[41] Cf. Rawlinson, "Cun. Inscr. West. Asia," V., pl. 66.
[42] In contract-tablets from the site, dating from the third and second centuries b.c., the old temple E-anna is always referred to under the name Bît-rêsh, "Chief Temple," or "Chief Building" (cf. Clay, "Babylonian Records in the Library of J. Pierpont Morgan," Pt. II., 1913). Prof. Clay has recently sent me a transcript of a very interesting building-inscription from the same site, drawn up in the year 244 b.c., which will appear as No. 52 in his forthcoming "Miscellaneous Inscriptions." It records the rebuilding of Bît-rêsh by a certain Anu-uballit, the second prefect (shanû) of Erech, who also bore the Greek name Νίαρκος Nikiḳarḳusu, Nikarḳusu; it was clearly a privilege to bear a Greek name, as he tells us he was given his by "Antiochus, king of the lands." The text furnishes additional evidence of the survival of the literary language of Babylon for official records, and of the conservatism of the religious cult.
[CHAPTER X]
GREECE, PALESTINE AND BABYLON: AN ESTIMATE OF CULTURAL INFLUENCE
During the Persian and Hellenistic periods Babylon exerted an influence upon contemporary races of which we may trace some survivals in the civilization of the modern world. She was the mother of astronomy, and the twelve divisions on the dial of our clocks and watches were ultimately derived, through Greek channels, from her ancient system of time-division. It was under the Neo-Babylonian kings that the Hebrew race first came into close contact with her culture, and there can be no doubt that the Jews, in the time of their captivity, renewed their interest in her mythology when they found it presented some parallels to their own. But in the course of this history it has been shown that, during far earlier periods, the civilization of Babylon had penetrated throughout a great part of Western Asia. It is admitted that, as a result of her westward expansion at the time of the First Dynasty, her culture had spread during subsequent periods to the Mediterranean coast-lands, and had moulded to some extent the development of those peoples with whom it came in contact. And since the religious element dominated her own activities in a greater measure than was the case with most other races of antiquity, it has been urged that many features in Hebrew religion and in Greek mythology can only be rightly explained by Babylonian beliefs in which they had their origin. It is the purpose of this chapter to examine a theory of Babylon's external influence, which has been propagated by a school of writers and has determined the direction of much recent research.
It is scarcely necessary to insist on the manner in which material drawn from Babylonian and Assyrian sources has helped to elucidate points in the political and religious history of Israel. Scarcely less striking, though not so numerous, are the echoes from Babylonian legends which have long been recognized as existing in Greek mythology. The best known example of direct borrowing is undoubtedly the myth of Adonis and Aphrodite, the main features of which correspond closely to the Babylonian legend of Tammuz and Ishtar. In this case not only the myth, but the accompanying festival and rites were also borrowed, passing to Greece by way of Byblos on the Syrian coast and Paphos in Cyprus, both centres of Astarte worship.[1] Another Greek legend, obviously of Babylonian origin, is that of Actseon, who is clearly to be identified with the shepherd, loved by Ishtar and changed by her into a leopard, so that he was hunted and killed by his own hounds.[2]
Some parallels have also long been pointed out between the national heroes Heracles and Gilgamesh. It is true that most races of antiquity possess stories of national heroes of superhuman strength and power, but there are certain features in the traditions concerning Heracles which may have some ultimate connexion with the Gilgamesh cycle of legends.[3] Less convincing is the analogy which has been suggested between Icarus and Etana, the Babylonian hero or demi-god, who succeeded in flying to the highest heaven only to fall headlong to the earth. For in Etana's case there is no question of human flight: he was carried to heaven by his friend the Eagle, to whose wings he clung while they mounted to heaven's gates. But the examples already referred to may suffice to illustrate the way in which it has long been agreed that Babylonian mythology may have left its impress on that of Greece.