4] Thompson, No. 195.
RELIGION OF BABYLONIA
most circumstances with Marduk. Again, though the omens connected with Nergal-Mars are on the whole unfavourable, there are notable exceptions ; as, ¢.g., When a report* tells us that if Mars is visible in the month of Elul—the 6th month—the crops of the land will be plentiful, and everything in the land will be prosperous ; but, on the other hand, if N ergal approaches the moon, the god Sin will cause evil to descend upon the land;+ and in this report the ‘unlucky’ character associated with Mars compensates the generally favourable nature of the portents in the case of other stars being seen near the moon. After this omen with reference to Nergal and Sin, the report con- tinues—
“If any [other] planet stands the ting eal Beqomeni: or if ra tes ees of the moon on the left side, the king will also be powerful. If a star stands behind the moon on the left side, the king of Akkad will be powerful. If the star Dilgan (i.e. Virgo) stands at the left horn, the crops in Akkad will be plentiful; or if Dilgan stands above the moon, the crops will be plentiful.’
The report continues in this way with a further series of omens derived from stars appearing on the left side, which, while portending evil because of the association between ‘left’ and ‘unlucky,’ yet are in so far favourable as the evil—loss of territory, or floods—is predicted for an enemy and his land, and not for the king of Assyria, to whom the report is furnished.
Wind and thunderstorms as well as earth- quakes are included within the scope of the natural phenomena on which the astrologers of Babylonia and Assyria render reports to their royal masters. In regard to both wind and thunderstorms, the season of the year is naturally the prime factor in the decision whether the omen is to be interpreted as favourable or un- favourable. The storms and rains forming in a land like Mesopotamia a natural season, upon which the fertility of the soil is dependent, are, in fact, under ordinary circumstances regarded as signs of the favour of the gods; and we may well suppose that the Babylonians, like the ancient Hebrews, included in their ritual, at the approach of the rainy season, prayers that the gods might send the rains and also the storms—since the former never came without the latter—over the land. In accordance with this view, a storm is ordinarily an omen of prosperity ; and it is only when the excessive severity of the rains causes a flood, or when the rain comes at the wrong time— in the spring instead of in the autumn and winter —that the omen is naturally unfavourable. A report from Asharidu, the servant of the king, reads t—
‘If a rainstorm comes over the land, crops will flourish, prices will be steady. If a rainstorm continues in the land, there will be an increase of royal power. If a rainstorm bursts forth in Shebet,§ there will be a Kassite eclipse. ||
A storm still later in the season, in Adar { (12th month), when the rains ordinarily have ceased, portends blighted crops; and as with rainstorms, so, up to a certain point in regard to thunder- storms, the season of the year determines whether the omen is to be regarded as favourable or un- favourable. But apparently a new factor enters into consideration here, for the voice of the god Adad himself is heard in the thunder ; and it is this voice that the astrologers are called upon to interpret. In consequence, as the priests were guided necessarily by observation of events that in the past had foltovred upon the sound of thunder at a particular season of the year or time of the
* Thompson, No. 233. + Ib. No. 234. t 1b. No. 250.
§ i.e. the 11th month, towards the spring, when the severe storms ought to be over.
|| An eclipse portending some evil for the country north-east of Babylonia. ‘
4] e.g. Thompson, No. 252. EXTRA VOL.—36
RELIGION OF BABYLONIA 561
day, the reports manifest a greater degree of in- consistency than in the interpretation of omens from rainstorms, where normal conditions consti- tuted a firm basis for calculations. Thus, in the case of several reports dealing with omens in regard to thunder in the month of Ab—the 5th month—one* informs us that the crops will be plentiful, while another + declares that the omen portends evil. A distinction is made between thunder accompanied by rain and thunder in a cloudless sky. The report says t—
‘If Adad sends forth his voice in the month of Ab, on a dark day, with rain and lightning, waters will be poured forth in the canals. If on a cloudless day Adad roars, there will be dis- tress or famine in the land.’
Or again §— ‘If it lightens on a cloudless day, Adad will cause a flood.’
The association between a thunderstorm and a rainstorm oub of season suggests the portent that ||—
‘Tf, in Tishri,4] Adad sends forth his voice, there will be hostility in the land. If it rains in the month of Tishri, there will be disaster to the sick and to cattle, and disaster to the enemy.’
An earthquake naturally always portends some disaster, and the omens derived from this pheno- menon appear in general to have reference to a national calamity. The trembling of the earth suggests invasion and ruin. We are told **—