Myths of Babylonia and Assyria 11

Myths of Babylonia and Assyria 11

When the curtain rises to reveal the drama of Babylonian civilization

we find that we have missed the first act and its many fascinating

scenes. Sumerians and Akkadians come and go, but it is not always

possible to distinguish between them. Although most Semites are

recognizable by their flowing beards, prominent noses, and long robes,

some have so closely imitated the Sumerians as to suffer almost

complete loss of identity. It is noticeable that in the north the

Akkadians are more Semitic than their contemporaries in the south, but

it is difficult at times to say whether a city is controlled by the

descendants of the indigenous people or those of later settlers.

Dynasties rise and fall, and, as in Egypt at times, the progress of

the fragmentary narrative is interrupted by a sudden change of scene

ere we have properly grasped a situation and realized its

significance.

 

What we know for certain is that civilization is well advanced. Both

in the north and the south there are many organized and independent

city states, and not unfrequently these wage war one against another.

Occasionally ambitious rulers tower among their fellows, conduct

vigorous military campaigns, and become overlords of wide districts.

As a rule, a subjugated monarch who has perforce to acknowledge the

suzerainty of a powerful king is allowed to remain in a state of

semi-independence on condition that he pays a heavy annual tribute of

grain. His own laws continue in force, and the city deities remain

supreme, although recognition may also be given to the deities of his

conqueror. He styles himself a Patesi--a "priest king", or more

literally, "servant of the chief deity". But as an independent monarch

may also be a pious Patesi, it does not always follow when a ruler is

referred to by that title he is necessarily less powerful than his

neighbours.

 

When the historical narrative begins Akkad included the cities of

Babylon, Cutha, Kish, Akkad, and Sippar, and north of Babylonia proper

is Semitic Opis. Among the cities of Sumer were Eridu, Ur, Lagash,

Larsa, Erech, Shuruppak, and probably Nippur, which was situated on

the "border". On the north Assyria was yet "in the making", and

shrouded in obscurity. A vague but vast area above Hit on the

Euphrates, and extending to the Syrian coast, was known as the "land

of the Amorites". The fish-shaped Babylonian valley lying between the

rivers, where walled towns were surrounded by green fields and

numerous canals flashed in the sunshine, was bounded on the west by

the bleak wastes of the Arabian desert, where during the dry season

"the rocks branded the body" and occasional sandstorms swept in

blinding folds towards the "plain of Shinar" (Sumer) like demon hosts

who sought to destroy the world. To the east the skyline was fretted

by the Persian Highlands, and amidst the southern mountains dwelt the

fierce Elamites, the hereditary enemies of the Sumerians, although a

people apparently of the same origin. Like the Nubians and the

Libyans, who kept watchful eyes on Egypt, the Elamites seemed ever to

be hovering on the eastern frontier of Sumeria, longing for an

opportunity to raid and plunder.

 

The capital of the Elamites was the city of Susa, where excavations

have revealed traces of an independent civilization which reaches back

to an early period in the Late Stone Age. Susa is referred to in the

Old Testament--"The words of Nehemiah.... I was in Shushan the

palace".[144] An Assyrian plan of the city shows it occupying a

strategic position at a bend of the Shawur river, which afforded

protection against Sumerian attacks from the west, while a canal

curved round its northern and eastern sides, so that Susa was

completely surrounded by water. Fortifications had been erected on the

river and canal banks, and between these and the high city walls were

thick clumps of trees. That the kings of Elam imitated the splendours

of Babylonian courts in the later days of Esther and Haman and

Mordecai, is made evident by the Biblical references to the gorgeous

palace, which had "white, green, and blue hangings, fastened with

cords of fine linen and purple to silver rings and pillars of marble;

the beds were of gold and silver, upon a pavement of red, and blue,

and white, and black marble ".[145] Beyond Elam were the plains,

plateaus, and grassy steppes occupied by the Medes and other peoples

of Aryan speech. Cultural influences came and went like spring winds

between the various ancient communities.

 

For ten long centuries Sumer and Akkad flourished and prospered ere we

meet with the great Hammurabi, whose name has now become almost as

familiar as that of Julius Caesar. But our knowledge of the leading

historical events of this vast period is exceedingly fragmentary. The

Sumerians were not like the later Assyrians or their Egyptian

contemporaries--a people with a passion for history. When inscriptions

were composed and cut on stone, or impressed upon clay tablets and

bricks, the kings selected as a general rule to record pious deeds

rather than to celebrate their victories and conquests. Indeed, the

average monarch had a temperament resembling that of Keats, who

declared:

 

The silver flow

Of Hero's tears, the swoon of Imogen,

Fair Pastorella in the bandits' den,

Are things to brood on with more ardency

Than the death day of empires.

 

The Sumerian king was emotionally religious as the great English poet

was emotionally poetical. The tears of Ishtar for Tammuz, and the

afflictions endured by the goddess imprisoned in Hades, to which she

had descended for love of her slain husband, seemed to have concerned

the royal recorder to a greater degree than the memories of political

upheavals and the social changes which passed over the land, like the

seasons which alternately brought greenness and gold, barrenness and

flood.

 

City chronicles, as a rule, are but indices of obscure events, to

which meagre references were sometimes also made on mace heads, vases,

tablets, stelae, and sculptured monoliths. Consequently, present-day

excavators and students have often reason to be grateful that the

habit likewise obtained of inscribing on bricks in buildings and the

stone sockets of doors the names of kings and others. These records

render obscure periods faintly articulate, and are indispensable for

comparative purposes. Historical clues are also obtained from lists of

year names. Each city king named a year in celebration of a great

event--his own succession to the throne, the erection of a new temple

or of a city wall, or, mayhap, the defeat of an invading army from a

rival state. Sometimes, too, a monarch gave the name of his father in

an official inscription, or happily mentioned several ancestors.

Another may be found to have made an illuminating statement regarding

a predecessor, who centuries previously erected the particular temple

that he himself has piously restored. A reckoning of this kind,

however, cannot always be regarded as absolutely correct. It must be

compared with and tested by other records, for in these ancient days

calculations were not unfrequently based on doubtful inscriptions, or

mere oral traditions, perhaps. Nor can implicit trust be placed on

every reference to historical events, for the memoried deeds of great

rulers were not always unassociated with persistent and cumulative

myths. It must be recognized, therefore, that even portions of the

data which had of late been sifted and systematized by Oriental

scholars in Europe, may yet have to be subjected to revision. Many

interesting and important discoveries, which will throw fresh light on

this fascinating early period, remain to be made in that ancient and

deserted land, which still lies under the curse of the Hebrew prophet,

who exclaimed: "Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the

Chaldees' excellency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and

Gomorrah. It shall never be inhabited; neither shall the Arabian pitch

tent there; neither shall the shepherds make their fold there. But

wild beasts of the desert shall lie there; and their houses shall be

full of doleful creatures; and owls shall dwell there, and satyrs

shall dance there. And the wild beasts of the islands shall cry in

their desolate houses and dragons in their pleasant palaces."[146]

 

The curtain rises, as has been indicated, after civilization had been

well advanced. To begin with, our interests abide with Akkad, and

during a period dated approximately between 3000 B.C. and 2800 B.C.,

when Egypt was already a united kingdom, and the Cretans were at the

dawn of the first early Minoan period, and beginning to use bronze. In

Kish Sumerian and Akkadian elements had apparently blended, and the

city was the centre of a powerful and independent government. After

years have fluttered past dimly, and with them the shadow-shapes of

vigorous rulers, it is found that Kish came under the sway of the

pronouncedly Semitic city of Opis, which was situated "farthest north"

and on the western bank of the river Tigris. A century elapsed ere

Kish again threw off the oppressor's yoke and renewed the strength of

its youth.

 

The city of Kish was one of the many ancient centres of goddess

worship. The Great Mother appears to have been the Sumerian Bau, whose

chief seat was at Lagash. If tradition is to be relied upon, Kish owed

its existence to that notable lady, Queen Azag-Bau. Although floating

legends gathered round her memory as they have often gathered round

the memories of famous men, like Sargon of Akkad, Alexander the Great,

and Theodoric the Goth, who became Emperor of Rome, it is probable

that the queen was a prominent historical personage. She was reputed

to have been of humble origin, and to have first achieved popularity

and influence as the keeper of a wine shop. Although no reference

survives to indicate that she was believed to be of miraculous birth,

the Chronicle of Kish gravely credits her with a prolonged and

apparently prosperous reign of a hundred years. Her son, who succeeded

her, sat on the throne for a quarter of a century. These calculations

are certainly remarkable. If the Queen Azag-Bau founded Kish when she

was only twenty, and gave birth to the future ruler in her fiftieth

year, he must have been an elderly gentleman of seventy when he began

to reign. When it is found, further, that the dynasty in which mother

and son flourished was supposed to have lasted for 586 years, divided

between eight rulers, one of whom reigned for only three years, two

for six, and two for eleven, it becomes evident that the historian of

Kish cannot be absolutely relied upon in detail. It seems evident that

the memory of this lady of forceful character, who flourished about

thirteen hundred years before the rise of Queen Hatshepsut of Egypt,

has overshadowed the doubtful annals of ancient Kish at a period when

Sumerian and Semite were striving in the various states to achieve

political ascendancy.

 

Meanwhile the purely Sumerian city of Lagash had similarly grown

powerful and aggressive. For a time it acknowledged the suzerainty of

Kish, but ultimately it threw off the oppressor's yoke and asserted

its independence. The cumulative efforts of a succession of energetic

rulers elevated Lagash to the position of a metropolis in Ancient

Babylonia.

 

The goddess Bau, "the mother of Lagash", was worshipped in conjunction

with other deities, including the god Nin-Girsu, an agricultural

deity, and therefore a deity of war, who had solar attributes. One of

the titles of Nin-Girsu was En-Mersi, which, according to Assyrian

evidence, was another name of Tammuz, the spring god who slew the

storm and winter demons, and made the land fertile so that man might

have food. Nin-Girsu was, it would seem, a developed form of Tammuz,

like the Scandinavian Frey, god of harvest, or Heimdal, the celestial

warrior. Bau was one of the several goddesses whose attributes were

absorbed by the Semitic Ishtar. She was a "Great Mother", a creatrix,

the source of all human and bestial life, and, of course, a harvest

goddess. She was identified with Gula, "the great one", who cured

diseases and prolonged life. Evidently the religion of Lagash was

based on the popular worship of the "Queen of Heaven", and her son,

the dying god who became "husband of his mother".

 

The first great and outstanding ruler of Lagash was Ur-Nina, who

appears to have owed his power to the successful military operations

of his predecessors. It is uncertain whether or not he himself engaged

in any great war. His records are silent in that connection, but,

judging from what we know of him, it may be taken for granted that he

was able and fully prepared to give a good account of himself in

battle. He certainly took steps to make secure his position, for he

caused a strong wall to be erected round Lagash. His inscriptions are

eloquent of his piety, which took practical shape, for he repaired and

built temples, dedicated offerings to deities, and increased the

wealth of religious bodies and the prosperity of the State by cutting

canals and developing agriculture. In addition to serving local

deities, he also gave practical recognition to Ea at Eridu and Enlil

at Nippur. He, however, overlooked Anu at Erech, a fact which suggests

that he held sway over Eridu and Nippur, but had to recognize Erech as

an independent city state.

 

Among the deities of Lagash, Ur-Nina favoured most the goddess Nina,

whose name he bore. As she was a water deity, and perhaps identical

with Belit-sheri, sister of "Tammuz of the Abyss" and daughter of Ea,

one of the canals was dedicated to her. She was also honoured with a

new temple, in which was probably placed her great statue, constructed

by special order of her royal worshipper. Like the Egyptian goddess,

the "Mother of Mendes", Nina received offerings of fish, not only as a

patroness of fishermen, but also as a corn spirit and a goddess of

maternity. She was in time identified with Ishtar.

 

A famous limestone plaque, which is preserved in the Louvre, Paris,

depicts on its upper half the pious King Ur-Nina engaged in the

ceremony of laying the foundations of a temple dedicated either to the

goddess Nina or to the god Nin-Girsu. His face and scalp are clean

shaven, and he has a prominent nose and firm mouth, eloquent of

decision. The folds of neck and jaw suggest Bismarckian traits. He is

bare to the waist, and wears a pleated kilt, with three flounces,

which reaches almost to his ankles. On his long head he has poised

deftly a woven basket containing the clay with which he is to make the

first brick. In front of him stand five figures. The foremost is

honoured by being sculptured larger than the others, except the

prominent monarch. Apparently this is a royal princess, for her head

is unshaven, and her shoulder dress or long hair drops over one of her

arms. Her name is Lida, and the conspicuous part she took in the

ceremony suggests that she was the representative of the goddess Nina.

She is accompanied by her brothers, and at least one official, Anita,

the cup-bearer, or high priest. The concluding part of this ceremony,

or another ceremonial act, is illustrated on the lower part of the

plaque. Ur-Nina is seated on his throne, not, as would seem at first

sight, raising the wine cup to his lips and toasting to the success of

the work, but pouring out a libation upon the ground. The princess is

not present; the place of honour next to the king is taken by the

crown prince. Possibly in this case it is the god Nin-Girsu who is

being honoured. Three male figures, perhaps royal sons, accompany the

prominent crown prince. The cup-bearer is in attendance behind the

throne.

 

The inscription on this plaque, which is pierced in the centre so as

to be nailed to a sacred shrine, refers to the temples erected by

Ur-Nina, including those of Nina and Nin-Girsu.

 

After Ur-Nina's prosperous reign came to a close, his son Akurgal

ascended the throne. He had trouble with Umma, a powerful city, which

lay to the north-west of Lagash, between the Shatt-el-Kai and

Shatt-el-Hai canals. An army of raiders invaded his territory and had

to be driven back.

 

The next king, whose name was Eannatum, had Napoleonic

characteristics. He was a military genius with great ambitions, and

was successful in establishing by conquest a small but brilliant

empire. Like his grandfather, he strengthened the fortifications of

Lagash; then he engaged in a series of successful campaigns. Umma had

been causing anxiety in Lagash, but Eannatum stormed and captured that

rival city, appropriated one of its fertile plains, and imposed an

annual tribute to be paid in kind. An army of Elamites swept down from

the hills, but Ur-Nina's grandson inflicted upon these bold foreigners

a crushing defeat and pursued them over the frontier. Several cities

were afterwards forced to come under the sway of triumphant Lagash,

including Erech and Ur, and as his suzerainty was already acknowledged

at Eridu, Eannatum's power in Sumeria became as supreme as it was

firmly established.

 

Evidently Zuzu, king of the northern city of Opis, considered that the

occasion was opportune to overcome the powerful Sumerian conqueror,

and at the same time establish Semitic rule over the subdued and

war-wasted cities. He marched south with a large army, but the

tireless and ever-watchful Eannatum hastened to the fray, scattered

the forces of Opis, and captured the foolhardy Zuzu.

 

Eannatum's activities, however, were not confined to battlefields. At

Lagash he carried out great improvements in the interests of

agriculture; he constructed a large reservoir and developed the canal

system. He also extended and repaired existing temples in his native

city and at Erech. Being a patron of the arts, he encouraged sculpture

work, and the finest Sumerian examples belong to his reign.

 

Eannatum was succeeded by his brother, Enannatum I. Apparently the new

monarch did not share the military qualities of his royal predecessor,

for there were signs of unrest in the loose confederacy of states.

Indeed, Umma revolted. From that city an army marched forth and took

forcible possession of the plain which Eannatum had appropriated,

removing and breaking the landmarks, and otherwise challenging the

supremacy of the sovran state. A Lagash force defeated the men of

Umma, but appears to have done little more than hold in check their

aggressive tendencies.

 

No sooner had Entemena, the next king, ascended the throne than the

flame of revolt burst forth again. The Patesi of Umma was evidently

determined to free, once and for all, his native state from the yoke

of Lagash. But he had gravely miscalculated the strength of the

vigorous young ruler. Entemena inflicted upon the rebels a crushing

defeat, and following up his success, entered the walled city and

captured and slew the patesi. Then he took steps to stamp out the

embers of revolt in Umma by appointing as its governor one of his own

officials, named Ili, who was duly installed with great ceremony.

Other military successes followed, including the sacking of Opis and

Kish, which assured the supremacy of Lagash for many years. Entemena,

with characteristic vigour, engaged himself during periods of peace in

strengthening his city fortifications and in continuing the work of

improving and developing the irrigation system. He lived in the golden

age of Sumerian art, and to his reign belongs the exquisite silver

vase of Lagash, which was taken from the Tello mound, and is now in

the Louvre. This votive offering was placed by the king in the temple

of Nin-Girsu. It is exquisitely shaped, and has a base of copper. The

symbolic decorations include the lion-headed eagle, which was probably

a form of the spring god of war and fertility, the lion, beloved by

the Mother goddess, and deer and ibexes, which recall the mountain

herds of Astarte. In the dedicatory inscription the king is referred

to as a patesi, and the fact that the name of the high priest, Dudu,

is given may be taken as an indication of the growing power of an

aggressive priesthood. After a brilliant reign of twenty-nine years

the king died, and was succeeded by his son, Enannatum II, who was the

last ruler of Ur-Nina's line. An obscure period ensued. Apparently

there had been a city revolt, which may have given the enemies of

Lagash the desired opportunity to gather strength for the coming

conflict. There is a reference to an Elamite raid which, although

repulsed, may be regarded as proof of disturbed political conditions.

 

One or two priests sat on the throne of Lagash in brief succession,

and then arose to power the famous Urukagina, the first reformer in

history. He began to rule as patesi, but afterwards styled himself

king. What appears certain is that he was the leader of a great social

upheaval, which received the support of a section of the priesthood,

for he recorded that his elevation was due to the intercession of the

god Nin-Girsu. Other deities, who were sons and daughters of Nin-Girsu

and Nina, had been given recognition by his predecessors, and it is

possible that the orthodox section of Lagash, and especially the

agricultural classes, supported the new ruler in sweeping away

innovations to which they were hostile.

 

Like Khufu and his descendants, the Pyramid kings of Egypt's fourth

dynasty, the vigorous and efficient monarchs of the Ur-Nina dynasty of

Lagash were apparently remembered and execrated as tyrants and

oppressors of the people. To maintain many endowed temples and a

standing army the traders and agriculturists had been heavily taxed.

Each successive monarch who undertook public works on a large scale

for the purpose of extending and developing the area under

cultivation, appears to have done so mainly to increase the revenue of

the exchequer, so as to conserve the strength of the city and secure

its pre-eminence as a metropolis. A leisured class had come into

existence, with the result that culture was fostered and civilization

advanced. Lagash seems to have been intensely modern in character

prior to 2800 B.C., but with the passing of the old order of things

there arose grave social problems which never appear to have been

seriously dealt with. All indications of social unrest were, it would

appear, severely repressed by the iron-gloved monarchs of Ur-Nina's

dynasty.

 

The people as a whole groaned under an ever-increasing burden of

taxation. Sumeria was overrun by an army of officials who were

notoriously corrupt; they do not appear to have been held in check, as

in Egypt, by royal auditors. "In the domain of Nin-Girsu", one of

Urukagina's tablets sets forth, "there were tax gatherers down to the

sea." They not only attended to the needs of the exchequer, but

enriched themselves by sheer robbery, while the priests followed their

example by doubling their fees and appropriating temple offerings to

their own use. The splendid organization of Lagash was crippled by the

dishonesty of those who should have been its main support.

 

Reforms were necessary and perhaps overdue, but, unfortunately for

Lagash, Urukagina's zeal for the people's cause amounted to

fanaticism. Instead of gradually readjusting the machinery of

government so as to secure equality of treatment without impairing its

efficiency as a defensive force in these perilous times, he

inaugurated sweeping and revolutionary social changes of far-reaching

character regardless of consequences. Taxes and temple fees were cut

down, and the number of officials reduced to a minimum. Society was

thoroughly disorganized. The army, which was recruited mainly from the

leisured and official classes, went practically out of existence, so

that traders and agriculturists obtained relief from taxation at the

expense of their material security.

 

Urukagina's motives were undoubtedly above reproach, and he showed an

example to all who occupied positions of trust by living an upright

life and denying himself luxuries. He was disinterestedly pious, and

built and restored temples, and acted as the steward of his god with

desire to promote the welfare and comfort of all true worshippers. His

laws were similar to those which over two centuries afterwards were

codified by Hammurabi, and like that monarch he was professedly the

guardian of the weak and the helper of the needy; he sought to

establish justice and liberty in the kingdom. But his social Arcadia

vanished like a dream because he failed to recognize that Right must

be supported by Might.

 

In bringing about his sudden social revolution, Urukagina had at the

same time unwittingly let loose the forces of disorder. Discontented

and unemployed officials, and many representatives of the despoiled

leisured and military classes of Lagash, no doubt sought refuge

elsewhere, and fostered the spirit of revolt which ever smouldered in