LITMIR.BIZ

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in one of the inscriptions it is said that

      “The universal king,^[72] king of Assyria, the king whom Assur,

      King of the spirits of heaven, appointed with a kingdom,

      Without rival has filled his hand.

      From the great sea of the rising of the sun

      To the great sea of the setting of the sun

      His hand conquered and has subdued in all entirety.”

      In the inscriptions of Shalmanesar II, all honor is also ascribed to this god; he is invoked as “Assur, the great lord, the king of all the great gods.”

      And it is said: “By the command of Assur, the great lord, my lord,

      I approached the mountain of Shitamrat—

      The mountain I stormed.

      Akhuni trusted to the multitude of his troops and came forth to meet me;

      He drew up in battle array.

      I launched among them the weapons of Assur, my lord;

      I utterly defeated them.

      I cut off the heads of his soldiers and dyed the mountains with the blood of his fighting men.

      Many of his troops flung themselves against the rocks of the mountains.”^[73]

      On his return, the victorious king purified his weapons in the sea, and sacrificed victims to his gods. He erected a statue of himself, overlooking the sea, and inscribed it with the glory of Assur.

      HEA.

      Hea^[74] was the god of chaoschaos or the deep; he was “the king of the abyss who determines destinies.”

      In later times he was also called “the god of the waters,” and from him some of the attributes of Neptune may have been derived. It was said that Chaos was his wife.

      NIN-CI-GAL.

      In later mythology Nin-ci-gal, instead of Chaos, was the wife of Hea—she was the “lady of the mighty country” and “queen of the dead.” This goddess may have been the prototype of Proserpine, who was carried away by Pluto in his golden chariot to be the “queen of hades.”

      SIN.

      This name signifies brightness, and the moon-god was the father of Ishtar. Nannaru, “the brilliant one,” was one of his titles.

      A golden tablet^[75] found in the “timmin,” or cornerstone of a palace or temple at Khorsabed, contains an account of the splendid temples which King Sargon II built in a town near Nineveh (Dur Sārkin) and dedicated to Hea, Sin (the moon-god), Chemosh (the sun-god), and Ninip, the god of forces. The king’s inscription^[76] states that “I constructed palaces covered with skins, sandal wood, ebony, cedar, tamarisk, pine, cypress, and wood of pistachio tree.” Among the gods presented on the tablets we find also

      HEA-BANI.

      This god was the companion of Izdūbar, and on account of the peculiar circumstances attending his death was shut out of heaven. He is represented as a satyr, with the legs, head, and tail of an ox. This figure occurs very frequently on the gems, and may always be recognized by these characteristics. He is doubtless the original of Mendes, the goat-formed god of Egypt, and also of Pan, the goat-footed god of the Arcadian herdsman with his pipe of seven reeds. Hea-bani is represented as dwelling in a remote place three days’ journey from Erech, and it was said that he lived in a cave and associated with the cattle and the creeping things of the field.

      NERGAL,

      the patron deity of Cutha, is identified with Nerra, the god of pestilence, and also with Ner, the mythical monarch of Babylonia, who it was claimed reigned before the flood. He was “the god of bows and arms.” The cuneiform inscriptions show that the Lion-god, under the name of Nergal^[77] was worshipped at Kuti or Cutha, where an elaborate temple was built in his honor, and an Assyrian copy of an old Babylonian text belonging to the library of Cutha, speaks of “the memorial stone which I wrote for thee, for the worship of Nergal which I left for thee.” According to Dr. Oppert, Nergal represented the planet Mars, hence the Grecian god of war, “raging round the field,” appears to have been merely a perpetuation of this early deity.

      BEL MERODACH,

      or Marduk, whose temple, according to the inscription, was built by Nebuchadnezzar, with its costly woods, “its silver and molten gold, and precious stones” and “sea-clay” (amber), “with its seats of splendid gold, with lapis-lazuli and alabaster blocks,” which are still found in the ruins of Babylon. And the king made the great festival Lilmuku, when the image of Merodach^[78] was brought into the temple.^[79] The inscription also speaks^[80] of the temple as receiving “within itself the abundant tribute of the kings of nations, and of all peoples.”^[81]

      NEBO.

      From this god the name of Nebuchadnezzar was derived, and he was the favorite deity of that king. He was the eldest son of Merodach, and was “the bestower of thrones in heaven and earth.” In a ten-column inscription of Nebuchadnezzar, which is engraved upon black basalt, and now forms part of the India House Collection, the king speaks of building a temple in Babylon “to Nebo of lofty intelligence, who hath bestowed on me the scepter of justice to preside over all peoples.” He says, “The pine portico of the shrine of Nebo, with gold I caused to cover,”^[82] etc. Nebo^[83] or Nabo and Merodach are both used as the component parts of the names of certain kings of Babylon.

      NINIP,

      “the son of the zenith,” and “the lord of strong actions,” finds an echo in Grecian mythology as Hercūles, who received his sword from Mercury, his bow from Apollo, his golden breastplate from Vulcan, his horses from Neptune, and his robe from Minerva, the goddess of wisdom.

      Hercūles, who appears in Persian mythology as Mithras, the unconquered sun, is traced back to his Phœnician origin in the line of Baal. Therefore, the Persian Mithras represents Chemosh and Tammuz, both of whom are sun-gods as well as the “god of forces,” for the sun is the most powerful influence in the planetary world. The mysteries of Mithras were celebrated with much pomp and splendor on the revival of the Persian religion under the Sassanidæ. The word appears in many ancient Persian names.

      DAGON.

      The Assyrian Dagon was usually associated with Anū, the sky-god, and the worship of both was carried as far west as Canaan.^[84] He is spoken of in the tablets as “Dagon, the hero of the great gods, the beloved of thy heart, the prince, the favorite of Bel,” etc. The name is a word of Accadian origin, meaning “exalted.”

      MOLECH.

      Of Molech little is said in the tablets, except that “he took the children,”^[85] but a curious fragment of an old Accadian hymn indicates that the children of these highlanders were offered, as burnt offerings, in very early times; and hence, says Prof. Sayce, “the bloody sacrifices offered to Molech were no Semitic invention, but handed on to them, with so much else, by the Turānian population of Chaldea.”^[86] The Mosaic law was especially severe upon this “abomination” of human sacrifices, the death penalty being ordered for every such offence.^[87]

      CHEMOSH.

      This sun-god was worshipped as the Supreme, and in his honor, his early worshippers sang praises, offered sacrifices and performed incantations. The success of Mesha, king of Moab, in his revolt against the king of Israel,

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