Notwithstanding the desolation of the city, however, a certain number of people continued to inhabit the site, probably officials of the temples (whose services still continued), and tradesmen who supplied the wants of those whose duty held them attached to the place. Here, year after year, the usual sacrifices were offered to the old gods of the Babylonians, especially “My Lord and Lady,” i.e. Bêl (Merodach) and Beltis (Zēr-panitum, his consort), and prayers were made for the king at the time reigning, and also for his sons (if he had any). That inscriptions may come to light which will show more clearly the state of things in that vast ruined city is exceedingly probable, and a sufficient number of tablets referring to this period are known to exist even now, and show in some measure the state of the city and the kind of people who dwelt in such parts of it as had been reserved for that purpose.
To those who inhabited Babylon's desolation, the most important thing, in all probability, was the worship, with all the old rites and ceremonies, of the deities whose temples and shrines still existed there. But those old priests and temple scribes occupied their time in another way, namely, the keeping of careful records of every historical event for the purpose of being able to tell the future. These historical notices are preceded by indications of the positions of the moon and the planets, together with the price of grain or other produce, during the period referred [pg 480] to. The positions of the planets, etc., were combined afterwards, by the “monthly prognosticators,” with the historical happenings, for the purpose of foretelling events, which at that late period was probably done much more systematically than during earlier ages, to the great advantage of the modern student of this period.
The following will give an idea of these historical notices:—
(Month Ab, 143rd year, Anti'ukusu, king = 168 b.c., reign of Antiochus Epiphanes.)
“An., the king, marched victoriously among the cities of the land of Meluḫḫa, and ... the people (puliṭē[144] the Greek πολίτης) (constructed?) idols (puppē, evidently a Greek word, probably meaning ‘images of gods’) and works like a shrine (of?) the Greek(s?)....”
The inscription then goes on to speak of the appointment of a zazak (apparently a grade of priests) by the king, the handing to him of the gold in the treasury of Ê-saggil for the great (shrine) of Bêl, the (dedication?) of an unsuitable or an untimely image of the god Uru-gala on the 8th day of the month, and other similar occurrences. From the lines translated above, it will be seen that the Babylonians had not by any means escaped from the influence of Greek civilization, not only Greek words, but also, to all appearance, Greek gods and shrines having made their appearance. The word used in speaking of the image of the god Uru-gala is tamšil, but the things which the citizens made were puppē, possibly used like our word “idol.” It is possibly to this period, or a little later, that the transcriptions into Greek of Babylonian [pg 481] tablets (which promise to be of considerable value for the study of the Assyro-Babylonian language) belong.
If the translation given above be correct, it would confirm the account in the second book of Maccabees (vi. 2), from which it would appear that this ruler tried to habituate the Jews to Greek customs, and also to the Greek religion, going even so far as “to pollute also the temple in Jerusalem, and to call it the temple of Jupiter Olympus; and that in Garizim, of Jupiter the Defender of strangers, as they did desire that dwelt in the place” (vi. 2). “The abomination of desolation” which was set on the altar at Jerusalem (1 Macc. i. 54) is understood by commentators to mean an idol-altar, though almost any heathen image would suit the sense, and a statue of a god, with or without a shrine, might be meant. The reference to Meluḫḫa in all probability refers to one of his expeditions to Egypt, and is generally supposed to indicate Ethiopia.
Another change which the Babylonians experienced was when the rule of their Greek masters was exchanged for that of the Parthians, and the Seleucidæ gave way to the Arsacidæ. Concerning the period of the change, and the way in which it came about, very little is known. The varied fortunes of the Seleucid princes is illustrated by the fact that a satrap of Media named Timarchus, in 161-160 b.c., had succeeded in proclaiming himself king of Babylon; and from 153-139 b.c., Arsaces VI. (Mithridates I.) was in possession of all the district east of the Euphrates—Babylonia, Elam, and Persia. After his death, however, all this portion seems to have returned to the rule of the Seleucidæ, and their era was in all probability restored. After the death of Antiochus Sidetes, in 129 b.c., the province of Kharacene became independent under a ruler named Hyspasines or Spasines, who, two years later, seems [pg 482] to have made himself master of Babylon. An interesting tablet dated in the reign of this king (who used the Seleucian era) shows something of the state of things on the site of the old city, and that somewhat vividly.
(The inscription is preceded by five introductory lines, which are unfortunately imperfect, but do not seem to affect the transaction as a whole.)
“In the month Iyyar, the 24th day, year 185th, Aspāsinē (being) king, Bêl-lûmur, director of Ê-saggil, and the Babylonians, the congregation of Ê-saggil, took counsel together, and said thus—