* See art. Copn or HammuRaBI in present vol. p. 584 ff. 3 and cf, Scheil, Teates Elamites-Sémitiques, ii. (Paris, 1902), with French translation : also in a revised edition, La Loi de Ham- mourabi (Paris, 1903); F. Mari, ZZ Codice di Hammurabi e la Bibbia (Rome, 1903); G. Cohn, Die Gesetze Hammurabis (Ziirich, 1903); J. Jeremias, Moses und Hammurabi (Leipzig, 1903); Johns, The Oldest Code of Laws in the World (Edin- burgh, 1903); R. F. Harper, The Code of Hammurabi (auto- graph text, transliteration, translation, glossary, etc.), 1904 ;
and the German translations of Winckler, Peiser, and Miiller, as well as Cook’s discussion of the Code above referred to.
RELIGION OF BABYLONIA
RELIGION OF BABYLONIA
583
indicates that there were other factors at work of a higher order.
_ The Code of Hammurabi has its decided limita- tions. Many of its provisions are cruel, bordering almost upon barbarous viciousness. But it must be borne in mind that even the more humanitarian Pentateuchal codes are not free from enactments which, from the modern point of view, are repre- hensible, as, ¢.g., the putting to death of the woman suspected of witchcraft. Again, in the provisions made by the courts for the settlement of disputes, methods are followed which do not commend themselves to us. But, down to a late
veriod in European countries, debtors had but
ittle mercy shown them when brought into court,
and miscarriages of justice occur frequently in our own day. Moreover, it can hardly be urged, in view of the elaborate and ever-growing provisions made by modern legislative bodies against all manner of crimes, frauds, and encroachments on the rights of others, that the necessity for regulating alllegal and commercial transactions by formal con- tracts—which is a characteristic feature of Baby- lonian and Assyrian civilization— points to the laxity of the moral sense in these ancient centres.
-On the whole, it will be found that the Babylono- Assyrian religion exercised a wholesome influence upon the people, who at all times showed a marked devotion to their gods. It is perfectly true that the practices of the cult were, down to the latest days, linked to beliefs of a crude and primitive character, of which the Incantation texts and the Omen literature represent the natural outcome; but the speculations of the theologians, and the cosmological and astrological system perfected by them, must be taken as an evidence of the higher
ossibilities of the religion. Religious practices in all religions are apt to lag behind doctrines and speculations, and the test by which a religion should be tried is not so much what it was or even what it is, as what it aimed to be, or under more favour- able circumstances might have become. Applying this test, the religion of Babylonia and Assyria stands out among ancient religions as the one that approaches nearest to that phase from which there eventually came forth three of the most important yauee of mankind—Judaism, Christianity, and
slam.
LITERATURE.—1. GENERAL WORKS.—The writer begs to ex- plain that in mentioning his own work, The Religion of Baby- lonia and Assyria (Boston, 1898), first, he does so because it happens to be the only complete treatise on the subject that has as yet appeared. A German edition of this work, entirely revised, to a very large extent rewritten, and with copious additions and new translations of the religious literature, is now in course of publication under the title Die Religion Baby- loniens und Assyriens (J. Ricker, Giessen). Up to the present (March 1904), six parts have been issued, and the work will be completed in about eleven parts, with an extra portfolio of appropriate illustrations. Professor Sayce’s two works, The Religion of the Ancient Babylonians (Hibbert Lectures, London, 1887), and The Religions of Ancient Egypt and Baby- lonia (Gifford Lectures; Edinburgh, 1902), while containing many interesting suggestions, do not aim at covering the entire field. The former work, moreover, is now antiquated to a large extent, and the latter is concerned more with a speculative elucidation of the ‘conception of the Divine’ among the Baby- lonians than with the details of the religion. Among shorter sketches, those of O. P. Tiele, ‘ Die Religion in. Babylonien und Assyrien’ [being pages 127-216 of part 1. of his Geschichte der Religion im Alterthum (Gotha, 1895), translated from the Dutch edition (Amsterdam, 1893)], and Friedrich Jeremias, ‘Die Baby- lonier und Assyrier’ in Chantepie de la Saussaye’s Lehrbuch der Religionsgeschichte (2nd ed. Freiburg 1. B. 1897), vol. i. pp. 163-221, are to be specially commended. Of a later date, and therefore replacing these earlier sketches to a certain extent, are L. W. King’s little volume on Babylonian Religion and Mythology (London, 1899), and Domenico Bassi, Mitologia Babilonese-Assira (Milan, 1899). Alfred Jeremias’ articles on the various gods of the Babylono-Assyrian Pantheon (Marduk, Ninib, Nergal, Ea (Oannes), Nusku, etc.) in Roscher’s Ausfthr- liches Lexikon der Griechischen und Romischen Mythologie are also to be highly recommended. “A
2, RELIGIOUS TEXTS—Besides the collections of religious texts in the publications of the British Museum, more par- ticularly in the fourth volume of 4 Selection from the Miscel-
laneous Inscriptions of Western Asia, ed. by H. OC. Rawlinson (2nd ed. London, 1891), and in parts 13 to 17 (last issued) of Cuneiform Texts from Babylonian Tablets, etc. in the British Museum, under the general editorship of E. A. Wallis Budge (London, 1901-1903), and _the invaluable Catalogue of the Cuneiform Tablets in the Kouyunjik Collection of the British Museum by Carl Bezold, 5 vols. (London, 1889-1899), the follow- ing publications merit special mention :—H. Zimmern, Baby- lonische Busspsaimen (Leipzig, 1885), same author’s Bettrdge zur Kenntnis der Babylonischen Religion: (a) Beschworungs- tafeln Shurpu, (6) Ritualtafeln fir den Wahrsager, Be- schworer, und Sanger (Leipzig, 1901; texts with translation and commentary); K. L. Tallqvist, Die Assyrische Beschwo- rungsserie Maglt (Leipzig, 1895); J. A. Knudtzon, Assyrische Gebete an den Sonnengott fiir Staat und kinigliches Haus aus der Zeit Asarhaddons und Assurbanipals (2 vols. Leipzig, 1898); J. A. Craig, Assyrian and Babylonian Religious Teats (2 vols. Leipzig, 1895-1897), of which transliterations and trans- lations into French are furnished by Frangois Martin, Teates Religieux Assyricns et Babyloniens (two publications, (a) Paris, 1900, (b) Paris, 1903, both under the same title—the former covering vol. ii, the latter vol. i, of Craig’s texts); Geo. Reisner, Sumerisch - Babylonische Hymnen nach Thontafeln Griechischer Zeit (Berlin, 1896); L. W. King, Babylonian Magic and Sorcery (London, 1896); R. C. Thompson, The Devils and Evil Spirits of Babylonia (2 vols. London, 1903-1904), transla- tions of incantation series in parts 16 and 17 of Cuneiform Texts, etc.; O. Fossey, La Magie Assyrienne (Paris, 1902), embodying translations of the greater portion of the fourth volume of the Rawlinson series above referred to, and other texts ; A. Boissier, Documents Assyriens relatifs wus présages (Paris, 1894-1897, in course of publication); J. A. Craig, Astro- logical- Astronomical Texts (Leipzig, 1899); Ch. Virolleaud, L’ Astrologie Chaldéene (Paris, 1903, in course of publication) ; R. OC. Thompson, The Reports of the Magicians and Astrologers of Nineveh and Babyion (2 vols. London, 1900). _