The Religion of Babylonia and Assyria Part 82

CHAPTER XXVII.

CONCLUSION.

General Estimate and Influence.

In forming a general estimate of a religion, one's verdict will largely depend upon the point of view from which the religion in question is regarded. It is manifestly unjust and illogical to apply modern standards to an ancient religion, not that such a religion would necessarily suffer by the comparison involved, but because of the totally different conditions under which religion developed in antiquity from those prevailing in modern times. The close a.s.sociation, nay, the inseparable bond, between religion and the state is only one of several determining factors that might be adduced, while the small scope permitted to individualism in matters of religious belief and practice in a country like Babylonia or a.s.syria was fraught with such peculiar results that all comparisons, even with other religions of antiquity, could only obscure and not illumine our judgment.

There are manifestly three phases of the religion of Babylonia and a.s.syria that need to be considered in reaching some general conclusions as to the character and rank to be accorded to it,--the doctrines, the rites, and the ethics. So far as the pantheon is concerned, the limitations in the development of doctrines connected with it were reached when the union of the several Euphratean states was permanently effected under Hammurabi. Marduk, a solar deity, takes his place as the head of the pantheon by virtue of the preeminent place occupied by his patron city,--Babylon. The other great G.o.ds, each representing some religious center that at one time or the other rose to importance, grouped themselves around Marduk, as the princes and n.o.bles gather around a supreme monarch. A certain measure of independence was reserved for the great mother G.o.ddess Ishtar, who, wors.h.i.+pped under various names as the symbol of fertility, plenty, and strength, is not so decidedly affected by the change as deities like En-lil, Shamash, Sin, and Ea, who could at any time become rivals of Marduk. As the position of Marduk, however, became more and more a.s.sured without danger of being shaken, the feeling of rivalry in his relations to the other G.o.ds began to disappear. Marduk's supremacy no longer being questioned, there was no necessity to curtail the homage paid to Shamash at Sippar or to En-lil at Nippur; hence the religious importance of the old centers is not diminished by the surpa.s.sing glory of Babylon. There was room for all.

Marduk's toleration is the best evidence of his unquestioned heads.h.i.+p.

The centralization of political power and of religious supremacy is concomitant with the focussing of intellectual life in Babylon. The priests of Marduk set the fas.h.i.+on in theological thought. So far as possible, the ancient traditions and myths were reshaped so as to contribute to the glory of Marduk. The chief part in the work of creation is a.s.signed to him. The storm-G.o.d En-lil is set aside to make room for the solar deity Marduk. But, despite such efforts, the old tales, once committed to writing on the practically imperishable clay, survived, if not in the minds of the people, at least in the archives of the ancient temples.

The antiquity of literature in Babylonia was the factor that prevented the cult from acquiring a uniform character in the various parts of the empire. The priests of Nippur, of Sippar, of Eridu, of Erech, Cuthah, Ur, and other places began long before the period of Hammurabi to compile, on the basis of past experience and as a guide for future needs, omen lists, incantation formulas, and sacrificial rituals. These collections created orthodox standards, and these standards, once acknowledged, the natural conservatism attaching to religious customs was sufficient to maintain their continuance. The uniformity of doctrine was thus offset by variations in the cult; and the policy adopted by both Babylonian and a.s.syrian rulers, in permitting each center to remain undisturbed, and in freely recognizing the religious independence of each, prevented the Babylonian and a.s.syrian religion from falling into the state of stagnation which would otherwise have been its fate.

In the views taken of the relations.h.i.+p between the G.o.ds and men, no notable advances were made when once the ethical spirit was infused into the religious beliefs. The problem of good and evil was solved in a simple fas.h.i.+on. By the side of the great G.o.ds there existed a large, almost infinite number of spirits and demons, who were generally held responsible for the evils affecting mankind.[1594] These demons and spirits were in many cases G.o.ds 'fallen from grace,'--minor local deities who, unable to maintain themselves in the face of the growing popularity of the great G.o.ds, sank to an inferior position as messengers, forced to do the will of their masters and who could be controlled by the latter. But the intercession of the priests was essential to obtaining divine help against the mischievous workings of the spirits. Even the kings, though originally standing very close to the G.o.ds, could not dispense with the services of the priests, and by virtue of their conspicuous position had to exercise greater precautions than the ma.s.ses not to offend the G.o.ds, by errors of commission or omission in the cult. The priests held the secret that could secure freedom from ills and promote the comparative well-being of rulers and subjects. They alone knew what incantations to use for each case that was brought before them, in what way the sacrifices were to be brought, when the deity should be approached, and why divine anger had manifested itself. The intellectual leaders.h.i.+p thus acquired by the priests, in addition to their control of religious affairs, was an additional factor in maintaining orthodox standards of belief when once they had become fixed. In the doctrines of life after death, this influence of the priesthood is distinctly seen. The popular notions were systematized, but the priests, true to their rule as conservators, did not pa.s.s beyond primitive conceptions. Some weak attempts at a philosophical view of the problem of death are attempted in the Gilgamesh epic as finally put together under the influence of the Babylonian schools of thought,[1595]

but the leaders shared with the people the sense of hopelessness when picturing the life in the great hollow Aralu. It is in the hymns and prayers, rather than in the cosmology and eschatology, that the spiritual aspirations of the priests (and to a limited degree of the ma.s.ses) manifest themselves. In these productions, whether existing independently or incorporated into incantation rituals, we see the religion of Babylonia at its best. A strong emphasis is placed upon the doctrine that misfortunes and ills come as a punishment for sins of commission or omission. It is true that no distinction is drawn between ceremonial errors and real misdeeds, but the sense of guilt is aroused by the priests in the minds of those who come to the temples, seeking relief from the attacks of the evil spirits, or the bewitchment of sorcerers.

It is in this doctrine of guilt, as revealed through the magical texts, that we must seek both for the starting-point of the development of an ethical system (so far as such a system existed among the Babylonians), and also for the limitations of this system. The aim of the priests to observe the right ceremonies, to p.r.o.nounce the right words in order to accomplish their aim, reacted on rulers and subjects, and led them to make the pleasure of the G.o.ds the goal of life. With fear of the G.o.ds, upon which stress is always laid,[1596] there is thus a.s.sociated an equally strong love[1597] of the divine powers. Obedience to the G.o.ds is primarily inculcated as a means of securing their protection and blessing; but the fear of the G.o.ds, we are told, is the cause of joy;[1598] and the Babylonians pa.s.sed far beyond the stage of making the satisfaction of one's own desires the standard of right and wrong. A penitential psalm declares[1599] that what is pleasing to oneself may be sinful in the eyes of a G.o.d.

The kings pride themselves upon being the promoters of justice. Even the a.s.syrian rulers, who impress one while conducting their wars as bereft of all softer emotions, declare that their highest aim is to spread plenty and happiness.[1600] Sennacherib calls himself a king who 'loves righteousness,'[1601] and he, as well as his predecessors and successors, busies himself with actually restoring the rights of those of his subjects who have been wrongfully deprived of their possessions.

The standard of private morality was high both in Babylonia and a.s.syria.

The legal and commercial tablets reveal that proper consideration was given to the treatment of woman--a most satisfactory index of ethical conditions.[1602] She could hold property and dispose of it. Before the courts, her status did not differ materially from that of the male population. The husband could not divorce his wife without sufficient cause, and children owed obedience to the mother as well as to the father.[1603] Polygamy, as a matter of course, prevailed, but it is an error to suppose that polygamy is inconsistent with high ideals of family life, even though it does not lead to the highest ideals.

Hatred, lying, cheating, using false measures, removing boundaries, adultery, insincerity are denounced in the incantation texts,[1604] and in accord with this standard, we see in the records of lawsuits and agreements between parties[1605] clear indications of the stringent laws that prevailed in order to protect citizens against infringement of their rights. It comes as a surprise, but also as a welcome testimony to the efficacy of justice in a.s.syria, to find Ashurbanabal emphasizing the fact that he established ordinances so that the strong should do no harm to the weak.[1606]

The inst.i.tution of slavery flourished in Babylonia and a.s.syria throughout all periods of their history,[1607] but there were various grades of slaves. Some cla.s.ses differed but little from that of servants, indentured for a longer or shorter period for certain services. The temple slaves appear to have largely belonged to this cla.s.s. Mild treatment of slaves is enjoined and was the rule. The slaves are often the confidential agents of their masters who attend to the business affairs of the latter. We find slaves holding property in their own right. Contracts entered into by them are legal and binding.

Injuries inflicted upon them by their masters are punished, and they are protected against losses and mishaps encountered while in service. While we have no evidence to show that the laws of a.s.syria were on a lower ethical plane than those of Babylonia, still, as the pupils and imitators of the Babylonians in almost everything pertaining to culture and religion, the general tone of life in a.s.syria was hardly as high as in the south. The warlike spirit of the rulers is but a symptom of the fiercer character of the people.

The tendency towards monotheism in the religion of Babylonia and a.s.syria has been referred to. We must remember that it was only a tendency. No decided steps in this direction were ever taken. Both in the south and in the north, this tendency is but the expression of the preeminent rank accorded to Marduk and Ashur, respectively. The independent existence of two heads in the combined pantheon was sufficient to prevent the infusion of an ethical spirit into this monotheistic tendency; and unless a monotheistic conception of the universe is interpreted in an ethical sense, monotheism (or monolatry) has no great superiority, either religiously or philosophically, over polytheism.

From the standpoint of religious doctrine, accordingly, the religion of Babylonia and a.s.syria does not occupy a unique position. In this respect, the Egyptian religion reaches a higher level. For all that, the influence exerted by the religion that developed in the Euphrates Valley was profound and lasting. We have had occasion in various chapters of this work to point out the close a.n.a.logies existing between the thoughts, tradition, and practices of the Hebrews and the Babylonians.[1608] A proper study of the Hebrew religion is closely bound up with an investigation of the religious antiquities of Babylonia; and as our knowledge of these antiquities increases, it will be found that not only are Hebrews and Babylonians equipped with many common possessions when starting out upon their intellectual careers, but that, at different times and in diverse ways, the stimulus to religious advance came to the Hebrews from the ancient centers of thought and wors.h.i.+p in the Euphrates Valley. This influence was particularly strong during the period of Jewish history known as Babylonian exile. The finis.h.i.+ng touches to the structure of Judaism--given on Babylonian soil[1609]--reveal the Babylonian trademark. Ezekiel, in many respects the most characteristic Jewish figure of the exile, is steeped in Babylonian theology and mysticism; and the profound influence of Ezekiel is recognized by modern scholars.h.i.+p in the religious spirit that characterizes the Jews upon the reorganization of their commonwealth.

It would be a mistake, however, to suppose that what Babylonia gave to others was always the best she had to offer. Degrading tendencies, too, found an entrance into post-exilic Judaism through Babylonian influence.

Close contact of Jews with Babylonians served to make the former more accessible to the popular beliefs in incantations and in the power of demons than they would otherwise have been. Not that the Jews (as little as any other people) were ever entirely free from superst.i.tious practices; but, living in an atmosphere charged, so to speak, with magic and astrology, it was inevitable that even the best among them should be infected by customs that they daily witnessed. In the Babylonian Talmud, the references to evil spirits are numerous. Specific incantations are introduced, and an elaborate system of angelology and demonology forms a feature of Talmudical Judaism in which, by the side of Persian influences,[1610] we may detect equally strong traces of Babylonian ideas. In the upper strata of the ruins of Nippur, hundreds of clay bowls were found, inscribed with Jewish inscriptions, in the Aramaic dialect that was spoken by the Babylonian Jews.[1611] Similar bowls were found elsewhere in the mounds of the Euphrates Valley.[1612] These bowls indicate the presence of Jews in various parts of the country.[1613]

Placed in the graves as a protection for the dead against evil spirits, the inscriptions contain formulas of denunciation against the demons that const.i.tute a striking parallel to the incantation texts of ancient Babylonia. Some of the demons are identical with those occurring in these texts, and by the side of the inscriptions, there are ill.u.s.trations[1614] and magical designs to which parallels exist on the Babylonian tablets.

This custom of endeavoring to secure protection for the dead through the power of the curses and propitiatory phrases inscribed on bowls continued in vogue as late as the ninth century at the least, and perhaps considerably later. There are indications also that Babylonian ideas found an entrance into the Jewish Kabbala,--the strange mystic system of the middle ages, the sources of which are to be sought in the apocalyptic chapters of Ezekiel and Daniel.

Christianity as well as Judaism felt the fascination of the mystic lore of Babylonia. Gunkel[1615] has demonstrated the Babylonian origin of the myth embodied in the twelfth chapter of Revelations. This myth is but another form of the Marduk-Tiamat contest, which, it will be recalled, is the chief episode in the Babylonian creation 'epic.'[1616] More significant is the influence exerted by the religious ideas of Babylonia upon the various Gnostic sects that arose within the Christian Church.

That the source of Gnosticism was to be sought in Mesopotamia was always recognized by scholars, but until the discovery of Babylonian literature, it was customary to seek for Jewish influences in the formation of the various Gnostic sects. Kessler[1617] was the first to demonstrate clearly the dependence of the leading ideas of Gnosticism upon the Babylonian cosmology and the conceptions developed with reference to the G.o.ds. More recently, Anz[1618] has undertaken a renewed investigation of the subject, and, approaching the theme from various points of view, reaches conclusions confirmatory of Kessler's thesis.

All of the Gnostic sects have certain fundamental doctrines in common, such as the dwelling of G.o.d in the abyss,[1619] the migration of the soul after death through seven zones, the emanation of aeons from a supreme aeon.[1620] All these doctrines exhibit such close affinities with Babylonian ideas as to warrant the a.s.sertion that the religion of Babylonia survives in Gnosticism; and since, as we know, Babylonian culture and customs maintained an undisturbed existence almost to the threshold of our era, there is no need to go back to the older periods of the Babylonian religion to find the connecting link, uniting Gnosticism with the Babylonian religion. The spread and influence of the Gnostic sects was notoriously wide. It is sufficient to recall the chief centers of Gnostic schools of thought in Antioch, Edessa, and Alexandria and the various branches of the powerful sect of the Ophites. The influence of these schools extended into Greece and Rome. While the Gnostic sects disappear in the sixth century, the influence of Gnosticism can be followed down to the twelfth century,--a significant testimony to the enduring qualities of Babylonian doctrines.

In the ancient world, prior to the rise of Christianity, Egypt, Persia, and Greece felt the influence of the Babylonian religion. Budge[1621] is of the opinion that many of the magic practices carried on in the Egyptian temples are to be traced back to the incantation rituals perfected by the Babylonian priests. In view of the early contact between Egypt and Babylonia, as revealed by the El-Amarna tablets, there were certainly abundant opportunities for the infusion of Babylonian views and customs into Egyptian cults. In Persia, the Mithra cult reveals the unmistakable influence of Babylonian conceptions;[1622] and if it be recalled what a degree of importance the mysteries connected with this cult acquired among the Romans, another link will be added connecting the ramifications of ancient culture with the civilization of the Euphrates Valley. The strong admixture of Semitic elements both in early Greek mythology and in Grecian cults is now so generally admitted by scholars as to require no further comment.[1623] These Semitic elements are to a large extent more specifically Babylonian. The spread of the Gilgamesh epic and of the Ishtar cult into Asia Minor and Greece may be instanced as ill.u.s.trations of Babylonian influence; and granting that the Phoenicians acted largely as the mediators in carrying these ideas to the Greek settlements, still there must have been influences at work long before this direct contact with Semitic culture that prepared the way for the ready acceptance which Semitic conceptions and Semitic practices found. The time has not yet come for p.r.o.nouncing an opinion as to the influence exerted by Babylonia upon lands in the distant East.

The theory of DeLacouperie[1624] and Ball, which proposes to trace the Chinese script to the hieroglyphic system of Babylonia, is still to be tested. Early commercial contact between the Euphrates Valley and India is maintained as a probable theory by several scholars,[1625] and the possibility, therefore, of the spread of the religious ideas of Babylonia to the distant East is not to be rejected. Patient research and the additional discoveries (which are constantly being made) will alone place us in a position some day to give a definite answer to the question. Whatever that answer may be, the verdict as to the high quality and profound influence of the religion that arose in the valley of the Euphrates and that flourished for several millenniums will not be altered.

To show the general indebtedness of Grecian, Roman, mediaeval, and even modern civilization to Babylonian culture lies beyond the range of this work, but the profound impression made upon the ancient world by the remarkable manifestations of religious thought in Babylonia and by the religious activity that prevailed in that region is but an index of the influence that must have been exerted in other directions by the varied intellectual activity that converted a district, exposed to the by no means tender mercies of the elements, into one of the most notable ill.u.s.trations of the power and achievements of man.

FOOTNOTES:

[1594] See above, pp. 183, 266.

[1595] See pp. 513 _seq._

[1596] Babylonian and a.s.syrian kings alike speak constantly of their fear of the G.o.ds. See the pa.s.sages in Delitzsch's _a.s.syrisches Handworterbuch_, pp. 526, 527, to which many more could be added.

[1597] See, _e.g._, Nebuchadnezzar, IR. 53, col. i, l. 31.

[1598] IVR. 60, B obv. 25.

[1599] IVR. 60, C obv. 14.

[1600] So Sargon cylinder, ll. 34-42.

[1601] IR. 37, col. i. l. 4.

[1602] See the writer's remarks in _Oriental Studies of the Oriental Club of Philadelphia_, pp. 119-121.

[1603] See the so-called family laws (as early as the days of Hammurabi) in Meissner's _Beitrage zum Altbabylonischen Privatrecht_, p. 15, where the punishment in the case of the son who casts aside his mother is specifically referred to.

[1604] See, _e.g._ p. 291.

[1605] See the admirable discussions on Babylonian jurisprudence in Kohler and Pelser's _Aus dem Babylonischen Rechtsleben_ (parts i.-iii., Leipzig, 1890-97).

[1606] S. A. Strong in _Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society_, 1891, p.

460.

[1607] See on this subject Meissner, _De Servitute Babylonico-a.s.syriaca_ pp. 3, 4, 40-49.

[1608] See especially chapters xxi., xxv., and xxvi.

[1609] See p. 611.

[1610] See Kohut, _Die Judische Angelologie und Damanologie in ihrer Abhangigkeit vom Parsismus_ (Leipzig, 1866).

[1611] Peters' _Nippur_, pp. 182, 395.

[1612] See, _e.g._, Layard, _Nineveh and Babylon_ (New York edition, 1853), p. 509.

[1613] On the extent of the settlements of Jews in Nippur, see Hilprecht, _Cuneiform Texts_, ix. 27, 28.

[1614] So, _e.g._, on some of the bowls in the University of Pennsylvania collection, crude pictures of Bel-Marduk and Ishtar are portrayed.

[1615] _Schopfung und Chaos_, pp. 381-397.

[1616] See pp. 432 _seq._

[1617] "Ueber Gnosis und die Altbabylonlsche Religion," _Verhandlungen des funften Orientalisten Congress_, 1881, ii. 288-305.