{ t.e. Babylonia.
§ An expression which apparently refers to the destruction of animal life in the waters.
|| Abkaddu is a title of a high officer,
ll. The sense of this pre- diction is obscure.
RELIGION OF BABYLONIA
If on the 21st day, the obscuration portends destruction to the country.
Tf on the 28th day, Bel will cause destruction; the king of that land during that year will overrun the country or [it portends that] the king will be safe.
If on the 29th day, in that year the king will die, the country
- will suffer misfortune. ...
If on the 30th day, the king will have a long reign will be food in plenty in the land.
If from the Ist to the 30th day the sun is obscured, the gods will overwhelm the whole country [with disaster].
If the day is dark, but the planets Dilbar* and Dapinut are seen together, city, king, and people will be safe, canals will be full of water.
Tf, contrary to calculation, the sun is obscured, the king will be in distress . .. ‘
If inthe month of Tishri the sun is obscured, the king dies, the country will witness disaster or [it portends] joy.’
Obscure as some of the predictions are—due in part to the defective nature of the text—their general character is quite clear. The references to specific CRs oie like the king of Amurru, of Elam, of Akkad, may be taken as indications that at some time or another the death of a ruler in one of these countries took place on the day in question, or that some disaster overtook him. This occur- rence would then naturally be made the basis for determining the inauspicious character of the day. We are not therefore to suppose that the death of a particular ruler of the countries named is in- tended to be predicted ; but, from the circumstance that a ruler died on that day in the past, the obscuration of the sun on such a day portends a misfortune for the country, or possibly for the ruler in question. Bearing in mind that these omen calendars are intended to serve as guides for the priests, one can also understand the contra- dictory notes recorded for one and the same day. Such statements must obviously be interpreted as embodying observations of various events that at some time in the past took place.
It is, accordingly, for the officiating priest to determine by additional resources—such, ¢.g., as the inspection of sacrificial animals, or an oil and water test, or the like—whether the favourable or unfavourable omen is to be depended upon. That, in general, the disappearance of the sun owing to heavy clouds, or an actual eclipse, portends some evil, is a conclusion suggested by the natural association of ideas between darkness and mis- fortune. Hence, at the close of the preceding and of the following omens dealing with the other months, it is stated as a general conclusion that an obscuration of the sun portends evil to the king, being a prediction of his death, and also indicating disaster to the country. But the text adds the possible alternative that on certain days and under certain conditions the phenomenon in- dicates ‘joy’—i.¢. is to be regarded as a favour- able omen. Here, again, when the indications for such days, based on past experience, are either favourable or unfavourable, it lies with the priest to determine by other means at his disposal which of the alternatives will be likely to occur.
The omens derived from the second great heavenly body—the moon—were in some respects of even greater importance, because of the more definite character of its movements; or, as we ought perhaps to put it, because of the greater ease with which these movements could be fol- lowed. Completing its course as it does in 29 or 30 days, the most obvious point to which the attention of observers would be directed would be the appearance of the new moon as the period marking the beginning of a new course. In the second place, note would be taken on what day— whether 12th, 13th, 14th, 15th, or 16th day—the sun was to be seen together with the moon ; for upon this phenomenon, as was ascertained by ex- perience, depended the day at the end of the month when the moon and the sun would again be
* Venus or Ishtar. + Jupiter or Marduk.
spss UReTE
559
RELIGION OF BABYLONIA
in conjunction. Again, the varying appearance of the moon’s horns, the character of the halo around the moon, and naturally such more extraordinary occurrences as the lunar eclipse, would serve as a basis for lunar omenology. Our knowledge of these omens is derived chiefly from reports from court astrologers to their royal masters.* ‘These reports are at times brief, consisting of only a few lines, as, ¢.g., the following connected with the appearance of the new moon on the Ist day of the calculated lunar month—that is, when the pre- ceding month had its full 30 days t— ‘If the moon is seen on the 1st day, [it portends that] the
country will be favoured with tranquillity.t If the day accord-
ing to its calculation is long, it portends a reign of long days.’ (Report from Bullutu].
The same omen is furnished in the reports of quite a number of other astrologers that have been preserved to us, but in some cases further specifications are given. So in one report there is added that in the case of the months Nisan and Tishri—the lst and 7th months—if the moon is full at the regular time, there will be good crops, and the king will be supreme.§ Somewhat dif- ferent is a report from an astrologer Nebo-shum- ishkun, who announces ||—