A BOOK OF THE BEGINNINGS
NOTES TO SECTION 20
[1] [Wright, 'Observations on the Assyrian verb Basu, as compared with the Hebrew verb היה Haya "He was,"' TSBA, 3, 104. See full text.]
[3] [Talbot, 'Assyrian Notes, No. 1,' TSBA, 3, 444. 'The other gloss, in the next line 51, is [Assyrian] rakrakshalibbikani, m.einhriines from the interior of the reeds.' I consider rak to be the Heb. רק which Schindler renders 'membrana: charta subtilis,' a word derived from רק tenuis.']
[4] [Rit. ch. 23. 'Open my mouth, says Ptah, with his book, [brick?] made of mud, fashioning the mouths of the Gods by it. I am Pasht and Uat, seated in the Great Quarter, the greatest of the heaven; my mouth is that of Osiris, Lord of the West.' Birch's tr. Cf. Renouf.]
[5] [Wilkinson, Manners and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians. The Second Series, vol. 2, p. 5. 'The name of this Goddess is still uncertain. It appears to read Sof h or Sof kh; and these letters are followed by demonstrative signs, which are either intended to represent horns, or human tongues. If the latter, her name may possibly be related to Sagi, "a tongue," and she may be the abstract idea of the human speech. From her employment, noting on the palm branch of Thoth the years of human life, and from her title, "Lady of Letters," she appears also to be the Goddess of writing. She may perhaps be a deification of "speech" or language. But her hieroglyphics read sof h or sofkh, and not sakh, "writing;" nor does the word sagi, "a tongue," answer to the characters they present. Like Thoth, she registers the events of man's life, and bears a palm-branch with the emblems signifying halls of assembly; marking on it, at the same time, the years of the King's life, or the number of panegyrics at which he had been proclaimed.']
[6] [Rit. ch. 80. 'I have given welcome. I am the Tongue or the writer. I have taken the Perceptions in the land, where I found them. I have deprived the darkness of its power. I am the Woman, the orb [hour] of darkness. I have brought my orb to the darkness; it is changed to light.' Birch's tr. Cf. Renouf.]
[7] [Hieroglyphica, bk. 1.27. 'To denote speech they depict a TONGUE, and a BLOODSHOT EYE; because they allot the principal parts of speech to the tongue, but the secondary parts thereof to the eyes. For these kinds of discourses are strictly those of the soul varying in conformity with its emotions; more especially as they are denominated by the Egyptians as different languages. And to symbolize speech differently, they depict a TONGUE and a HAND BENEATH; allotting the principal parts of speech to the tongue to perform, and the secondary parts to the hand as effecting the wishes of the tongue.']
[8] [Talbot, 'Four New Syllabaries with a Bilingual Tablet,' TSBA, 3, 523. 'In 2R 57, 39, the god Ninib is called [Assyrian] Nin kattin barzil, 'the lord of the coat of iron,' meaning the armour which he wore as god of war. Hence kattin must be the Hebrew כתן 'a coat': also tunica, vestis.']
[9] [Assyrian Dictionary, vol. 1, p. 234.]
[10] [Ibid., vol. 2, p. 624.]
[11] [Sayce, 'The Origin of Semitic civilisation, chiefly upon Philological Evidence,' TSBA, 1, 301. 'A fragment of an old ritual speaks of "the overwhelming flood of Na in the midst of heaven" more than once, and invokes Ussur as "the striker of fortresses," who "has opened" (ipta) [Assyrian] "the hostile land like a whirlwind," "in the expanse of heaven" (sainu) [Assyrian], addressing him afterwards under the name of Khammu [Assyrian] (B.M. S. II, 19).']
[12] [Rit. ch. 163. 'Ruba ta is thy name. Kher mau ser is thy name! Rhnrusata is thy name. I have adored thy name. I am the Cow listening to these words the day I have made thee warmth under the head of the Sun, placing it in the Gate of the God of Time in Annu [Heliopolis].' Birch's tr. Cf. Renouf.]
[13] [Smith, 'Early History of Babylonia, Part II,' RP, 5, 53. See pp. 58, 60.]
[14] [Gen. 10:23. 'And the children of Aram; Uz, and Hul, and Gether, and Mash.']
[15] [Brugsch, Geographische Inschriften altägyptischer Denkmäler, vol. 2, p. 76.]
[16] [Houghton, 'On the Hieroglyphic or Picture Origin of the Characters of the Assyrian Syllabary,' TSBA, 6:2, 469. 'No. 301, [Assyrian] (id), though apparently connected with [Assyrian] (gar), has no real relationship with it. In its most ancient form it appears to be the picture of a double-toothed comb, as is shown by a tablet in the British Museum. The alterations in form which this character [Assyrian] has undergone are great, as may be seen from the following selected signs. The hieratic Assyrian has [Assyrian], Babylonian [Babylonian] hieratic Babylonian [Babylonian] the archaic Babylonian [Babylonian]; there are other variants. lu tlie British Museum tablet this curious figure is given as an equivalent of the same character id; on another part of the tablet a similar figure, minus the knobs, is explained by the sign [Assyrian] the archaic form of ner, "a foot." The character [Assyrian] has the meanings of "hand," "power," "throne," and "one." Now, was the original picture that of a "hand" or a "comb"? The ideas of "power" and "throne" which the character denotes are probably offshoots from the idea of "hand" implying "force," "capability"—thus we have in Accadian [Akkadian] id-an "a general," literally "hand" + "high," "ruling with a high hand." But was the character primarily a pectinated hand or a digitated comb? On the principle of "fingers before forks," I think the out-stretched hand is the original idea embodied in the character, and that as the hand would be the first instrument for combing savage locks, the idea of a comb was suggested thereby. The idea of "unity" implied in the character, probably originated, as Mr. Sayce suggests to me, in the primitive man holding up his hand to denote "one." But what the knobbed figure can mean, or what the other figure, in what way "a comb," in what way "a foot," is to me at present a puzzle.']
[17] [As above note.]
[18] [Job 31:26-27. 'If I beheld the sun when it
shined, or the moon walking in brightness;
And my heart hath been secretly enticed, or my mouth hath kissed my
hand.']
[19] ['Early History of Babylonia, Part II,' RP, 5, 53. See p. 77.]
[20] ['On the Hieroglyphic or Picture Origin of the Characters of the Assyrian Syllabary,' TSBA, 6:2, 476. 'No. 160, [Assyrian] tak, Assyrian abnu, "a stone," is a very puzzling character; I can merely suggest an explanation. None of the ancient forms of this sign, as [Assyrian], hieratic Assyrian: [Assyrian] heiratic Babylonian; linear Babylonian, bear a most distant resemblance to "a stone" properly so called—I mean any natural product, such as rock or pebble—whether rounded or angular.']
[21] [Ibid., p. 478. 'Now one of the meanings of the last sign is "a tablet" made of something; but the inscription is here broken, and a character lost. May therefore the compound ideograph [Assyrian] be read as "reed-matting + layers of clay"? Compare with this character that of [Assyrian] ak "to build," No. 87 the oldest form of which appears to be a rude picture of brickwork and reed matting, as described by Rawlinson.']
[22] [Ibid, p. 477. 'Nos. 506, 507, and 508, [Assyrian] particularly to sun-dried bricks. The kiln bricks are almost as hard as stone, and very durable, being nearly one foot square, and about two inches thick. I think that the archaic form [glyph] represents a brick and half a brick; the square whole brick, and the half triangular one, used for the corners of walls, &c. Or the picture may be meant to represent portion of a brick pavement, which, when viewed diagonally, would give the appearance of the hieroglyph [glyphs]. This idea seems to derive support from No. 327, an old form of which character is [glyph] "floor," "foundation stones," i.e., ''quarries and half quarries of brick or tile," viewed diagonally. Of the characters [Assyrian] we have no recorded meaning in the first form; perhaps the three figures are all allied, and the known meaning of one may throw light on the unknown meaning of another. No. 507 denotes "brick," or "brickwork," and "the month of Sivan," the brick-making month of the year, when the sun was hot, and the weather favourable for sun-dried material.']
[23] [bid, p. 479. 'Professor Sayce gives me the following very satisfactory explanation of this character. If we turn to the archaic form of gusur (No. 143), "a beam of wood," which is [Assyrian]; it is clear that the ideograph is compounded of [Assyrian], "a door," and [Assyrian], which must therefore represent "a beam of wood," or "staff." Standing by itself, would therefore be the "sceptre" carried by a prince, and hence "the prince" himself. One of the archaic Babylonian forms of [Assyrian] is [Assyrian] where [Assyrian], "the hand," is added to show that in this instance the staff of wood was carried in the hand. But what is the original picture of [Assyrian]? No. 241, uku (Accadian), "people," calama, "country," as represented in the archaic Babylonian [Babylonian] may be resolved into the picture of "house" + "sceptre," or "ruler," and the whole stand for "a people," "a ruled nation," "an inhabited country."']
[24] [Smith, 'The Chaldean Account of the Deluge (i.e.,
The Eleventh Tablet of the Izdubar Legends),' TSBA, 3, 591.
'We have the names of several kinds of boxes or bags, and in line 29 [Assyrian];
da-lat bis-sa-ti "door (or lid) of box." This will give us a better
reading of the passage, almost always found at the end of cylinders which were
buried in receptacles in the walls and foundations of Assyrian buildings,
[Assyrian] bissati lab-su-us, "in a receptacle may he enclose it." In
Cuneif. Ins., Vol. II, p. 44, No. 8, there is a curious series of equivalents
connected with this word: we have [Assyrian] su-lu-ku, equal to
[Assyrian] lu-ub-bu "interior or enclosed," and in line 69 [Assyrian]
"enclosed in a box" is given as the equivalent of [Assyrian] nu-u-hu.
This will give us a new meaning for the name Noah and perhaps the derivation of
the word.'
See also RP, 7, 133.]
[25] [Lepsius, Denkmaler, vol. 4, p. 70, f.]
[26] [Oppert, 'Great Inscription in the Palace of Khorsabad,' RP, 9, 1. See p. 19.]
[27] [Ibid. See p. 19.]
[28] [Talbot, 'Commentary on the deluge Tablet,' TSBA, 4, 53. 'In this tablet Xisuthrus has usually the epithet ruki "the remote," because he dwelt in such a remote country. It does not imply that he was remote from the person who was speaking to him, for in Col. iv, 39 it is said "his wife then spoke to Xisuthrus the remote."']
[29] [Unable to trace.]
[30] ['The Astronomy and Astrology of the Babylonians, with Translations of the Tablets relating to these Subjects,' TSBA, 3, 161. 'After this is added the statement that, "Thus from the 1st day of Nisan to the 30th day of Ve-Adar, head and tail completely, so-and-so lives head and tail to head and tail completely, so-and-so goes to destruction." In this tablet the fall name of the Accadian Ve-Adar is given as Dir-se, se being Adar.']
[31] [WAI, 57.]
[32] [Renouf, PSBA, 2:2. See the diagram and calendar.]
[33] [Compare Talbot, 'Chaldean Account of the Creation,' RP, 9, 115. See p. 117.]
[34] [Talbot, 'Chaldean Account of the Creation,' TSBA, 5:2, 440. 'For, n the time of the Assyrians, even as at the present day, the lunation was divided into four equal parts—new moon, first quarter, full moon, last quarter. In 4 R 9, 20 (which is an Ode to the Moon) the Moon is said to complete its horns (arbati miskriti) in four quarters.' Read the complete text here.]
[35] [WAI, 4, 2, 4. 'It [the Sixth Tablet of Izdubar] signifies the struggle of Izdubar and his companion Heabani against the bull created by Anu at the request if Ishtar, who desires to revenge herself upon the hero of Erech for his disdain, and this struggle is related in the VIth tablet of the poem.' From Lenormant, Chaldean Magic, p. 57.]
[36] [Lefebure, 'The Book of Hades,' RP, 10, 79. See p. 83.]
[37] [Drummond, Œdipus Judaicus, pl. 13—'Mithraic monuments according to Hyde.']
[38] [WAI, 4. 27. 2. 'The great mountain of Mul-gelal, the glory of the mountains, the crest of which reaches unto the heavens, the sublime reservoir of water washes its base; between the mountains (it is) like a powerful buffalo in repose; its summit shines like a ray of the sun, like the prophetic star of heaven perfecting its glory.' From Lenormant, Chaldean Magic.]
[39] [Lenormant, Chaldean Magic, p. 171. Massey has here condensed the quote for his own convenience. The full passage reads as follows: 'O great bull, the very great bull, which stampest high, which openest an access to the interior, which openest the canals considerably, which servest as a foundation to the god Ul-sara, the reaper of the fields, my brilliantly pure hands have sacrificed before thee.' 'Thou art the bull engendered by the god Ungal-turda, the entrance to the tomb is thy act; the lady with the magic wand fashioned thee for eternity!' Lenormant explains the symbolism of 'the lady of the magic wand' as the meaning of the name of Nin-gis-zida on p. 140.]
[40] [Ibid., p. 170, footnote. 'Sir Henry Rawlinson has also probably been guided by the Assyrians phrase which follows the last prayer quite at the end f the tablet, and where a bull is really mentioned: enuva alap ana bit mummutu useribu, "afterwards they lead the bull into the bit mummutu." But what is this bit mummutu? It seems to me that it is connected with the word mummu, "chaos," Hebrew המהמ "confusion;" it would then be "the abode of confusion, of the state of chaos," which is a very suitable name for the gloomy and infernal region, and so much the more because the Accadian equivalent of mummu is umun, and because we have just remarked the name gi-umuna as applied to Hades.']
[41] ['Legend of the Descent of Ishtar,' RP, 1, 141. See p. 147.]
[42] [Chaldean Magic, p. 43. '"He formed, for her escape, the
figure of a man of clay." The original has Assinnu, which I have derived
from the Chaldee word, Sin, clay. But this is a mere conjecture." Fox
Talbot, Records of the Past, vol., I., p. 147. Ed.'
See Talbot, 'Legend of the Descent of Ishtar,' RP, 1,
141.]
[43] [Talbot, 'Assyrian Sacred Poetry,' RP, 3, 131. See p. 135.]
[44] [Ex. 24:10. 'And they saw the God of Israel: and there was under his feet as it were a paved work of a sapphire stone, and as it were the body of heaven in his clearness.']
[45] [Oppert, 'Great Inscription in the Palace of Khorsabad,' RP, 9, 1. See p. 18.]
[46] [Talbot, 'Assyrian Notes, No. 1,' TSBA, 3, 433.
'This was the Accadian word for the mamit of the Assyrians, which was
certainly some great mystery, but of what nature has not yet been explained.
That there was salvation in the mamit I have already shown (Transactions
Vol. II, p. 37). This is confirmed by the present passage, since the book on the
mamit follows immediately the one on the descent of the soul to Hades.
The Assyrian translation of gi namniru is [Assyrian] kan mamiti;
where we observe, first, that g is translated kan (papyrus), and
secondly, that namniru is translated, as it usually is, by mamitu.']
[47] [The Principles of Moral and Political Philosophy, (1810 ed.), p. 132, footnote. 'It is commonly thought that oaths are denominated corporal oaths from the bodily action which accompanies them, of laying te right hand upon a book containing the Four Gospels. This opinion, however, appears to be a mistake, for the term is borrowed from the ancient usage of touching, on these occasions, the corporale, or cloth which covered the consecrated elements.']
[48] [Rit. ch. 15. 'Inexplicable is the semsem [genesis], it is the greatest of secrets.' Birch's tr. Cf. Renouf.]
[49] [Ez. 28:8. 'They shall bring thee down to the pit, and thou shalt die the deaths of them that are slain in the midst of the seas.']
[50] [Talbot, 'On the Religious Belief of the Assyrians,' TSBA, 2:1, 42.
'In other tablets the Mamit is brought to the bedside of a sick man. Evil
spirits are driven away by it, and it is said "they shall never return." There
are numerous other scattered notices, which it would be well to collect and
compare together.
I have omitted to mention the following gloss (2 R 10, 28) which was published
some years ago, but has not been noticed by Assyrian scholars. It confirms the
foregoing arguments.
Sapar sa sana la likri. Sakha Mainita
which I take to mean "The jewel whose price cannot he valued" is the Sakba
otherwise called the Mamita.
Sapar, 'jewel.'—Sima, 'price.' [Assyrian] or [Assyrian] see 2 R 13, 46. Likri
'can be valued,' the opt. or potential mood of 'to value:' see Zechariah xi, 13.
[Assyrian] 'thy price at which I was valued.']
[51] ['Hymn of Tahtmes.' Unable to trace this work.]
[52] [Brand, Observations on Popular Antiquities, vol. 1, p. 462. 'Mumming.' 'MUMMING is a sport of this festive season which consists in changing clothes between men and women, who, when dressed in each other's habits, go from one neighbour's house to another, partaking of Christmas cheer, and making merry with them in disguise. It is supposed to have been originally instituted in imitation of the Sigillaria, or festival days added to the ancient Saturnalia, and was condemned by the synod of Trullus, where it was decreed that the days called the Calends should be entirely stripped of their ceremonies, and that the faithful should no longer observe them; that the public dancings of women should cease, as being the occasion of much harm and ruin, and as being invented and observed in honour of the gods of the heathens, and therefore quite averse to the Christian life. They therefore decreed that no man should be clothed with a woman's garment, nor any woman with a man's.']
[53] [Anonymous, Every Woman in her Humour, 1609.]
[54] [Beaumont & Fletcher, Island Princess, act 4.
'To catch my immortal life, I hate and curse you,
Contemn your deities, spurn at their powers,
And where I meet your Maumet gods, I'll swing 'em
Thus o'er my head, and kick 'em into puddles.'
Works, (1778 ed.), vol. 8, p. 257. The editors note that the word
Maumet is first noted in the 1647 copy. In the rest it is as follows:
'To catch my immortal life, I hate and curse ye,
Contemn your Deities, spurn at their powers,
And where I meet your Mahumet gods, I'll swing 'em
Thus o'r my head, and kick 'em into puddles.' Works, vol. 8, p. 156 of
the Cambridge 1910 ed.]
[55] [Gouldman, Copious Dictionary in Three Parts.]
[56] [Nouvelles, 1858, 4, 268. 'The following passage in a letter from the Abbe Brasseur de Bourbourg, to Mr Rafn of Copenhagen, bearing date 25th October, 1858, may be useful in this connection: On sait que la coutume tolteque et mexicaine etait de conserver, comme chez les Chretiens, les reliques des heros de la patrie: ou enveloppait leurs os avec des pierres precieuses dans un. paquet d etoffes auquel on donnait le nom de Tlaquimilolli; cos paquets demeuraieiit a jamais fermes et on les deposait au fond des sanctuaires ou on les coiiservait comme des objects sacres. Nouvelles Annales des Voyages, 1858, tom, iv., p. 268. One of these bundles, was given up to the Christians by a Tlascaltec some time after the Conquest. It was reported to contain the remains of Camaxtli, the chief god of Tlascala.' From Bancroft, The Native Races of the Pacific States of North America, vol. 3, p. 54.]
[57] [Bancroft, The Native Races of the Pacific States of North America, vol. 3, p. 54. 'The native historian, Camargo, describes it as follows: Quand on dent le paquet oxse trouvaient les cendres de idole Camaxtle, on y trouva aussi un paquet de cheveux blonds, on y trouva aussi une 6meraude, et de ses cendres on avait fait unepate, en les petrissant avec le sang des enfants que Ton avait sacrifies. Hist. de Tlaxcallan, in Nouvells Annales des Voy., 1843, tom, xcix., p. 179.']
[58] [Zur Entwicklungeschichte der Menschheit. Vorträge.?]
[59] [Scholia on Homer.]
[60] [De Nouo Orbe, or The Historie of the West
Indies, p. 50. 'These images, the inhabitauntes call Zemes,
whereof the leaste, made to the likenesse of young deuilles, they binde to their
foreheades when they goe to the warres against their enemies, and for that
purpose have they those strings hanging at them which you fee. Of these, they
believe to obteyne rayne, if raine bee lacking, likewise fayre weather: for they
thinke that these Zemes are the mediatours and messengers of the great
God, whom they acknowledge to be onely one, eternall, without end, omnipotent,
and invisible. Thus every king hath his particular Zemes, which he honoureth.'
Ibid., p. 163. 'They founde them Idolaters, & circumcised. They sacrifice
children of both sexes to their Zemes which are the Images of their
familiar and domesticall spirites, which they worship.']
[61] [Brinton, Myths of New England, p. 183. 'The Zapotecs worshipped such a deity under the image of this member carved from a precious stone, calling to mind the "Kab ul," the Working Hand, adored by the Mayas, and said to be one of the images of Zamna, their hero god.' Also p. 188; 'Doubtless he has adapted them somewhat to proselytizing purposes, but they seem very likely to be close copies of authentic aboriginal songs, referring to the return of Zamna or Kukulcan, lord of the dawn and the four winds, worshipped at Cozumel and Palenque under the sign of the cross.']
[62] [Bancroft, The Native Races of the Pacific States of North America, vol. 3, p. 481. 'In some places this idea of seclusion was carried to such an extent that idols were kept hidden in subterranean chapels, that they might not be disturbed or the people become too familiar with them; another reason, however, was to prevent their being stolen by other villagers. The god of the road had sanctuaries, called mumah, all along the highways, especially at the junctions, and the traveller in passing never failed to rub his legs with a handful of grass, upon which he afterwards spat with great respect, and deposited it upon the altar, together with a small stone, believing that this act of piety would give him renewed strength.']
[63] [Bleek,
A Brief Account of Bushman Folklore and Other Texts, pp. 13-4.
'A male ostrich is killed and carried home by a Bushman. One of its
little feathers, stained with blood, is lifted up by a gentle whirlwind, and
falls into the water; where it gradually becomes an ostrich. It leaves the water
as a young ostrich, grows up, and returns to its wives as their resaved husband.
As such, he guards the nest against the attacks of the jackals and hyenas, who
are thereby driven to seek for the nest of a she-ostrich who will not be fierce,
and who runs away.—This is followed by a
very lengthy and still unfinished dialogue between the hyena and the jackal in
their flight, etc.
This idea of the revival of a dead male ostrich, in and through one of its
little feathers, is also mentioned in other places, and is compared to the
coming to life of the Moon; whilst, with the exception of the Moon and the Male
Ostrich, all other things mortal are said to die outright, and not to come to
life again.']
[64] [PLP, 1874-5, 286-7. 'Teraphs, or Wooden Images.—These, as a rule, are male figures, of about a foot in length. They are made of the only hard wood on the island (Toromiro). Those now made give one the idea of a very emaciated or flayed man; the profile strongly aquiline, the mouth grinning; ears with long lobes. Eyeballs of obsidian were put into the sockets, and a small tuft on the chin, for both sexes, be it fitted. It is said in Cook's time, they were fatter.']
[65] [Tylor, Researches into the Early History of Mankind, p. 106. See p. 122.]
[66] [Troy and Its Remains, p. 12. 'The
three so-called tombs of heroes also Greek — Proposed sites at Chiphk and
Akshi-Koi refuted by the absence of remains—Modern
authorities in favour of Hissarhk—Ancient
types of pottery still made in the Troad—Covers
with owl-faces, and vases with uplifted wings—Colouring
materials of the pottery—The inscriptions—The
author's relations with the Turkish Government—Professor
Max Muller on the owl-headed goddess—Some
probable traces of another settlement between the fourth pre-Hellenic people and
the Greek colonists.'
Ibid., p. 35. 'I found likewise in all the layers of debris, from
a depth of 3 meters (nearly 10 feet) down to a depth of lo meters (33 feet),
vases with owls' faces, two upraised wings (not arms, as I formerly thought),
and the two large breasts and abdomen of a woman, and even, at a depth of 6
meters (nearly 20 feet), a vase upon which the navel is ornamented with a cross
and four nails.']
[67] [Smith, 'Annals of Assurbanipal,' RP, 1, 55. See p. 88. This is also tr. in TSBA, 6, 96.]
[68] [Lepsius, Denkmaler, vol. 3, p. 79 b.]
[69] [Houghton, 'On the Hieroglyphic or Picture Origin of
the Characters of the Assyrian Syllabary,' TSBA, 6:2, 474. 'The composite
character meaning "mother," [Assyrian], No. 146, is another interesting form,
and helps perhaps to explain the high position a woman occupied, and the honour
in which she was held by the Accadian inventors of the syllabary. Here the
ordinary Assyrian is able to explain itself, and the meaning is fully
established by the archaic equivalents. The ideograph is a compound of No. 142,
[Assyrian] "a cavity," "house," "receptacle," and No. 4, [Assyrian] "deity" (Divine
germ). Archaic forms are [Assyrian] No. 147, [Assyrian] merely a fuller form of
the same character, whose archaic
sign is [Assyrian] the
whole being interpreted as "Divine germ,"' or "Divine germ of heaven implanted
within the womb."* The Assyrian monarchs as well as the Accadians regarded
themselves as indirectly the offspring of the gods. Thus Nebuchadnezzar (W.A.I.
I, 59, 24; says of himself, "at the time Merodach, the Lord, the God my creator
made me, he placed a germ (nabniti) in the mother." So too Assurbanipal
says of himself, "I whom Assur and Sin .... in the body of the mother had made
to govern Assyria" (Smith's "Assurbanipal," 4). Nos. 148, 151, 152 readily
explain themselves, thus, [Assyrian] = "house + tears," "lamentation," though no
such actual signification is known to occur; [Assyrian] = "house" + "propitious
eye," i.e., "mercy," "favour." [Assyrian] (remu) = "house + woman," i.e.,
"grace" or "favour," again implying the idea of dignity and grace, "which among
the Accadians always attached itself to the woman."
* I think it rather points to the high
estimation in which the mother was
held in the Accadian family, she was as it were the "deity of the house."
—A. H. S. The ideograph has the meaning
definitely of "mother" and "large," the latter involving the idea of pregnancy j
so perhaps both ideas may be intended.']
[70] [Lenormant, Chaldean Magic, p. 193. 'To thee is the sublime bank of the pit of the ocean.']
[71] [Ibid., p. 190. 'This was Silik-mulu-khi, whose name means "he who distributes good amongst men."' And in a footnote: 'His name sometimes has variations, of which we cannot understand the sense, such as Silik-ki-mulu. We may notice that of Silik-kuru, meaning "he who arranges the good omen."']
[72] [WAI, 4, 30, 3. 'I am he who walks before Hea, I am the warrior, the eldest son of Hea, his messenger.' From Lenormant, ibid., p. 190.]
[73] [Chaldean Magic, p. 160, footnote 4. Lenormant queries the name of Nin-gar as 'Master of the helm(?)']
[74] [Ibid., p. 161.]
[75] [Sayce, 'Fragment of an Assyrian Prayer after a Bad Dream,' RP, 9, 149. See p. 151.]
[76] [Ps.
29:3-8. 'The voice of the LORD is upon the waters: the God of glory thundereth:
the LORD is upon many waters.
The voice of the LORD is powerful; the voice of the LORD is full of majesty.
The voice of the LORD breaketh the cedars; yea, the LORD breaketh the cedars of
Lebanon.
He maketh them also to skip like a calf; Lebanon and Sirion like a young
unicorn.
The voice of the LORD divideth the flames of fire.
The voice of the LORD shaketh the wilderness; the LORD shaketh the wilderness of
Kadesh.']
[77] [As above note.]
[78] [Renouf, HL, 221. 'In a papyrus at
Turin, the following words are put into the mouth of "the almighty God, the
self-existent, who made heaven and earth, the waters, the breaths of life, fire,
the gods, men, animals, cattle, reptiles, birds, fishes, kings, men and gods, I
am the maker of heaven and of the earth. I raise its mountains and the creatures
which are upon it; I make the waters, and the Meh-ura comes into being I am the
maker of heaven, and of the mysteries of the two-fold horizon. It is I who have
given to all the gods the soul which is within them. When I open my eyes, there
is light; when I close them, there is darkness I make the hours, and the hours
come into existence. I am Chepera in the morning, Ra at noon, Tmu in the
evening."'
See also NG 2:31.]
[79] [Rit. ch. 17. 'The Osiris has seen the Sun
who is born in the star [morn] at the thigh of the Great Water [Cow].' Cf.
Renouf.
Rit. ch. 71. 'Lord of the Great Cow
[the Flood, Meh-hur].' Birch's tr. Cf.
Renouf.]
[80] [Birch, Papyri in Hieroglyphic and Hieratic Characters, from the Collection of the Earl of Belmore, now deposited in the British Museum?]
[81] [Ps.
24:1-2. 'A Psalm of David. The earth is the LORD'S, and the fulness thereof; the
world, and they that dwell therein.
For he hath founded it upon the seas, and established it upon the floods.']
[82] [Ps.
29:3-10. 'The voice of the LORD is upon the waters: the God of glory thundereth:
the LORD is upon many waters.
The voice of the LORD is powerful; the voice of the LORD is full of majesty.
The voice of the LORD breaketh the cedars; yea, the LORD breaketh the cedars of
Lebanon.
He maketh them also to skip like a calf; Lebanon and Sirion like a young
unicorn.
The voice of the LORD divideth the flames of fire.
The voice of the LORD shaketh the wilderness; the LORD shaketh the wilderness of
Kadesh.
The voice of the LORD maketh the hinds to calve, and discovereth the forests:
and in his temple doth every one speak of his glory.
The LORD sitteth upon the flood; yea, the LORD sitteth King for ever.']
[83] [Ps. 77:16. 'The waters saw thee, O God, the waters saw thee; they were afraid: the depths also were troubled.']
[84] [Ps. 77:19. 'Thy way is in the sea, and thy path in the great waters, and thy footsteps are not known.']
[85] [WAI, 4, 25, col. 1.]
[86] [Norris, Assyrian Dictionary, vol. 3, cols. 722, 858.]
[87] [Rodwell, 'Inscription of Nebuchadnezzar,' RP, 5, 111. See p. 123, col. 4, lines 57, 58.]
[88] [Ibid., col. 4, lines 35, 36.]
[89] [Rawlinson, 'Inscription of Tiglath Pileser I,' RP, 5, 5. See p. 11, par. 7.]
[90] [Castren, Vorlesungen über die Finnische Mythologie. See also Tylor, Primitive Culture, vol. 2, p. 351. ''Over the vast range of the Tatar races, it is the type of the supreme Heaven that comes prominently into view. Nature-worshippers in the extreme sense, these rude tribes conceived their ghosts and elves and demons and great powers of the earth and air to be, like men themselves, within the domain of the divine Heaven, almighty and all-encompassing. To trace the Samoyed's thought of Num the personal Sky passing into vague conceptions of pervading deity; to see with the Tunguz how Boa the Heaven-god, unseen but all-knowing, kindly but indifferent, has divided the business of his world among such lesser powers as sun and moon, earth and fire; to discern the meaning of the Mongrel Tengri, shading from Heaven into Heaven-god, and thence into god or spirit in general; to follow the records of Heaven-worship among the ancient Turks and Hiong-nu; to compare the supremacy among the Lapps of Tiermes, the Thunderer, with the supremacy among the Finns of Jumala and Ukko, the Heaven-god and heavenly Grandfather such evidence seems good ground for Castren's argument, that the doctrine of the divine Sky underlay the first Turanian conceptions, not merely of a Heaven-god, but of a highest deity who in after ages of Christian conversion blended into the Christian God.']
[91] [Travels from Cairo to Mourzouk. 'The Jenne Moor calls this Quollaliffa. Mr. Hutchison, who has a servant, a native of it, describes it as a very powerful kingdom, as the Shereef Brahima described it to me, and as was the impression of Mr. Dupuis. Mr. H. adds, on Negro and Moorish authority, it is to the King of Quallowliffa that the country in which Canna, Dall, and Mr. Horneman mentions Yem Yems cannibals south of Kano 10 days; and the account is further confirmed in my subsequent geographical sketch of the interior of Gaboon. Mr. Horneman's information that the Niger flowed towards the Egyptian Nile through the land of the Heathens, which Mr. Park quoted as an argument for the Congo hypothesis, doubtless referred to these cannibals.' Cited in Bowdich, Mission from Cape Coast Castle to Ashantee, p. 204, (1819 ed.).]
[92] [Montfaucon, Antiquity Explained and Represented in Scriptures.]
[93] ['Inscription of Borsippa,' col. 1, 1, 2, WAI, 31, 4. 'He is the One and the Good whom the Neo-platonician philosophers announced as the common source of every thing in Chaldean theology; and indeed the first principle is mentioned as "the god One" in documents of the later epoch, which tells us, the philosophic language having been completely formed in the sacerdotal schools, that in the beginning the Existing Being (Auv Kinuv) was begotten of the Abyss (Apsu), and the primordial sea (Tiamat) and was worshipped under this name be Nebuchadnezzar.' From Lenormant, Chaldean Magic, p. 113.]
[94] [Moor, Hindu Pantheon, pl. 7.]
[95] [Hierozoicon.]
[96] [On the Literature and History of the Vedas?.]
[97] [Lenormant, Chaldean Magic, p. 208. 'The god Aku, in the Assyrian Sin, was considered as the type of royalty, the first divine monarch who had reigned upon the earth; the sufferings of the king were then assimilated to his, the remembrance became an augury for that of the prince.']
[98] [Rit. ch. 1. 'I am the great workman who made the Ark of Socharis on the stocks.' Birch's tr. Cf. Renouf.]
[99] [Lenormant, Chaldean Magic, p. 139, footnote 6. 'The Assyrian version has only, "his ship." Here we have an allusion to a myth which is as yet unknown.']
[100] [Rit. ch. 1. 'I am Tat, the son of Tat, conceived in Tat, born in Tat.' Birch's tr. Cf. Renouf.]
[101] [See above note.]
[102] [Rit. ch. 136. 'They tow him along with the Sun; the Osiris is towed in it by the ropemen, stopping the dissolution of the leg of the Firmament at the growth of the weak. (?) Seb and Nu are delighted in their hearts, repeating the name; Growing light, the beauty of the Sun in its light, is, in its being an image, as it is said, for the Great Inundater, the father of the Gods, the suppliers of delicious taste in the heart.' Birch's tr. Cf. Renouf.]
[103]
[Syncellus,
Chronicon,
38, Eusebius,
Praeparatio Evangelica, bk. 9, and Chronicon 5. 'After Euedoreschus some others reigned, and then Sisithrus (Xisuthrus). To him
the god Kronus (i.e., Saturn) foretold that on the fifteenth day of the
month Desius there would be a Deluge, and commanded him to deposit all the
writings whatever he had in the city of the Sun, in Sippaara. Sisithrus (Xisuthrus),
when he had complied with these commands, instantly sailed to Armenia, and was
immediately inspired by God.'
Or an alternative version reads: 'After the death
of Ardates, his son, Xisithrus, succeeded, and reigned eighteen sari. In his
time happened the great deluge; the history of which is given in this manner.
The Deity, Kronus, appeared to him in a vision, and gave him notice, that upon
the fifteenth day of the month Daesia there would be a flood, by which mankind
would be destroyed. He therefore enjoined him to commit to writing a history of
the beginning, progress, and final conclusion of all things, down to the present
term; and to bury these accounts securely in the city of the sun, Siparra; and
to build a vessel, and to take with into it his friends and relations, and to
convey on board everything necessary to sustain life, and to take in also all
species of animals that either fly, or move upon the earth; and trust himself to
the deep.' In Cory's
Ancient Fragments, pp. 54, 61.]
[104] [Talbot, 'Ishtar and Izdubar,' RP, 9, 119. See pp. 127-8.]
[107] ['The Chaldean Account of the Deluge,' TSBA, 2, 214. 'Izdubar, from the description of his reign, evidently belonged to the Mythical period; the legends given in these tablets, the offer of marriage made to him by the goddess Ishtar, the monsters living at the time, Izdubar's vision of the gods, his journey to the translated Sisit, with a curious account of a mythical conquest of Erech when the gods and spirits inhabiting that city, changed themselves into animals to escape the fury of the conqueror: all these things and many others show the unhistorical nature of the epoch. From the heading of the tablets giving his history, I suppose that Izdubar lived in the epoch immediately following the Flood, and I think, likewise, that he may have been the founder of the Babylonian monarchy, perhaps the Nimrod of Scripture.']
[108] [Conway, Demonology and Devil Lore, vol. 2, p. 283. 'In Stockholm I saw the so-called Devil's Bible, the biggest book in the world, in the Royal Library. It is literally as they describe it, 'gigas librorum': no single man can lift it from the floor. It was part of the booty carried off by the Swedes after the surrender of Prague, A.D. 1648. It contains three hundred parchment leaves, each one made of an ass's hide, the cover being of oak planks, 1½ inches thick. It contains the Old and New Testaments; Josephi Flavii Antiquitates Judaicae; Isidori Episcopi L. XX, de diver sis materiis; Confessio peccatorum; and some other works. The last-named production is written on black and dark brown ground with red and yellow letters. Here and there sentences are marked 'haec sunt suspecta' 'superstitiosa,' 'prohibita.' One MS., which is headed, 'Experimentum de furto et febribus,' is a treatise in Monkish Latin on the exorcism of ghosts and evil spirits, charms against thieves and sickness, and various prescriptions in 'White Magic.' The age of the book is considerably over three hundred years. The autograph of a German emperor is in it: 'Ferdinandus Imperator Romanorum, A.D. 1577,' volume is known in Sweden as Fan's Bibel (Devil's Bible). The legend says, that a monk, suspected of black arts, who had been condemned to death, begged for life, and his judge mockingly told him that he would be pardoned only if he should produce next morning all the books here found and in this vast size. The monk invoked the Devil's assistance, and the ponderous volume was written in a single night. This Devil must have been one who prided himself more on his literary powers than his personal appearance; for the face and form said to be his portrait, frontispiece of the volume, represent a most hideous ape, green and hairy, with horrible curled tusks. It is, no doubt, the ape Anerhahn of the Wagner legends; Burns's 'towzie tyke, black, grim, and large.'']
[109] [Chabas, 'The Magic Papyrus,' RP, 10, 135. See p. 140.]
[110] [Boscawen, 'The Twelfth Izdubar Legend,' TSBA, 4, 267.
Compare RP, 9,
129. See p. 132.]
[111] [Ibid., RP, 9, 129. See p. 132.]
[112] [Servius, Ad. Aen. 1. 642; Movers, Researches into the Religion and Gods of the Phoenicians, p. 185.]
[113] [Lenormant, Chaldean Magic, p. 11, note 5. 'In the Assyrian version: "the god who has begotten him."']
[114] [Birch, 'The Granite Altar of Turin,' TSBA, 3:1, col. D. line 7. See full text.]
[115] [Neh. 10:3. 'Pashur, Amariah, Malchijah.']
[116] [Sayce, 'Accadian Poem on Seven Evil Spirits,' RP, 9, 141. See pp. 146-7.]
[117] [A Chinese sage—who? which one? This is a typical example of Massey's sloppiness.]
[118] [Rit. ch. 105. 'But when I am the Bull of the pasturing (?) cows, I am at the upper parts of the heaven.' Birch's tr. Cf. Renouf.]
[119] [Histories, bk. 5. 'Some say that the Jews were fugitives from the island of Crete, who settled on the nearest coast of Africa about the time when Saturn was driven from his throne by the power of Jupiter. Evidence of this is sought in the name. There is a famous mountain in Crete called Ida; the neighbouring tribe, the Idaei, came to be called Judaei by a barbarous lengthening of the national name. Others assert that in the reign of Isis the overflowing population of Egypt, led by Hierosolymus and Judas, discharged itself into the neighbouring countries. Many, again, say that they were a race of Ethiopian origin, who in the time of king Cepheus were driven by fear and hatred of their neighbours to seek a new dwelling-place. Others describe them as an Assyrian horde who, not having sufficient territory, took possession of part of Egypt, and founded cities of their own in what is called the Hebrew country, lying on the borders of Syria. Others, again, assign a very distinguished origin to the Jews, alleging that they were the Solymi, a nation celebrated in the poems of Homer, who called the city which they founded Hierosolyma after their own name.']
[120] [See above note. Massey has already discussed this in a previous section. See BB 2:429.]
[121] [Geographica.?]
[122] [Title unknown, quoted in Stephen of Byzantium.]
[123] [The Library, bk. 2, ch. 3. 'Here it will
not be amiss to say something of the Chaldeans (as the Babylonians call them)
and of their antiquity, that nothing worth remark may be omitted.
They being the most antient Babylonians, hold the same station and dignity in
the commonwealth as the Egyptian priests do in Egypt.' Booth's tr., vol. 1, p.
124.]
[124] [Gen. 10:8. 'And Cush begat Nimrod: he began to be a mighty one in the earth.']
[125] [Gen.
10:9-10. 'He was a mighty hunter before the LORD: wherefore it is said, Even as
Nimrod the mighty hunter before the LORD.
And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in
the land of Shinar.']
[126] [Cory, Ancient Fragments, p. 43.]
[127] [Sayce, 'The Astronomy and Astrology of the
Babylonians, with Translations of the Tablets relating to these Subjects,'
TSBA, 3, p. 174. 'M. Oppert wishes to identify Utu-ca-gaba with Rigel,
Sib-zi-anna with Regulus, Entemasniur with Aldebaran, and Idkhu with the
Southern Balance (Zuban-Edgenubi). The king of the Broken Obelisk says of
himself (W.A.I. I, 28, 14), "In the days of variable storms (and) heat, in the
days of the rising of Kak-sidi, which (is) like bronze, he hunted"; and as this
was in the northern part of Nairi, more probably nearer the Euxine than the
Caspian, we have a slight basis upon which to attempt an identification of the
star.
There was yet another set of seven stars, called masu ([Assyrian]) "of
the week" (III, 57, 57-61). M. Oppert has given the following ingenious
explanation of them. The Sun had three names, mul Bartabba-galgal
([Assyrian]) "the star doubly great"; and Bartabba-dddil ([Assyrian])
"the star doubly little"; and mul Bartabba sa ina sid mul sibzi-anna nazuzu
([Assyrian]) "double star which depends on Regulus"; then come mul Nin-Sar
([Assyrian]) "the star of Istar," or the Moon; mul an Ner-ra-gal
([Assyrian]) "the star of Nergal" or Mars; mul an Pa ([Assyrian]) "the
star of Nebo" or Mercury; mul Sar ([Assyrian]) "the star of the king" or
Jupiter; mul Mustilil ([Assyrian]) "the star of brilliance" or Venus; and
mul Zibanna or Saturn. There are difficulties, however, in the way of
part of this explanation. Though the Sun might be called ''the star doubly
great" it is hard to see how it could be called "the star doubly little."
Moreover, the "star doubly great" is one of the "constellations of the west,"
and "the double star" is mentioned along with Kak-iidi and Utu-ultai'
as being in the ascendant in Tammuz (June), while it cannot be said of the Sun
that "it is fixed in the proximity of Sibzi-anna.''']
[128] [Histories, bk. 2. 146. 'It is open to all to receive whichever he may
prefer of these two traditions; my own opinion about them has been already
declared. If indeed these gods had been publicly known, and had grown old in
Greece, as was the case with Hercules, son of Amphitryon, Bacchus, son of Semelé,
and Pan, son of Penelopé, it might have been said that the last-mentioned
personages were men who bore the names of certain previously existing deities.
But Bacchus, according to the Greek tradition, was no sooner born than he was
sewn up in Jupiter's thigh, and carried off to Nysa, above Egypt, in Ethiopia.'
Tr., Rawlinson.
'Of these two accounts every man may adopt that one which he shall find
the more credible when he hears it. I however, for my part, have already
declared my opinion about them. For if these also, like Heracles the son of
Amphitryon, had appeared before all men's eyes and had lived their lives to old
age in Hellas, I mean Dionysos the son of Semele and Pan the son of Penelope,
then one would have said that these also had been born mere men, having the
names of those gods who had come into being long before: but as it is, with
regard to Dionysos the Hellenes say that as soon as he was born Zeus sewed him
up in his thigh and carried him to Nysa, which is above Egypt in the land of
Ethiopia.' Tr., Macauley.]
[129] [Anacreon, p. 296. 'We have evidence that this god, whose emblem was the Nebros, was known as having the very lineage of Nimrod. From Anacreon, we find that a title of Bacchus was Aithiopais i.e., "the son of Æthiops." But who was Æthiops? As the Ethiopians were Cushites, so Æthiops was Cush.' From Hislop, Two Babylons, p. 48.]
[130] [Gen.
10:9. 'He was a mighty hunter before the LORD: wherefore it is said, Even as
Nimrod the mighty hunter before the LORD.'
Jerusalem Targum.]
[131] [Maspero, History of the Ancient Orient, p. 62.]
[132] [Jer. 16:16. 'Behold, I will send for many fishers, saith the LORD, and they shall fish them; and after will I send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain, and from every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks.']
[133] [Chabas, 'Magic Papyrus,' RP, 10, 135. See p. 151.]
[134] [Gen. 10:8. 'And Cush begat Nimrod: he began to be a mighty one in the earth.']
[135] [Rit. ch. 17. 'The Sun in his egg, gleaming in orb, shining from his horizon, floating in his clouds, who hates sins, forced along by the conducting of Shu, without an equal among the Gods, who gives blasts of flame from his mouth, illuminating the world with his splendour. Save thou the Osiris from that God whose forms are mystic.' Birch's tr. Cf. Renouf.]
[136] [Unable to trace.]
[137] [Rit. ch. 17. 'The Great Cat which is in Tattu, at the Pool of the Persea, placed in Annu [Heliopolis], is the Sun himself, called a cat. For he has been called cat [by name] Ra, for it is like what he has done, he has made his transformation into a cat; or it is Shu making the likeness [?] of Seb and Osiris.' Birch's tr. Cf. Renouf.]
[138] [Rit. ch. 38. 'I am the two Lion- (or twin-) Gods, the second of the Sun, Tum in the Lower Country.' Birch's tr. Cf. Renouf.]
[139] [Paschal Chronicle, vol. 1, p. 50. 'Mysia also was another, and the Mysians, in the Paschal Chronicle, are said to be descended from Nimrod. The words are, "Nebrod, the huntsman and giant from whence came the Mysians." From Hislop, Two Babylons, p. 240.]
[140] [Assyrian Dictionary, vol. 3, p. 851.]
[141] [The Library. Unable to trace.]
[142] [WAI, 4, pl. 30, 3. 'This was Silik-mulu-khi, whose name means "he who distributes good amongst men."' From Lenormant, Chaldean Magic, p. 190. See also note 71 above.]
[143] [Sayce, 'On Nimrod and the Assyrian Inscriptions,' TSBA, 2:2, 245. 'A mythological tablet (W.A.I, II, 56, 25-29) gives us the following curious information:—"The god Uccumu [Assyrian] the god Accalu [Assyrian], the god Icsuda [Assyrian], Iltebu [Assyrian] [are] the four names of the dog[?] of Merodach" ([Assyrian]). The first three words are easy enough to interpret, "the despoiler" from [Heb.]; (ecimu), "the devourer," from [Heb.] (acalu), and "the seizer," from [Heb.] (casadu); but Iltebu is more obscure. It may be "the consumer," from [Heb.] or (more probably, considering the vowel of the inserted dental) "the capturer."']
[144] [Talbot, 'Ishtar and Izdubar,' RP, 9, 119. See p. 127, col. 2, lines 14-17.]
[145] [Lenormant, 'Akkadian Hymn,' in Chaldean Magic, p. 193. '(Great lord) of the country, king of the countries, eldest (son) of Hea who bringest back (into their periodical movements) heaven and earth, Silik-mulu-khi (great lord of the country, king of the countries, God amongst the gods, Director) of Ana and Mul-ge, Merciful on amongst the gods, Generator who bringest back the dead to life, Silik-mulu-kni, king of E-saggadhu, King of the E-zida, king of the E-makh-tila, to thee are heaven and earth! To the are heaven and earth round about! To thee is the lip of life! To thee is the sublime bank of the pit of the ocean!' See also note 70 above.]
[146] [Source.]
[147] [Source.]
[148] [Everard, Divine Pymander, bk. 5, 34.]
[151] [Syncellus, Chronicon, 28, Eusebius, Chronicon, 5, 8. 'The person who was supposed to have presided over them was Omoroca: which in the Chaldee language is Thalatth; which in Greek is interpreted Thalassa, the sea: but, according to most true computation, it is equivalent to Selene, the moon.' In Cory, Ancient Fragments, p. 59.]
[152] [Gen. 7:11. 'In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.']
[153] [Black Book of Carmethen, 38. In Skene, Four Ancient Books of Wales, vol. 1, p. 302.]
[154] [Smith, 'Early History of Babylonia, pt. 2,' RP, 5, 53. See p. 65.]
[155] [Smith, Chaldean Genesis, p. 68, lines
13-27. '... the
place .... lifted up ....
above .... heaven ....
the place .... lifted up ....
Pal-bi-ki the temples of the great gods ....
his father and his .... of him
the god .... thee and over all which thy hand has made
thee, having, over the earth which thy hand has made
having, Pal-bi-ki which thou hast called its name
made? my hand for ever
may they carry ...
the place .... any one the work which . . .
he rejoiced .... to after ....
the gods ....
which in ....
he opened ....
This fragment is both mutilated and obscure; in the eighth line I have
translated firmament with a query, the sound and meaning of the word being
doubtful; and in line 10, I translate earth for a combination of two characters
more obscure still, my translation being a conjecture grounded on some
meanings of the individual monograms. Pal-bi-ki are the characters of one
name of the city of Assur; but I do not understand the introduction of this name
here.']
[156] [Talbot, 'Legend of the Descent of Ishtar,' RP, 1, 141. See p. 145, col. 1.]
[157] [Histories, bk. 2. 78. 'In social meetings among the rich, when the
banquet is ended, a servant carries round to the several guests a coffin, in
which there is a wooden image of a corpse, carved and painted to resemble nature
as nearly as possible, about a cubit or two cubits in length. As he shows it to
each guest in turn, the servant says, "Gaze here, and drink and be merry; for
when you die, such will you be."' Tr., Rawlinson.
'In the entertainments of the rich among them, when they have finished
eating, a man bears round a wooden figure of a dead body in a coffin, made as
like the reality as may be both by painting and carving, and measuring about a
cubit or two cubits each way; and this he shows to each of those who are
drinking together, saying: "When thou lookest upon this, drink and be merry, for
thou shalt be such as this when thou art dead." Thus they do at their carousals.'
Tr., Macauley.]
[158] [Goodwin, 'Festal Dirge of the Egyptians,' RP, 4, 115. See p. 117.]
[159] [Stern, 'The Song of the Harper,' RP, 6, 127. See p. 130.]
[160] [Boscawen, 'Notes on the Religion and Mythology of
the Assyrians,' TSBA,
4:2, 293. 'In a magical text I find the following notice of the porter of
Hades:—[Assyrian] Ne-gab, porter of the earth. In place of [Assyrian] the
Accadian has [Assyrian] kurra, with the post position [Assyrian] ge,
which denotes lower, under, so that we must read, Negab, porter of the
Underworld.
In another text the seven gates of Hades are referred to as the "seven doors (dalti)
of the Underworld."']
[161] [Rit. ch. 145. 'Hail, keepers of the Seven chief Staircases! made the staircases of Osiris, guarding their Halls.' Birch's tr. Cf. Renouf.]
[162] [Boscawen, 'Notes on the Religion and Mythology of the Assyrians,' TSBA, 4:2, 291. 'The Palace of Justice, in which the judgment of the deceased takes place, is situated in the innermost circle. Here is the throne on which the judge sat and delivered the judgment. But the most important point is, here rose the stream of the "waters of life" ([Assyrian] mie-balati).']
[163] [E.I.H. 4. 63. (Unable to trace this pub.)
Norris, Assyrian Dictionary, vol. 3, p. 1051.]
[164] [Source.]
[165] [Rodwell, 'Inscription of Nebuchadnezzar,' RP, 5, 111. See p. 123, col. 4. 60-64.]
[166] [Norris, Assyrian Dictionary, vol. 3, p. 946.]
[167] [Sanchoniathon, preserved in Eusebius, Praeparatio Evangelica, bk. 1. ch. 1. 'After these events Kronus builds a wall round about his habitation, and founds Byblus, the first city in Phoenicia.' In Cory's Ancient Fragments, p. 12.]
[168] ['Inscription of King Nastosenen,' TSBA,
4:2. See full text here.
See also Maspero, 'Inscription of King Nastosenen,' RP, 10,
55-66. No 'tenkur' is mentioned, only 'dengoor,'
i.e., Dongolah.]
[169] [Talbot, 'Taylor's Cylinder of Sennacherib,' RP, 1, 33. See pp. 42-3, col. 3, lines 64, 65.]
[170] [Talbot, 'Bellino's Cylinder of Sennacherib,' RP, 1, 23. See p. 27.]
[171] [Source.]
[172] [Chaldean Magic, p. 411. 'The translation in this case would be "language of those sitting"' Lenormant adds a footnote that the same sign 'has the meaning "to put, place," intransitively "to sit," at least as often as that of "serve" and in this rendering is much more usual than "adoration, worship."']
[173] [Sharpe, Egyptian Inscriptions from the British Museum and other Sources, p. 242.]
[174] [Gen.
10:6-10. 'And the sons of Ham; Cush, and Mizraim, and Phut, and Canaan.
And the sons of Cush; Seba, and Havilah, and Sabtah, and Raamah, and Sabtechah:
and the sons of Raamah; Sheba, and Dedan.
And Cush begat Nimrod: he began to be a mighty one in the earth.
He was a mighty hunter before the LORD: wherefore it is said, Even as Nimrod the
mighty hunter before the LORD.
And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in
the land of Shinar.']
[175] [Pliny, Natural History, bk,
5.14.
Solinus, Plinianæ exercitationes ... Polyhistora,
bk. 34. 1.]
[176] [Jellinek, Bet Ha-Midrasch, v. 40.]
[177] [D'Herbelot, Bibliothéque Orientale. 'Some tell us, that Nimrod, on seeing this miraculous deliverance from his palace, cried out, that he would make an offering to the God of Abraham; and that he accordingly sacrificed four thousand kine. But, if he ever relented, he soon relapsed into his former infidelity; for he built a tower that he might ascend to heaven to see Abraham's God; which being over-thrown, still persisting in his design, he would be carried to heaven in a chest borne by four monstrous birds; but after wandering for some time through the air he fell down on a mountain with such force, that he made it shake, whereto (as some fancy) a passage in the Koran alludes, which may be translated, although their contrivances be such as to make the mountains tremble. Nimrod, disappointed in his design of making war with God, turned his arms against Abraham, who, being a great prince, raised forces to defend himself; but God, dividing Nimrod's subjects, and confounding their language, deprived him of the greater part of his people, and plagued those who adhered to him by swarms of gnats, which destroyed almost all of them; and one of those gnats having entered into the nostril, or ear, of Nimrod, penetrated to one of the membranes of his brain, where, growing bigger every day, gave him such intolerable pain, that he was obliged to cause his head to be beaten with a mallet, in order to procure some ease, which torture he suffered four hundred years; God being willing to punish, by one of the smallest of his creatures, him who insolently boasted himself to be lord of all.' From Sale, The Koran, p. 510; also Hyde, Historia religionis veterum Persarum.]
[178] [Gen. 15:7. 'And he said unto him, I am the LORD that brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give thee this land to inherit it.']
[179] [Geography. Unable to trace.]
[180] [Chaldean Magic?.]
[181] [Rawlinson, Five Great Monarchies, vol. 2, p. 500. 'This element, as has been already observed, was predominantly Cushite; and there is reason to believe that the Cushite race was connected not very remotely with the negro. In Susiana, where the Cushite blood was maintained in tolerably purity—Elymaeans and Kissians existing side by side, instead of blending together—there was, if we may trust the Assyrian remains, a very decided prevalency of a negro type of countenance, as the accompanying specimens, carefully copied from the sculptures, will render evident. The head was covered with short crisp curls; the eye was large, the nose and mouth nearly in the same line, the lips thick. Such a physiognomy as the Babylonian appears to have been would naturally arise from an intermixture of a race like the Assyrian with one resembling that which the later sculptures represent as the main race inhabiting Susiana.']
[182] [Les Tribus Arabes de l'Irac-Arabi.?]
[183] [Chaldean Magic, p. 347. 'They probably spoke "the language of the fishermen," which is mentioned in some Assyrian documents as being a different dialect from those of Assur and Accad.']
[184] [Old Egyptian Chronicle. 'Among the Egyptians there is a certain tablet called the Old Chronicle, containing thirty dynasties in 113 descents, during the long period of 36,525 years. The first series of princes was that of the Auritae; the second was that of the Mestraeans; the third of the Egyptians.' In Cory, Ancient Fragments, p. 136.]
[185] [Cory, Ancient Fragments, p. 43.]
[186] [Rit. ch. 165. Cf. Renouf.]
[187] [Odyssey, bk. 40. 'Where is the folk
Cimmerian and the city of their name,
By the mist and the cloud-rack covered, and never on a day
On them doth the sun bright-shining look down with his many a ray.' W. Morris'
tr.]
[188] [Ath, July 24, 1880.]