'annual wound in Lebanon allured
The Syrian damsels to lament his fate
In amorous ditties all a summer's day;
While smooth Adonis from his native rock
Ran purple to the sea, supposed with blood
Of Tammuz yearly wounded.'
But it was not only in Assyria and Phœnicia that the death of Tammuz was lamented by the women year by year. The infection spread to Judah also, and even in Jerusalem, within the precincts of the temple itself, Ezekiel saw 'women weeping for Tammuz' (Ezek. viii. 14).
There are only two other Assyro-Babylonian deities who need be mentioned, Nergal and Adar. Nergal was the presiding deity of Cuthah and its vast necropolis. [3] He shared with Anu the privilege of superintending the regions of the dead, and he was also a god of hunting and war. His name, like those of Anu, Ea, and Istar, was of Accadian origin. Adar, the son of Beltis, was one of those solar deities who were formed by worshipping the Sun-god under some particular attribute. The reading of his name is, unfortunately, not certain, and Adar is only its most probable pronunciation. If it is correct, Adar will be the deity meant in 2 Kings xvii. 31, where it is stated that the people of Sepharvaim, or the two Sipparas, burnt their children in fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech, that is to say, to 'King Adar' and 'King Anu.'
Such were the principal divinities of Babylonia and Assyria. But the Assyrians had another also, whom they exalted above all the rest. This was Assur, the divine impersonation of the state and empire. It was Assur who, according to the Assyrian kings, led them to victory, and the cruelties they practised on the conquered were, they held, judgments exercised against those who would not believe in him. Assur, in the form of an archer, is sometimes represented on the monuments in the midst of the winged solar disk, and above the head of the monarch, whom he protects from his enemies.
The Assyrian, however, was not so pious or superstitious as his Babylonian neighbour. The Babylonian lived in perpetual dread of the evil spirits which thronged about him; almost every moment had its religious ceremony, almost every action its religious complement. Not only had the State ritual to be attended to; the unceasing attacks of the demons could be warded off only by magical incantations and the intervention of the sorcerer-priest. But the Assyrians were too much occupied with wars and fighting to give all this heed to the requirements of religion. It is significant that, whereas in Babylonia we find the remains of scarcely any great buildings except temples, the great buildings of Assyria were the royal palaces. The libraries, which in Babylonia were stored in the temples, were deposited in Assyria in the palace of the king.
Nevertheless, the greater part of the religious system of Babylonia had been transported into Assyria. Along with the Babylonian deities had come the Babylonian scriptures. These were divided into two great collections or volumes. The first, and oldest, was a collection of exorcisms and magical texts, by the use of which, it was believed, the spirits of evil could be driven away, and the spirits of good induced to visit the reciter. When, however, certain independent deities began to emerge from among the multitudinous 'spirits' of the primitive Accadian creed, hymns were composed in their honour, and these hymns were eventually collected together, and, like the Rig-Veda of India, became a second sacred book. After the Accadians had been supplanted by the Semites, the Accadian language, in which the hymns were originally written, was provided with a Semitic translation; but it was still considered necessary to recite the exact words of the original, since the words themselves were sacred, and any mistake in their pronunciation would invalidate the religious service in which they were employed. Some of the incantations embodied in the collection of exorcisms must have been introduced into it subsequently to the compilation of the sacred hymns, since the latter are found inserted in them. From this it would appear that the older collection continued to receive additions for a long while after the younger collection—that of the sacred hymns—had been put together and invested with a sacred character. This could not have been till after the beginning of the Semitic period, since there are a few hymns which do not seem to have had any Accadian originals. If we may compare the two collections with our own religious literature, we may say that the collection of hymns corresponded more to our Bible, that of exorcisms to our Prayer Book.
The Babylonians and Assyrians, however, possessed a liturgy which answered far better to our conception of what a Prayer Book should be. This contained services for particular days and hours, together with rubrics for the direction of the priest. Thus we are told that 'in the month Nisan, on the second day, two hours after nightfall, the priest [of Bel at Babylon] must come and take of the waters of the river, must enter into the presence of Bel, and change his dress; must put on a robe in the presence of Bel, and say this prayer: "O my lord who in his strength has no equal, O my lord, blessed sovereign, lord of the world, speeding the peace of the great gods, the lord who in his might destroys the strong, lord of kings, light of mankind, establisher of trust, O Bel, thy sceptre is Babylon, thy crown is Borsippa, the wide heaven is the dwelling-place of thy liver.... O lord of the world, light of the spirits of heaven, utterer of blessings, who is there whose mouth murmurs not of thy righteousness, or speaks not of thy glory, and celebrates not thy dominion? O lord of the world, who dwellest in the temple of the sun, reject not the hands that are raised to thee; be merciful to thy city Babylon, to Beth-Saggil thy temple incline thy face, grant the prayers of thy people the sons of Babylon."'