Myths of Babylonia and Assyria 8

Myths of Babylonia and Assyria 8

As most representatives of the spirit world were enemies of the

living, so were the ghosts of dead men and women. Death chilled all

human affections; it turned love to hate; the deeper the love had

been, the deeper became the enmity fostered by the ghost. Certain

ghosts might also be regarded as particularly virulent and hostile if

they happened to have left the body of one who was ceremonially

impure. The most terrible ghost in Babylonia was that of a woman who

had died in childbed. She was pitied and dreaded; her grief had

demented her; she was doomed to wail in the darkness; her impurity

clung to her like poison. No spirit was more prone to work evil

against mankind, and her hostility was accompanied by the most tragic

sorrow. In Northern India the Hindus, like the ancient Babylonians,

regard as a fearsome demon the ghost of a woman who died while

pregnant, or on the day of the child's birth.[92] A similar belief

prevailed in Mexico. In Europe there are many folk tales of dead

mothers who return to avenge themselves on the cruel fathers of

neglected children.

 

A sharp contrast is presented by the Mongolian Buriats, whose outlook

on the spirit world is less gloomy than was that of the ancient

Babylonians. According to Mr. Jeremiah Curtin, this interesting people

are wont to perform a ceremony with purpose to entice the ghost to

return to the dead body--a proceeding which is dreaded in the Scottish

Highlands.[93] The Buriats address the ghost, saying: "You shall sleep

well. Come back to your natural ashes. Take pity on your friends. It

is necessary to live a real life. Do not wander along the mountains.

Do not be like bad spirits. Return to your peaceful home.... Come back

and work for your children. How can you leave the little ones?" If it

is a mother, these words have great effect; sometimes the spirit moans

and sobs, and the Buriats tell that there have been instances of it

returning to the body.[94] In his _Arabia Deserta_[95] Doughty relates

that Arab women and children mock the cries of the owl. One explained

to him: "It is a wailful woman seeking her lost child; she has become

this forlorn bird". So do immemorial beliefs survive to our own day.

 

The Babylonian ghosts of unmarried men and women and of those without

offspring were also disconsolate night wanderers. Others who suffered

similar fates were the ghosts of men who died in battle far from home

and were left unburied, the ghosts of travellers who perished in the

desert and were not covered over, the ghosts of drowned men which rose

from the water, the ghosts of prisoners starved to death or executed,

the ghosts of people who died violent deaths before their appointed

time. The dead required to be cared for, to have libations poured out,

to be fed, so that they might not prowl through the streets or enter

houses searching for scraps of food and pure water. The duty of giving

offerings to the dead was imposed apparently on near relatives. As in

India, it would appear that the eldest son performed the funeral

ceremony: a dreadful fate therefore awaited the spirit of the dead

Babylonian man or woman without offspring. In Sanskrit literature

there is a reference to a priest who was not allowed to enter

Paradise, although he had performed rigid penances, because he had no

children.[96]

 

There were hags and giants of mountain and desert, of river and ocean.

Demons might possess the pig, the goat, the horse, the lion, or the

ibis, the raven, or the hawk. The seven spirits of tempest, fire, and

destruction rose from the depths of ocean, and there were hosts of

demons which could not be overcome or baffled by man without the

assistance of the gods to whom they were hostile. Many were sexless;

having no offspring, they were devoid of mercy and compassion. They

penetrated everywhere:

 

The high enclosures, the broad enclosures, like a flood

they pass through,

From house to house they dash along.

No door can shut them out;

No bolt can turn them back.

Through the door, like a snake, they glide,

Through the hinge, like the wind, they storm,

Tearing the wife from the embrace of the man,

Driving the freedman from his family home.[97]

 

These furies did not confine their unwelcomed attentions to mankind

alone:

 

They hunt the doves from their cotes,

And drive the birds from their nests,

And chase the marten from its hole....

Through the gloomy street by night they roam,

Smiting sheepfold and cattle pen,

Shutting up the land as with door and bolt.

 

_R.C. Thompson's Translation._

 

The Babylonian poet, like Burns, was filled with pity for the animals

which suffered in the storm:

 

List'ning the doors an' winnocks rattle,

I thought me o' the ourie cattle,

Or silly sheep, wha bide this brattle

O' winter war....

Ilk happing bird, wee, helpless thing!

That in the merry months o' spring

Delighted me to hear thee sing,

What comes o' thee?

Whare wilt thou cow'r thy chittering wing,

And close thy e'e?

 

According to Babylonian belief, "the great storms directed from

heaven" were caused by demons. Mankind heard them "loudly roaring

above, gibbering below".[98] The south wind was raised by Shutu, a

plumed storm demon resembling Hraesvelgur of the Icelandic Eddas:

 

Corpse-swallower sits at the end of heaven,

A Jötun in eagle form;

From his wings, they say, comes the wind which fares

Over all the dwellers of earth.[99]

 

The northern story of Thor's fishing, when he hooked and wounded the

Midgard serpent, is recalled by the Babylonian legend of Adapa, son of

the god Ea. This hero was engaged catching fish, when Shutu, the south

wind, upset his boat. In his wrath Adapa immediately attacked the

storm demon and shattered her pinions. Anu, the sky god, was moved to

anger against Ea's son and summoned him to the Celestial Court. Adapa,

however, appeared in garments of mourning and was forgiven. Anu

offered him the water of life and the bread of life which would have

made him immortal, but Ea's son refused to eat or drink, believing, as

his father had warned him, that the sky god desired him to partake of

the bread of death and to drink of the water of death.

 

Another terrible atmospheric demon was the south-west wind, which

caused destructive storms and floods, and claimed many human victims

like the Icelandic "corpse swallower". She was depicted with lidless

staring eyes, broad flat nose, mouth gaping horribly, and showing

tusk-like teeth, and with high cheek bones, heavy eyebrows, and low

bulging forehead.

 

In Scotland the hag of the south-west wind is similarly a bloodthirsty

and fearsome demon. She is most virulent in the springtime. At

Cromarty she is quaintly called "Gentle Annie" by the fisher folks,

who repeat the saying: "When Gentle Annie is skyawlan (yelling) roond

the heel of Ness (a promontory) wi' a white feather on her hat (the

foam of big billows) they (the spirits) will be harrying (robbing) the

crook"--that is, the pot which hangs from the crook is empty during

the spring storms, which prevent fishermen going to sea. In England

the wind hag is Black Annis, who dwells in a Leicestershire hill cave.

She may be identical with the Irish hag Anu, associated with the "Paps

of Anu". According to Gaelic lore, this wind demon of spring is the

"Cailleach" (old wife). She gives her name in the Highland calendar to

the stormy period of late spring; she raises gale after gale to

prevent the coming of summer. Angerboda, the Icelandic hag, is also a

storm demon, but represents the east wind. A Tyrolese folk tale tells

of three magic maidens who dwelt on Jochgrimm mountain, where they

"brewed the winds". Their demon lovers were Ecke, "he who causes

fear"; Vasolt, "he who causes dismay"; and the scornful Dietrich in

his mythical character of Donar or Thunor (Thor), the thunderer.

 

Another Sumerian storm demon was the Zu bird, which is represented

among the stars by Pegasus and Taurus. A legend relates that this

"worker of evil, who raised the head of evil", once aspired to rule

the gods, and stole from Bel, "the lord" of deities, the Tablets of

Destiny, which gave him his power over the Universe as controller of

the fates of all. The Zu bird escaped with the Tablets and found

shelter on its mountain top in Arabia. Anu called on Ramman, the

thunderer, to attack the Zu bird, but he was afraid; other gods appear

to have shrunk from the conflict. How the rebel was overcome is not

certain, because the legend survives in fragmentary form. There is a

reference, however, to the moon god setting out towards the mountain

in Arabia with purpose to outwit the Zu bird and recover the lost

Tablets. How he fared it is impossible to ascertain. In another

legend--that of Etana--the mother serpent, addressing the sun god,

Shamash, says:

 

Thy net is like unto the broad earth;

Thy snare is like unto the distant heaven!

Who hath ever escaped from thy net?

Even Zu, the worker of evil, who raised the head

of evil [did not escape]!

 

_L.W. King's Translation._

 

In Indian mythology, Garuda, half giant, half eagle, robs the Amrita

(ambrosia) of the gods which gives them their power and renders them

immortal. It had assumed a golden body, bright as the sun. Indra, the

thunderer, flung his bolt in vain; he could not wound Garuda, and only

displaced a single feather. Afterwards, however, he stole the moon

goblet containing the Amrita, which Garuda had delivered to his

enemies, the serpents, to free his mother from bondage. This Indian

eagle giant became the vehicle of the god Vishnu, and, according to

the _Mahabharata_, "mocked the wind with his fleetness".

 

It would appear that the Babylonian Zu bird symbolized the summer

sandstorms from the Arabian desert. Thunder is associated with the

rainy season, and it may have been assumed, therefore, that the

thunder god was powerless against the sandstorm demon, who was chased,

however, by the moon, and finally overcome by the triumphant sun when

it broke through the darkening sand drift and brightened heaven and

earth, "netting" the rebellious demon who desired to establish the

rule of evil over gods and mankind.

 

In the "Legend of Etana" the Eagle, another demon which links with the

Indian Garuda, slayer of serpents, devours the brood of the Mother

Serpent. For this offence against divine law, Shamash, the sun god,

pronounces the Eagle's doom. He instructs the Mother Serpent to slay a

wild ox and conceal herself in its entrails. The Eagle comes to feed

on the carcass, unheeding the warning of one of his children, who

says, "The serpent lies in this wild ox":

 

He swooped down and stood upon the wild ox,

The Eagle ... examined the flesh;

He looked about carefully before and behind him;

He again examined the flesh;

He looked about carefully before and behind him,

Then, moving swiftly, he made for the hidden parts.

When he entered into the midst,

The serpent seized him by his wing.

 

In vain the Eagle appealed for mercy to the Mother Serpent, who was

compelled to execute the decree of Shamash; she tore off the Eagle's

pinions, wings, and claws, and threw him into a pit where he perished

from hunger and thirst.[100] This myth may refer to the ravages of a

winged demon of disease who was thwarted by the sacrifice of an ox.

The Mother Serpent appears to be identical with an ancient goddess of

maternity resembling the Egyptian Bast, the serpent mother of

Bubastis. According to Sumerian belief, Nintu, "a form of the goddess

Ma", was half a serpent. On her head there is a horn; she is "girt

about the loins"; her left arm holds "a babe suckling her breast":

 

From her head to her loins

The body is that of a naked woman;

From the loins to the sole of the foot

Scales like those of a snake are visible.

 

_R.C. Thompson's Translation._

 

The close association of gods and demons is illustrated in an obscure

myth which may refer to an eclipse of the moon or a night storm at the

beginning of the rainy season. The demons go to war against the high

gods, and are assisted by Adad (Ramman) the thunderer, Shamash the

sun, and Ishtar. They desire to wreck the heavens, the home of Anu:

 

They clustered angrily round the crescent of the moon god,

And won over to their aid Shamash, the mighty, and Adad, the

warrior,

And Ishtar, who with Anu, the King,

Hath founded a shining dwelling.

 

The moon god Sin, "the seed of mankind", was darkened by the demons

who raged, "rushing loose over the land" like to the wind. Bel called

upon his messenger, whom he sent to Ea in the ocean depths, saying:

"My son Sin ... hath been grievously bedimmed". Ea lamented, and

dispatched his son Merodach to net the demons by magic, using "a

two-coloured cord from the hair of a virgin kid and from the wool of a

virgin lamb".[101]

 

As in India, where Shitala, the Bengali goddess of smallpox, for

instance, is worshipped when the dreaded disease she controls becomes

epidemic, so in Babylonia the people sought to secure immunity from

attack by worshipping spirits of disease. A tablet relates that Ura, a

plague demon, once resolved to destroy all life, but ultimately

consented to spare those who praised his name and exalted him in

recognition of his bravery and power. This could be accomplished by

reciting a formula. Indian serpent worshippers believe that their

devotions "destroy all danger proceeding from snakes".[102]

 

Like the Ancient Egyptians, the Babylonians also had their kindly

spirits who brought luck and the various enjoyments of life. A good

"labartu" might attend on a human being like a household fairy of

India or Europe: a friendly "shedu" could protect a household against

the attacks of fierce demons and human enemies. Even the spirits of

Fate who served Anu, god of the sky, and that "Norn" of the

Underworld, Eresh-ki-gal, queen of Hades, might sometimes be

propitious: if the deities were successfully invoked they could cause

the Fates to smite spirits of disease and bringers of ill luck. Damu,

a friendly fairy goddess, was well loved, because she inspired

pleasant dreams, relieved the sufferings of the afflicted, and

restored to good health those patients whom she selected to favour.

 

In the Egyptian _Book of the Dead_ the kindly spirits are overshadowed

by the evil ones, because the various magical spells which were put on

record were directed against those supernatural beings who were

enemies of mankind. Similarly in Babylonia the fragments of this class

of literature which survive deal mainly with wicked and vengeful

demons. It appears probable, however, that the highly emotional

Sumerians and Akkadians were on occasion quite as cheerful a people as

the inhabitants of ancient Egypt. Although they were surrounded by

bloodthirsty furies who desired to shorten their days, and their

nights were filled with vague lowering phantoms which inspired fear,

they no doubt shared, in their charm-protected houses, a comfortable

feeling of security after performing magical ceremonies, and were

happy enough when they gathered round flickering lights to listen to

ancient song and story and gossip about crops and traders, the members

of the royal house, and the family affairs of their acquaintances.

 

The Babylonian spirit world, it will be seen, was of complex

character. Its inhabitants were numberless, but often vaguely defined,

and one class of demons linked with another. Like the European fairies

of folk belief, the Babylonian spirits were extremely hostile and

irresistible at certain seasonal periods; and they were fickle and

perverse and difficult to please even when inclined to be friendly.

They were also similarly manifested from time to time in various

forms. Sometimes they were comely and beautiful; at other times they

were apparitions of horror. The Jinn of present-day Arabians are of

like character; these may be giants, cloudy shapes, comely women,

serpents or cats, goats or pigs.

 

Some of the composite monsters of Babylonia may suggest the vague and

exaggerated recollections of terror-stricken people who have had

glimpses of unfamiliar wild beasts in the dusk or amidst reedy

marshes. But they cannot be wholly accounted for in this way. While

animals were often identified with supernatural beings, and foreigners

were called "devils", it would be misleading to assert that the spirit

world reflects confused folk memories of human and bestial enemies.

Even when a demon was given concrete human form it remained

essentially non-human: no ordinary weapon could inflict an injury, and

it was never controlled by natural laws. The spirits of disease and

tempest and darkness were creations of fancy: they symbolized moods;

they were the causes which explained effects. A sculptor or

storyteller who desired to convey an impression of a spirit of storm

or pestilence created monstrous forms to inspire terror. Sudden and

unexpected visits of fierce and devastating demons were accounted for

by asserting that they had wings like eagles, were nimble-footed as

gazelles, cunning and watchful as serpents; that they had claws to

clutch, horns to gore, and powerful fore legs like a lion to smite

down victims. Withal they drank blood like ravens and devoured corpses

like hyaenas. Monsters were all the more repulsive when they were

partly human. The human-headed snake or the snake-headed man and the

man with the horns of a wild bull and the legs of a goat were horrible

in the extreme. Evil spirits might sometimes achieve success by

practising deception. They might appear as beautiful girls or handsome

men and seize unsuspecting victims in deathly embrace or leave them

demented and full of grief, or come as birds and suddenly assume

awesome shapes.

 

Fairies and elves, and other half-human demons, are sometimes regarded

as degenerate gods. It will be seen, however, that while certain

spirits developed into deities, others remained something between

these two classes of supernatural beings: they might attend upon gods

and goddesses, or operate independently now against mankind and now

against deities even. The "namtaru", for instance, was a spirit of

fate, the son of Bel-Enlil and Eresh-ki-gal, queen of Hades.

"Apparently", writes Professor Pinches, "he executed the instructions

given him concerning the fate of men, and could also have power over

certain of the gods."[103] To this middle class belong the evil gods

who rebelled against the beneficent deities. According to Hebridean

folk belief, the fallen angels are divided into three classes--the

fairies, the "nimble men" (aurora borealis), and the "blue men of the

Minch". In _Beowulf_ the "brood of Cain" includes "monsters and elves

and sea-devils--giants also, who long time fought with God, for which

he gave them their reward".[104] Similarly the Babylonian spirit

groups are liable to division and subdivision. The various classes may

be regarded as relics of the various stages of development from crude

animism to sublime monotheism: in the fragmentary legends we trace the

floating material from which great mythologies have been framed.

 

 

 

 

CHAPTER V.

 

MYTHS OF TAMMUZ AND ISHTAR

 

 

Forms of Tammuz--The Weeping Ceremony--Tammuz the Patriarch and the

Dying God--Common Origin of Tammuz and other Deities from an Archaic

God--The Mediterranean Racial Myth--Animal Forms of Gods of

Fertility--Two Legends of the Death of Tammuz--Attis, Adonis, and

Diarmid Slain by a Boar--Laments for Tammuz--His Soul in Underworld

and the Deep--Myth of the Child God of Ocean--Sargon Myth

Version--The Germanic Scyld of the Sheaf--Tammuz Links with Frey,

Heimdal, Agni, &c.--Assyrian Legend of "Descent of Ishtar"--Sumerian

Version--The Sister Belit-sheri and the Mother Ishtar--The Egyptian

Isis and Nepthys--Goddesses as Mothers, Sisters, and Wives--Great

Mothers of Babylonia--Immortal Goddesses and Dying Gods--The Various

Indras--Celtic Goddess with Seven Periods of Youth--Lovers of

Germanic and Classic Goddesses--The Lovers of Ishtar--Racial

Significance of Goddess Cult--The Great Fathers and their

Worshippers--Process of Racial and Religious Fusion--Ishtar and

Tiamat--Mother Worship in Palestine--Women among Goddess

Worshippers.

 

 

Among the gods of Babylonia none achieved wider and more enduring

fame than Tammuz, who was loved by Ishtar, the amorous Queen of

Heaven--the beautiful youth who died and was mourned for and came to

life again. He does not figure by his popular name in any of the city

pantheons, but from the earliest times of which we have knowledge

until the passing of Babylonian civilization, he played a prominent

part in the religious life of the people.

 

Tammuz, like Osiris of Egypt, was an agricultural deity, and as the

Babylonian harvest was the gift of the rivers, it is probable that one

of his several forms was Dumu-zi-abzu, "Tammuz of the Abyss". He was

also "the child", "the heroic lord", "the sentinel", "the healer", and

the patriarch who reigned over the early Babylonians for a

considerable period. "Tammuz of the Abyss" was one of the members of

the family of Ea, god of the Deep, whose other sons, in addition to

Merodach, were Nira, an obscure deity; Ki-gulla, "world destroyer",

Burnunta-sa, "broad ear", and Bara and Baragulla, probably "revealers"

or "oracles". In addition there was a daughter, Khi-dimme-azaga,

"child of the renowned spirit". She may have been identical with

Belit-sheri, who is referred to in the Sumerian hymns as the sister of

Tammuz. This family group was probably formed by symbolizing the

attributes of Ea and his spouse Damkina. Tammuz, in his character as a

patriarch, may have been regarded as a hostage from the gods: the

human form of Ea, who instructed mankind, like King Osiris, how to

grow corn and cultivate fruit trees. As the youth who perished

annually, he was the corn spirit. He is referred to in the Bible by

his Babylonian name.

 

When Ezekiel detailed the various idolatrous practices of the

Israelites, which included the worship of the sun and "every form of

creeping things and abominable beasts"--a suggestion of the composite

monsters of Babylonia--he was brought "to the door of the gate of the

Lord's house, which was towards the north; and, behold, there sat

women weeping for Tammuz".[105]

 

The weeping ceremony was connected with agricultural rites. Corn

deities were weeping deities, they shed fertilizing tears; and the

sowers simulated the sorrow of divine mourners when they cast seed in

the soil "to die", so that it might spring up as corn. This ancient

custom, like many others, contributed to the poetic imagery of the

Bible. "They that sow in tears", David sang, "shall reap in joy. He