ii. EARLY HisToRY OF BABYLONIA AND ASsSYRIA.—As a preliminary to an understanding of the religion of Babylonia and Assyria, it is essential to have clearly before us the general course taken by the history of these two countries.
1. The striking feature in the earliest period to which we can trace it, is the frequent change in the position of the political centres. We see the Euphrates Valley at this time divided into a vary- ing number of States or principalities, at rivalry with one another, now the one, now the other exercising a certain supremacy over the whole district, without, however, bringing it into real subjection ; while, on the other hand, for indefinite periods several of these States occupy an_ equal position of importance and prominence side by side, and even enter into compacts with one an- other. The various States centre each around a city, and the growth of the State is essenti- ally the extension of that city. The political importance thus given to the leading towns of ancient Babylonia is further enhanced by the religious significance which is in close union with their political advance ; for the deity presiding over a place shares, in accordance with the general view prevailing in antiquity, the fortunes of his subjects. The god, the place of his worship, and his worshippers, are in inseparable contact.
This state of affairs can now be traced back, thanks chiefly to the results of the excavations at Telloh and Nippur, to about 3500 B.C., though it should be added that the chronology beyond 2500 p.c. is still quite uncertain. Hence we can only deal in round numbers for the earlier periods, and indeed, according to some scholars, we are not
RELIGION OF BABYLONIA = 533
justified in passing much beyond 3000 B.c. for the date of the earliest inscriptions as yet found.* In this earliest period known to us we find Eridu, Shirpurla (or Sirgulla), Ur, Gishban, Nippur, Erech, Larsa, and Isin (or Nisin) among the cities of southern Babylonia occupying a prominent position. In the northern portion, again, lay Kish, Cuthah, Agade, Sippar, and, youngest of all, Babylon. From the testimony of the in- scriptions no certain conclusions can be drawn as to the relative age of these centres, for naturally the oldest written document presup- poses a long anterior political history as well as a history of civilization, during which period an important réle may have been played by cities that had disappeared from the horizon before monumental evidence begins; while others that appear to occupy an inferior position may have enjoyed a high degree of supremacy at a time for which no material is as yet at our disposal. Thus we have every reason to believe that a town Eridu, which lay on the Persian Gulf, must at one time have had control over a considerable section of southern Babylonia, since the cult of the patron deity of that place—the god EKa—sur- vives all the vicissitudes of political fortunes. Down to the latest’ period of the Babylonian re- ligion, Ea retains in the pantheon a place that is unique and almost inexplicable, except on the sup- position that the political importance of the place gave the god his impregnable position. Similarly, while there are other cities in the oldest period that appear to be politically more powerful than Nippur, the chief god of the latter yields to none in the honours accorded to him. He is not only invoked by the rulers of other centres, but becomes known as Bel, ‘the lord’ par eacellence ; and, long after Nippur has passed into the background of Babylonian history, the old Bel retains his place as the second member in a triad that summed up for Babylonian theologians the quintessence of Divine control of the Universe in the largest sense. Unless totally different conditions prevailed in the period which is still beyond our ken, from those which characterize the relationship between poli- tical position and religious supremacy during the entire period for which we now have direct sources at our command, a political predominance of Nippur must likewise have preceded the fame ail rank acquired by its patron deity.
The precise order of supremacy exercised by the various political centres has not yet been deter- mined with that degree of certainty which would enable one to speak with perfect definiteness. It is still a matter of doubt whether the seat of the oldest Babylonian ruler at present known to us, En-shag-kush-anna, was Erech or Shirpurla, though the probabilities are in favour of the latter. The few brief inscriptions that we have from him were found at Nippur, and give expression to the king’s homage to En-lil or Bel, while his title ‘lord of Kengi’ points to control over a large district—per- haps the whole of southern Babylonia. The most serious rival to En-shag-kush-anna was the ruler of Kish in northern Babylonia, and it would appear that not long after the days of En-shag-kush-anna Shirpurla enters upon a period of dependency upon Kish ; its rulers no longer call themselves kings, but patesis, i.c. ‘governors.’ With some inter- ruptions, during which the former conditions are for a time restored, this state of things continues until Kish is obliged to yield its supremacy in turn to other places, first to a centre Gishban, situated not far from Shirpurla—one of whose rulers, Lugal- zageisi, calls himself ‘king of the world,’ and claims sovereignty from the Persian Gulf to the Mediter-