For fuller proof, see the chapter on "The Cosmology of the Babylonians."

[142] This, it will be remembered (see above, p. 118), is one of the titles of Marduk in one of Hammurabi's inscriptions,—an important point for the date of the episode in its present form.

[143] Literally, 'Ea shall be his name, his as mine.'

[144] According to Syncellus. In cuneiform texts the old Bel is at times invoked as the creator of mankind.

[145]Kosmologie, pp. 293, 294.

[146]Aos and Dauke.

[147] Rawlinson, iv. 25.

[148] See p. 79.

[149] See Jensen, Keils Bibl.. 3, 1, p. 108, note 5. Tiele, Gesch. p. 126, apparently identifies Innanna of Hallabi with Tashmit, but, so far as I can see, without sufficient reason.

[150] Here written En-lil, as the Bel of Nippur.

[151] Attached to the name here (Rawlinson, i. 4, no. xv-9), which is written ideographically En-Lil, is the designation da-gan-ni, which has occasioned considerable discussion. See Jensen, Kosmologie, pp. 449-456. It seems to me that the addition which emphasizes this identity of Bel with another god, Dagan, is to indicate that the Bel of the triad, and not Bel-Marduk, is here meant. Somewhat in the same way Tiglathpileser I. (Rawlinson, i. 14, vi. 87) distinguishes the older Bel by calling him 'Bel latura,' i.e., 'Bel the older.'

[152] 'Governor of Bel' for governor of Babylonia, and 'subjects of Bel' for subjects of Babylonia.

[153] See p. 89 and chapter vii.

[154] Occasionally a king (so e.g. Nabubaliddin, c. 883 B.C.) associates Anu with Ea, and omits Bel (Rawlinson, v. 60, ii. 21), as though with the intent of avoiding confusion.

[155] Rassam, Cylinder ix. 75.