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
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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,
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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.
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