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Myths of Babylonia and Assyria

Chapter 27: B
By Donald A. Mackenzie
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History - AncientMythology, Legends & Folklore

About This Book

This work presents a compact survey of Babylonian and Assyrian civilization and mythology, tracing racial origins and early city-states and then detailing major deities, rival pantheons, demons, and popular cults such as Tammuz and Ishtar. It retells foundational narratives including creation as Merodach’s dragon-slaying, famed hero-quests of Etana and Gilgamesh, and the flood and underworld traditions, and examines material culture, laws, temple and urban life, astronomical lore, and imperial history from regional ascendancies to Assyrian splendour and decline, highlighting how myth, religion, and shifting peoples shaped political and social institutions.

B

Baal, the moon god as, 51; shadowy spouse of, 100; Ashur as, 355; worship of the Phoenician in Israel, 406.
Baal-dag´on, the god, symbols of, 32.
Bä´asha, King of Israel, 403; Damascus aids Judah against, 404, 405.
Bä´ä-ü, the Phoenician mother goddess, 150.
Babbar (bäb´bar), sun god, 125; Nin Girsu and, 132; of Sippar, 240. See Shamash.
Babylon, in early Christian literature, xvii; German excavations at, xxiv; Isaiah foretells doom of, 113, 114, 478; sack of by Gutium, 129; political rise of, 217 et seq.; early history of, 218; Greek descriptions of late city of, 219 et seq.; "hanging gardens" of, 220; date of existing ruins of, 222; marriage market of, 224, 225; sun worship in, 240; the London of Western Asia, 253; return of Merodach from Mitanni to, 272; observatory at, 321; destruction of by Sennacherib, 468, 469; restored by Esarhaddon, 471; Ashur-bani-pal restores Merodach to, 481, 482; Shamash-sum-ukin's revolt in, 484, 485; Belshazzar's feast in, 494, 495; under the Persians, 496; Xerxes pillages Merodach's temple in, 497; Alexander the Great in, 497, 498; under empire of Seleucidae, 498; slow death of, 498, 499.
Babylonia, excavations in, xix et seq.; religion of, xxviii, xxxi; debt of modern world to, xxxv; early divisions of, 1 et seq.; harvests of, 21, 22; the two seasons of, 23, 24; rise of empire of, 133; Amorite migration into, 217; Golden Age of, 253; Hittite invasion of, 259; Tell-el-Amarna letters and, 281; early struggles with Assyria, 284-286 ; star myths of, 290 et seq.; ancestor worship in, 295; beginning of arithmetic in, 310 et seq.; Kassites and Mesopotamia, 358,359,361 et seq.; Arabian desert route, 360; influence of Hittites in, 364, 366, 368; Assyria controlled by, 370; Kassite dynasty ends, 370-371 ; compared with Assyria, 371-375 ; Tig-lath-pileser II and, 385; Ashur-natsir-pal III overawes, 399; Shamshi-Adad VII subdues, 414,415; Tiglath-pileser IV, the "Pulu" of, 444-446 ; Esarhaddon and, 471-476 ; Neo-Babylonian Age, 478 et seq.; Alexander the Great and, 497.
Baghdad railway, following ancient trade route, 357, 357 n[407].
Balder, the Germanic god, Gilgamesh and, 184; new age of, 202, 203.
Bä-neb-tet´tu, Egyptian god, 29.
Barley, husks of in Egyptian pre-Dynastic bodies, 6.
Barleycorn, John, Nimrod and Icelandic god Barleycorn and, 170, 171.
Barque of Ra, sun as and the Babylonian "boat", 56, 57.
Basques, the, language of and the Sumerian, 3; shaving customs of, 4.
Bäst, the Egyptian serpent mother, 76.
Bä´ta, the Egyptian tale of, 85.
Bats, ghosts as, 65.
Battle, the Everlasting, 65.
Bau (bä´ü), mother goddess, 100; Gula and Ishtar and, 116; in Kish, 114, 126, 127; associated with Nin-Girsu, 115, 116; Tiamat and, 150; doves and, 428; creatrix and, 437.
Bear, as a clan totem, 164.
Bearded gods, the Sumerian, 135, 136, 137; Egyptian customs, 136.
"Beare, the Old Woman of", as the eternal goddess, 101, 102.
Behistun, rock inscription at, xx.
Bel, the, Merodach as, 34; Enlil as the "elder", 35; demons as "beloved sons" of, 63; Zu bird strives to be, 74; in demon war, 77; as son of Ea, 139; decapitated to create mankind, 148; Etana visits heaven of, 166; in Gilgamesh legend, 172; in flood legend, 190 et seq.; Zodiacal "field" of, 307; Sargon II and the "elder", 463.
Bel´-Kap-Kä´pü, King of Babylonia, as overlord of Assyria, 419.
Bel-nirari (bel´-ni-rä´ri), King of Assyria, 285, 286.
Bel-shum-id´din, last Kassite king, 371.
Beli (bā´le), "the Howler", enemy of Germanic corn god, 95.
Belit-sheri (bel-it-she´ri), sister of Tammuz, in Hades, 98, 117.
Belshaz´zar, King of Babylon, overthrow of, 494, 495.
Beltane Day, fire ceremony of, 50.
Beltu (bāl´tü), the goddess, 36, 100.
Ben-ha´dad I, King of Damascus, as overlord of Judah and Israel, 404.
Ben-hadad II, Ahab defeats twice, 406, 407; murder of by Hazael, 410.
Ben-hadad III, Assyrians overcome, 438, 439.
Beowulf (bā-ō-wülf), brood of Cain in, 80; Scyld myth, 92, 93; sea monsters, 152; mother-monster in like Sumerian and Scottish, 154, 155.
Ber, "lord of the wild boar", Ninip as, 302.
Bero´sus, 27, 30, 83, 148, 164, 170, 198, 466, 470, 492.
Bhima (bhee´ma), the Indian, like Gilgamesh and Hercules, 187.
Birds, as ghosts and fates, 65; owl as mother's ghost, 70; demons enter the, 71; Sumerian Zu bird and Indian Garuda, 74, 75, 168, 169; in Germanic legends, 147 n.; as symbols of fertility, 169; birth eagle, 168, 169, 171; imitation of and musical culture, 238; associated with goddesses, 423 et seq.; fairies as, 429. See Doves, Eagle, Raven, Swan, Vulture, Wryneck.
Birth, magical aid for, 165; strawgirdles, serpent skins, eagle stones, and magical plant, 165.
Bi-sexual deities, Nannar, moon god, Ishtar, Isis, and Hapi as, 161, 162; Nina and Atargatis as, 277, 278; Merodach and Ishtar change forms, 299; Venus both male and female, 299; mother body of moon father, 299; Isis as a male, 299.
Bitumen, Mesopotamian wells of, 25.
Blake, W., double vision, 336.
Blood, as vehicle of life, 45, 47, 48; inspiration from, 48; corn stalks as, 55; sap of trees as, 47.
Boann (bō´än), Irish river and corn goddess, 33.
Boar, offered to sea god, 33; demon Set as, 85; Babylonian Ninshach as, 86; Adonis slayer as, 86, 87; Attis slain by, 87; Diarmid slain by, 87; the Irish "green boar", 87; the Totemic theory, 293, 294; Ninip-Ber as lord of the wild, 302; Nergal as, 304; Ares as, 304; Ninip and Set as, 315; the Gaulish boar god and Mercury, 316, 317.
Boghaz-Köi (bog-häz´-keüi), prehistoric pottery at, 5; Hittite capital, 262; mythological sculptures near, 268; Winckler cuneiform tablets from, 280, 367.
Bones, why taken from graves, 214; Shakespeare's curse, 215.
Borsippa (bor´sip-pa), observatory at, 321.
Botta, P. C, excavations of, xix, xx.
Bracelet, the wedding, Ishtar's, 98; the Hindu, 98 n[123].
Brahmä, the Indian god, like Ea, 27; Anu and, 38; wife of, 101; eagle as, 169; Ashur and, 328.
Brähmans, algebra formulated by, 289; Assyrian teachers and, 352.
Breath of Apis bull, inspiration from, 49.
Britain, the ancestral giant of, 42; Tammuz myth in, 85; birth girdles in, 165; "Island of the Blessed" of, 203; in Egypt and Persia, 357.
Brood of Tiamat, in Creation legend, 141.
Brown, Robert, on Babylonian culture in India, 199, 200, 308, 309, 310, 318, 322.
Brown Race, the. See Mediterranean Race.
Buddha (büd´hă), Babylonian teachers like, 42.
Budge, E. Wallis, on oldest companies of Babylonian and Egyptian gods, 36, 37.
Bull, offered to sea god, 33; Ninip as the, 53, 302, 334; of Mithra, 55; the winged, 41, 65; Osiris as, 85, 89, 99; Tammuz as, 85; Attis and the, 89; Enlil as, 159; of Ishtar in Gilgamesh myth, 176; seers wrapped in skin of, 213; Horus as, 301, 302; as sky god, 329; Ashur as, 334; the lunar, 135, 334.
Burial customs, cremation ceremony, 49, 50, 350; "house of clay", 56; "houses" and charms for dead, 206, 207, 212; Palaeolithic and Neolithic, 207; the Egyptian, 209; religious need for ceremonies, 268, 209; Sumerian like early Egyptian, 211, 214; priestly fees, 210, 211; food, fishhooks and weapons in graves, 212; why dead were clothed, 213; honey in coffins, 214; disturbance of bones, 214, 215; burnings at Hebrew graves, 350, 351.
Buriats, the, "calling back" of ghosts by, 69, 70; earth and air elves of, 105.
Burkans (boor´kans), "the masters", spirits or elves of Siberians, 105.
Burnaburiash I (bür´na-bür´i-ash), Kassite king, 274.
Burns, Robert, 72; the John Barleycorn myth, 170.
Burrows, Professor, Cretan snake and dove goddess, 430.
Byron, star lore, 325.

C

Cailleach (käl´yăk), the Gaelic, a wind hag, 73; as eternal goddess, 101.
Calah (kä´lah), the Biblical. See Kalkhi.
Calendar, the early Egyptian, 14; the Babylonian, 305.
Cambyses (kam-bī´sēz), as King of Babylon, 495; sacrifice of Apis bull to Mithra by, 495; wife of a Semiramis, 496.
Canaan, Abraham arrives in, 245; tribes in, 245, 246; Elamite conquest of, 247, 248, 249; first reference to Israelites in, 379.
Canaanites, Hittites identified with, 266.
Canals of Ancient Babylonia, 22, 23.
Cappadocia, Cimmerians in, 472.
Captivity, the Hebrew, Chebar river (Kheber canal) at Nippur, 344.
Carchemish (kär´ke-mish), German railway bridge and Hittite wall at, 357(n[407].); Hittite city state of, 395; revolt of, 461; Nebuchadrezzar defeats Pharaoh Necho at, 489.
Caria (kär´i-ä), assists Lydia against Cimmerians, 484; mercenaries from in Egypt, 486.
Cat, sun god as, 329.
Caucasus, the, skull forms in, 8.
Cave dwellers, the Palestinian, 10.
Celtic goddesses, of Iberian origin, 105.
Celtic water demon myths, 28.
Celts, Achaeans and, 377.
Ceres (sē-rēz), 103.
Chaldae´ans, Babylonian priests called, 222, 497; in Hammurabi Age, 257; history of, 390; Aramaeans and, 390; Judah's relations with, 408; Merodach Baladan King of, 457 et seq.; revolt of against Esarhaddon, 471; revolt of against Ashur-bani-pal, 484; Nabo-polassar King of Babylon, 487.
Charms, the burial, 206; ornaments as, 211; the metrical and poetic development, 237-239 .
Chedor-laomer (ched´or-lä´o-mer), the Biblical, 247, 248.
Chellean (shel´le-an) flints, in Palestine, 10.
Cherubs, the four-faced, 344.
Child god, Tammuz and Osiris as the, 89, 90; Sargon of Akkad as, 91; Germanic Scyld or Sceaf as, 92, 93.
Children, stolen by hags and fairies, 68; in mother worship, 107, 108.
China, spitting customs in, 47; dragons of, 152; ancestor worship in, 295.
Chinese, language of and the Sumerian, 3.
Chronology, inflated dating and Berlin system, xxiv, xxv.
Cilicia, thunder god of, 261; Ate, goddess of, 267; Hittite Kingdom of, 395; Ionians in, 464; in anti-Assyrian league, 473; Ashur-bani-pal expels Cimmerians from, 484, 486.
Cimmerians, raids of in Asia Minor, 461, 464; Esarhaddon and, 472; Gyges of Lydia and, 483, 484, 486; Lydians break power of, 486.
Clans, Totemic names and symbols of, 293.
Clepsydra, a Babylonian invention, 323.
Clothing, magical significance of, 212; the reed mats and sheepskins in graves, 213; the bull skin, 213; the ephod and prophet's mantle, 213, 214.
Comana (kō-mä´na), Hittite city of, 395.
Constellations, the Zu bird, 74; why animal forms were adopted, 289; the "Great Bear" in various mythologies, 295, 296, 309; the Pleiades, 296, 297; Pisces as "fish of Ea", 296; the "sevenfold one", 298, 300; Merodach's forms, 299; Castor and Pollux myths in Australia, Africa, and Greece, 300; Tammuz and Orion, 301; months controlled by, 305; signs of Zodiac, 305; Babylonian and modern signs, 308; the central, northern, and southern, 309; "Fish of the Canal" and "the Horse", 309; the "Milky Way", 309; identified before planets, 318; Biblical and literary references to, 324, 325; the "Arrow", "Eagle", "Vulture", "Swan", and "Lyra", 336, 337.
Copper, Age of in Palestine, 11; first use of, 12; in Northern Mesopotamia, 25; Gudea of Lagash takes from Elam, 130.
Corn child god, Tammuz and Osiris as, 89, 90; Sargon as, 91; the Germanic Scyld or Scef, 92, 93, 94; Frey and Heimdal as, 94.
Corn Deities, as river and fish gods and goddesses, 29, 32, 33.
Corn god, moon god as, 52; Mithra as, 55; the thunder god as, 57, 340; Tammuz and Osiris as, 81 et seq.; Khonsu as, 90; Frey and Agni as, 94; fed with sacrificed children, 171.
Corn goddess, Isis as, 90; fish goddess as, 117.
Cow goddesses, Isis, Nepthys, and Hathor as, 99, 329.
Creation, local character of Babylonian conception, xxix; of mankind at Eridu, 38; legend of, 134, 138 et seq.; night as parent of day, 330.
Creative tears, 45 et seq.
Creator gods, Ea and Ptah as, 30; eagle god as, 169.
Creatress, the goddess Mama as, 57; Aruru as, 100, 148; forms of, 437.
Cremation, traces of in Gezer caves, 11; the ceremony of, 49; not Persian or Sumerian, 50; in European Bronze Age, 316; Saul burned, 350; Sardanapalus legend, 350.
Crete, chronology of, xxv, 114; no temples, xxxi; women's high social status in, 16; Dagon's connection with, 33; prehistoric pottery in, 263; Hyksos trade with, 273; Achaeans invade, 376, 377; Philistine raiders from, 379; dove and snake sacred in, 430; dove goddess not Babylonian, 433, 434.
Crocodile god of Egypt, 29; sun god as, 329.
Croesus of Lydia, Cyrus defeats, 494.
Cromarty, the south-west wind hag or, 73.
Cronos, as the Destroyer, 64; Ninip and Set and, 315.
Cuneiform writing, earliest use of, 7.
Cushites, Biblical reference to, 276.
Cuthah (kü´thah), Nergal, god of, 54; annual fires at, 170; the Underworld city of, 205; demon legend of, 215, 216; men of in Samaria, 455, 456.
"Cuthean Legend of Creation", 215, 216.
Cyaxares (sy-ax´är-es), Median King, Nineveh captured by, 488; ally of Nabopolassar, 493.
Cybele (ky-be´le), Attis lover of, 103, 104, 267.
Cyprus, dove goddess not Babylonian, 433, 434; dove goddess of, 426, 427, 433, 434; Ashur-bani-pal and, 484.
Cyrus, Merodach calls, 493; the Patriarch of, 493; the eagle tribe of, 493; Astyages defeated by, 493; Egypto-Lydian alliance against, 494; Nabonidus and, 494; Croesus of Lydia overthrown by, 494; fell of Babylon, 494, 495; the King of Babylonia, 495; welcomed by Jews, 495; rebuilding of Jerusalem temple, 496.