A History of Babylon, from the Foundation of the Monarchy to the Persian Conquest

by L. W. King

Up to this point the astral theory is very complete and, granting its original hypotheses, it goes smoothly enough. But as soon as its authors try to fit the existing legends to their theory, difficulties begin. In Babylonian mythology we find no pair of heroes who present any resemblance to the Dioscuri. But lunar cults were prominent in the earliest Babylonian epoch, and, in default of any closer parallel, the two phases of the waxing and the waning moon have been treated as characterizing the myths and legends of the Age of the Twins. Borrowing a term from music, they are described as the characteristic motif of the age. The second Age, that of the Bull, begins roughly with the rise of Babylon to power. There is very slender evidence for connecting Marduk, the god of Babylon, with the zodiacal constellation of the Bull, but the connexion is confidently assumed.[32] The Third Age, that of the Ram, presents even more difficulties than its two predecessors, for no amount of ingenuity can discover material for a Ram motif at Babylon. But Jupiter Amnion was represented with the head of a ram, and he is assumed to have been identical in his nature with Marduk. Thus the new reckoning is supposed to have passed over to Egypt, while Babylon remained unaffected.[33] The explanation put forward is that the Ram Age began at a time when the power of Babylon was on the decline; but why the Babylonians should therefore have ignored the true position of the sun at the vernal equinox is not quite obvious.

The foreign influence of Babylon's conception of the universe is said to have left its strongest imprint on Hebrew historical writing. It is claimed that the Biblical narratives relating to the earlier history of the Hebrews have in particular been influenced by the Babylonian myths of the universe, and that a great number of passages have in consequence an astral significance. This side of the subject has been worked out in detail by Dr. Alfred Jeremias,[34] and a few examples will suffice to illustrate the system of interpretation which is suggested. We will take one of the Babylonian legends which is said to be most frequently encountered in the Hebrew narratives, the Descent of the goddess Ishtar into the Underworld in search of her youthful husband Tammuz, which in its Babylonian form is unquestionably a nature-myth. There can be little doubt that in the myth Tammuz represents the vegetation of spring; this, after being parched up by the summer-heat, is absent from the earth during the winter months, until restored by the goddess of fertility. There is also no doubt that the cult of Tammuz eventually spread into Palestine, for Ezekiel in a vision saw women at the north gate of the temple at Jerusalem weeping for Tammuz.[35] We have already noted its arrival in Greece in the story of Adonis and Aphrodite.[36] In its Greek form the contest between Aphrodite and Persephone for the possession of Adonis reproduces the struggle between Ishtar and Ereshkigal in the Abode of the Dead; and the annual disappearance and reappearance of Tammuz gives rise in the Greek version to the decision of Zeus that Adonis should spend one part of the year above ground with Aphrodite and the other part underground with Persephone.[37] Such are the main facts, which are not disputed, concerning this particular Babylonian myth. We may now note the manner in which it is said that motifs from it are interwoven in the Old Testament with traditions concerning the early history of the Hebrews.

It is well known that in early Christian writings, such as the Syriac "Hymn of the Soul," a Gnostic composition of the second or third century A.D.,[38] the land of Egypt is sometimes referred to in a metaphorical or allegorical sense. It is suggested that the story of Abraham's journey with his wife Sarah into Egypt[39] may have been written, by a parallel system of allegory, in terms reflecting a descent into the underworld and a rescue from it. It is true that in the story Pharaoh's house is plagued, probably with sterility, a feature that recalls the cessation of fertility on earth while the goddess of love remains in the underworld. But the same motif is traced in the rescue of Lot from Sodom: here Sodom is the underworld. The pit into which Joseph is thrown by his brethren and the prison into which Potiphar casts him also represent the underworld: and his two fellow-prisoners, the chief baker and the chief butler, are two minor deities in Marduk's household.[40] The cave at Makkedah, in which the five kings of the Amorites hid themselves after their defeat by Joshua,[41] is said to have the same motif underlying it. In short, any cave, or prison, or state of misery mentioned in the Hebrew narratives may, according to astral interpretation, be taken as representing the underworld.[42]

The one other motif we will take from the Babylonian mythology is the Dragon-combat, since this illustrates the principal pattern, or system, on which the astral mythologist arranges his material. In the Babylonian story of the Creation it will be recalled how Tiamat, the dragon of chaos, revolted with Apsû, the god of the abyss, against the new and ordered ways of the gods; how Marduk, the champion of the gods, defeated her, and, cutting her body in half, used one half of her as a firmament for the heaven, and then proceeded to carry out his other works of creation.[43] The probability has long been noted that the Dragon-combat may have suggested certain metaphorical phrases or descriptions in Hebrew poetical and prophetic literature.[44] But the astral mythologist uses it as the dominant motif of his Age of Taurus; and, since this age began, according to his theory, before the period of Abraham, the Marduk myths are traced more frequently than any others in the Old Testament. The astral god plays the part of a deliverer in the mythology: hence any Biblical hero who is recorded to have rescued any one, or to have delivered his family or people, forms a convenient peg on which to hang a motif So too the birth of the founder of a dynasty, or of the inaugurator of a new age, is said to reflect the solar motif of the birth of the spring sun.[45]

In this process of detecting hidden motifs, numbers play an important part. To take one example, they are said to indicate that David's fight with Goliath reflects the myth of the Year-Cycle. The forty days during which Goliath, who is identified with the Dragon Tiamat,[46] drew near to the Israelites morning and evening are symbolical of winter. In the Hebrew text his height is given as six cubits and a span;[47] the figure is emended to read five cubits and a span, since otherwise the number would not correspond to the five and a quarter epagomenal days.[48] With the best will in the world to be convinced one cannot help feeling that, even assuming the soundness of the theory, its authors have let it run away with them. It cannot of course be denied that astrological conceptions may colour some of the stories in the Old Testament. The three hundred foxes, with firebrands tied to their brushes, with which Samson destroyed the standing corn of the Philistines, find a striking parallel in the ceremonial which took place annually in the circus at Rome during the Cerealia,[49] and may well be regarded as folk-mythology of astrological origin.[50] Elijah's chariot of fire may have been suggested by some astronomical phenomenon, perhaps a comet; it was probably the product of the same association of ideas as Medea's dragon-chariot, the gift of Helios. But this scarcely prepares us to accept such an allegorizing of details as is proposed in other passages.

Precisely the same principles of interpretation have been applied to the heroes of Greek legend. Professor Jensen of Marburg, in his work on the Babylonian epic of Gilgamesh, has attempted to trace almost every figure, not only in the Old Testament, but also in classical mythology, to a Babylonian source.[51] But his rather monotonous method of perceiving on all sides reflexions of his own hero Gilgamesh has already been criticized sufficiently, and we will take some examples from a more recent work by Dr. Carl Fries,[52] who has made other contributions of a less speculative character upon Greek and Oriental connexions. Elaborating a published suggestion of Professor Jensen, Dr. Fries has enthusiastically applied the astral method of interpretation to the Odyssey. Such an episode as the voyage of Odysseus to Hades, in order to consult the Theban prophet Teiresias, undoubtedly presents a close parallel to the journey of Gilgamesh to Xisuthros in Babylonian legend; and, though similar traditions are not uncommon in the epics of other races, the Greek form of the story may perhaps retain an echo from Babylon. But a far closer relationship than that is suggested.

The section of the Odyssey which is said to have been principally exposed to Babylonian influence is the sojourn of Odysseus in Scheria, the whole episode of his entertainment by the Phæacians being said to reflect the Babylonian Feast of the New Year. From the moment of his awakening on the island we begin to perceive astral motifs. In Nausicaa's choral game of ball with her maidens, the ball symbolizes the sun or moon which revolves from one side of heaven to the other; when it falls into the river it is the setting sun or moon. Odysseus, awakened by the maiden's shrill cry, comes forth from the darkness of the wood: he is the rising sun. The Way into the city which Nausicaa describes to Odysseus corresponds to the sacred Procession Street in Babylon, along which Marduk was carried from his temple through the city at the Feast of the New Year. The cult-image on its journey must be protected from the gaze of unconsecrated eyes; so Athene sheds a mist about Odysseus lest any of the Phæacians should accost him by the way. Other astral elements are suggested without a specially Babylonian colouring.[53]

We are not here concerned with Dr. Fries' theory on the origin of Greek tragedy, but we may note in passing that Odysseus, in relating his adventures, is the priestsinger at the festival of the Light-god. In other parts of the Odyssey Dr. Fries does not attempt to trace many astral motifs, though he certainly remarks that the adventures of Odysseus are merely survivals of astral myths, and, in spite of a hundred transformations, ultimately relate only to the journey of the Light-god over the heavenly ocean.[54] The closing scenes of the Odyssey also receive a thoroughly astrological interpretation, and moon- and sun-motifs appear promiscuously. From the speech of Antinous at the trial of the bow we know that the slaying of the wooers took place at the Feast of the New Moon, for after Eurymachus and the other wooers had failed to bend it, he makes the least an excuse for his proposal to postpone the trial till the morrow. This fact leads to the suggestion that in Odysseus returning at the Feast of the New Moon we are to recognize the Moon-god himself, who triumphs over the darkness with his bow or crescent. On the other hand, the twelve axes, through which the arrow flies, suggest, presumably by their number, the sun. Penelope wooed by the suitors is the moon whom the stars surround, and her weaving and unravelling of the web is a moon-motif. Then Odysseus as the sun draws near, and all the stars are eclipsed at his appearance.