The Religion of Babylonia and Assyria Part 81

[1549] Eponym List, IIR. 52, no. 1 obv. 45.

[1550] Winckler, _Die Keilschrifttexte Sargon's_, pp. 52, 124; of Ashurbanabal, the chronicler tells us that he proceeded to Babylonia in the month of Iyyar, but, this not being the proper month, he did not "seize the hands of Bel." See also Winckler, _ib._ p. x.x.xvi, note.

[1551] See pp. 423 and 629 _seq._

[1552] _I.e._, 'The beginning of the year.' See on this subject Karppe's article, _Revue Semitique_, ii. 146-151.

[1553] See p. 464.

[1554] See _ib._, note 3.

[1555] The opinion of many scholars that the Rosh hash-shana dates from the Babylonian exile because not referred to in the Book of Deuteronomy is open to serious objections. The festival has traces of antiquity (like the Day of Atonement), and appears to have been _revived_ during the captivity, under Babylonian influence.

[1556] See especially pp. 484 and 575.

[1557] Ezekiel, viii. 14. There is probably a reference also to the Tammuz festival in Zech, xii. 10, 11. The interpretation offered by Robertson Smith (_Religion of the Semites_, p. 392, note) for the mourning rites appears strained.

[1558] _Over de Israelietische Vastendagen_ (Amsterdam, 1897, pp. 4-6; 12-17).

[1559] _Zeits. f. a.s.syr._ ix. 290 _seq._

[1560] See Farnell, _The Cults of the Greek States_, ii. 648 _seq._

[1561] Ra.s.sam Cylinder, col. i. ll. 11, 12.

[1562] See pp. 105 and 173 _seq._

[1563] The readings Suni-gar and Shum-gar (so Jensen, _Keils Bibl._ ii.

155) are also possible.

[1564] IVR. 32, 49b, where the 20th day of the intercalated Elul is so designated. An official--'the great Si-gar'--is mentioned in a list,--IIR. 31, no. 5, 33a.

[1565] See the discussion (and pa.s.sages) in Lehmann's _Shamash-shumukin_, pp. 43 _seq._ One is tempted to conclude that Marduk's statue was removed to Nineveh, not in a spirit of vandalism, but in order to enable a.s.syrian kings to 'seize the hands of Bel'

without proceeding to E-Sagila. The Babylonians, no doubt, were offended by such an act, and in order to conciliate them, Ashurbanabal, who pursues a mild policy towards the south, orders the statue to be restored at the time that he appoints his brother Shamash-shumukin as governor of the southern provinces.

[1566] _Ib._ p. 53, note.

[1567] Ashurnasirbal's Inscription, IR. 23, col. ii. l. 134.

[1568] See above, p. 462.

[1569] Ra.s.sam Cylinder, col. viii. ll. 96-100.

[1570] George Smith, _The History of Ashurbanipal_, p. 126 (Cylinder B, col. v. l. 77). See also Ra.s.sam Cylinder, col. iii. l. 32.

[1571] See above, pp. 195, 196.

[1572] See Ashurbanabal Cylinder B, col. v. l. 16 (_Keils Bibl._ ii.

248; also Meissner, _Beitrage zum Altbabylonischen Privatrecht_, no. 14, p. 23).

[1573] VR. 61. col. v. l. 51-vi. l. 8.

[1574] See above, pp. 74 and 176.

[1575] Winckler, _Zeits. f. a.s.syr._ ii. 155 (col. ii. l. 41).

[1576] One is reminded of the sanct.i.ty attaching in the Jewish ritual to the "counting" of the seven weeks intervening between Pa.s.sover (the old Nisan festival) and Pentecost (an old summer festival). See Deut. xvi.

9. The 33d day of this period has a special significance in the Jewish Church.

[1577] The non-Jewish origin of the Purim festival is generally accepted by critical scholars. Lagarde (_Purim--Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der Religions_) endeavors to trace it back to a Persian fire festival; Zimmern (_Zeits. f. Alt. Wiss._, 1891, pp. 160 _seq._) connects it with the Babylonian Zagmuku. Sayce's supposition (_Proc. Soc. Bibl. Arch._ xix. 280, 281) is not to be taken seriously. The origin of the Jewish feast and fast of Purim is still obscure. The fact that there is both a fast (14th Adar) and a festival (15th Adar) is a safe indication of antiquity. Zimmern's view of a possible relations.h.i.+p between Purim and Zagmuku is untenable, but that there is a connection between Purim and _some_ Babylonian festival follows from the fact that the two chief personages in the Book of Esther--namely, Mordecai and Esther--bear names identical with the two Babylonian deities, Marduk and Ishtar. This cannot be an accident. On the other hand, Haman and Vashti, according to Jensen (_Wiener Zeits. f.d. Kunde des Morgenlandes_, vi. 70), are Elamitic names of deities corresponding to the Babylonian Marduk and Ishtar. The case for Vashti is not clearly made out by Jensen, but, for all that, it is certain that the Babylonian elements in the inst.i.tution have been combined with some bits of Persian mythology. The historical setting is the work of the Jewish compiler of the tale, that has of course some historical basis. See now Toy, _Esther as a Babylonian G.o.ddess_ (_The New World_, vi. 130-145).

[1578] VR. 33, col. v. l. 40.

[1579] Winckler, _Die Keilschrifttexte Sargon's_, p. 172 and p. xxvi, note.

[1580] _E.g._, Sargon's _Annals_, l. 179; Cylinder, l. 20, VR. 33, col.

v. l. 40 (_nigatu_).

[1581] Not necessarily 'music festival,' as Delitzsch proposes (_a.s.syr.

Handw._, p. 447a).

[1582] For examples, see the a.s.syrian contract tablets translated by Peiser, _Keils Bibl._ iv. 98 and _pa.s.sim._

[1583] See the pa.s.sage Shalmanaser obelisk, ll. 174, 175, and Peiser's comment, _Keils Bibl._ iv. 106, note.

[1584] Burton, _A Pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina_, iii. chapter vii.

[1585] See above, p. 686.

[1586] Chapter xviii.

[1587] Ra.s.sam Cylinder, col. iv. ll. 86-89.

[1588] VR. 61, col. ii. ll. 22-27.

[1589] Ea and Marduk, it will be recalled, are the chief G.o.ds invoked in magic rites involving purification. See pp. 275, 276.

[1590] See p. 646.

[1591] See numerous examples in Menant's _Collection de Clercq_ (Paris, 1888).

[1592] See above, p. 662.

[1593] Stade, _Geschichte des Volkes Israel_, i. 458 seq.