1903-[Radau]-Bel-the-Christ-of-Ancient-Times

Bel, THE Christ of

Ancient Tiiaes HUGO RADAU

n

BEL.

THE CHRIST OF ANCIENT TIMES

BY

HUGO RADAU

CHICAGO

THE OPEN COURT PUBLISHING COMPANY. LONDON AGENTS KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH, TRUBNER ^ 1908

CO., LTD.

«i

COPYRIGHT BY

THE OPEN COURT 1903

PUB. CO.

PREFACE. following- pages herewith issued in

THE have

book form

in The Monist, as early as October, At first it was intention to issue 1903, pp. 67-119. my together with them another paper entitled "The Baby-

appeared

lonian Trinity, the Prototype of the Christian," but T have decided, upon the request of other scholars, to issue them

now and

wait with

sible to the

my

other article

till I

have made acces-

learned world a very small fraction at least

of the immeasurably rich material of the Temple Library of Nippur, the discovery of which will always remain a

monument

to the

immortal fame of Prof. Dr. H. V. Hil-

precht. I am engaged in copying and translating of the oldest religious texts found in the Temple Library of Nippur. To my great surprise these texts more

At present

some

than corroborate

my

contention that the Babylonian religion is a purely monotheistic religion, more particularly a monotheistic trinitarian religion, patterned after the Nip-

purian prototype Enlil ("Father"), ErrisJi (or NIN-IB, "Son"), Niniil ("Mother"), which Trinity in Unity is represented in the Old Testament by YahveJi (or Elohim, "Father"), MaVak Yahveh (or ''Angel of the Lord,"

"Son"), Ruach ("Spirit," "Mother") and in the New Testament by "FatJier," "Son," "Holy Spirit," and in my forthcoming volume I shall take the liberty to refer repeatedly to these pages. It is to be expected that in the course of five years

iv

BEL,

THE CHRIST OF ANCIENT TIMES.

Assyriological science has made some progress, but though this is the case, I do not see that it has in the least affected a modification of

any of

my

contentions here.

In issuing these pages it is my hope that the prospective readers will see in the Christian Religion, as I do, the

glorious culmination of the wisdom and faith of ages past. The "Light that lightens the world" said of himself, "before

Abraham was

I

was."

— He was and existed and was

worsrhiped as "Son of the God of Heaven and Earth" under various names as early as 7000 B. C, when the monotheistic trinitarian religion of Babylonia was systematized.

Hugo Radau. Philadelphia, Pa., March, 1908.

TABLE OF CONTENTS. I.

THE BABYLONIAN PANTHEON. PAGE

The Genealogies

of Ishtar and Niisku and Their Difficulties

i

Three Epochs of Babylonian Religion Identification of Enlil,

Marduk and

4

.\nshar

6

Solution of the Difficult}'

8

Corroborations

14

Contradictions Reconciled

ig

Corollaries of the Solution

22

Summaries of Results

29

II.

The

THE ESSENTIAL DOCTRINE OF BABYLONIAN Belief in Resurrection

Details

31 s.^

Origin of the Doctrine of Resurrection

Wedding

RELIGION.

Festivals of the

The Resurrection

Gods

of Christ

38 42 49

I.

THE BABYLONIAN PANTHEON.

THE GENEALOGIES OF ISHTAR AND NUSKU AND THEIR DIFFICULTIES.

TT

admitted by every one who has studied the religion of the If Babylonians, that it is from the first to the last polytheistic. is

--

we were

to take the trouble of counting together the Babylonian

divinities occurring in the inscriptions "lists of gods,"

we would

This state of

gods.

and especially

get nearly as

affairs is

many

indeed annoying for one

understand such a "theological system." ever,

still

in the several

as 500-1000 different

The

who

difficulty

more increased, not only by the various

tries to

is,

how-

identifications of

one god with another, but especially by the so-called different genealogies oi one and the same divinity. Take, e. g., the goddess ishtar! She appears in one inscription as the daughter of the moon-god, Sin

1 ;

in another as that of the

god

Anu,"^ in a third as a child of

shar or Ashshur,^ in a fourth as that of Bel,* in a

fifth

An-

as a child of

Nin-ib,^ thus being considered not only as a daughter of Bel, but also ^i^"

Ishtar (SUCH) mdrat (dumu-sal)

schriftliche Btbliothek "^illik

her father. ^

(=K.

B.)

VI^

<'^

Sin (ESH), Ishtar's descent, Keilin-

p. 80, 2 et fassijri.

=

mcirat Ani?n afia fdn Bel abtska the daughter of IV. R. 65, col. II. 32; Jensen, Kosmologie, p. 273.

Anshar

(;=

Pi.sh^\\\xx)

.

.

.

.ba-nu-i'i

iMniP^ mtt-al-lid

^^"

Anu went

B61

Tsh-tar=: Knshar, the

creator of the gods, the begetter of Ishtar. Craig, Religious Texts, Vol. ^

to

I.

p. 32, 16.

See note 2 above.

is known under the name E-gl-a, which means, according to K. T. p. 214, i\=^kal-la-a-tu="\>':\6.e" i,-gt-a dumu-sag dingir IB-A\ Reisner, Hymnen, pp. 132, 44: 79, 14; 56, 10; IV. R. 21, No. 2, Rev. 54; Craig, R. T., I. p. 20, 28 is therefore translated by kal-lat mar-turn resh-ti-tum sha ii" Nin-\ib'\, i. e., " the bride, the principal daughter of Ninib," Reisner, loc. '^

As such she

Haupt,

S. A.

:

cit.,

p. 65, 13.

This

latter passage proves also dingir /B-

A

is

=^'^" N^in-ib,

who

THE CHRIST OF ANCIENT TIMES.

BEL,

2

as a daughter of the first-born of Bel, for Ninib himself

a son of

is

Furthermore, the divinity
of

Eshnunna, and husband

=An-tum,

also

again

is

is

who

the "thunderbolt carrier of iVin-Girsu,"' or of the J^-kur.^

Yes, Ishtar has

better

is

common name for "goddess," and " Ishtarate" form goddesses.9 Not very

become even

have a plural

suffered to

much

Ishtar

his wife.

of dingir j^iun-sun,

the wife of Anu,^ and as such ^^i^' Nin-shar,^

a

=

with god nusku

it

In one and the

(PA+KU).

"The one

begotten by Anu," the "firstborn of Enlil," the "sprout of the ocean," the "creature of

same sentence, he

is

called:

the lord of heaven and earth. ^<>

"son

In another inscription he appears as the

who

great one,

Nannar

like

moon-god).

(the

.

.

of

E-kur," the

.busies himself with

changes again with /.ff is called \h% gash-ru bu-kiir 'i" Bel (''^"gi'-BE),

26, col. III. 48, 49,

" the i. e., mighty, not only borne by (a) Ishtar but also by {b) ''" A-a, the e-gi-a rabttii, V. R. 65, 196, who as such is identified not only with the Ishtar Annunit of Sippar, the wife of Shamash, the sun-god: V. R. 61, 5*; 406; 65, 35a, etc., but even with Shamash himself: II. R. 57, 15a; ihe first-born of Bel."

The

title

"

kalldtu,

"

is

bride,

IV. R. 59, 41^; Zimmern, Shurfu, II. 157 {c) by Tashmetum, the wife of Nabu kalla-tum rabt-tiim, "the great bride." Here Tashmetum is mentioned in close :

;

connection with

while in

metum rat

''"

1.

197

*'"

it is

= Nana!

N^a-na-a, who in loc. cit. 1. 156 is directly coupled with Nabfl, Tashmetum again who is mentioned with Nabvi. Hence Tash-

(«f)

Tsarfianitnm

En-bi-ln-lu ka-lat

^'"

^^^

:

Tsar-fa-ni-tum be-el-tum rabt-tum chi-

Xu-\giTn-7,int\,

the great mistress, the wife of

e.,

i.

Enbilulu (=; Marduk, see Reisner, Hymne7i, pp. 53, 19; 46, 10: umun '^'''sr''- Enhi-lii-lu dumu-sag <'*''£''' En-ki-ge cf. also Reisner, loc. eft., 138, 118), the kallat of Nugimmut, Craig, R. T., I. p. 31, 22, cf. 1. 16. ;

S^e preceding note. MI' R. 576, Rev. 35:

*See

'

am-ku-ti,

i.

e., '^^"S'''

'''"^''>("-"A-^A")5'6^C//

SUCH, when pronounced

pouring out," or better of

= ditto

(i.

Tishchu,

is

e.,

«'«

p.

i,

note

i.

.A7«-/*) slia 7-a-

the god Ninib of "the

'the washing, cleansing, himself" (Jensen, K. B. VI*

P- 365)-

*See

my

^

Hence

^

See

*

forthcoming article on Jahveh.

his daughter aw(f his wife

my

Reisner,

Creatio?i Story,

Hymnen,

(

= C.

pp. 137, 44

;

134, col.

'See Delitzsch, Handivdrterhuch

may

signify almost

^11. R. 54,

!

S.) p. 44, note

,

p.

I.

154a.

i,

and

No.

3,

1.

19.

p. 46.

31.

This

is

the reason

why

Ishtar

any goddess. Ntisku shurbn ilidti ii^AlnitJi] tamshil abi biikur ^'"Bel (= Enh'l) tarbtt apst btjiilt ''"En-a7i-ki IV. R-. 49 [56], 156, ff. See Jensen, Kosmologie, p 273. ^'^

:

BEL,

command

the

a third he

is

who guardeth

of the "Enlilship,"

3

the mystery. ^

In

called the ''son of the thirtieth

In a fourth he Dur-an-ki.'"'^

THE CHRIST OF ANCIENT TIMES.

day of the month.^ "the the one begotten by designated great one,

is

He

is

identified not only with Nergal,* the

nether world, whose

of

"day

god of the death" was celebrated on the twenty-

5 eighth of a month, but also with dingirBIL-GI, resp. di„£irQiSH-

BAR,

etc., etc.

Provoking as such genealogies might seem at the first glance, we will have to admit, that they had, yes, must have had and have a reason. If, therefore, we want to bring light into this

yet, still

chaos,

we cannot do

building up,

it

by ridiculing" these genealogies, nor by own and then try to fit and

a theory of our

first of all,

we always and under circumstances must maintain the accuracy of these "contradic-

force the different gods into our theory,^ but all

tory" genealogies and explain them by other passages of the Cunei-

form Literature, which may help us

to the right

understanding of

U

J/(?r {dumu-iisli) E-kur shur-hu-u sha ki ma 'i" R U- h'F-ri {= Nannar-ri!) .miit-tab-Ml pa-7-a-ats ^i" EN'-L/L-ti-ti >ia-ls/r ^i-J[ls-ti^^. Craig, Religious Texts, I p. 35, obv. 7, 8. Zimmern, Keilinsdiriften uud das Alte Testament '

.

.

.

,

A. T.^), p. 416, note 3, wants to find in this inscription the statement that Nusku is also the son of Sin The reading alidishii, which he finds in the Rev. 1. 6 f., is at least according to Craig's copy not justified

(^K.

!

—

2

IV. R2. 23, 3

—

^K. 3285, Bezold, Catalogue, *

See Cosscean Vocabida7-y

^IV. R. 33, 33.

!

f.

From

p.

520: '^"PA-\-A''U shur-bu-ii i-lid-ti Dur-an-ki.

.

these latter three references Jensen (K. B. VI'. pp. 413

=

and 466) concludes that Nusku Nergal, the former being the Neum,07idsichel, the latter the abnehm.ender Mond, a conclusion which I am willing to accept with the following reserve: Nusku Nergal is=:SIN or Nin-Girsu. As NinGirsu was the chief messenger of Enlil, so '''"s^'' Nusku lugh-magh '''"si'-En-lil-lal " the exalted ambassador of Enlil," originally Nin-Girsu, (E. B. H. 223, 3), i. e., became, when Sin was made the highest god of the Babylonian pantheon, thus be-

—

=

=

And as ing identified with Enlil (Creation Story, p. 50), his (Sin's) messenger. the mn^ T)N7)0 was identified with ."nn", so was Nin-Girsu with Enlil, and Nusku

—

hence Nusku's worship in the temple of the moon-god at or Nergal with Sin, Harran, Inscript. of Nabu-na'id, K. B. Ill-', p. loi, col. II. 18, 42. But the mesHence Nusku or Nergal, the messenger of Sin. senger of a god is always his son had to become also his (Sins) son. The son of Sin (or ZU) is Shamash (or UD), !

thus

it

happened that Nergal (^ Nusku) was said

{Zeitschrift fiir Assyj-iologie, VI. p. 241) "

52

£f.

=

be Shamash, see Sp. I. 131 Zimmern, K. A. T-''. p. 388.

to ;

As Jensen, K. B. VI'. 319, 320 A'osm. 273 does it. is done by Barton, Sketch of Semitic Origins. ;

'

1.

As

BEL,

4

THE CHRIST OF ANCIENT TIMES. If in

the nature of the god in question. gation

we

also will

course of such an investi-

understand his nature and his essence correctly, and must be able to account for his genealog)', even if

we come

to

were the most contradictory. That so many different genealogies of one and the same god do exist in the religious doctrines of the Babylonians, is, no doubt, it

due

to the various

tion.

since tility,

elements to be found

Babylonian popula-

The little valley between the Tigris and the Euphrates was the "dawn of history" the land which, on account of its feralmost

all

the nations of the ancient world tried to possess

and actually did possess. valley

in the

we

find

In the inscriptions discovered in this

mentioned, besides the specific Semitic-Babylonian,

also Persian, Aramaean, Arabic, Hittite, Elamitic, Cossaean,

Cana-

and Sumerian gods. A religion of the Babylonians must, be primarily a history of their religion and if the investigator ignores such a historic development, his results must be pronounced, from the very first, a failure. anitish,

therefore,

;

THREE EPOCHS OF BABYLONIAN RELIGION. It is

not

my

intention to give such a history of the Babylonian

— the material so far accessible to scholars would prereligion here vent me from doing this — but want to show by a few examples I

that

we

are

able to bring

still

some

light into the chaos,

if

we study

the religion historically.

To put it briefly, we may say that the nians may be divided into three epochs

religion of the Babylo-

:

I.

The Sumerian, embodying the oldest so-called "Semitic"

Babylonian religious elements. What these latter are or were, we cannot tell as yet. It would seem, however, that the oldest Semitic religious ideas, as expressed in the inscriptions, tials

and particulars the same as those

of the

were

in all essen-

Sumerians,

i.

e.,

the

so-called Semitic-Babylonians

seem to have adopted the Sumerian " pantheon "in toto without any perceptable admixture of their own. II. The Canaanitish This began at about 3000 B. C.^ epoch. '

Shortly before the "kings of

Ur and

of the four quarters of the world." The between the " Nifpurian Enlil or

inscriptions of these kings distinguish very often

Bel" and another,

i.

e.,

probably Marduk or possibly Dagan.

THE CHRIST OF ANCIENT TIMES.

BEL,

when

the Canaanites invaded Babylonia.

rabi, at

lonia.

5

At the time

of

Hammu-

about 2200 B. C, they are masters of the whole of BabyTheir own specific god has become the god Kar i^oxqv.

These Canaanites made Babylon their capital. Their god became thus the city-god of Babylon, and when, in course of time the whole of

Babylonia had been subjugated, the city-god of Babylon became

the

"god

of

We

Babylonia."

may

call, therefore, this

epoch, also

the Babylonian epoch. III.

The

During this time we find nearly all the not only of the Sumerian but also of the Babylonian

Assyrian.

characteristics,

period, with this exception, however, that the specific

Assyrians

is

of the

god

put at the head of the pantheon and worshipped

in the

royal capital of the Assyrian kings.

The god of the ud or Marduk, that time Ashshur.

this

epoch was

first

As Marduk displaced

Such a

place Marduk.

Eniil, that of the

of the third An-shar,

'^'^

displacing,''^

second Amar-

which name was read Enlil, so did

Anshar

dis-

however, was only one

name

at

in

new

victori-

ous god was substituted for that of the old conquered god.

Thus

^'navie,'"'^

it

not in essence,

e.,

simply the

of the

that the attributes, genealogy, court, servants, etc.

happened

etc., of

i.

,

the conquered god were added to those of the victorious

god, to whose glory, power, and honor they were thought to con-

Thus we get the strange phenomenon, that one and the same god may have two genealogies, two different kinds of In a historic investigation, such a phenomenon will servants, etc.

tribute greatly.

always have to be kept in mind, and the question will have to be

What genealogy belongs to the god originally, and what was transferred to him? That such questions can be answered only by taking into consideration the historic development of

asked and answered

:

the Babylonian religion,

is,

on, the attempt was made originally very different

ing or identification

was made 1

See also

to

was

of course, self-evident.

As times went

harmonise or better identify such two genealogies. The result of such harmonisto

that, e. g., the father of the

conquered god be the same as the father of the victorious, at that

my

remarks with regard

to the

into that of Jahveh, Creatioji- Story, p. 58.

change of the name of El-shaddai

6

THE CHRIST OF ANCIENT TIMES.

BEL,

The outcome of such an attempt time reigning, god, and so on. was finally not merely henotheism but an almost pure monotheism. IDENTIFICATION OF ENLIL, Not

MARDUK AND ANSHAR (ASHSHUR)

were the attributes

only, however,

Sumerian Enlil

of the

Marduk resp. Anshar or Ashshur, but even the very name "EnHl" became a title of these latter gods a title, which, transferred to

—

generally transcribed and read bel, i. e., "lord," but which still the betrays to us the fact that Marduk^ as well as Anshar played is

role of Enlil,

their

nay, were in

respective

all

particulars

— genealogies identified

— even

with regard to

with him.

In a

hymn,

written at the time of Ashshur-ban-apal, King of Assyria, Ashshur is

addressed as follows

'^ :

"

The great one, the hero of the gods, the omniscient, " The esteemed one, the glorious one, the £n-/i7-ia/ oi the gods, he

1.

2.

4.

who determines the fates, " An-shar Ashshur), the great lord, the omniscient, " The esteemed one, the glorious one, the En-lil-lal of the gods, he

5.

"[

3.

(

=

who determines ]

the fates

An-shar, the powerful one, the hero of the gods, the lord of the lands.

In the very same

abode

He

"the creator

is

is

'C. S.

i.

ANNA,

of

"the house

e..

shiir-bu-h e-til

2.

kab-tii shiilu-qu

3.

An-shar

4.

kab-tu shu-tu-qu

the builder of the for-

of the gods, the

ilihii'""'' ''«

mn-du-u ka-la-ma

EN-LIL-LAL

belu shur-bu-ti mu-du-fi

'[-hi

''"

ildni'""''

mii-shim sJii-nia-a-ti

ka-la-mn

EN-LIL-LAL

7l^

An-shar dan-dan-7iu

mu-shim shi-ma-a-ti ma-ta-a-ti.

e-til ihhii'""'' be-el

Craig, Rel. Texts.,

^\ihi d\-shib E-char-sag-gal-kur-kur-ra, Craig, loc. *

a^-shib E-shar-ra

\ilu 5

\ilii\

1.15.

For

^

[//«]

of the

p. 69.

I.

[

the " house of the great

e., in

one who begot Ishtar."^ His glorified by Anu, Enlil, Ea, Belit-ili, the Igigi, and the

ests,"^ "the creator

lordship

i.

of the lands, or in the ^-shar-ra,

totality."*

5.

further learti, that Ashshur has his

in 6,-char-sag-gal-kur-kur-ra,^

mounain

-

hymn we

"

ba-nu-n shunt

AN-NA

An-shar mu-shim

AN-^N^A

[!)

cit.,

shtm.&ti'"<^^>^

.

1.

I.

p. 32, 1-5.

8.

Craig,

fa-ti-qu chur-sha-a-ni.

loc. cit.,

Craig,

see below!

ba mc-u ildni {^'^f' m7i-al-lid ^i" Ish-tar.

Craig,

loc. cit.,

1.

1.

10.

loc. cit.,

16.

THE CHRIST OF ANCIENT TIMES.

BEL,

Anunnaki

in the

bling hand."^

"To

i.

the place or room of the assem-

e.,

Similar are Anshar's

where we read

rib (?), 1.

Ubshugina,

7

titles in

a prayer of Sinache-

i^

Ashshur, the king of the totality of the gods, to him

who

begot himself,^

the father of the gods, 2.

Who

3.

The

4. 5.

prosper by his hand in the abyss.* the king of heaven lord of

all

and

ea7-th,

him who begot* the Igigi and the Anunnaki, Anu and the " great place," who made all men,*

the gods, to

Who built the heaven of Who inhabiteth the bright

heavens, the Etihl of the gods,

who determines

the

fates, 6.

Who

dwelleth in fe-shar-ra, which

Not

satisfied

with

Anshar be equal was quite natural If

this,

in

Ashshur, the great lord, his lord."

the Assyrians went

to Enlil,

them

for

is

still

a step

farther.

be indeed identical with him, then, it that they should consider Ninlil, the Smacherib, when praying

wife of Enlil, to be also Anshar's wife.

to Anshar, includes in his supplication also an address to the wife

whom

of Anshar,

he calls

:

"Nin-lil, queen of 6-shar-ra, wife of Anshar,

who

created the

great gods."^

These passages in all respects the '

\i'".4^-mi

Anshar

will suffice to

same

'^"EN-LIL

as Enlil,

^'^'E-a

''"

Be

prove that Anshar or Ashshur is whose name he even received.

li'tilf

mesh

ina Ub-shu-ka(.')-?ta-ki il-ta-a'-i-du

n H'i^Tgigi u

belli

i'".l>!i(nnaki"\

{= en)-its-si<.

Craig, loc.

shd cit.,

p. 34, 6, 7. ^

I.

Anshar shar

a-na

kish-shat

ilihii"'"''

ba-nu-u ra)n-nishu ab{=ad)

ildni'""''.

shd ina afsi ish-mu-chu qat-tu-ush shar shame' u irtsitiinti\"'\ bel ildni"'"'' ka-la-ma sha-pi-ik '^"/g/gi {= V-\-Il.) u ''"A-nini-na-lki]. 4 fa-ti-iq sa-mi '''•A-)iim u ki-gal-li e-pish kid-lat da-ad-mc 2.

3.

5.

6.

^

ashib bu-rii-mu cllMi""^^'' ''"EN- LIL ildni""^'' Tnushim shimdti "'">'. ashib Ashar-ra sha ki-rib Ashshur = BAL-BA T)^' heli rabi beli-shu.

Ashur

*I. e. ""

'

(

.

is

"

= rdchtl.

richM ''"Anim,

i.

e.,

The Igigi and the Anunnaki are repeatedly " seed of Anu. For this sig"the outpouring

Or human

=

Craig,

ff.

513.

habitations.

lituNIN-LIL shar-rat Ashar-ra chi-rat mcsii^

1-6.

here without father and mother, the self-existing god.

nification of 7-acha see Jensen, K. B. VI'. pp. 365 •>

loc. at., I., p. 83,

the Anunnaki.

Lit.= " poured out

called the

— Craig,

J^el.

Texts,

I., p.

77, 10.

Anshar

ba-nit ildni'""''

rabflti

8

BEL,

THE CHRIST OF ANCIENT TIMES.

"the father and god of the gods,"i the "king of the and earth," the "creator of all mangods," "the king of heaven "We may make thereNin-lil.^ wife kind ";2 both have the same

Both

are

:

fore the equation

:

= Enlil = Ashshur Ninlil = Belit = Ishtar.

Anshar

Anshar has his abode

in 6-char-sag-gal-kur-kur-ra or in ;^-shar-

ra; Ninlil, his wife, dwells in 6-shar-ra

dwells in ;6-kur. his wife,

it

If

Anshar and

would follow that

temples, which here, as in

— quantity are

cosmic

nite

all

;

Enlil of the

Sumerians

be the same as Enlil and

his wife

their respective habitations

— their

other cases, stand for a certain defi-

also

the same,

6-char-sag-gal-kur-kur-ra or li-shar-ra be

i.

e.,

that the cosmic

= the cosmic ^6-kur.

6-kur, "the mountain-house," be the realm of Enlil, and

if

If

En-

=

6-shar-ra== be the king of "heaven and earth," then 6-kur be "heaven and earth" must too !* 6-char-sag-gal-kur-kur-ra

lil

=

-

SOLUTION OF THE DIFFICULTY.

When making would seem

to

the equation Anshar (Ashshur)

.=:

Enlil,

we

be in straight contradiction not only to Damascius,

but also to the Babylonian Creation Epic.

of

Damascius^ informs us that Tauthe (=Tiamat), the mother the gods, and Apason (= Apsu) begot i. Moiimis (=Mummu);

Lache (=Lachamu) and Lachos (=Lachmu); and 3. Kissare (=Kishar) and Assoros {j= Anshar). By the latter two were born

2.

Anos (=Anu),

(=; Enlil), and Aos (==Ea).

Illinos

Damascius's

authority for this statement is generally

supposed to be the first Babylonian Creation Epic, from which we learn, that Tiamat and Apsu, "when their waters in one joined themselves totablet of the

'Thus the ab-ba dingir dingir-ru-ne ought 2

to

in E.

B. H.

p. 97,

and

C

S. p. 19, 9,

be translated.

For these attributes

in connection with Enlil see

my

Creation Story,

p. 19

f.

=

^

Just as Enlil became a title, viz., &^/=lord, so Ninlil became at this time belit mistress an attribute borne chiefly by Ishtar, who therefore appears in

=

—

most cases as the wife of Ashshur. ^

This against Jensen, Kosm.,

that E-kur, etc., be

= earth

^Zimmern, K. A. T.^

p.

194; K. B.

VP.

pp. 50, 41

!

p.

490; Carus, Moyiist, XL,

p. 405.

;

369,

who

thinks

THE CHRIST OF ANCIENT TIMES.

BEL,

Lach-mu and La-cha-mu, and

together," brought forth

A

and Ki-shar.

also (?) An-shar

we

compare these two accounts

Nugimmut (=Ea).

find, that Moiimis

If

(=Mummu^)

which

is

Mummu

appears as a

messenger

into a conspiracy against the newly-created gods,

Ea

"action" disturbed him. it

this

(!)* of Apsu,

Mummu

together with his wife, Tiamat, and

latter,

is

beginning of the Babylonian Creation introduced quite abruptly and seems to have

been a "son of Apsu."^ In the newly-discovered fragments of very same Epic^

we

in the

all

Later on he

Epic.

on

later

long time after these latter two

there were born also Anu, Enlil, and

not mentioned at

g

enters

who had by

their

hears of this conspiracy and puts

—

—

an end to Apsu and Mummu. But how could Damascius possibly put Mummu before Lachmu

would seem

^

and Lachamu, seeing that the

first

tablet of the Creation

Epic can-

not have been in this respect his authority?

In order to explain this

more of the

fully

we

have

shall

to consider

Damascius's statement as well as that

Babylonian Creation Epic. A.

The Babylonian

Mummu

We

somewhat

of the first tablet

begin with

:

MUMMU. was

correctly recognised to be the

—

an attribute not only of prototype of the Greek Mwu/At? (Moiimis) Tiamat,^ but also of god Ea.'' The god Ea is the Sumerian En-KI, '

Mummu

appears there only as an attribute of Tiamat, K. B. VI^

p. 2, 4.

^K. B. VI'. p. 4, 17. According to Damascius, however, he is undoubtedly a son of Apsu and Tiamat ff uv fiovoyevij (!) walSa yevvTj&tjvaL tov Muv/xlv. K. A. T.^ :

p.

490. ^

Notice the novoyevfj

(!)

=only

begotten

!

King, The Seven Tablets of Creation, Vols.

*I. e., the son

Cf. Nin-Girsu

I

and

Enlil,

I.

and

Nusku

II.

or Nergal and Sin, etc.

new facts, brought out by Mr. King's book, we would two "fights" in the Creation Epic: (i) That of Ea against Apsu and Mummu. (2) That of Marduk against Tiamat. The result of both these " is the same fights Apsu and Mummu as well as Tiamat are done away with, are conquered and killed. And because Apsu and Mummu were killed by Ea be^

have

According

to these

to distinguish

'

:

fore

Marduk entered

who

the field of battle,

we may

see in this the reason

why

Qingu,

takes the place of Apsu, plays such a significant role in the Epic, and is not mentioned at all in the first tablet.

why

Mummu ^

K. B. VI^

p. 2,

4

;

Cams,

loc. cit., p.

409

:

mu-ian-nin ti-aniat niu-al-li-da-

at gi-im-ri-shzc-un. ^

Merodach-Baladan-stone {Beitrage zur Assyriologie,

II

p. 261), col. III. 5:

lO

i.

THE CHRIST OF ANCIENT TIMES.

BEL,

"Mr."i KI, and

e.,

On

another place^

I

as such the

of the terrestrial ocean."

"god

have shown that "Mr." KI was a brother of

AN, "the heavenly ocean." Mr. KI's mother is said to have been dingirQiTR^,\\^Q primeval ocean or Tiamat hence, if dingirQUR be ;

Mr. KI, she also must have been the mother of Mr. AN. At the time when I wrote my Creation-Story, I was not aware of the fact that there was to be found in the cuneiform hterature the mother

of

While studying Jen-

an excellent corroboration of this statement. sen's Kosmologie

sages' in

I

found that he already had mentioned two pasis called the <^f'"si^dm-u-tu-AN-KI, which

which dinsirQur

by "the mother that brings "the mother that brings as and does, not, KI," Jensen forth heaven and earth," for if dingirQUR be the mother of Mr. KI,

name can be

translated, however, oialy

forth AN and

and

if

Mr. KI be "the

terrestrial

ocean,"

it

follows, that "

KI in the KI means

And if name d'"f:'^dm-u-tu-AN-KI c^xiwoX. mean "earth. "the terrestrial ocean," then AN must mean "the heavenly ocean," who is a brother (achu) and as such opposed to (an achu) the terThis name also proves that according to the Sumerrestrial one. is based, the world was not ian conception, upon which Genesis created but generated, that we have to see indeed in Genesis i. a i.

mibin (Toledoth), a

'^'^

heaven and

generation^'' of

earth, a cosmogony,

which cosmogony in Sumerian is at the same time a theogony Mr. KI or Ea, the god of the terrestrial ocean, was considered !

to

be the father not only of the

"produce

of the earth,"*

— he,

ocean,^ that builds, creates, .) mu-ufti-mu ('^"E-a. Hel. 7 exts, I. p. 31, 23) .

*

.

"Mr." = <'M

band and

is

' '

produce of the therefore,

produces

ba-an ka-la.

everything

Marduk, the son

—mdr mu-um-me,

i.

e.,

of Ea,

the son of

" lord " for

is

mmnmu

or

{ka-la').^

called (Craig,

mumme.

used here in opposition^ to "Mrs.'' = w/«,

The

but also of the

called the

is

{ba-an~)

"

sea,

i.

e.,

en

is

the hus-

and "mistress"

for nin In other does not give in this particular case the correct and iyitended meaning. words en = lord is the sensus liiterer, while en = Mr. is the sensus litteralis.

the wife.

ni7i is

translation

eyi

:

2

Creation- Story, p. 33

MI. R.

54,

No.

3,

^Creation-Story,

£f.

p. 37;

"Sic!.

Against, Jensen, Handiiuu-trrbuch, p. 4156. Marduk m,dr apst. ®

See above,

p. 9,

;

Monist, XII.

18; III. R. No.

note

7.

I,

Monist, XII.

p. 600.

25-26. p. 604.

K. B. VI'. p. 303: "Form." See also Delitzsch, Marduk, the mdr mu-um-me is therefore the same as

BEL,

H

THE CHRIST OF ANCIENT TIMES.

Damascius, when explaining the name Moiimis, calls him a " "^ vor)T6<: Kocr/xos, which is generally translated by intelligible world.

The word

"cosmos"

for

Mummu = ocean

Sumerian

in

is

must have consisted

AN-KI. Hence Moiimis

of an

something that is "above" and "below." ocean that was " above and below" but

—

but only in mind

facf, in reality,

(voiyros

AN

and a KI.,

i.

e.,

= of

Moiimis, then, was the this

he was not as yet

Hence

!).

mis must have been the "heavenly and the

in

Mummu = Moii-

terrestrial

ocean" be-

fore the actual separation or better differentiation took place,

i.

e.

,

before he was considered by the Babylonians as consisting of two brothers {achu), who at the same time were opposed to each other

Furthermore, Damascius

{achu)^ TratSa,"

the only begotten son of

Moiimis be a

Moiimis the

calls

Apason and Tauthe

!

"/xovoy£/>ti7(!) If,

therefore,

an ocean consisting "in mind" of an and a KI, of an "upper and lower" part, and if dingirQjjJi be

AN

vorjTb?

K6a-fjio<;,

"the mother that brought forth the upper (a«) and the lower {ki^ ocean," and if the upper part became god AN and the lower part god KI, then Moiimis must be the common name for god AN and

god KI before they had been differentiated. god KI were before their differentiation

—

This god

— "the

Apsia and Tiamat, hence

Apason be born

if

Damascius

An and

this

only begotten'* oi

says,^ that out of

Tauthe and

"

also another generation, viz. Lache and Lachos, he contradicts himself! This contradictory statement of Damascius, has led, it is strange to notice, nearly all translators, even Profes' '

,

sor Jensen, to translate lines g-io of the

(When Apsu and Tiamat

follows:

together) 9

"da wurden

first

tablet of the

their waters in

die Gotter gebildet

Epic as one had joined

[

], 10,

da ent-

Lachmu und Lachamu."* Having recognised the we have to separate line " line from a and Trans10 g by begin a new sentence "period late When .... then the gods were created. Lachmu and Lachstanden

[zuerst']

contradiction in Damascius's statement,

!

' '

:

'

Zimmern, K. A.

T^. p. 490; Carus, Moyiist, XI. p. 406!.

-See Creation-Story, pp. "

K. A. T^.

Kaxvv

d-dv, *

Kal

p.

490

:

m

6e

34,

64; Monist, XII.

tuv avribv

Aojov.

Jensen, K. B. VI'

pp.

2, 9,

10.

(i.

e.,

p. 601.

Tauthe and Apason)

a^XT/v jeveav npoeX-

12

THE CHRIST OF ANCIENT TIMES.

BEL,

amu came

By

into existence, etc."

this translation

doubt with regard to the parents of

we

are

left in

Lachmu and Lachamu, who

otherwise are mentioned quite frequently in the Babylonian CreaWhat else we learn about Lachmu and Lachamu may tion Epic. be classified under the following heads

LACHMU AND LACHAMU.

B.

who

are the parents of An-shar,

They

1.

:

therefore

is

the son of

Lachmu and Lachamu.^ Marduk becomes thus, Lachmu and Lachamu. ^ TiCimat appears as the enemy of Lachmu and Lachamu.^ Lachmu and Lachamu are creators, and those whom they are the parents of Mardiik.

They

2.

togetlier with Anshar, a son of 3.

4.

had created are

be found

to

''"La-cha-mi

5.

is

at the side of

Tiamat.*

one of the eleven helpers of and created by

Tiamat.^ these

Summing up

— between

seems

—

we would have to distinguish following Lachmus and Lachamus

facts

at least the

a.

the parents of Anshar and Marduk, Nos. 1,2.

h.

the enemies of Tiamat and creators, Nos.

c.

and Lachami as one This confusion of

lists

is

3, 4.

of the eleven helpers of if

increased,

gods,^ where

i^^^Lach-ma

we

it

:

Tiamat.

take into consideration two

and ^'"La-cha-ma form one pair

" The Go, Gaga, present thyself to them," 12. " gave thee, make known unto them 13. "An-shar, your (i. e., L. and L.'s) son hath sent me." Conf. loc. cit., p. 16, 67; Carus, Monist, loc. cit p. 414, where it is recorded that Gaga did go to L. and L., and, when he appeared before them, said unto them: "An-shar ma-rti-ku-7iu u-ma- i-ir-an-ni,'' " i. e., "Anshar, See, however, below sub C. i. your son hath sent me

H<.B.VI'.p.i2,

command which

l.iiff.

ir.

:

"

I

:

,

^K. B. VI'.

Anshar dispatches his mesCarus, loc. cit., p. 414. p. 14, 55 Gaga to inform L. and L. that Anu and Nugimmut had been sent out already by him (i. e., Anshar) against Tiamat but with no result. "Whereupon ;

senger I

(i.

e.,

—

Anshar)

commanded Marduk,

the wise one

among

the gods,

your son

go against Tiamat)." ^

K. B.

VP.

•K. B. VI'. '^K

pp. 16, 65; 20, 124, 125; cf. p. 12, p. 4, 4

below;

cf.

pp.

B. VI'. pp. 6, 17 (=Carus,

"11. R. 54,

No.

3,

9,

and

III.

12,

17-1S

;

4,

17, 76.

loc. cil., p. 411);

R. 69, No.

i,

and see below, C.

obv.

18. 89. /.

/.

14, 15.

3.

(to

THE CHRIST OF ANCIENT TIMES.

BEL,

I3

"^ and the "twenty-one who have An-na for their parent where they are identified with n^A-nu-um and An-tiim. In a third list^ appears ^^^Lach-ma even as the ''ii"A-nu of the totality of

among

heaven and earth. "^

The same confusion

ANSHAR AND KISHAR.

C.

The

I.

tablet of the

first

of

after

Anshar as the son of Lachmu and Lachamu.^

on, however, appears

Anshar

1.

Babylonian Creation Epic mentions

Lachmu and Lachamu, as children of Tiamat and Apsu? or of Lachmu and Lachamu?^ Later

Anshar and Kishar

whom?

met with

is

is

Xh^ father of^'"A-ni{u)ni.^

Anshar' sends out Anu and Nugimmut against Tiamat after of her rebellion by Ea.^ Anshar appears

3.

he had been informed

here evidently as the chief opponent, chief enemy of Tiamat.^

having overcome Tiamat, put into prison her helpers, taken the tablets of fate from Qingu, had, by doing all this, after

Marduk,

4.

"completely established Anshar's supremacy over the enemy. "^^

Marduk apparently

here the chufnpion of Anshar, the

is

enemy

of

Tiamat."

^

^

sha kish-shat AN-KI,

see, besides the places

Rev.

2

See below.

I

see below

For

still

quoted by Jensen, Kosm.,

i^"

Lach[=.^ss^\)-mji, Craig, Shurpu, VIII. 19; ^'"La-ach-mu. *

!

:

See K. B. VI'.

loc. cit.,

\\

j^

^^^ j^jg

^

j

other occurrences of ''"Lachmu

Craig R. T. I. p. 8, ''"Lach-me Zimmern,

p. 275, also

p. 30, 37:

;

Carus, loc. cit., p. 410. p. 2, 12 According to this passage, are left in doubt as to the parents of Anshar and Kishar According to Damascius, however, (see K. A. T^. p. 490 elra av rpi-njv ck tuv avruv i.e., Tauthe then,

;

we

!

:

'

and Apason,

Kicaap?/ koI Aaaupnv)

,

were Anshar and Kishar, the sons of Tiamat and

be true, then Damascius would contradict himself here again, for he Apsu. Moumis was the " only begotten " son of Tauthe expressly told us that Mummu If this

=

and Apason ^K. B. YV. pp. 12, 13 (= Carus, loc. cit., p. 413) 16, 68 (=: Carus, loc. cit., See already above, sub B. i. Also these passages show quite clearly p. 414). !

;

;

that Damascius's statement cannot be true.

«K. B. Vr.p. '

Cf above, .

i^K. B.

Vr.

"See No.

3

10, 1,8, 10, 12.

B

3,

14,

53,54.

where Lachmu and Lachamu are opposed

p. 28, 125

and

"K. B. VP.p.

cf.

;

Carus,

B., No.

3.

loc. cit., 418.

«

King, Tablet

to

Tiamat.

II.

THE CHRIST OF ANCIENT TIMES.

BEL,

14

Anshar and Kishar are likewise

5.

"twenty-one who have An-na

=

either

tablet of the

the builder of ^-shar-ra

is

Babylonian Creation Epic

An-shar

7.

totality of

earth. "^

An-shar

6.

and An-tum, or =z'ittAn-num "of the

'"'"/^ -««-«/«

heaven and

be found among the and as such again

to

for their parent,"

is,

as

we have seen

writing of the chief-god of the

according to the fourth

;2

Marduk who

it is

above, the

Assyrians

common

builds

it.^

ideographic

Ashshur.

:

CORROBORATIONS. This confusion throws a striking light upon the literary char-

Taking the above-given

acter of the Babylonian Creation Epic. peculiarities into account,

we would have

source being represented by one time or another was the opponent

following different sources

own

who

specific god,

Tiamat

— each

to distinguish at least the

at

its

of

:

1.

Lachmu (and Lachamu)

2.

Anshar

3.

Marduk

4.

Ashshur, whose name

C. 3,

:

B.

:

3.

4.

we have

the whole of the Creation Epic as

:

it

now.

only the Assyrian equivalent of the

is

Sumerian Anshar.

From

this

I.

would

it

also follow, that these four gods were the

— at least "essence," not in name = Lachmu* (and Lachamu), because both appear Anshar

same

in

if

:

is

R. 54, No.

1

II,

^

K. 3445

3,

4-Rm.

6

;

III.

R. 69, No.

396, published

in

i,

obv.

Cuneiform

Delitzsch, Weltschoffungsefos, No. 20, p. 51 *

After the lord

He

erected

'

(i.

e.,

8,

9

;

II.

R. 54, No.

Texts, XIII. 24

4, 4.

See also

f.

£f.

Marduk) had measured the form

a great house" {csh-gal-la)Y\V& unto

it

(?) ;

of the ocean

(i.

unto the

e., like

ocean), viz., £-shar-ra,

'The great house,'

E-shar-ra, which he had built as a

viz.,

(or

:

to

be

a)

sha-rna-7nu

He

caused ^^"A-num,

^^^Eji-lil,

and ^^"Aa

K. B. VI'.

p. 30,

to inhabit as their city."

144-146 (Carus,

loc. cit., p. 419).

*

Just as Nin-Girsu, the son of Enlil, was identified with his father, of. among other arguments also the name 6-ninnfl-''''"*'"' Im-gig-ghu-bar-bar (ninnu = Enlil!), :

and as the 'angel of the Lord" with the "Lord," so was Anshar, the son of L. and L. (B. i), with Lachmu, and '''*A-m(u)m, the son of Anshar, with Anshar (C. 2.).

BEL,

THE CHRIST OF ANCIENT TIMES.

15

a.

as the

b.

among

c.

are identified (a) either with 'i"A-fiu-um (and An-tuni), with ii"A-num "of the totality of heaven and earth."

enemy

Tiamat

of

Anshar r= Marduk

II.

C.

B. 3

;

;

who have Anna

for their parent";

or

(/3)

:

both are the sons

a.

C. 3, 4

:

the "twenty-one

Lachmu

of

(and Lachamu)

B.

:

i;

B.

2.;

I.

b.

both are the builders of A-shar-ra

r.

both are the enemies of Tiamat; Anshar C. 3. 4; Marduk the whole Creation Epic in its present literary form.

C.

:

6. :

Anshar

III.

The

= Ashshur

:

C.

;

7.

Ashshur as creator was derived from Anshar, or better: "Ashshur the creator" can also be read "Anshar the creator

"

role of

Marduk

the creator derived his

displaced and whose

name and

have seen, that even Anshar with, if

and even

Anshar be Enlil

Lachmu

= Ashshur was

called, Enlil.

also

then

are

whom

he

Above we

completely identified

Lachmu must

"king" of "heaven and ^='i" A- num "of (the totality

the

is

Enlil,

= Enlil,

therefore Anshar be

If

= Lachmu,

power from

attributes he received.

be

::=

and

Enlil too

!

earth," Anshar as well as of)

heaven and earth"

—

= Anshar = Lachmu, be correct, = ^'^"Anum "of Enlil = Anum (the totality of) heaven and earth,"

hence

our identification, Enlil

if

then Enlil the "king of heaven and earth" musi he i.

e.,

!

This result sheds a new and unexpected light upon the hitherto completely misunderstood^ three lists of gods, mentioned above. completeness and on account of their impormay be permitted to give them here in transcription.

For the sake tance

I

of

LIST

This

list

parent," in three lines,

one out

:

II.

R. 54,

3.

who have Anna

for their

These pairs are husband and wife. The first />atrs. which are separated from the rest, must contain only its

different

names.

This one name

meanings, which

into relation to the following ten pairs. 1

NO.

arranges the "twenty-one

of the twenty-one

cording to

I.

Jensen, A'osm., pp. 192

f.,

272

f.

;

it

is

explained ac-

may have when brought

It

Zimmern, K.

reads A.

T^

:

p. 506.

l5

THE CHRIST OF ANCIENT TIMES

BEL, T

^.V

1

,

2.

AN,

3.

AN-KP

An-tum* =^

e.,^

i.

irtsitim^ ["'«]

iiuA-nu ii[An-tum'\

^^^

''"*'"

11.

4.

III.

5.

An-shar-^aP

IV.

6.

An-shar^^

'

.V«.^(!)2.„„(!)2.[„^]

dingirfCi.shar- [ ^a/ ] '"

The Roman numbers

The Arabic numbers

indicate the "pairs."

give the

lines of the inscription.

^Copy *Sign

= ZI, but wrongly. = Brunnow, List, No.

gives for A-nu

GUR

S^ 239

:

7315.

to avoid a possible misreading sign for god is wanting in order See also note to Anshargal of) Tian.

*The

(=gods ^The common "sign Written KI [

s

7

have

]

If K'I=^iytsitJi to see in this

ildm

of separation," Briinnow, List, No. 7757.

Notice here that

.

:

!

= Antttm = AN,

AN = the first pair

= KI

AN

and

if

!

*'"A-mi-um be also

= ^A\

then

we

!

8 According to II. R. 54, No. 4 (see below!) LB has the gloss fi-ra-ash, and with according to II. R. 57, obv. C. 1. 31, that of ii-ra-dsh, as such he is identical iiuNLN'-lB sha ud-da-zaLli. This latter passage shows that we should read in each :

and every instance the god ''^''i'"-/i9 resp. dingirjSflN-LB ^''"'s^'-Urashx&%^. «''"a'"> Nin-urash. Zimmern, Babylonische Bussfsalmen, p. 50, thinks that urash be a Semitism, it being derived from €;-^s/z/<=r "entscheiden." Not from ereshu-^ " "entscheiden," however, but from crcshu=^ "to irrigate (!), Delitzsch, H. W. B. " to be derived." This holds true not urash has only of the ^'"Lr-resh=i p. 1406, erish in IV. R. 34, 516, and the ^^"Ir-ri-csh ur-sag in Reisner, LLymnen, pp. 86, 8

;

"Eresh

134, 25, 26, but also of the

against Jensen, K. B.

Hence

VP.

'i'"s^''-N'i>i-LB{=

p. 388,

urash)

is

"

in the

name

of the goddess Eresh-ki-gal, "

who

takes eresh here in the sense of "gewaltig " the irrigaalso called <^'"g'''Engar[=^eres]iu)

=

= ikkaru^ef?gar/ Cf. also i^r= ikkaru = ia.rmer (C. S. p. 66, note). This also proves that ^ r ^ '^"'^'''Ni/i-LB (=7irash) which latter, originally d'ng'rjY/n-Gii'su tor," as

such he

is

the god of the " iarmers"

'''''S'''-iVi?i-Girsu

is

'*'"'!''''£?tga

masculine, was identified not only with vuife of <'i»s:i'-LB ! ^


but even with

The sign for " god =«?z is wanting had been written, one might read " di'igir-dingir "

Shar^ CHL^^ kishshatu=^toia.\\\.y.

before this name, because,

if it

'^'"sirN^in-IB, the

translate " the gods of the great totality In order to avoid such " a possible reading and translation, the sign for " god was omitted. Cf. also Antum and An-shar. The name signifies " the great upper totality." '" " The great lower totality" as such opposed to the upper one "

shar-gaV and

:

—

" For this writing instead of means "the upper totality."

=

12

The lower

totality."

^^"S'''

!

An-shar, see sub An-shar-gal.

The name

THE CHRIST OF ANCIENT TIMES.

BEL, V.

7.

VI.

8.

<''"?''

9.

^i^s^^ Lach-ma^

VII.


Du-ur It dingir I

VIII. 10. dingir ^.ku.yf>

a-cha-m [a]

''


A-la-la

IX.

II.

'^i'^sir

X.

12.

'''«'?2''ditto(

13.


<^'"SirNin-uru-ul-la^

14.

^/ en d?n-

a-a An-fia-geC^^^

XI.

1

17

=

Either Mr. Shar

dingirgg.l{_l^iY' .

(

-'-.'a-;,.-

)-'"'"''

= totality)

rf,«£-!>ditto(

= Be-li-li)-alan

or "lord of the totality."

Mrs. Shar, or mistress of the totality. These two names as well as those 13 show, that these /«/;-s are husband and wife 2

1.

in

!

^ Both these names have to be translated by "Eternal (one)"=Hebr. and are as such Semitic names. Cf. also 1. 13. *

Sign lach = L

UCH,

'^^"sir Lach-7mi p. 13, also

^1'^,

so generally. For other writings, see besides note 3 above B. VI'. pp. 2, 10 [12, 4]; 16, 68; 'i'"s:''-Lach-cha, K. ,

K

B. VI'. p. 20, 125, and A.axoQ.

^Also written

La-cha-me

,

'^'"s^''

La-cha-mit K. B. VI'. pp.

2, 10; [12, 4]; 20, 125. (In loc. ciL, p. 18, 89 appears this name

dingir

,

loc cit., p. 16, 68, .

among

What these names mean, is not yet apparthe eleven helpers of Tiamat); Aa,\-7/. ent, but cf. at the present the note of Houtsma, Zeitschrift fiir aUtestamentliche WissenscJiaft, 1902, p. 329 ^

"

The god

of E-kur."

ff.

,

on

C"?., Cln^_

E-kur

is

and

the temple of

'*^i?~"?^. '^'"si'-

Hence

En-lil in Nippur.

dingirE-kur = '^"^S^^ En-lil ! TdingirCd-ra ioT Gor-}-a= Gdl-la=: AssyTiSin Mualh'dtii =" the one who brings For ^
forth." left

added.

*For

this reading see Jensen,

Tammuz, who

Kosm.,

272,

2.

She appears as the

"

'

sister of

'

the paramour (Buhle) {a-chi e-du) as well as " of her youth [cha-mer tsi-ich-ru-\ti-sha\): K. B. VI'. p. 90, 51, 55, 47 Jensen, = Btdala the queen of PAloc. cit., p. 404, thinks it not impossible that Bch'li he " AN, mentioned in II. R. 60, 270 and 266. PA-AN\:Le. takes to be a name for the is

'

'

her only brother

,

netherworld." An identification of Bclili with the Elamitic divinity Belala or Bilala he does not venture to maintain. "

" Lord resp. Mistress of the eternal city."

'"III.

R. 69, No.

I,

obv. 22 has

:

21

e7i

Cf.

1.

8.

dm-a-a A7i-na-ge-7ie.

A77i-a-a

is

trans-

by a-bi 71771-7711 dingir En dTH-a-a
lated in IV. R. 25

27.

28.

f.

:

zi dingir j\/'ifi d77i-a-a dingir Yifi.m.ial-ge gJic-fad 7iish be-el-tia-bi U77i-77ii

sha

ii"d.\iio{

— NIN-LIL)

lu-u ta-7na-a-ta,

i. e., "by Bel resp. Belit the d77i-a-a of Enlil resp. Ninlil mayest thou swear." This shows that dm-a-a may be applied to a male or a female god. Ar7i-a-a lit. the Assyrian translates it by "father-mother" irz.ri?\2.\.eA'\%="

mother-father,"

l8

BEL,

THE CHRIST OF ANCIENT TIMES.

Similar to the preceding LIST

where the names tion of the list

reads I

:

II.

:

is

III.

R.

6g, NO.

—

OBV.,

—

arranged with the excepnot side by side, but one below the other. This

of the single pairs are

second

I,

BEL, X.

18.

'i'"ei'-A\iio{

19. dinsi^diiio

XI. 20.

= A-la-laY-alan = Be-li-li)-alan

ditto ditto

'^'"s^^'-N'in-uru-ul-la

22. 21

(\)

ditto

en dm-a-a

A7i-tia-ge-ne

I

LIST

names

gives us the 1.

[

2.

[

19

ditto

En-uru-ul-la

'ii'^sir

21.

{

THE CHRIST OF ANCIENT TIMES.

of the

III.

II.

:

R. 54,

"husbands"

AN

]

NO.

4,

reads

It

only.

iiuA-nu-um ''"ditto

= A-nu-?im)

(

s/ia

ish-shim ik-

ri-bi^ 3.

'''"ditto

A\7i-sha7--g-al

[

{

= A-7iu-zim)

sJia kj'sJi-shat

AN-KT^ 4.

i'"A-7iu {chi.bif ditto

\^A\n-shar

(

= 5/!a

kish-shat

AN-KI) 5.

6.

Y'"\f:'''En-shar d"'si''Du-uyii

Lach-ma

ilu

ditto

ilu

ditto

ilu

ditto

8.

^'"srirE-knr

ilu

ditto

g.

<^i»^'A-i.a-i.^

ilu

7.

10.

<'i"gi^

'^'"^^'diiiio

(

= A-la-la)-alan

[ditto

ditto

ilu

ditto

11.
ilu

CONTRADICTIONS RECONCILED. Looking over these three

lists

we

have

will

admit that the

to

husbands" as well as the "wives''' are the same "among ihemselves," for they are identified either with Amwi resp. Antuni or *

with

Anum "of

the totality of heavefi

and

A

good starting-point

is,

no doubt,

we succeed

in

ipso facto did

it

If

earth.'''

identifying one husband resp. wife correctly with all.

— we

dinsir_^.kur,

i.

e.,

"the god

This writing shows that we have here also an arrangement according to ^airs in lines 18 and 19 would have to be referred to line 17 an hypothesis which is forbidden by the first list! Cf. List I., lines 11 and 12. '

—or else the "ditto" 2

ii-ra-ash

is

the gloss to IB, giving

^I. e.,

"Anu who hears

^

Anu

I. e.

,

—

of the totality

"

5 chi-bi="\s broken, damaged has been made, was unreadable here

away.

its

pronunciation.

See

See also Jensen, Kosm., of heaven and earth.

prayers."

— shows that the — the sign " utti

"

p. 18, p.

note

2.

194 and note

i.

from which this copy probably having been broken

original

20 of

THE CHRIST OF ANCIENT TIMES.

BEL,

6-kur." 6-kur

is

can be only Enlil. dingirQd-ra must be

The

the temple of Enlil— hence "the god of E-kur" And if dingir^^.krr be dingir Enlil, then his wife

^

dingir Ninlil.

We

are justified in saying

who have Anna

''twenty-one

for their parent'" are

:

nothing

''the more nor less than twenty-one different names (!) of god LIL ^ the son of AN or "heavenly ocean"— of king of heaven and earth;' god LIL considered either

as a whole

a.

earth

"

= AN'^ = LIL = rpn (firmament) = "heaven and

= a« + an or an + ki=^Anum + Antum.

or as consisting of a

h.

male or female,

i.

e., of

husba?id

and

+ Nin-\i\ = En-sh^r + Nin-sh^iX = ^«-shar-gal + iV/«-shar-gal = ^«-uru-ul-la + iW«-uru-ul-la = Anuni + En-\W

:

wife

Antum.^ or as "brother and sister"

c.

Nin-///=

En-.f//«r

+

e.,

(i.

V^'xxi-shar

achu -^ achatu)

= 'En-shar-gal +

:

En-///

+

'R'ln-shar-gai

= 'En-uru-ul-la + '^'m-uru-ul-la.* d.

or as

"opposed

AN-\-

to

each other"

e.,

(i.

as achu

and achitu): 5

KI= ^«-shar + X/-shar =^«-shar-gal + A'/-shar-gal.

Although we have only twenty-one

names, yet we are sup-

(!)

of the lists, eleven (!) posed to have, according to the arrangement This difficulty would require a few words of explanation. pairs.

^A^is the

name, but also the

Anum

explained by

Antum

first

= KI,

e.,=

i.

first

/a;>, for

and Antum, but also by an ^

irtsitim or earth.

^

If

AN

'

3

p. 19, 4;

See below

From

this

Monist, XIII.

not only

= Anum and an=^

Antum, the

"earth," then Anutn, the husband, must be the heaven. 'C. S.

is

wife,

be the

Hence

the

p. 586.

I

follows that

it

Ul=sha} — sha7-gal—^lru-ul-la = {kanm-\-^.'a^^m

sha kish-shat) AN-KI, i. e., "the totality of heaven and earth" Hence the shar = kishshatu = tot3Aity in Enlil's and Anshar's temple fe-shar is = the totality of heaven a?id earth and the cosmic E-shar must he = heaz'e?i a?2d earth ! *Does our modern custom of the wife's taking the "name" of her husband go

—

back

when the Has anyone made

to this oldest of historic times,

flesh— oi her husband vestigation

^C. ® '

?

S. p.

Z6,

See second

See

?

= Monist, list

first list.

!

XII. p, 601.

wife

was the

sister

— thus also of one

this point the subject of a special in-

THE CHRIST OF ANCIENT TIMES.

BEL,

AN

name

reveals to us the remarkable fact that

sisting out of husband and wife

Anum + Antum,

an

+ an, + ki

Thus we

it is

a pair, con-

:

husband and wife are

that the sister

an

21

and

also brother

:

and that the husband

opposed to the wife husband being "above" and the wife being "below." is

:

= heaven + earth — the find here a

welcome corroboration

of our statement^

and earth'' were considered to be one. This one cosmic quantity was called not only LIL, but also AN. AN when translated into Semitic-Babylonian becomes =: shame. Shame, therethat '^heaven

fore,

must stand for ''heaven and earth'' too

!

"Heaven and earth" Hebrew ter-

are the Sumerian as well as Semitic-Babylonian and

minus technicus for "-cosmos"

— hence shame must

ho.

we understand Hesychius's remarkable statement understood, by Jensen in his Kosm., Ba/BvXwvios,

i.

"shame

e.,

is

"^avt]

!

Now

quoted, but mis-

(read

%a.vi{) 6 koct/aos

the Babylonian cosmos," and Hesy-

(= Marduk):

chius's gloss to BrjXos

p. 3

:

= cosmos

ovpavb
uto's,

=

Enlil !) is not only the ovpav6<; e., Bel or Marduk (originally (= shame AN an ki heaven -|- earth), but also (our) Zeus,

i.

=

and a son

=

=

+

of (our) Poseidon, the terrestrial

ocean

= EN-KI or Ea

AN, the heavenly ocean I).^ The Sumerian AN, thus, indeed a word for cosmos and stands as such for the first "pair,"

(originally is i.

e.

,

either for an

sonifications of

-f-

an, or for an

"heaven and

In Craig, Religious Texts,^ called Dur-an-ki^

-^-

ki

= Anum

-|-

Antum

,

the per-

earth. "^ -v^e

— a name which

learn of is

"a house in Nippur" "band of heaven

translated by

^C. S. p. 52; Mo7iist, XII. p. 619. -All this against Jensen, Kosjn., ^ *

^

Against Jensen, Kosm,., Vol.

I.

p. 19,

1.

9

This Dur-an-ki

:

p. 391.

p. 3.

esh En-Iil-ki Dur-an-ki.

ha.s

now been

discovered by Hilprecht as one of the names

See Hilprecht, Excavations in Bible lands, p. 462; of the zigurrat of Nippur. "A fourth name (viz., of the zigurrat of Nippur), to state this distinctly here, occurs in another unpublished text cavations at Nuffar."

belonging to the results of our latest ex-

22

and

earth. "1

294,

this

1.

I,

band

the

to Zeitschrift fiir Assyriologie, Vol. X., p.

According

is

[Dur-an]-ki

made

himself has

called

"the band

world" (^mar-kas shame-e u

of the

heaven and earth,

of

irtsitim-tim ri-kis kib-ra-

Nippur (En-lil-ki, 1. 3) and which EnAbove ^ we have seen that ^-c/iar4.).

which was situated

a-tt), lil

THE CHRIST OF ANCIENT TIMES.

BEL,

in

(1.

= A-shar-ra but also ^A-kur "the hence also this latter must be = "band of heaven

sag(^-gar)-kur-kur-ra "

is

not ox\\y

mountain house, But the god oi ^-kur, th^ '^"'sir^.kur, is one of the "twenty-one who have Anna for their parent," hence the "god of 6-kur" must also be the "god of the band of heaven and earth."

and earth."

The god band

of

46, 8

;

of

6kur being

heaven and earth," as

48,

becomes thus the "god of the which he appears in K B. VP. pp.

Enlil, Enlil

,

10.

=

^ and as Furthermore, just as the "band of the sill" is sill, " is the "band of so heaven the "firmament of heaven is heaven,^

^ = "heaven and earth "^ — hence Z^C/"^ = and earth" = firmament of heaven and earth = heaven and

jj^pi,

The

"heaven and

of Dur-an-ki, Enlil, is therefore again the god of " " or of the "firmament of heaven and earth

god

earth

and dur-

earth.

^z«-/&/

!

Above we saw the dingirjyur-an,^

AN = heaven and earth = cosmos, hence said to be = «^«^^ (= Bel = Enlil

that

is

who

is

!),

is

not only a corroboration that our conclusions be correct, but this

name

also shows, that
is

not an abbreviation of

Dur-an-ki,"^ but a correct and justified writing.

the

"god

of the

lonian cosmos,''

i.

band e.,

of the shame''

heaven and earth

^'"sirDur-an

= which = an + ki '%avrf,

is

dingir

means

the '^Baby-

!

COROLLARIES OF THE SOLUTION. These considerations put us into a position following peculiarities

^

Rikis

shame u

to explain also the

:

itsirtim,

from rakasii

to bind.

Du>- = ri-ki-js, A. S K. T.

p. 71, col. I, 22. ''

P.

8.

^K. 8665, Meissner, Suffl., * n^r.tn y^pi = n^^t, Gen. *II. R. 54, 4a.

p. 14, i.

8.

hinten

:

rikis siffi=siffi. 5

Dur-an-M^an-M.

"

As Hilprecht, Excavations,

p. 463, 2, thinks.

THE CHRIST OF ANCIENT TIMES.

BEL, a.

The god IM, whom we ghu bar-bar

called

is

case of Nin-Girsu

name

another

identified with

"//;
— the son

must stand here likewise b.

Very often we read

Nin-Girsu or Im-gig-

son ^/ y^«;;a,"

for

Mnstead

of

— as in

Anna being here only

of Enlil.

for Enlil, the

23

heaven and earth," "king "cosmos. "^ of

of the "hosts of A-7iim''^ as well as of the

"warriors of A-num, i. c, [sicf) Da-gan.''* That Anum be here Enlil is apparent from the follow-

=

ing reasons a.

The

:

tsa-ab resp. qi-its-ri Aiiim

correspond to the Hebrew veh

was

rightly recognised^ to

n'NDi* "in"

— hence Anim :^ Jah-

!

^.

According to Gen. ii. i, the "hosts" belong to "the heaven and the earth "^ hence the "hosts of Jahveh" cosmos. are those of "heaven and earth," i. e. Jahveh

—

=

,

y.

"Heaven and earth"

cosmos are

or the

well as in

Jahveh.

The former has

therefore the

8.

Anum

=

of

"king of heaven and

=

one of the "twenty-one who have Anna for their parent" and corresponds not only to the Sumerian is

an -^ an or an

AN

to the

in

-\-

ki,

but also to

dUigirDur-AN,

i.

AN, e.,

i.

he

cosmos, as such also called d^^s^^^-kur

Hence Anim '

as

of Enlil or

title

heaven and earth, "^ and the latter "god Enlil. cosmos earth "^ hence Jahveh

—

Hebrew

in

Babylonian the respective domains

Reisner,

Hymnen,

= Enlil.

But

if

e., is

the

Sau?;,

and

the personified

who

is

the Enlil.

Anim be here = Enlil, then

p. 120, 10, 15.

See also the different genealogies of Ninib in my forthcoming article on = Enlil = lord of heaven Jahveh, and also the genealogies of Nusku, the son of Ann Ea = ocean and with with = = identified were who E-kur earth and Dur-an-ki, again 2

Sin.

^Seee.

g.

K. B.

VP.

*Sargon, Broncc-Inscript 5

Jensen, K. B. VI'. 431.

^lugal an-ki. 8

y-iNm

c*?:ii\-i

passim: qi-its-ri sha n-'A-nim. tsa-ab ''"A-num u (Far. it) ii'^Da-gan.

pp. 122. 4; 134, 31

^ro^ mn".

,

14

;

ct

THE CHRIST OF ANCIENT TIMES.

BEL,

24

the hosts can be only the childreti resp. grandchildren of

ZU or the moon, Nin-Girsu or the thundering dark cloud, UD or the sun, Innanna or the morningEnlil,

i.

e.,

These children are gods and

resp. evening-star, etc.

— even

Adad was considered

stars

be a star

to

:

= ^^^^Sha-gt-mu2irid'K.'26y. = a name = ^i"Adad. namashshu nu-mush-da Shdgimu

VR.

46, i^/^abz=tnulnu-mush-da

is

[ ]

of

Nin-Girsu r=

Adad and

signifies

"the one that roars or thunders."

:

See also Jensen, Kosm.,

Hence

p. 140.

the D*nbx

"^^D

men-

tioned together with Jahveh in Psalm xxix. i ff. can be the children of Enlil, as such also gods and stars only ,

=

diVid

the powers of nature

— for even

according to

conception the stars belong to the S- P- 53)

>

which

i^^pT

again

tion of dingir£)ur-an OX Enlil

!

jj^pT

(Gen.

= Dur-an-ki,

\s

The

niND!* mn*'

therefore, exactly to the title of Enlil

Hebrew

i.

14; C.

the habita-

corresponds,

"king of the gods"

{lugal dmgir-ri-ne') or to the tsa-ab resp. qi-its-ri Anim. c.

= Ashshur said to — have been the "creator of An-na"^ an expression which above, where Anshar = signifies the same as that on

Above,

p.

6,

we heard

that

Anshar

is

p. 7,

Ashshur appears as the "builder of the heaven of Anim." ^ Anu is in our three lists a name for "the god of 6-kur," i.

e.,

for Enlil.

AN

—

or

AN-NA, we

saw, means

=

2avi7

=

Assyr shame hence "the builder of AN-NA" can mean only the "builder or creator of the cosmos,'' as such it is parallel to the "builder of the sa-mt of '''"y^-«m

{i.

e., Saui;

= Enlil.

not the abode of

= cosmos)

The "heaven(s) of Anu" therefore are god AN, the heavenly ocean, but are in

each and every case the cosmos, "heaven and earth" the abode of Enlil, or more especially, the "firmament of

heaven" or "heaven" as opposed

to the

"firmament

of the

earth" or "earth," the specific domain of Ninlil. great gods that inhabit the

shame

of

Anim "are

the moon, sun, the stars, and the powers of nature ba-nn-u slm-jit

AN-IN\A.

^

fa-ti-iq

"The

therefore

(=Adad),

sa-mi i'"A-nim.

THE CHRIST OF ANCIENT TIMES.

BEL,

Hence we cannot

etc.

25

find in this phrase the idea

— as Jere-

mias, Vorstellungen vorn Leben nach dem Tode, p. 60, wants •

— that

the

Himmel

in verschiedene

it

abge-

See also Jensen, Kosm., p. 11. In the sentence "the daughter of Anu (= Ishtar) went to grenzte

d.

"Wohnsitz der Gotter geteilt ist."

Bel her father," above

p. i,

note

2,

Anu and Bel

signify the

same god.

Ishtar is the daughter of Bel because she is the such called Baii) of Nin Girsu. But Nin-Girsu wife (as being the son of Enlil or Bel, his wife had to become also a

daughter of Bel husband. e.

As already

— because a wife "heaven and

said, the

is

always the

sister of

her

earth," originally one, were

later

on differentiated and considered as husband and wife

Enlil

+ Ninlil = Enshar + Ninshar, etc. — the wife being not

:

,

"opposed "to her brother or husband. Thus it happed that there corresponds to the Enthe husband, an An-shar, and to the Ninshar, the wife, shar, only the sister but also

a Ki-shar, in other

be "above"

= an,

words

:

the husband was considered to

The

and the wife to be "below" r=ki.

"heaven" becomes thus

the husband of the "earth."

"heaven and earth" had two sons:

This

"moon (ZU) and

the

the "thundering, lightning, dark cloud" (Nin-Girsu or Imgig-ghu-bar-bar),

"mighty hero had

we

for

who by means

or

of

his

nature was the

minister" of his father.

prime his son the sun (UD).

The "moon"

Exactly the same genealogy

find again in Orac. Sib., III.

no

ff.,

where Kronos,

Ti-

and Japetos are called the sons of Ouranos (= heaven) and Gaia (the earth). Now, there cannot be any doubt that

tan,

moon, who had become at the time was imported from the Babylonians, genealogy the "sun."^ This change took place at a time when the

Kronos was

when

originally the

this

people began to reckon according to "sun-years." We the sun would like, therefore, to identify Kronos with

UD

'An analogy sun

is

p. 65.

of this

we

find also in the

likewise put before the

moon and

Old Testament, Gen.

called

i.

16,

" the greater light."

where the See C. S.,

26

THE CHRIST OF ANCIENT TIMES.

HEL,

moon), Titan with Nin-Girsu, ''the mighty the sun).i a.v\dL Japetos with the noon (originally

(originally the hero,''

identifications explain also correctly the hitherto mis-

These

understood statement of Berosus,^ according to which Kronos^d^rns Chisouthros {= Ui-napishtim), while according to the Babylonian flood-story

it is

On

Kronos with Ea

fied

account of this peculiarity Jensen ^ identiMarduk is Poseidon. but wrongly Ea is

Ea.

system the son the AMAR-UD, i. e., the son

in the theological

of

is

of

UD

and

is

=

!

;

= Kronos,

Ea

"son

Kronos."

of

to his

name

AMAR-UD, may

hence Markuk, the

correctly be called the

But Marduk

or Poseidon.

UD— according

—

quite

Kronos was the father

If

Marduk, the chief-god of the Babylonians, then AhiJramazda Hence the gloss to had to have likewise Kronos for his father of

!

Belos

in the

Arm. Vers,

Euseb. Chron.,

of

quem patrem nuncupant Aramazdi.'^ Returning once more to our three

lists

loc. cit., p.

we

will

19: Kpovov,

have to

distin-

guish between a.

AN = "the

lord,

is

called in two of our lists

the parent AN-NA," and

is

those twenty-one gods

— or better of

one different names.

In Assyrian this

and

b.

"heavenly ocean," who

is

a brother of Ea.

= Antum

Anum,

and KI

and

of dingirQUR^

As such

or for an

called

= "heavenly

ocean,"

an

is

god

AN

terrestrial

e.,

one god under twentyagain are sons of the

that brought forth i.

\\\^ fatlicr of

Anu and Ea

"mother

AN = cosmos.

as such

it

stands either for an

= Anum + ki

(i.

= Anum

-|-

earth)= Antum.

e.,

" 1 This against Zimmern, K A. T^. p. 351, who thinks that they are genau entsprechend der babylonischen Trias Anu-Bel-Ea als Sohnen des Paares AnsharKishar. "^

to

Liber cliron.,

edit.

Schoene,

"^

p.

19-20.

Kosm

,

p. 391.

'This statement is very important. It shows that Ahuramazda was considered be the same as Marduk had therefore to have the same father. Ahriman and

—

Ahuramazda is Marduk differentiated into the Marduk of the winter = darkness, and the Marduk of the summer = light. The Marduk of the winter is = Nebo, and the Marduk of the summer = AMAR-UD. Cf. the important passage Isaiah xlv. 7: " I am the .1 form the light, and create darkness." lord. Here the prophet exBoth have 07ie pressly denies that light and darkness have two different sources. .

.

god for their author,

—a very correct Babylonian idea.

BEL,

Anum^

THE CHRIST OF ANCIENT TIMES.

Ant urn

resp.

27

here only another name for Enlil resp.

is

Ninlil, the king resp. queen of "heaven and earth" is the toMt] or Kocr/Aos Ba^uAwvtos of

AN

This

!

Hesychius.^

This name Anum was even applied to the moon-god, Sin See IV. R. 9, 6rt, and K. 155, quoted by Jensen, Kosm., p. 191, note i. This is not We strange. know that in Ur as well as in Harran the god Sin was considered to be the highest god, hence if he were— he had io receive all the attributes names, etc., of Enlil. Yes. even Nin-Girsu the "mighty hero " of Enlil became Sin's messenger and this under the name of Nusku resp. Nergal, see above, page 3, note 5. '

!

—

2

Here belongs beside the '^"gi'-Dur-an, and the expressions "the shame of Anim," mentioned above, also

:

"the creator

of

AN-NA"

a. dinsirSi=.dinsirE7i-lil: V. R. 44, 35, because Si

R. 50, 25c, ^.

39, 47

dingirBE = dinsirEn-Ul:

shamtl c,

R.

cf. II.

R.

II.

:

I.

26a

7,

f.

R.

15, 51

V. R. 39,

;

\s

= sham{l = ^avr,\

(Against Jensen, Kosm.,

V. R.

;

m

4,

etc.,

See

II.

p. 24.)

for

BE

is

again =

45(5'.

sign NAB is expressed by two aw's, one put above the has according to Delitzsch, Assyrische Lesestiicke, No. 90, the meaning shamd. This NAB is again (because = an -|- an = heaven earth) = Cosmos. 'Y\\edinstrMAB is not only identified with dingir En-Ul \\i V. R. like the " twenty-one who have AN-NA for their 44, 46(r. but he is called

The

dinsirjsfAB.

other.

NAB

+

,

parent"

—

— the

diiniii

AN-NA = heavenly (

I

;

88,

And when

7.

sag AN-NA,

i. e., the first-born or principal son of Reisner, Ilymneii, pp. 140, 194; 135, col. IV. this dinsir]S[AB is called in II. R. 54, loa, b, the "Bel

ocean)

:

shamn," he does not, as Jensen, Kosmologie, p. 25, cf. K. B. VI'. p. 347 wants, stand for "den Punkt am Himmel, wo die verschiedenen Tei-

of the

lungslinien zusammenlaufen," but for the Bel of the Saw/! [NAB is also = Tiamat 83-1-18, 1332 obv. II. 22, published in Proceedings of the Society " of Biblical Arch., Dec, 1888, plate V. But Tiamat is = '^'«^"-C7W?, the mother of and KI." again is not ovi\y = afs{l, "ocean," but also, :

GUR

AN

pronounced zikum, = shamtl. Hence NAB signifies Tiamat as the mother of the afstl or ocean considered as a cosmos or sJiamfl or -\- KI, i. e., of the ocean as consisting of an upper and of a lower one !] if

AN

d. Possibly

even

AN-SHAR, who might be read also dingirSHAR. SHAR, is also = s/iam/7; hence '^'''^'''S/iAR = du) might be

when pronounced "du,"

(

" the god of the I,av!/, i. e cosmos E-shar would accordingly become not so much " the house of the totality { = kislishatu)" as " the iL'orldSee also above, p. 14, where it is said of Marduk that he had build house. translated

!

,

E-shar-ra as

(or

:

to be) a sJia-ma-mti,

i.

e, a law/ or cosmos

This sha-

!

the habitation of Anu, Bel ( = Enlil), and Ea, m,ust include the tzuo oceans the heavenly and the terrestrial also. This

ma-mu

here, because

it

is

—

—

even adopted by the Priestcode. P.'s expression for "cosmos" peculiarity is generally =" heaven and earth": Gen. i. i, ii. i, Ex. xxxi. 17; but also The fi-shar-ra, "heaven and earth and the D*'," i. e,, ocean Ex. xx. 11 the world-house, is thus made = heaven and earth and ocean a, no doubt, is

:

late conception, thus

theism.

!

—

showing a tendency towards henotheism,

resp.

mono-

THE CHRIST OF ANCIENT TIMES.

BEL,

2(S

I

AN

c.

^\XhQXz=shamtl,

The

former,

i.

when

Enlil,

and the

called

Antum

"heaven"

e.,

"earth."

i.e.,

also be called

Anuni or

KI^ earth was

That

follows also from different other passages in

III. (sic!),

Sumerian

= KI.,

Antuni or Ninlil.

latter

the cuneiform literature, as,

No.

may

personified

or

line

11.

e.

g.,

Reisner, Hymne?i,

10-13,^ where Antum

is

by KI, the ideograph

^ Again on another place

AN-NA

this

p.

133,

expressed in the

for

= earth.

/r/j-//«

directly translated

is

by sharne or "heaven," and the KI (or Kl-a) directly by "earth" thus proving beyond a shadow of doubt

—

irtsitim or

1

dingir A-nun-na

AN-NA

a-ri-a-ne

''"ditto slia ri-chu-ut '^"A-7ii7n dingir A-nun-7ia

''"ditto

Instead of

20; 78,

19,

vr.

K. B.

AY (sic

ri-chu-u

a-ri-a-ne

!)

sha ri-chu-ut

Antum

ri-chu-u.

KI we have

12,

the correcter writing YA-a in Reisner, loc. cit., pp. 132, Cf. also IV. R. 21, No. 2, rev. i. For richfifi see Jensen,

13.

p. 365, 6.

2

dingir A.-fi-uji.fici,

AN-NA

ii"A-7iun-na-ki

dingirA-nun-na

mu-ush V-bi sha shame^ V shu-shi

Kl-a mu-tish X-bi

^^"A-7iun-7ia-ki

sha

irtsitim'^"^ 7ii-e-ir-sJiu.

Reisner, Hy77i7ie7i, p. 139, 155-T58.

See also Reisner, the 300

nunna

(

=5

soss

!)

loc. cit., pp. 92, 24,

'Anunna

of the earth," see

of heaven,"

;

135, col. III. 30. to the

With regard 600

(i

to

wcV) "A-

T^. p. 453; Jensen, K. B. VI^ p. 587. have here the preceding note are important, (i) the Igigi and the Anunna of the ea7-th, i. e., the

Zimmern, K. A.

The passages cited in this and the Anunna of heaven, e., i.

25

and with regard

We

Anunnaki, as they are generally called in the Assyrian inscriptions. Both classes are said to be the richut, i. e., lit. "the pouring out "=se<'^ or 50W5 of Anu and have seen (C. S. p. 49) that the king of the storm-flood is Enlil, Antum. (2) while the storm-flood itself is Nin-Girsu or Imgigghubarbar, the so7i of Enlil.

We

Hence, when we read, that either Bel,

i.

e.,

the old Enlil, be the "lord, the

king

(Tiglat-Pileser I. =K. B. I. p. 14, col. I. 3), or that Anu be "the ki7ig of the Igigi and the Anunnaki" (Shalmanassar II., Obelisk K. B^ p. 128, " be termed " the king of the Igigi (Adad-nirari 1. 2), or that Ashshur { = Anshar)

of

all

Anunnaki"

=

III i.

=K.

e.,

B'. p. 188, No. 2, 11. 2, 3), we must understand these statements as above, kings of the Igigi and the Anunnaki are at the same time their

that these

See here also above, p. 7, where if so, then Enlil is = Anu = Anshar. " who begot {shApik^rachil !) the Igigi and expressly said that Anshar is he the Anunnaki" Where the moon-god Sin was considered to be the highest god, fathers, and it

is

!

of course, natural to find that these very same Igigi and Anunnaki should be assigned to his court, as is done in the celebrated hymn to Sin IV. R. 9. it is,

:

BEL,

that

AN

THE CHRIST OF ANCIENT TIMES.

Anum = AN

= heaven

2Q

=

and Anttim KI thus means indeed either heaven or (!) earth.^ is

= earth.

is

SUMMARY OF RESULTS. If

we would sum up our

the following

Out

GUR,

is

of the primeval ocean,

mummu e., an AN

born

"world,"

came

results so far obtained they

i.

would be

:

a world in fact,

Apsu and Tiamat, the Sumerian which was only a voijtos koct/xos

—

or Moiimis,

and a KI

when

AN

in mind,

begot LIL,

but not in

who

fact.

It

be-

took his place be-

AN

and KI, thus not only separating the AN from the KI, but forming with them the first triad. This LIL, the son of AN, in the lists above mentioned under appears twenty-one different tween

names among which are also to be found Anshar and Lachmu. These names are arranged in pairs of husband and wife the hus-

—

That one and the same ideograph should have two diametrically opposed sigis not by any means uncommon it is simply a corroboration of Winck-

'

—

nifications

maxim

"

Jedes Ding schlagt schliesslich in sein Gegentheil um, wie es der Kreislauf der Natur vorschreibt und bedingt Wir haben die unzertrennlichen und ler's

:

:

doch getrennten Dioskuren, Mond und Sonne = Tag und Nacht = Licht und Finster" niss = Winter und Sommer, die beiden Sonnen- und Naturhalften (M. V. A. G., " igoi, IV., Part I., p. 15, note i), and I may add the "two halves of the world heaven and earth. Among the different ideographs that may stand either for " 'heaven or for "earth," I mention besides AN only the two following :

:

a.

IM=heavcn,

Sc. 1%^

A

double IM, Briinnow, translated in IL R. 50, 28c II. R. 48,

,=earth, ibidem.

List, No. No. 8502, is 26«-/>, by shamil, which latter can mean here only = cosmos = heaven -(-earth. Hence the di^si^IM A^ IM in III. R. 67, 45^; III. R. 67, 42^, cannot signify orig" heaven and inally the god Adad (or Rammdn) but Enlil or Bel, the god of earth." Cf. here also "the gods who are above {cli) the IM and below

12241,

cf.

;

"

(Pinches, P. S. B. A., 1882, p. 164, lo-ii), i. e., beyond (shapal) the IM the firmament or "heaven and earth," which in the passage cited, p. 163, 1. 10, is called the C7iar-sag-kalam-ma = vi\own\.-a!\n of the world !

b.

456; U, also read buru,=irisitu V. R. V. R. 36, 5a. This ideo36, ^6b and 1/ is the ideograph for dingirEn-lil " and just graph therefore signifies Enlil as the god of heaven and earth

U=sham(i "heaven"

:

V. R.

36,

:

:

'

as in later times Enlil

became an ideographic writing

was used as an ideograph

for bel.

—

'

for bcl or lord, so

Conf. here also V. R.

37, i,d.

U

c,f: buru

" the or k-\>ViXW = shamA rugittum far away heaven," and 1. 5: buru = shamil sha^Mtum "the low(er) heaven," which latter does not speak so much in favor of the "different" heavens, as it proves that the "lower

heaven

"

be the eartii

!

BEL,

30

THE CHRIST OF ANCIENT TIMES.

band being considered the upper and the wife the lower part. The upper part is the heaven and the lower part the earth. This gives us the most important fact of our whole investigation, which is :

heaven and earth are husband and

Antum who Enlil

is

Ninlil

"king ^

See

is

again are only two other

the heaven and Ninlil

band and

wife, but

the

resp.

note

is

names

the earth

when considered

as

for Enlil

Anum

and

and Ninlil—

when considered as hus"one flesh" Enlil resp.

"heaven and earth" or "cosmos, " hence ma}' be called "^ queen of heaven and earth.

Therefore

p. i8,

wife, as such called

Anu 2.

is

called also

"

(the one) of the totality of

heaven and earth."

THE ESSENTIAL DOCTRINE OF BABY-

II.

LONIAN RELIGION. THE BELIEF

TT

IN RESURRECTION.

was not without some very

definite reason that

we had

to linger

so very long over this preliminary investigation, for here

-*-

are in direct opposition to all other Assyriologists,

Enlil to be the

Our

of the earth

"god

result

"

of the highest

is

or the

"god

who

we

either take

of the air."

importance, not only for a right

understanding of the Babylonian religion as such, but also for the In the latter it religion both of the Old and the New Testament. is

especially the doctrine of the Resurrection which from our investi-

new and welcome

gation receives a

The

with the personality of Christ, tian religion.

With

built.

light.

doctrine of the Resurrection, because so closely connected

It

is

the ////^r

is

the central doctrine of the Chris-

upon which the Christian Church

Christianity stands and

it

"If Christ be not raised, then faith also

And It

vain"

is

again, v. 17

falls. is

St.

Paul

Says our preaching vain, our

(i Cor. xv. 14.)

:

"If Christ hath not been raised, your faith is vain." what is, however, here of special interest to notice

Paul

sophic proofs St.

His proofs are

is

:

is

philo-

able to adduce for the resurrection of Christ.

:

"Now

if

Christ

is

preached that he hath been raised from

the dead, say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the

how

dead, neither hath Christ been raised."^ '

I

Cor. XV.

12, 13.

THE CHRIST OF ANCIENT TIMES.

BEL,

32

/

The same argument

We

"

be found also in verses

to

is

15, 16

:

he raised up Christ whom For so be that the dead are not raised.

witnessed of

God

thu-t

:

he raised not up, if if the dead are not raised, neither hath Christ been raised." Notice, St. Paul does not say: "because Christ rose, therefore the

dead

rise,"

but vice versa

"If there be no resurrection of

:

the dead, then Christ did not rise;" he wants us, however, to draw

"there

the last conclusion:

is

a resurrection of the dead,

there be, then did Christ rise!"

Paul, then, takes

disputable fact that the dead can and do

and do

rise therefore Christ also could

rise,

for

it

and because

and did

an

if

in-

ihey can

Hence with

rise.

the resurrection of the dead, the resurrection of Christ

The

and

is

given.

fact of Christ's resurrection is thus based, according to St.

Paul's argumentation, as such.

If

upon the

fact of the resurrection of the

dead

you deny the latter, you ipso facto deny the former.

Everything depends upon our belief in the resurrection of the If we do not believe in this, we do not and cannot believe

dead.

in Christ's resurrection

Hence,

!

when adducing the arguments should bring

in also

it is

quite natural, that St. Paul,

in favor of the resurrection of Christ,

those proofs which establish the truth of the

resurrection of the dead

!

"But some one

And what will say,

are these?

how

are the dead raised?

and

with what manner of body do they come? Thou foolish one, that which thou thyself sowest is not quickened, except it

and that which thou sowest, thou sowest not the body that shall be, but a bare grain, it may chance of wheat, or die

of

:

some other kind."^

The proof naturel

in favor of the resurrection of the

He compares

of wheat, or of

the

human

bodies to

The

some other kind."

'^

grain

dead

grain, is

is

it

taken from

may chance

put into the earth

not to die and remain there, but to die and be quickened again,

and thus sprout anew,

rise to

new

the grain does only in the spring

As

in the

'

1

!

life,

and bear

St. Paul's

fruit.

spring nature or mother earth brings forth

Cor. XV. 25.

But

argument then

is

this

this

new

:

life,

BEL,

THE CHRIST OF ANCIENT TIMES.

33

quickens the "grain," makes it sprout again, so also the "dead" will be quickened, be raised to new life on that the eternal spring begins

great morning when Nature demonstrates the fact of the

!

This "resurrection," because a fact in nature, was transferred to "men" also— because they too are a part of nature! resurrection.

as a part of nature, could not

Men,

make an

upset the laws of nature, hence had to part of nature,

do

"man."

longs to

rise,

That

exception, could not

But

rise.

if

men, as a

then Christ also had to rise,— for he beis

the argument of St. Paul.

DETAILS.

Having made

this clear,

we may now pass

to the details in

connection with Christ's resurrection.

These are probably enumerated best in the well-known, but most difficult, passage of i St. Peter iii. i8 ff. where we read :

,

"Christ also suffered

for sins once. .being put to death the flesh, but quickened in the spirit, in which also he

in

.

.

went and preached unto the spirits in prison, which aforetime were disobedient. .. .the resurrection of Jesus Christ,

who

on the right hand of God, having gone into heaven angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him."i is

;

According to this passage the specific historic facts connected with the resurrection of Christ occurred in the following sequence :

I.

suffering,

2.

preaching unto the

As here,

death,

3.

quickening,

spirits in prison,

5.

Christ's suffering has nothing to

we

4.

(a)

going and

{b')

resurrection.

do with our investigation

confine ourselves to facts Nos. 2-5.

"Death" according to N. T, tisus loquendi is the separation of the "life-principle" or "soul " from the "body." The body is put To

into the grave while the soul continues to live as a "spirit."

'

OTi Kai

T(^ Tfvev/xari

hvaardcEug

Xpiarbg awa^ iv u

'Itjaov

Tzepl dfiapriuv STra'&E.

koI rolg iv


nvevfiaci

Xpiarov bg iariv ev

avrC) ayye?.0)v kqI e^ovaiuv koI Swdfieuv.

6e§i(i

.

.

,&avaTu^elc

noptv&dQ

juev aapKi, l^uonocTj^el^ de

EKi/pv^ev anei'dTjaaai ttote.

.

.

.(^i

tov &£ov, Tvopev&elg eif ovpavdv, vTvorayevTuv

THE CHRIST OF ANCIENT TIMES.

BEL,

34

such

souls separated from the

e.,

i.

spirits,

body

^

Christ went and

preached. If ''death'''

''quickening"

be a separation of the soul from the body, then the

must be

d.

joifiing together, a reuniting of the soul

Christ had to be dead, according to Scripture, for three

and body.

During these three days, then, body and soul were sepor as the varient gives it on the After these three days arated. his "being quickened" and his hence he had to rise, third day days.

—

:

—

Christ is said to have on the same day his hence risen on early Easter-morning, quickening or the reuniting of soul and body must have taken place on early Easterresurrection had to

fall

!

morning too! As soon as "he went and preached." "

When did "On this:

this If,

"

quickening" had become a fact therefore, the question be asked: "

the correct answer can be only

Easter-morning,

immediately after his being

Christ go and preach? early

"

In this (cv w) "being quickened in spirit" 'quickened in spirit' he went. Hence Christ's going and preaching did not take place !

during those three days, while his body was lying in the grave, nor did his soul only go down to the prison, but "his soul reunited to the

body"

— for he was quickened

\

Christ's journey to prison, then,

between his being quickened and his resurrection, wise on early Easter-morning. As such a " quickened one

falls

i.

e., as

one having acquired new

life

—a

spiritual life^

i.

e., like-

in spirit,"

— he went

and preached, or better: "he going preached" {iroptvOtU iKrjpvicv). And what did he preach? The "contents" of Christ's preaching is not given here.

We

nature of this

iKrjpv^tv

are therefore obliged to determine the exact

from the context.

presses simply the idea that Christ as a herald," or

herald." oi

2.

A

"proclaimed something

herald always acts in the

higher person — hence

^

of the

"was

The word

KrjpvaacLv ex-

a herald," or "officiated after the

name and upon

manner the

of a

command

whatever Christ proclaimed or heralded

Also according to Babylonian conception the death consists in a separation nafishtu or life-principle from the body. This iiafishtii continues to live

after death as a so-called

ekimmu

or utiikku, see also Jensen, K. B. VI'. pp. 406,

453-

^This is the common explanation of the phrase, which, however, does wo^ explain the difficulties involved, see my article on Jahveh !

BEL,

THE CHRIST OF ANCIENT TIMES.

35

must have been something which he had received from someone else; something to which he was authorised. That this "something" cannot have been the "gospel" follows from the following consideration. 1.

"To

preach the gospel"

ment always by cwyyeAi'^eiv. 2. The verse in i Peter

is

6

iv.

:

expressed

who died in "dead" the word

the

the meantime. ve/cpois.^

Testa-

''For unto this end was the gospel

i>reached even unto the dead'' does not help us very "the dead" are those who were alive when the

place, but

New

the

in

and

much

either, for

preaching took

Besides that, we have for

for to

preach not

K7;/3vVo-e6v

but

€tiayyeAi'cr^r;. 3.

Whenever

given, this

is

the contents of the proclaiming or heralding are

expressed by an object which follows the verb KT/pvVo-eiv. to preach: " Moses," Acts xv. 21 "circumcision,"

Thus we have

;

Gal.

V.

11;

"the word," Mark

dom)," Matth.

iv.

23;

Mark

i.

45; "the gospel

xvi. 15;

"

(of

baptism," Mark

the kingi.

4; "re-

pentance and remission of sins," Luke xxiv. 47; " Christ," Acts viii. 5, and it is used of "a/? a7igcl as God's herald" in Rev. v. 12. 4.

Suppose, for the sake

of

argument, that Christ indeed

preacJicd the gospel unto the spirits in prison in order to give

chance

last

to get out of

it

them

a

— but then we would be again in straight

contradiction to the parable of the "rich

man and poor

Lazarus." " What this parable wants to teach us is this the time of salvation" is here upon earth, not after death IViey have Moses and the proph:

' '

:

ets, let

them hear

they will

If

them.''''

be saved,

if

they hear them and do accordingly,

them they lose all Hence there was not and could not be

they do not

chances of their salvation

!

listen

to

offered to the "spirits that are in prison" a last chance\

This

last consideration leads us

inquiry, viz., to

"prison,"

over to the next point of our

the question with regard to the meaning of the

<^v\aK-q.

This prison appears here as a kind of "keeping-place," a place " where the "spirits, " the "souls separated from their bodies, the

*

And

" souls not nveiiuaai or the separated from the body

" !

THE CHRIST OF ANCIENT TIMES.

BEL,

36

The ekimmu and utukku

ekimmu or utukkti are to be found.

have,

—

"nether world" according to Babylonian ideas, their abode in the It would ''earth.'' the be to considered was a place which (within) therefore be natural to suppose that this place, the nether world,

Hades, place of departed spirits, be also meant here. If it be, then it has to be subdivided again according to the parable of the "rich man and poor Lazarus" into two subdivisions: (i) a seem-

— —

ingly comfortable place, which

called in that parable

is

Abraham's

:

an uncomfortable one or Hades proper. In the former we find Lazarus, in the latter the rich man. Both of

bosom

(koXttos A)8paa/u.)

men

these

;

(2)

arrive in their respective abodes as soon as they die

"And

the beggar died, and....

was carried away by the

angels into Abraham's bosom, and the rich

and was buried .... and in in torments, "

bosom

:

Hades he

and seeth Abraham afar

off,

man

also died,

his eyes, being

lifted

up and Lazarus

in his

!

the " prison" of St. Peter be the same as the Hades with its two subdivisions, the question may be asked Did Christ go to the If

:

"uncomfortable" or the "comfortable" part to St. Peter Christ

preach? in

prison,

According which aforetime were

therefore, might

proper,

seem

to this place,

the gospel to the spirits in this

them be

view that the

Hades

in

order to

preached "unto the

disobedie?it.'"

to favor the

the uncomfortable place,

Granted he went

of

abode

spirits

The assumption, he went to Hades of

the rich man.

and granted also that he preached "place of torment" in order to give

we would who quotes

a last chance to secure their salvation, then again

in

contradiction to Christ's express statements,

Abraham

as saying

"And

beside

gulf (^aa-fxa to

:

all

between us and you there is a great who would pass from hence

this,

fiiya) fixed, that they

you may not be

and that none may cross over from

able,

thence to us." In other words that are in are in

:

there

is

"no

getting out" any

Abraham's bosom remain there

Hades proper cannot be

for ever,

transferred any

more

more

— those

and those that to

Abraham's

BEL,

bosom

Hence

!

spirits in

— to

Hades proper" he would have done something which was useless, for he knew that he could not help

From

!

37

Christ had indeed preached the "gospel to the

if

say the least

them

THE CHRIST OF ANCIENT TIMES.

—

this

it

follows that Christ did not and could not have

preached the gospel, nor did he or could he have gone to proper, the uncomfortable place

Hades

!

Above we saw

that the verb

K-qpva-fruv

simply expresses the idea

that Christ as the messenger of a higher person, heralded or pro-

claimed something.

quickened

With

life.

of

darkness

— after

:

death and grave comes to an end.

become the As such

life.

life

life

powers

the assurance

over death but

and death

and death of the

and not only over these, but also over that

— because

It is

victor, the king not only

a king over

judgment over the

to sit in

having acquired a new (spiritual)

his being quickened Christ's battle against the

that he has also over

This he did immediately after his "being

in the spirit"

it

behoves him

spirits in prison

—

mankind. Christ's

of all

—

cannot be a preaching of the gospel must therefore express the idea that He as king over life and death has now also the fates with regard to the life and death of the whole of heralding

mankind and

it

instantly exercises the powers that belong to

ment over the

fates of the spirits

nians would call a tnushim shimdti, destines and seals) the fates."

herald — one is,

we

as

language

"God

he

sits

in judg-

i.

e.,

"one

that determines (and a

is

This "other person " in

New Testament

in a

place especially

the Father."

a house, a

is

not passed except

This place

room

judgment, and shall hear more about

in

which the

is

called here "prison

spirits are

has, therefore, nothing to

their

:

As such a niushim shlmdti he

"the great gods," or

shall see shortly,

set aside for this purpose. it is

him

— he becomes what the Babylo-

that acts for another person.

Judgment, however, such

He

in particular of the spirits in prison in his hand.

this

"kept"

;

as

to await

do with Hades.

room when we come

"

We

to speak of the

Babylonian Ubshugina. If

died

days

we sum up our

results they

would be the following

body and soul were separated,

:

!

On

:

Christ

this separation lasted for three

the third day his body and soul were reunited again

:

THE CHRIST OF ANCIENT TIMES.

BEL,

38

—

he was quickened in the spirit acquired a new spiritual (?) life. This took place on early Easter-morning. But not only the quickening occured at this time but also his "showing or his proclaim-

The proclaiming

ing himself as the victor," and his resurrection.

himself as victor took place

in a

room

called "prison,"

departed spirits were kept, held for judgment. \\\& fates of

mushim

shimati,

i.

e.,

such he acts again as "herald,"

sioned by

which

a higher authority,

this heralding

— Christ

becomes "one who determines the

the spirits were sealed or determined,

thus a Babylonian fates," as

By

where the

latter

e.

i,

as

,

one commis-

are the gods.

After

Christ had "determined the fates" of the spirits in prison, he rises.

He

could and did

does

rise,

because he

rise

is

part of "nature,"

to us every year in the spring that

—hence

as there

Man

because he was man.

again can and

and nature demonstrates

"the dead do

a resurrection of nature, so there

is

also a Resurrection of Christ

new

rise to

is

life"

and was

!

ORIGIN OF THE DOCTRINE OF RESURRECTION. That

this doctrine of the

Old Testament

in the

is

Resurrection cannot have

now admitted by

subject of a special investigation

Gunkel's article

in

The Monist

;

all

its

who made

source

this the

see here especially Professor

for April, 1903, pp.

-440, where he considers the resurrection

of Christ

417-419 and 439 and his descent

Hades, inclining to the belief that these doctrmes were brought Judaism from "a stellar religion in which it was the ideal of the

into to

be snatched away from the transitoriness of the earth like unto the ever-beaming divine stars." And a further below he says (p. 419): "It is well known that the be-

faithful

and

to

little

to

become

been present in a number of Oriental religions, for example, the Egyptian and the Persian, and that the whole Orient was filled with it at the time of which we are speaklief in life

It is

ing. lief,

after death has long

not remarkable that Judaism also finally adopts this be-

but rather

deed,

it is

is it

strange that

it

resisted the belief so long."

In-

strange that Judaism did resist this belief so long, seeing

that the belief in the resurrection existed early as the time of

Gudea,

among

the Babylonians as

patesi of Shirpula, at

about 3200 B. C.

i;l:l,

the Christ of ancient times.

But some one may say

39

that there are several passages

in the

Old Testament which do show that the Hebrews did believe

in a

resurrection, quoting especially the familiar passage in Job xix. 25: "I know that my redeemer liveth, etc." Professor Gunkel, when

speaking of this passage, remarks quite rightly, all we can gather from this passage is that "Job thinks for a moment of the possibil-

God may

ity that

On

him even

justify

after

death"

account of the importance of this doctrine

{Joe. it

cit.,

p. 417).

would seem ad-

visable to examine the several passages of the Old Testament

we cannot

closely and see whether

traces of a belief in a resurrection and a

The

life after

death.

several passages of the Old Testament with regard to a

and

after death

life

more

detect in them at least sotue

a possible resurrection

may

be divided into

three classes ^ I.

Those according

which the "state"

to

after death

is

a con-

tinuation of the

life upon the earth. According to this view the dead possess a certain degree of self-consciousness, retain their power of speech and movement,^ have knowledge, are therefore " called c*:i,n"' knowing ones";^ they not only know what hap-

^

pens upon

the earth, but they also take an interest in the fortunes

she

knew it

:

they know the future,'^ whence they were consulted by the living. And because this life after death is simply

captivity

about

—

" Rachel weeps for her children,"'* as if what had happened to the Jews during the time of their

of their living brethren

;

a continuation of the

upon the

life

earth, therefore

it is

natural to

expect that the prophet should wear his garb of distinction, the mantle, even in Sheol.^

upon

Kings appear here with crowns and

sit

thrones,^ the uncircumcised retain their foreskin, nations their

national garb and customs,^ old people their gray hair," and those slain with the

sword bear forever the tokens

^ Conf. for the first two classes especially Cheyne sub " Eschatology," Vol. II., pp. 1340, 1341. 2 ^Lev. xix. 31. Isaiah 14.

^

f'

I

Sam.

I

Sam.

xxviii.

''Gen.

xlii.

13-20 '

xxviii. 14. 38.

:

of a violent death. ^"^

in his

EncyclofcBdia Biblica

^Jerem. xxxi.

Saul and the witch of Endor.

Is. xiv.

«

"Ezek.

Ezek. xxxii. xxxii. 25.

15.

THE CHRIST OF ANCIENT TIMES.

BEL,

40

^^ Cheyne, no doubt, is right when he calls this view the older.'''' Of a resurrection we hear in these passages not a single word, although

they clearly prove that with death 2.

Those

has not come to an end.

life

and are

that express a later idea

According to these, death

opposed to the former.

and destruction

is

as such diametrically is

destruction,^

Sheol,^ or also called (the place of) violence,^ a

place out of which

^'he that

down

goeth

shall come

?//>

no

more,^'"^

a

place not only where "kings," "counsellors of the earth," and

"princes" are to be found, but also where ^'the hoicked cease from " troubling, and where "the weary are at rest,'' -where prisoners are at ease together,'' "the s?nall his

free from

master."^

men!

ditions of

is

and

there,

is

is

and con-

and Israel

not,

happening or going on upon the earth

there

the servant

classes

all

doth

— the dead therefore have absolutely no knowl-

Especially important

"For

and great are

indeed a place for

There "Abraham knoweth us

not acknowledge us,"^

edge of what

It is

hope

is

!

here the passage in Job xiv. 7

of a tree,

if it

be cut down, that

it

:

will

sprout again.

And

that the tender branch thereof will not cease.

Though And the

was

the root thereof

old in the earth

stock thereof die in the ground.

Yet through the scent of water

it

will

bud

And put forth boughs like a plant. But man dieth, and wasteth away Yea, man giveth up the ghost, and where :

As the waters

fail

is

he?

from the sea

And the river decayeth and drieth So man lieth down and riseth not:

up.

heavens be no more, they shall not awake, be roused out of their sleep.] [Nor

Till the

What the

a difference between Job and St. Paul

same method

sions reached. '

*

of reasoning,

For

St.

Paul

Job

xxviii. 22.

2

Job

vii. 9.

5

— but

it

is

how

just

Job

14

different are the conclu-

yp

ff.

Both employ

the nature which proves ^

Jq], jjxvi. 6. iii.

!

6

Is

cxv. 17. ixiii

16.

THE CHRIST OF ANCIENT TIMES.

BEL,

conclusively that there

is

but alas

a resurrection,

41 for

!

Job the

tree,

though the root thereof was old, and the stock thereof die, will bud Two arguagain, but man when he dieth will never rise again !

ments, though both based upon the phenomena of nature, lead to two diametrically opposed conclusions And because therfe is ab!

no hope

solutely (ix. 5

ff.

man

for

after death, therefore argues Ecclesiastes

in his pessimistic spirit

)

"Eat thy bread with heart;

for

and drink thy wine with a merry God hath already accepted thy works. ... Live

joyfully with the wife life of

joy,

whom

thou lovest

the days of the

all

thy vanity, which he hath given thee under the sun,

the days of thy vanity

all

:

in thy labor

:

for that is thy portion in

wherein thou laborest under the sun.

ever thy hand findeth to do, do

it

with thy might

life,

Whatso;

for there

no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, grave, whither thou goeth." is

Dark, very dark cording to this view

the outlook indeed, which

is !

No

life,

no

joy,

which do indeed betray grave

in the

men have

no resurrection

With the death everything comes to an end. 3. And yet, there are some passages in

and

ac-

after death

!

the Old Testament

to us a belief in a deliverance out of the

All these passages, however, belong to the very latest por-

!

whole Old Testament writings. Now it is not necesconstrue with Professor Gunkel {Monist, April, 1903, p. 487)

tions of the

sary to

such sayings as meaning that " the faithful expects in this connection not the resurrection from the dead, but rather something very

namely that God

different,

will save

him

\n present danger

permit his soul to go down into Sheol (the grave)." tion might possibly hold good of such passages as

and not

This explana-

:

"God ixl.

will

my

soul from the power of Sheol"

15).

"For thou But

redeem

it

wilt not leave

my

never could be applied to

t//

soul to Sheol" xxxvii. 28

"For the Lord knoweth judgment And forsaketh not the saints

:

{\p

xvi. 18).

(i/'

BEL,

42

They

THE CHRIST OF ANCIENT TIMES.

are preserved /(^r ever (ClJ'r^)

But the seed

of the

shall be cut off."

wicked

This "for ever" clearly shows that the psalmist not only beGod could and would preserve the soul of the saints in

lieved that

and always,

tresent danger but continually, always

unto

all

for ever

and

ever,

eternity.

Meagre and few

as these passages are, yet they help us to fol-

low up the path that leads us to the source whence such a view These passages, belonging possibly might have been important. to the latest portions of Hebrew literature, and as such having been written

after the Babylonian captivity, point thus to Babylonia

as their source.

Quite recently Zimmern, in his K. A. T^. to

fit

make

"von

the statement,

p.

et

638

saw

passim,

einer Auferstehungslehre

bis

ist

jetzt wenigstens keine sichere Spur in der babylonischen Litteratur

That

zu finden." to

now

cannot be maintained any more

this

I

hope

be able to show.

WEDDING FESTIVALS OF THE GODS.

We the

have seen above ^ that

"heaven," while

was

who

one

to

his

be found one,

brings forth,"

husband

of Ninlil,

among which

above, different names,

viz., d^^s^'>'Gd-ra,

— a name which

is

i.

was

This "wife" had

wife was "the earth."

in the three lists, transcribed

there

Enlil, the

e.,

Muallidtu or "the

even found

in

Herodotus

131, 99 under the form MuAtxTa.^ In our Creation-Story, p. 19, we heard that the wife of Enlil had several names even in the oldest 1

i.

Sumerian inscriptions mistress of the also called

TU

or

— such ''^

as: {a)

of the

gods";

mother of the world (or people),

comes thus the scriptions of

428.

earth.

(
who

^msirBa-u,

Now

it

i.

e.,

the divine

therefore she

(^b) dt>igir]\j'in-in-si-7ta,

is

"the

created the creatures of the

who

as the wife of Enlil be-

happens that we read

Gudea, the patesi of Shirpurla,

'

See also C.

^

See also Jensen, Kosm., pp. 294, 515.

4.

{^ alddti),

bringing forth''''

"the mother

world," but especially

dingtrjsfifi.tu,

who

in several in-

lived at about

S. p. 52.

Zimmern, K. A.

T\

pp. 423, 7;

BEL,

3200 B.

C,

of a

THE CHRIST OF ANCIENT TIMES.

-wedding"

and lightnings, and

ders,

on the New- Years-day -the festival of Ban."

4,

of Nin-Girsu, the

din^irBa-u.^

of the

month

god of rain, thunThis wedding was celebrated called Ezen-HngirBa-il,

i.

e.,

The

significance of this wedding-celebration becomes at once // is the fructification plain! of the earth by the rain in consequence of which the earth is made pregnant and brings forth new life. Ba-u becomes thus not only an or mother, a

AM

one "that brings forth," but also ^.dingirjs/in-din-dug,'^ Sumerian name, which when translated into Assyrian would be muballitat tniti,^ i. e., "the o?ie who quickens the dead.'' That which niuallidtu,

2.

=

she quickens, restores to

— hence Such

name

the

Ba-71,

a fructification

place in the spring.

new i.

and

are

life,

e.,

''t/ie

-the giver

green things of the earth''

{b a) of

«^

= green things.*

vivification of the earth

Hence during

that time

can only take

which precedes the

spring the earth^ as well as Nin-Girsu must be fruitless, barren, or dead. The time that precedes the spring is the winter. In winter

then both "the earth" and the

-god

ning," must be dead, must

in

why Gudea Nin-Girsu

'

in the

Ba-u

light-

understand

temple ^-ninnu-d'ns'r/m-gig-ghu-bar-bar also a

Gudea, Statue G. If

Now we

the grave.

records repeatedly in his inscriptions that he built for

gish-sa ag-da 2

lie

and thunder and

of rain

;

is

II.

1-7; III. 6

u

i'.

:

Ud-zag-mii czen


so-

ni[g)-gal-

IV. 18. able to quicken the dead, then, of course, she has the power to Cf. Craig, Relig. Texts, I p. 18, 5-6: «'"'*•>

'restore to health the sick" also.

Ba-ii mil ?iam-ti-la shub-ba s7mg-gig-ga-ge — ''"ditto tia-da-at ski-fat ba-la(l)-dt ana qi-its lib-bi, i. e., " Bau who giveth the salvina of life to the sick heart."

—

^This name is also given to the goddess Gula a name which was originally " the great one," rabftit, shurbfltu. only an attribute of Ba-ii, and meaning as such In the oldest texts Gula appears still used as an attribute, has therefore not the sign for god prefixed to it, see E. B. H. p. 443. ^li in this signification has according to the syllabaries (see Br. List, 6oig, we ought to read therefore Ba-sham. 6027) probably the pronunciation This latter reading seems to be implied also in Reisner, Hymnen, p. 8g, 12 83, 9 can hardly be taken as a pro(cf. 1. 28) ugun-mu
SHAM

;

;

MU

:

noun (="my"), but where sham-mu.

it

seems

to contain

the overhanging vowel "

=

.5fl-

See here especially the drastic description of the deadness of nature while (= Innanna, another name for Ba-ii, C. S. p. 20) is in the nether world, i. e.. while she is dead, barren, while it is winter: Ishtar's descent, K. B. VI'. p. 86, ^

'

Ishtar

Rev. 6

ff.

'

THE CHRIST OF ANCIENT TIMES.

BEL,

44 called

Gi-gunu^ out

of

This Gi-gunu appears in IV.

cedar-wood.

R. 24, 4^2 not only in parallelism with 6-kur and with Arallu, i.e., the "nether world," but is called there even the ashar la naplusi, i.

"iJie

e.,

not see

place of the not-seeing,

= the place of

i.

e.,

where one does not and can-

Nin-Girsu then dies every year

darkness.

and goes to the Gi-gunu. Here he is during the winter. In winter he is dead there are no rains, thunders, and lightnings at this :

time

!

cates

But by

quickened and rises again, this he indilightnings and thunders that even at our present

in spring

his first

he

is

times take place in the early spring.

As soon

he rises and marries the mother earth,

i.

Ba-u

e,,

:

in

consequence of

this

are quickened, they rise and

Year's day,"

it

the

pregnancy the dead things

new

life

take place in the spring only, and

New

:

is

if

sprouts

was

this

!

quickened,

warm

who becomes

of the spring unite themselves with the earth,

nant

he

as

rains

preg-

of the earth

wedding could the same time "the

If this

at

follows that already at Gudea's time or about

3200 B. C. the year began with the spring, with the first of Nisan, the vernal equinox,^ and that the wedding of Nin-Girsu and Ba-u is

nothing but a spring festival celebrating the resurrection of nature

to 7iew life !

It is

a Resurrection-festival.

we now understand why Nin-Girsu should god of vegetation'" he it is, who by his fructifica-

In view of this fact

have become the

^^

:

he

tion of the earth produces vegetation,

long ere this.

the erroneous idea that Ninib

was

or the East sun.^ Ninib (because rain, lightnings, etc., as ^

II, ^

See E. B. 7-III

is

"god

of

,

either the

South or

= Nin-Girsu)

is

Summer

sun^

the god of storm,

such also a god of vegetation," and a god

Index, sub buildings, and Gudea, Statue B, V. 15-19; Statue

I.

See Jensen, Kosm.,

^This *

H

therefore the

That Nin-Girsu was:=Ninib has been recognised Our investigations,* however, force us to abandon

the farmers."

D,

is

the answer to

See also

p. 185.

Zimmern, K. A. T.^

p.

514.

my

forthcoming article on Jahveh. ^Winckler, Geschichte Israels, II., 79,

*'

Jensen, Kosm., p 457 f. K. 133 Rev. 20 (A. S. K. T. p 81): mit-cha-rish shumi-shu im-bu-u sham-mu (=u-mu) ana shar-ru-ti-shu-nu := with one consent the plants called his (i. e., Ninib's) name to a kingship over them. '

THE CHRIST OF ANCIENT TIMES.

BEL,

And

of the farmers.^

45

Nin-Girsu quickens the dead, so it is has been brought down into the nether world, his body thou bringest back again."'' Nin-Girsu was the ur-sag, i. e., prime minister of Enlil, and said of Ninib

as in the

just as

"Who

:

Old Testament the "angel

was

of the lord"

in course of

time identified with "the lord," so was Nin-Girsu, resp. Ninib, with Enlil So it happened that when the Canaanites had invaded !

Babylonia and made themselves masters over

it, Marduk displaced not only Enlil but also his "prime minister," both of whose attributes and functions were now attributed to him (i. e. Marduk).

—

,

Marduk's wife was Tsarpanitum, i. e., "the one who shines (like silver)," as such she was again identified with Ishtar (=Innanna, another notice that the

name for the wife of Enlil). Now, it is name Tsarpanitum should have become,

to the folk-etymology, Zer-banitu, i. e. "the one " That this must have had a reason duces, seed ,

!

dent

And what is the reason? The spring-festival of the

who is,

strange to

according

creates, pro-

of course, evi-

!

was

resurrection of nature, which

conceived to be (at the time of Gudea) a wedding of Nin-Girsu and Ba-ii, was transferred to Marduk who now took the highest place in the Babylonian pantheon,

—

it

became

a

wedding^

Mar-

of

duk and Tsarpanitu, which wedding likewise took place in the This event was also considered to be a tabti^ or spring, in Nisan. resurrection of

These

earth.

Marduk and

facts alone help us considerably to explain

fully the nature of

In winter, then,

'

What

.

= ikkaru = farmer

;

and

«''«^'>

is

\s

Engar

-^

upon more

his reign, his king-

again the winter. In the powerless.

=

^^^

Ninib.

See also

8.

2

King, Magic, No.

3

1-chi-ish

2,

21

:

sha ana aralU shUrudu fagarshu tuterra!

ana cha-da-ash-shu-tu,

Reisner,

ship.

precedes the spring

Marduk has no kingship, —he

Cf here Engar note

Marduk begins

god Marduk.

ship in the spring.

p. i6,

the beginning oi his "kmgs/ii/>^'

Hymnen,

p.

*Neb. VII. 24; Nerigl.

i.

e.,

he

\sc.

Marduk] hastened

to the bride-

145, 8. I.

35

;

Jensen, K. B. VI.'

p.

306; Zimmern, K. A. T.^

P- 371-

^Ir-mu-u ana sharru-ii-tu, cit.,

1.

9.

i.

e.,

he sat down for the kingship.

Reisner, loc

BEL,

^6 Spring he

THE CHRIST OF ANCIENT TIMES.

during the winter he must be in the grave, must be

rises,

In the spring he "hastens to the brideship,"

dead.

The

he unites himself with Tsarpanitu. Tsarpanitu becomes a mother,

i.

e.,

he weds,

result of this is again that

is fructified

and

vivified,

— hence the

she brings forth seed. Tsarpanitu becomes a Zer-banitu, as such of Ba-u or Ishtar (=Inthe takes she This she does because place

The earth by wedding Marduk is made to pronanna), the earth duce the "green things of nature," and Marduk, who causes all i. e., he "who this, is therefore called sha miti bulluta irammu,^ !

delights in quickening the dead," balati,'

"the lord

because

to include,

In another place*

I

— for

is

AMAR-UD,

Marduk, the

he were an illuminator

if

"mankind"

a part of nature,

also.

of light,

however, not as an illuminating power, but

as a //>-^/z'/«^ principle.

"dead"

man

^

have shown that Marduk was the god

— the light considered, of the sun,"

he has the name bel

These "dead," whom Marduk quickens "the dead things of nature,'' ^ but

of life."

can therefore be primarily only

came

— therefore

only,

i.

"the son

e.,

could never be called

The ''rays of the sun" dead or powerless in the winter, be-

or "powerless" during the winter. are Marduk-— are

these

cause they do not give warmth.^ Marduk, the god of light, becomes thus the god of the warmth of the spring,^ because in the spring, is quickened again and rises, when he begins his "kingenters into a wedlock with mother earth, the rays of theand ship"

when he

sun become

to

be

felt,"^

— his

'Zimmern, Shiirpu, VII.

power begins, the earth

2

84.

is

fructified.

^immern, Shurpu, VIII.

Against Zimmern, K. A. T." pp. 373, 639, who thinks that miti here But the V n\^ never means sick, but dead only kranke, Schwerkranke. 3

71.

= Tot-

\

ibid., p. 562,

f. =Mo?iist, XII., 572; see also Jensen, K. B. VI. and Jastrow, JezuisJi Quarterly Revieiv, 1901, p. 638,

scholars have

drawn my

*C. S.

p. 5

>

p. 563,

— both

cf.

these

attention to these places.

^This against Jensen, K. B. VI.' p. 563. * The idea that Marduk be the god of the early sun either of the day, or of the spring, or "at the beginning" when the world was created, ought now to be given up once for all, seeing that even the originator of the same. Professor Jensen, has himself abandoned

it.

Marduk is in 7iot felt, although the sun is shining M?.rduk and Nabu powerless, is dead, and is as such called Nabu represent thus the two halves of the year summer and winter '

In the winter they are

the grave,

:

is

!

:

!

THE CHRIST OF ANCIENT TIMES.

BEL,

brings forth fruit

new

The

life.

the dead things of the earth are quickened, rise to

:

fight of

fight of the hght,

i.

e.,

Marduk

the

is

against Tiamat appears thus as a

warmth (the summer beginning with the

spring) against the darkness,

when everything

47

i.

the cold (the winter,

e.,

chaos,

barren, dead), which fight took place not only

"in the beginning" on "the first spring," but which repeats itself every year and which will go on ach-ra-tash nishi la-ba-rish ume^,^

— for

all eternity, for

ever and ever.

enemy, the winter, and thus

made

After having overcome his

the creation possible,

receives the highest honor which a god can or

may

Marduk

receive

:

he

henceforth called by the name of that ancient Sumerian god,

is

viz.,

En-lU, the "king and father of the gods," the "king of the lands, "'^

"king" he

as such a

He

his hands.

also has the

life

and death

can now determine their

fates,

he

of his is a

people

mushim

in

shi-

mati.

This

point leads us over to another important event

latter

which took place

The this

way

New

connection with this

in

Marduk was

resurrection of

Year's festival.

celebrated by the people in

:

Just as

Marduk

— so his statue

left

left

or

the nether world

went out

(^atsu) of

— a place within the earth

the temple Esagil and

was

wheeled around on a ship^ in solemn procession (niashdachu). This "wheeling around" took place on the most celebrated street in Babylon, the street Ai-ibur-shabum, i. e., probably, "not shall the dark one gain victory."^

were

Especially sacred during this festival

on which Marduk as the highest the other great gods "determines the

the eighth to the tenth day,

and as the spokesman of all fates" of mankind in a place called Du-azag, which again was another called Ubshugina.

(=Neb. 1

See here especially K. B.

III. 2 p.

15

in ff.

II. 54-):

K. B. VI. 1

p. 36, 10

2

f.

K. B. VI.'

p. 36.

13.

^That is: the ceremonies connected with this festival were such that went " der ausgelassensten against "the common order of things," it was a festival

—

" " Freude," where everything went upside down, the veriest car-neval (Winckler). " * Shiba not "enemy as Del. H. W. B. p. 637 wants, see Jensen, K. B. VI The "dark one" is the "death," "winter," "chaos," "darkness," Tiimat, 335.

=

etc.

'

BEL,

48

THE CHRIST OF ANCIENT TIMES.

Du-azag, the "place of the destiners Ub-shu-gin-na, the chamber of fates is

given

where

!),

at

(=

(the time of) the

the

of fate,"

which

is

(in)

room where judgment

ZAG-MU-KU,

"New-

the

Year," on the eighth (to the) eleventh day the "king of the gods of heaven and earth," the "lord of the gods," takes his abode

(=sits down sc. for judgment), and where he, while the gods heaven and earth reverently listen (?) and stand, doing homage him, determines a fate of eternal days (to be) the fate of

of

my

of to

life.^

Du-azag means "bright or holy hill," and Ubshugina the "room the assembling hand"^ we have, then, here a larger place within

—

which there

is

On

a "hill."

this hill the great

gods are assembled

and determine under the presidency of Marduk the fates of mankind. Whatever may be the outcome of this shinitu shimu, this "determining of fates," Marduk declares it; he appears thus as a "herald" who although the highest god acts only with the consent of the other great

Taking

all

gods

!

these facts into consideration, the sequence of the

New- Year's

events, connected with this

conceived of as follows

festival,

1.

During the winter Marduk

2.

In the spring or in Nisan, which

New Year, Marduk

enters

new power, new life 3. As soon as he ;

'

upon

is

powerless,

quickened.

is

quickened he fall

i.

e.,

rises

dead.

the beginning of the

is

his kingship again,

is

resurrection practically

has probably to be

:

i.

e.

,

he acquires

— his quickening and his

together.

Du-azag ki-nam-tar-taT-e-ne sha Ub-shu-(ii)gin-na fiarak shi-ma-a-ti sha ina ZA G-MU-KU ri-esh sha-at-ti

Amu

Vlllkam ^rmi XI^""'

dimmer

j^j^gcil-diifi-me-ir-an-ki-a bel

ill

i-ra-am-mu-u ki-ri-ib-shu ildni shu-ut

shame

irtsiti

fa-al-chi-ish u-ta-ak-ku-shu

ka-am su

iti-za-zu m.ach-ru-ush-shu

shi-m.a at H-um. da-er-u-tim

shi-ma-at ba-la-ti-ia i-shi-im-mn i-na ki-ir-bi. 2

Jensen,

Kosm

,

p. 240, translates this

but in this translation the sku

is

name by

not accounted for.

"

Raum

der Versammlung,

'

BEL,

4.

THE CHRIST OF ANCIENT TIMES.

Having thus been quickened and having

49 risen,

he unites

himself with mother earth.

—

This union makes the earth "give up her dead" the resurrection of nature is thus conditioned by Marduk's resurrection if 5.

—

Markuk had not

risen, nature (vegetation) could not rise to

new

life! 6.

Marduk

as the victor

and conqueror

of

darkness enters

in

solemn procession the "holy hill" within the "room of the assembling hand" and determines here in the name of all the other great gods the fates of mankind. This festival of the resurrection

of Marduk and that of nature was celebrated every Nisan while the Jews were in the Babylonian captivity. Surely we must suppose that this spring-festival was

known

to the returning Jews,

if

we do

not want to maintain that

they were dead, absolutely dead, to their surroundings. We saw above that we could detect in the Old Testament at least some

meagre

relics

however,

of a doctrine

in the

New

of

the resurrection, which doctrine,

Testament holds almost the same place as

it

did in ancient Babylonia.

THE RESURRECTION OF

CHRIST.

As Marduk had displaced old Enlil and his messenger, so Marduk is the god of light and Christ Christ displaced Marduk.

—

is the "light of the world," he was therefore made to have been born on the 25th of December the festival of light when the days begin to lengthen again and thus save the world from falling into

—

—

utter darkness.

Marduk was

he died, and was

in

the light as a "life-giving principle,"

the grave during three double-months,^ but first of Nisan, when he acquired new power, and entered into a wedlock

rose again in the spring, on the

new

life,

new

strength,

with Tsarpanitum or Ishtar. i. e., into the grave, where he was for was and Christ, too, died, put the festival of Ishtar.^ three days, but had to rise again on Easter

with mother earth, his wife,

—

months

of the winter.

^

I. e.,

2

Easter and Ishtar are one and the same word.

during the

six

language from the Germans,

who worshipped

It

has come into the English This Ostara

the goddess Ostara.

BEL,

50

THE CHRIST OF ANCIENT TIMES.

he demonstrated that he, like Marduk, had overcome the powers of darkness (= the old dragon, the serpent !) his resurrection

By

and had entered upon his kingly rulership, and thus became the bel balati, "the lord of life." Marduk, however, not only rose himself, but forced by entering into wedlock with mother earth, this latter to give

Thus

up her dead.

also Christ,

if

he really wanted

to

show

that there began with his resurrection also his kingly rulership

upon

earth,

Is

had

to force the earth to give

up her dead

— therefore

it

^

said

:

"And

behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain

from the top to the bottom, and the earth did quake; and the rocks were rent and the tombs were opened and many ;

;

had

bodies of the saints that

were

fallen asleep

raised,

and

^ coming forth out of the tombs after his resurrection they

entered into the holy city and appeared unto

This passage proves, more than anything transferred to CJirist

though we hear

all

in these verses of all the

raised,

said that

it

and coming forth out

they entered the holy city

tion

else, that

that originally belonged to

with the death of Christ yet

were

many

there

Marduk

!

was Al-

circumstances connected

"many bodies

of the

!"

tombs

of the saints

after his resurrec-

According to Babylonian ideas there never could come forth the dead out of the earth at the death of

Marduk.

Matthew wanting

!

to record the terrible

connection with Christ's death

— an

—

earthquake

earthquake so terrible

in

that

even the graves were opened feels that it was impossible to sa)^ that the "saints" rose while their life-giver was dead hence he

—

makes the addition

'^

after his resurrection.'"

With Marduk's

res-

was given, the dead could hence Matthew's statement

urrection the resurrection of the dead

not rise

if

Marduk had not

the dead rose after

/^w,

i.

risen first

e.,

—

Christ's resurrection!

:

Christ had to

Germans from the Greeks, among whom the goddess Aphrodite, same role as does among the Germans the goddess Ostara. This Aphrodite was called by Herodotus (see above) Mi'A^rra and thus identified with the Hebrew Ashtoreh, who again is the Semitic-Babylonian Ishtar, and this the Tsarpanitu resp. Innanna or Bau was brought

= Astarte,

to the

plays the

!

'

Matth.

2 KaX

xxvii. 53.

i^£X'&6vTec ek tuv fivTifieluv /xera ttjv lyepatv avrov elcyTi'&ov eJf t^v dyiav noXiv.

THE CHRIST OF ANCIENT TIMES.

BEL, rise first

—

if

Christ did not

Neither could Christ

And what

rise,

then the dead could not

rise alone, the earth

a difference there

between

is

51

had

rise.

up her dead statement of Matthew

this

to give

!

and the reasoning of St. Paul According to Paul, Christ did rise, because the dead rise, and the dead rise because nature proves it !

that there

is

a resurrection every spring.

the resurrection of Christ

is

more

in

Matthew's conception of accord with the teachings of

the Babylonian religion.

Marduk

quickening and resurrection enters

after his

in

solemn

procession the "holy hill" within the Ubshugina and "determines

the fates of mankind."

Christ, too, after his being quickened sets

out on a journey to the so-called

That

this latter

= the Ubshugina, dent enough.

^vXaK-r],

the great "keeping-place."

cannot be the "nether world the

"room

"

Marduk were

Christ as well as

while they were dead, while lying in the grave,

double-months

During these days

rated from the soul,

— the former

in the nether i.

e.,

Christ's

— as

Testament usus loquendi

days,

i.

evi-

world

during the three

preceded

body was sepa-

being in the tomb, the latter con-

tinuing to live as an utukku, resp. ekimmu,

New

must be

hand," seems

of the winter, resp. the three days that

Christ's quickening.

e.,

as such, but

of the assembling

i.

e.

a "spirit."

— according

to the

After these three

after the time of Christ's being in the lower world, he

goes to the "prison" not only as a "spirit" but as a "spirit reIf this "prison" were united to its body," i. e., as a quickened otte. the "nether world,"

descents to Hades,

was

alive,

quickened.

as a quickened one,

we would

— one

Besides

and

if

necessarily have to postulate two

while he was dead, the other while he this,

if

Christ went to the "prison"

this latter (the prison)

was the nether

world, then the question would have to be answered, where was Christ's body,

death?

We

where was

his soul during the three days of his

see, these difficulties force us to maintain the identity

"keeping-place" or "prison" with the "room of the assemMarduk "determines here the fates of mankind," bling hand." and Christ "heralds" something, that this heralding or preaching of the

—

could not have been a " proclamation of the Gospel,'' we saw above; hence the heralding can be only a proclamation of the fates of the

THE CHRIST OF ANCIENT TIMES.

BEL,

52

as one "who "spirits" in prison. Christ appears here like Marduk we then this be determines the fates." If true, may also venture

Ubshugina, resp. the prison. The far as I know, with the Babylothe places in consideration where we hear

to decide the exact nature of the

Ubshugina

is

nian Hades.

never identified, as all

Taking

something about the Ubshugina, we

much

:

a

It is

room

in the

may

say at the present^ this

temple of Marduk. This temple of Marand every temple does "the

called Esagila represents as each

duk

world" or "cosmos," hence Ubshugina must represent also a cosmic quantity and as such be situated in the Cosmos. In the Ubshugina the Anunnaki are said to live. The Anunnaki, however, play an important role in the "judgment" of the departed souls.

Hence

the

Ubshugina

is

the "place or

the departed are assembled

them.

This "judgment"

presidency of Marduk,

"

is

who

room

which the souls of

in

and where judgment

is

passed upon

given by the great gods under the

are therefore likewise assembled in the

shall be done Ubshugina. " with this or that soul, they sit on the Du-azag^ or holy hill" which After the judgment has likewise is to be found in the Ubshugina. been passed, the "souls" are dismissed to the nether world proper,

While the gods thus "determine" what

where they enjoy,

resp.

do not enjoy their

therefore, as well as the "prison,"

parted

spirits,

and

is

is

fates.

The Ubshugina,

the judgment haW^ for the de-

as such situated likewise in the cosmos,

especially in the earth,

and clearly

distinct

more

from the nether world.

Christ as well as Marduk, after having overcome the powers

and thus shown that they have power over life and death, take upon themselves instantly the functions of the highest of darkness,

by "determining the fates." But not only this is their only reward: Marduk was made the highest god and called ''En-lil of the gods," thus practically put at the head of all the other gods, so

judge,

also Christ,

'

239

— he was seated

See also

my

forthcoming article on Jahveb, and

cf.

Jensen, Kosmologie,

p.

£f.

^ ^

See Jensen, Kosmologie, p. 234 ff. ub-shu-ukin-na-ki ki-sal fuchur il&ni""'^ a-shar di-e-ni, K. 8830,

by Pinches, P.

S. B. A., 1894, p. 229, note.

1.

4,

cited

BEL,

THE CHRIST OF ANCIENT TIMES.

53

''on the right

hand of God, having gone into heaven; anand authorities and powers— i. e., the whole gels heavenly world— being made subject unto him" (i Peter iii. 21).

Our

investigations will have

The

doctrine of the Resurrection was

early as 3200 B.

shown

us,

I

hope, the following

known

in

:

Babylonia as

which time there was celebrated a springThis spring-festival was a marriage between "the rains

festival.

of the spring"

C,

at

and "mother earth."

In consequence of this marand brought forth in due time the earth": the vegetation. These "green

became

riage the earth

"the green things

of

a mother

" things of the earth as well as mother earth and the god of rain

were also considered

to

be ''dead during the

winter,''

— Nin-Girsu

therefore had a tomb or burial-place, the Gi-gunu, for his abode during the time of his "death."

mon phenomena

of nature

:

no thunders, no lightnings,

This was again based upon the comduring the winter there are no rains,

— hence

the spring, however, with the

first

Nin-Girsu must be dead.

In

rolling of the thunders,^ the

people gathered that Nin-Girsu has been quickened again Very soon there appeared also the first rains of the spring, who fructified !

As Nin-Girsu is not only the god of the thunder and but also that of the rain, this "raining upon the earth" lightning, was considered to be a marriage between the "god of the rain" the earth.

and the "goddess of the earth." The resurrection of nature has thus two causes the vivification or quickening of the god of rain :

(and mother earth) and the marriage relation between Nin-Girsu and Ba-u. No wonder, then, that even at our present times this latter aspect

should play such an important role

at Easter, the fes-

tival of the Ishtar,

i. e., the goddess of love\ At the time when Marduk was introduced into the Babylonian pantheon, these two aspects, i. e. the quickening and the marriage ,

— were

retained,

only the names of the parties concerned were

changed: Nin-Girsu, the god of rain, became Marduk, the god of Besides these two light, and Ba-u became Tsarpanitum or Ishtar. '

Mathew's statement about the earthquake

in connection with the death of

Christ ought to have occurred at his (Christ's) resurrection " addition "after his resurrection !

!

Cf the remarkable .

54

THE CHRIST OF ANCIENT TIMES.

BEL,

The new

ancient features there was introduced a third one.

life of

the nature was not merely considered to be the result of a quicken-

made dependent

ing and a marriage, but they were

The Canaanites

ceding fight.

the whole of Babylonia had

also

upon

z.

pre-

before they could think of mastering

first

subdue

of all to fight,

their ene-

Marduk being their god, becomes thus the god who subdues his enemies. And as he subdued them once, so he always mies.

has and will continue to subdue them for

all

Marduk

eternity.

subdued Babylonia, conquered his enemies who lived there before With this subjugation the "new life," the new forms and him. of

governments

Babylonia were made possible.

For these con-

quering Canaanites, Babylonia became the "world," Kar iiox^v, and Marduk their god, /car* iioxw- Just as Marduk conquered the ene-

mies of Babylonia, so he also must have conquered the old, old

— the

Tiamat, or chaos; just as with the Babylonian enemies the new life and develop ment of "Babylonia" were made possible, so also was with his of the

enemy

"world,"

subjugation of his

conquering Tiamat the

duk means according and

is,

therefore, a

enemy can be only

life

and development

to his

god

name

of light,

AMAR-UD^ "son

hence

fight of the iight against the darkness,

darkness the creation of the world a "light" because

it

if

he be the

Marduk's

the darkness.

"world." Mar-

of the

is

— after

fight

of the sun,"

iight,

then his

becomes thus

a

having overcome the But Marduk is not possible.

illmninates but because

it

tvarms, gives

life,

hence his enemy, the darkness, must be the winter The fight of Marduk and Tiamat thus repeats itself yearly it is the fight of the !

:

'^rays of the sun^' in the spring against

sun" gain come, a give

the co/d\

in this fight the victory: the cold, the

new

order of things

up her dead, new a

of

life

darkness

initiated, the earth

is

of the

is

over-

forced to

sprouts, the resurrection takes place

="M
Ishtar^who?

ought to marry — an

now

names takes place

Again change duk becomes Christ, Tiamat

Tsarpanitum or

is

The "rays

— but only of ?iames

!

!

Mar-

old serpent, the dragon," and

According to analogy, Christ also

idea almost obliterated, but

still

preserved in

allusions to the bride of the lamb, the personification of the Church.

Just as

Marduk conquered

the primeval dragon, Tiamat, and

BEL,

THE CHRIST OF ANCIENT TIMES.

55

created the world, so Christ had io create the world; just as Marduk rose as the god of light every spring, and married Ishtar or

the earth, and fructified and vivified her, by means of which she begat children ox produced new life, so did Christ because he too is

He

the light.

rt'/V/

rise

author not only of the

because he was

^ Marduk.

Marduk

is

the

creation but of every new creation, so

first

is

and through Christ men do rise. Marduk in conseonly of his quence victory over the dragon was exalted, and received the naj7te of Enlil, the "father atid god of the gods,'' the " god of heaven and earth,'^ the Bel ox Lord, ko-t ki,o^v, so Christ was taken up into Christ

in

:

hand of God," for "God him the name which is above every

the heavens and enthroned on "the right

highly exalted him, and gave unto

name

knee should bow, of and earth, things under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is the Lordl^

name

(^\y,

things in

Our

that in the

Easter-festival

is

the resurrection of nature,

over the winter. Christ

is

the old, old spring-festival, celebrating

made

possible by the victory of the spring

Nature does indeed

rise,

man, therefore Christ did rise

the Bel, the Lord\ iphil.

of Jesus every

heaven and things on

ii.

9

ff.

!

man is a part of nature, And the risen Christ is

Religions: Ancient The

Series

is

tures of the

and Modern

intended to present to a large public the salient feaof the Human Race. The Volumes

Great Religions

dready published have met with the most gratifying appreciation. Fcap. 8vo.

Cloth, 40 cents net

per volume

NOW PUBLISHED Animism.

Hinduism. By Edward Clodd

By Dr.

L. D.

By James Allanson Picton

By Prof. Giles

Ancient Greece.

Celtic Religion.

By

Prof.

By Jane Harrison

Anwyl

Babylonia and Assyria

Mythology of Ancient Britain and Ireland.

By Theophilus G. Pinches

Islam.

By Charles Squire

By Syed Ameer

Ancient Egypt. By Prof. W. M.

Religion of Ancient

By Cyril

Flinders Petrie

By

By W. a. Craigie Shinto:

Magic and Fetishism.

Israel

Abrahams

c;

IN preparation Religion of Ancient Israel. By Prof. Jastrow

The

Religion of Ancient Mexico and Peru. By T. W. Arnold, in India. Author of **Tne Preaching of Islam."

Islam

The

a.

The Ancient

The

By

Rome.

Bailey, m.

Religion of Japan. By W. G. AstoNj c. m. ll. d.

By Dr. A. C. Haddon

2 vols.

ali, m. a.

Judaism.

Scandinavian Religion.

Buddhism.

Barnett

Ancient China.

Pantheism.

Professor T.

Religion of Ancient Persia.

By Lewis Spence

Assistant Librarian

W. Rhys

,

at

the India

Office.

Davids, LL, D.

By Dr. A. V. Williams Jackson,

Professor of Iranian at Columbia University.

Primitive or Nicene Christianity. joint Editor of the

-'

By John Sutherland Black, LL. D.,

'Encyclopaedia Biblica."

Mediaeval Christianity.

The Psychology

of Religion.

By Dr. Leuba.

Ihe Open Court Publishing 378-388 Wabash Avenue

::

Co,

Chicago

Zarathushtra, Philo, the

Achaemenids, and

Israel

Being a 1'reaiise upon the Antiquity and Influence of the Avesta^ for the most part delivered as University Lectures.

By Dr. Lawrence H. Mills,

Professor of Zend Philology in the of Translator of the Thirty-first Volume of the Oxford, University Sacred Books of the East, Author of the Five Zarathushfian Gathas, Part i. Zarathushtra and the Gr.eeks. Part II. Zaretc. ATHUSHTRA, THE AcHAEMENiDS AND IsRAEL. Composed at the request of the Trustees of the Sir J. Jejeebhoy Translation Fund of

—

—

Bombay. 8vo. Pp. cloth, gilt top,

ao8; xiv, 252, two parts in one volume,

xiii,

I4.00

net.

Shortly before the death of Professor Jan>es Darmesteter, of Paris, the great on the "Zend-Avesta," he surprised the general public by changing his views concerning the antiquity of the Zoroastrlan literature, maintaining that the authority

"Gathas" were largely influenced by the writings of Philo, and were written about This change of view on his part led the Parsees the beginning of the Christian era. " of India to engage Dr. Mills to write a book upon the great antiquity of the "Avesta. After several vears of continuous devotion to the subject, the present volume is put forth as the result,

and

astrlan literature

succesifui'.y

is

it

amp!y meets

all

expectations.

The

antiquity of the

Zoro-

maintained, and in such a manner that oidinary readers

can appreciate the argument. "The Avesta in no sense depends upon the Jewish Greeks. On the conHe drank in his Iranian lore from the trary, it was Philo who was in debt to it. pages of his exilic Bible, or from the Bible-books which were then as yet detached, and which not only recorded Iranian edicts by Persian Kings, but were themselves half made up of le wish- Persian history. Surely it is singular that so many of us who 'search the scriptures' should be unwilling to see the first facts which stare at us from lines. The religion of those Persians, which saved our own from an absorption (in the Babylonian), is portrayed in flill and brilliant colors in the Books of the Avesta, because the Avesta is only the expansion of the Religion of the sculptured edicts as

its

modified.

The

very by-words, as we shall later see, are strikingly the same, and these of the very men who wrote the Bible passages. This religion of

inscriptions are those

the Restorers

was beyond

all

question historically the

first

consistent form in

which our

own

Eschatology appeared" (pt. i. pp. 206-207). The conclusions come with great force in support of the genuineness and Students of the authenticity of the biblical references to Cyrus in the Old Testament.

literature

light are

of the Captivity will find the volume invaluable. such as the literary critics cannot afford to neglect.

The Open Court

The

facts

now

Publishing Co.

378 Wabash Avenue, Chicago

brought to

1^

P^

University of Toronto

Library

CO

H 02

©

i Qi

•H

a

DO NOT REMOVE THE CARD FROM

H 0)1

THIS

POCKET

H Qi

u o

Acme

Library Card Pocket

U«
FDe"

Made by LIBRARY BUREAU