The Religion of Babylonia and Assyria Part 30

Before leaving the subject, it may be of interest to point out that among the literary remains of the a.s.syrian period there are "blank formulas" for oracles, the names in each instance to be filled out by the officiating priest. Such formulas were prepared, no doubt, for cases of common occurrence. Thus Esarhaddon, before appointing a person to a responsible position, took the precaution of ascertaining from some deity whether the appointment was a wise one. The name of the individual being written down, the priest asks the deity in a general way:[517]

Will the man whose name appears on this tablet, and whom he [the king] is about to appoint to such and such a position, keep good faith, or will he manifest hostility towards the king, inciting to rebellion?

Esarhaddon may have had a special reason for using precautions against his officials, and even his sons. He came to the throne during a rebellion which involved the a.s.sa.s.sination of his father. Esarhaddon's own brothers were the murderers. We may well suppose that he trembled at every step he took, but his position is after all characteristic of the a.s.syrian rulers in general, many of whom came to the throne by violence and maintained themselves through force.

Other texts enable us to study the form of the oracles themselves. As yet, no oracle texts have been found belonging to the older Babylonian period, but we have again every reason to believe that what holds good for the days of a.s.syrian power applies to a much earlier period, though at the same time the greater frequency with which a.s.syrian rulers were wont to ply their G.o.ds with questions would increase the number of those whose special business it was to p.r.o.nounce the oracles. The manifold duties of the priesthood would tend towards a differentiation of the priests into various cla.s.ses. The priest, as exorciser, would become distinct from the priest as the inspector of omens; and the latter different again from the p.r.o.nouncer of oracles. From the fact that Marduk was regarded as the special G.o.d of oracles by the a.s.syrians as well as the Babylonians,[518] we may conclude that this differentiation of the priestly cla.s.ses took place already in the south, or at all events that oracle-giving as a distinct priestly function was recognized in Babylonia and carried over to the northern empire. If we may draw a general conclusion from the state of affairs in Esarhaddon's days, this function was largely in the hands of women. We know from other evidence that women were attached to the temple service from ancient times.[519]

As sorceresses, too, they occupied a quasi-priestly position, since their help could be invoked in driving evil spirits into the person of one's enemy. The oracle-giver and the sorcerer or sorceress are correlated personages in religion. For various reasons--in part, perhaps, because of her physical differences from man--woman was invested with a certain mystery by ancient nations.[520] Hence the fact that among so many nations witchcraft is a.s.sociated with woman, and similarly among many nations women perform the functions of the oracle.

In a series of eight oracles addressed to Esarhaddon,[521] six are given forth by women. These oracles, it so happens, all issue from the G.o.ddess Ishtar of Arbela. The cult of this G.o.ddess at Arbela stood in high favor in the eighth century B.C. An influential body of priests congregated there, and the eight oracles in question appear to be a part of a more extensive collection made by the theologians of Arbela, of whose intellectual activity there are other traces. Arbela appears to have developed a special school of theology, marked by the attempt to accord a superior position to the great G.o.ddess Ishtar.

The one who p.r.o.nounces the oracle speaks on behalf of Ishtar, and therefore employs the first person. The oracles all have reference to political events. They cannot, of course, be the answers to the questions asked in the prayers a.n.a.lyzed above, since these were addressed to the sun-G.o.d; but we may feel certain that the oracles of the Shamash priests or priestesses were much of the same order, varying only in minor particulars. The G.o.ddess invariably encourages the king.

The priest, it would appear, hears the voice of the deity in the wind.

Fear not! The wind which speaks to thee-- Comes with speech from me, withholding nothing.[522]

Thine enemies, like the ... of Siwan,[523]

At thy feet will be poured out.

The great mistress am I.

I am Ishtar of Arbela, who forces thine enemies to submission.

Is there any utterance of mine that I addressed to thee upon which thou couldst not rely?

I am Ishtar of Arbela.

Thine enemies, the Ukkites (?), I give to thee, even I, Ishtar of Arbela.

In front and behind thee I march.

Fear not!

This oracle, we are told in the subscript, was p.r.o.nounced by a certain Ishtar-la-tas.h.i.+at, a son [_i.e._, a native] of Arbela. The dignity of the diction is very marked. The very frequent a.s.surance 'fear not' and the solemn repet.i.tion of 'I am Ishtar' lend impressiveness to the message. The oracle, it will be seen, deals in general phrases. This indefiniteness characterizes most of them; and the more impressive the diction, the greater vagueness in the statements made. So an oracle, coming from Ishtar and Nabu and uttered by a woman Baya, a native of Arbela, announces:

Fear not, Esarhaddon, I, the lord, to thee do I speak.

The beams of thy heart I strengthen as thy mother,[524]

Who gave thee life.

Sixty great G.o.ds are with me[525]

Drawn up to protect thee.

The G.o.d Sin is on thy right, Shamash on thy left.

Sixty great G.o.ds are round about thee Drawn up in battle array in the center of the citadel.

On men do not rely.

Lift up thine eyes to me. Look up to me!

I am Ishtar of Arbela.

Ashur is gracious to thee.

Thy weakness I will change to strength (?).

Fear not! glorify me!

Is not the enemy subdued Who has been handed over to thee?

I proclaim it aloud, What has been will be.[526]

I am Nabu, the lord of the willing tablet, Glorify me.

A message of this kind could hardly have been satisfactory except as a general encouragement.

The popularity of the Nabu cult in a.s.syria, it will be recalled, is an offset against the supremacy of Marduk in the south. The a.s.syrian kings found it to their interest to incorporate as much of the Babylonian cult as was possible into their own religious ritual. To Shamash they a.s.signed the role played by Marduk. There was no danger in paying homage to Nabu, the son of Marduk. Ishtar they regarded as their own G.o.ddess quite as much as Ashur. These four deities, therefore, Ishtar, Shamash, Nabu, and Ashur, are the special G.o.ds of oracles recognized by the a.s.syrian rulers. Marduk, who is the chief source of oracles in the south, is more rarely appealed to in the north, though of course recognized as powerful. He could not be expected to regard with favor an empire that so seriously threatened his supremacy in the pantheon.

The occasion when an oracle was announced was often one of great solemnity. Just as the prayers in which the questions of the kings were embodied were carefully written out, so that the priest in reciting them might not commit any mistakes, so the answer to the prayers were transmitted to the king in writing. Among the oracles of the days of Esarhaddon, there is one coming from Ashur in which the ceremonies accompanying the deliverance are instanced.[527] The oracle deals with the Gimirrites, the same people in regard to whom Esarhaddon so often consults the sun-G.o.d. It is marked by the more definite character of its announcements when compared with others. The text is in the form of a communication made to the king, and, like other official doc.u.ments, it begins with a salutation. The G.o.ds give Esarhaddon greeting.[528]

Ashur has given him the four ends of the earth.

In the house where he s.h.i.+nes and is great,[529] the king has no rival.

Like the rising sun he s.h.i.+nes.

This is the greeting from Bel Tarbasi[530] and the a.s.sembled G.o.ds.

The G.o.d Ashur himself now addresses the king:

As for those enemies that plot against thee, that force thee to march out, Thou didst open thy mouth [saying], "Verily I implore Ashur."

I have heard thy cry.

Out of the great gate of heaven I proclaim aloud, 'Surely I will hasten to let fire devour them.

Thou shall stand among them.

In front of thee I shall rise up.[531]

Up onto the mountain I bring them.

There to rain down upon them destructive stones.

Thine enemies I hew down, With their blood I fill the river.

Let them behold and glorify me, For Ashur, the lord of G.o.ds, am I.'

This important and striking message, coming direct from Ashur we are told, is to be formally presented and read in the presence of the king.

Instructions are added to the priests to pour out a libation of precious oil. Sacrifices of animals and waving of incense are to accompany the presentation.

The oracle, as the G.o.d's answer to the king's questions, thus gave rise to a ritual as elaborate as the rites connected with the preparations for the answer. The oracles were not always trustworthy, as we can well believe, and often they were not definite enough. If we may judge from an expression in one of the divine messages to Esarhaddon, the king appears to have entered a complaint against a former oracle, which was not to his liking. Ishtar accordingly sends the following message:[532]

The former word which I spoke to thee, On it thou didst not rely.

Now, then, in the later one you may have confidence.

Glorify me!

Clearly, the a.s.syrian kings believed that the oracles existed to announce what they wanted to hear. They probably did not hesitate to follow their own judgment whenever they considered it superior to the advice given to them by the G.o.ds. There would, of course, be no difficulty in accounting for failures brought about through obedience to the oracles. The priests, hemmed in on every side by minute ceremonial observances, forfeited their power as mediators by the slightest failure in the observance of these rites. An error or a mishap would entail most serious consequences. A misleading oracle, therefore, and to a certain extent, unfavorable omens, would be the fault of the priests. The deity would send 'a lying message'[533] or bring about unfavorable omens as a sign of his or her displeasure. On the other hand, the priests in turn would not hesitate--speaking of course in the name of the G.o.ds--to accuse the kings of neglecting Ishtar or Nabu or Shamash, as the case may be. In an oracle addressed to Esarhaddon,[534] Ishtar of Arbela is represented as complaining that the king has done nothing for her, although she has done so much for him. Such a state of affairs cannot go on.

Since they do nothing for me, I will not give anything to thee.

The king promptly responds by copious offerings, and the G.o.ddess appears to be pacified.

There is another feature connected with the oracles that must be touched upon before pa.s.sing on. The oracles stand obviously in close relations.h.i.+p to the penitential psalms. It was, naturally, in times of political distress that the kings would be particularly zealous in maintaining themselves on good terms with the powerful G.o.ds. Without their aid success could not be expected to crown any efforts. Guiding their steps by frequent consultations of the priests, the appeals of the kings would increase in earnestness and fervor as the campaign progressed and a.s.sumed more serious aspects. When disaster stared them in the face, they would be forced to conclude that the G.o.ds were angered, and there was only one way left of averting the divine wrath--a free confession of sins, accompanied, of course, by offerings and magic rites. The a.s.syrian kings do not tell us in their annals of discomfitures that they encountered. The penitential psalms supply this omission. We have such a psalm written in the days of Ashurbanabal,[535]

in which that proud monarch humbles himself before the great G.o.d Nabu, and has the satisfaction in return of receiving a rea.s.suring oracle. He prays:

I confess to thee, Nabu, in the presence of the great G.o.ds, [Many[536] (?)] are my sins beyond endurance?[537]

[Lord (?)] of Nineveh, I come before thee, the warrior among the G.o.ds, his brothers.

[Prolong (?)] the life of Ashurbanabal for a long period.

... At the feet of Nabu I prostrate myself.

The G.o.d rea.s.sures the king:

I will grant thee life, O Ashurbanabal, even I, Nabu, to the end of days Thy feet shall not grow weary, nor thy hands weak (?), These lips of thine shall not cease to approach me, Thy tongue shall not be removed from thy lips, For I give thee a favorable message.

I will raise thy head, I will increase thy glory in the temple of E-babbara.[538]

The reference to the temple of Shamash at Sippar reveals the situation.

Babylonia was the cause of much trouble to Ashurbanabal, owing chiefly to the intrigues of his treacherous brother Shamash-shumukin.[539]

Ashurbanabal at one time was not merely in danger of losing control over the south, but of losing his life in the rebellion organized by his 'faithless brother.' A successful rebellion is a clear sign of a G.o.d's displeasure. Marduk, as we have seen, was not often appealed to by the a.s.syrian kings, but Nabu seemed always ready to help them. Hence the king confesses his sins and makes an appeal to the great Babylonian G.o.d and not to Ashur. He is encouraged by the promise that his life will be spared, and that his supremacy will be recognized in Babylonia. The great sanctuary of Sippar is here employed figuratively for the temples of Babylonia in general. To be glorified in that famous temple was equivalent to a recognition of royal authority.

That these oracles served a practical purpose is definitely proved by the manner in which they are introduced by the kings in their annals.

Ashurbanabal tells us that in the course of one of his campaigns against Elam, he addressed a fervent prayer to Ishtar of Arbela, and in reply the message comes, as in the texts we have been considering, "Fear not"; and she adds, "Thy hands raised towards me, and thy eyes filled with tears, I look upon with favor."[540]