578 RELIGION OF BABYLONIA
RELIGION OF BABYLONIA
there was a steady stream of migration into’the Euphrates Valley ; and if it be borne in mind that among the ancient Arabs mountain tops were regarded as sacred, and that down to a very late date the favourite sanctuaries of the Semite popu- lation of Palestine and Syria were on eminences, we may perhaps go a step further, and regard the zikkurat as a distinctively Semitic product—an attempt on the part of the Semitic settlers in the Euphrates Valley to reproduce, by heaping up masses of clay (the only building material avail- able), the mountain peaks, on the top of which they supposed their gods to dwell, and which their priests, acting as mediators, ascended when they wished to obtain an oracle or to secure aid from their gods.
The zikkurats, like the temples proper, have their names. ‘These names, while frequently embodying the view that the zikkurats were intended to be built in imitation of mountains, are also of interest because of their testimony to the cosmological doctrines taught in the schools of Babylonian theology. Thus the zikkurat at Nippur bore the name 4-dur-an-ki, ‘the link of heaven and earth,’ a name originally suggested by the ambition of the builders to raise the tower to a great height, but with which speculations were connected asso- ciating the zikkurat with the great mountain of the world where the gods dwell, which reaches from the confines of Apsu—‘ the deep,’ as the seat of Ea —to the domain of Anu, ‘the god of heaven.’ The seven storeys, of which some of the most notable zikkurats—as, e.g., those in Babylon, Borsippa, and Erech—consisted, were associated with the seven zones into which the earth was divided by the Babylonians, or with the seven planets. Accord- ingly, the zikkurat of Borsippa was called E-ur- wmin-an-ki, ‘house of the seven planets (literall ‘governors’) of heaven and earth,’ while that at Erech was £-gipar-ur, ‘house of seven zones.’ Similarly, #-temen-an-ki, ‘the foundation stone of heaven and earth,’ the name of Marduk’s zik- kurat at Babylon, conveys a cosmological concep- tion of a more specific character, while Z-pa, ‘ the summit house,’ the name of the zikkurat at Shir- purla, embodies merely the idea of great height, and E-gubba-an-ki, ‘the point of heaven and earth,’ the name of a zikkurat in Dilbat, combines again the original idea of great height with speculations regarding ‘the mountain of the world.’
If, now, we find temples, pure and simple, bear- ing names connected with the idea of mountain heights, it is evident that such nomenclature is dependent upon the names given to the zikkurats, and that, even though temples may be as old in the Euphrates Valley as zikkurats, it is the zikkurat which acquires predominant significance as the characteristic sanctuary. Whether every sanctuary contained at the top a shrine where the image of the god was placed —as described by Herodotus—is a question that cannot be answered definitely. If there was an ascent leading to the top, it is natural to conclude that the ascent was made, and that some symbol of sanctity was to be found there. But the evidence is overwhelm- ing, that in later times it was to the temples— the large structures with courts and halls for worshippers—that the people repaired, while the ztkkurat survived as a religious symbol,—rather than as the active expression of the desire for com- munion with the gods. The interesting suggestion has recently been thrown out,* that around the base of the zikkurats the Babylonians were accustomed to bury their dead. But it could only have been the privileged few, as in the case of the ‘ pyramid’ burials of Egypt, to whom such a sacred site was assigned as their last resting-place ; and the custom
* Hilprecht, Haplorations in Bible Lands, p. 465 f.
could only have arisen at a time when the original purpose of the zikkurats was obscured by the greater and more active prominence assumed by the temples. ; As yet the excavations conducted in Babylonia and Assyria have not succeeded in furnishing us with definite material for determining more than the general character of the Babylonian temples. In the case of large centres such as Nippur, Sippar, Babylon, and Nineveh, there developed an entire sacred area, or quarter, which took its name from the chief edifice. So at Nippur, H-kur is not merely the name for the temple of Bel or En-lil, but for a large quarter of the city, in which stood sanctuaries and chapels erected to various gods and goddesses. At Nippur and at Babylon all the great gods and goddesses were thus represented, forming, as it were, the court gathered around the chief deity. The sacred area of E-kur at Nippur is estimated to have covered eight acres, and that of E-sagila at Babylon, at which excavations are now being conducted, was probably much greater. Near the zikkurat stood the sanctuary of the chief god, surrounded by a large court, and, if one may draw a general conclusion from two small Assyrian temples excavated by Layard at Nimrod,* the main features of the temple proper were a long hall leading into a small room, and the ‘holy of holies,’ known as the papakhu or parakku, in which stood the image of the god or goddess, as the case might be. Into this sacred chamber none but the priests, or a worshipper accompanied by a priest, were permitted to enter. + In front of the image stood the altar to the god; but it is likely that in the larger room, as well as in the open court around the sanctuary, altars were also placed for the regular and ordinary sacrifices, the penetration into the ‘holy of holies’ being restricted to special occasions, and probably also to privileged indi- viduals, besides the priests, and absolutely for- bidden to the general masses. At Nippur two large divisions appear to have existed within the sacred area—one devoted perhaps to the chapels and sanctuaries of the deities (according to a tablet, no fewer than 24+) that were worshipped in Nippur ; the other reserved for the zikkurat, the temple of Bel proper, and possibly for the dwellings of the priests, the temple treasury, and the like. Apart from this feature of the temples of Baby- lonia and Assyria in the large centres, which made them gathering - places for the worship of other deities besides the one to whom the entire area was sacred, the position of the priests as judges and scribes led to the extension of the temple area for other than strictly religious purposes. Not only were the courts of justice established within the sacred place, but commercial agreements were drawn up there in the presence of priests acting as scribes; and all transactions involving money matters, such as marriage-settlements, registering of wills, agreements between landlord and tenant, sale of slaves, houses, fields and crops, building contracts, hiring of ships, workmen, and the like, came before the priests, in whose presence, like- wise, all legal disputes and lawsuits were adjudi- cated. Within the temple area the legal archives of the country were kept, and the public treasury was under the control of the representatives of religion. More than this, the temple organizations acquired large holdings of lands and property, and themselves engaged in commercial transactions on a large scale. The legal archives, found in such * Discoveries among the Ruins of Nineveh and Babylon (London, 1857), plan 2. t For a pictorial representation of a king being led into the presence of the sun-god by a priest, see Bezold, Nineveh und Babylon (Leipzig 1903), p. 87. On seal-cylinders similar scenes