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Myths of Babylonia and Assyria

Chapter 32: G
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.

F

Face paint, for the dead, 206; why used for dead, living, and gods, 212.
Fafner dragon, 156.
Fairies, the Babylonian, 67; origin of, 79, 80; green like other spirits, 186; the European, Egyptian, and Indian, 294; human bargains with, 294, 295; birds as, 429.
Farm labourers, scarcity of in Babylonia, 256.
Farnell, Dr., on pre-Hellenic religion, 104; on racial gods in Greece, 105.
Fates, the birds as, 65, 147 n., 427 n., 430; as servants of Anu, 77; moon as chief of the, 301; oldest deities as, 317; on St. Valentine's Day, 430; Aphrodite and Ishtar as, 433.
Father, the Great, Anu as, 38; Ramman-Hadad as, 57; Apsu, the chaos demon as, 64; Osiris as, 99; shadowy spouse of, 100; nomadic people and, 105; worshipped by Hatti, xxx, 268, 420.
Father and son conflict; younger god displaces elder, Ninip and Enlil, Merodach and Ea, Indra and Dyaus myths, 158; Osiris and Horus, 159; in astral myths, 302, 303, 304, 305, 348.
Feast of Dead, 206.
Fig tree, in Babylonia, 25.
Finger counting, in Babylonia and India, 311 et seq.
Finn-mac-Coul (finn´mac-cool), as hero and god, 87, 87 n., 88 n.; as mother monster slayer, 153, 154; Beowulf and, 155; as a "sleeper", 164, 394; water of life myth, 186, 187.
Finns, language of and the Sumerians, 3; of Ural-Altaic stock, 4.
Fire, as vital principle, 50, 51; fire and water ceremonies, 50, 51; the everlasting fire in the sea, 50, 51; the Babylonian "Will-o'-the-wisp", 66; Eagle and, 169; the May Day, 348; ceremony of riddance, 349; Babylonian burnings, 348; Nimrod's pyre, 349, 350; Tophet, 350; royal burnings in Israel and Judah, 350, 351.
Fire drake, the Babylonian, 66, 151.
Fire gods, the Babylonian and Indian, 49.
First born, sacrifice of, 50.
Fish deities, Sumerian Ea and Indian Brahma and Vishnu as, 27, 28; in Eur-Asian legends, 28; Sumerian and Egyptian, 29; connection of with corn, 29, 32; goddess of Lagash, 117; Western Asian fish goddesses, 277, 418, 423, 426; dove symbol of, 431, 432; Totemism and, 294.
Flies, gods turn to, 41.
Flood legend, the Babylonian, 24, 55, 190 et seq.; the Greek, 195; the Indian, xxvi, 196; the Irish, 196; the Egyptian, 197; the American, 197, 198; the Biblical, 198, 199.
Folk cures, the ancient, 61, 231, 232-234 .
Folk lore, mythology and, xxv, xxxiv, 42, 151 et seq., 189; ethnology in, xxvi.
Food of death, 44.
Food of the gods, 44.
Food supply, religion and the, 42, 43.
"Foreign devils", the Babylonian and Indian, 67.
Four quarters, the, in astronomy, 307; lunar divisions, 323.
Fowl, inspiration from blood of, 48.
France, skull forms in Dordogne valley, 8; Syrian railways of, 357.
Frazer, Professor, xxv; "homogeneity of beliefs", xxvi; Adonis garden, 171, 172; Hercules and Melkarth, 348; on Semiramis legend, 424, 425.
Frey (fri), the Germanic patriarch and corn god, 33, 93, 94; links with Tammuz myth, 95, 116, 204.
Freyja (frī´ya), the Germanic eternal goddess, 102; lovers of, 102.
Frigg, Germanic goddess, lovers of, 103.
Frode (frō´dē). See Frey.

G

Gabriel, Abraham rescued from Nimrod's pyre by, 349, 350.
Gaga (gä´ga), messenger of Anshar, 143.
Gallu (gäl´lü), as "foreign devil", 65-67 .
Gandash (gän´dash), Kassite king, 271.
Ganga (găng´ä), the Indian goddess, as king's lover, 68.
"Garden of Adonis", 171, 172.
Gardens, the Hanging, of Babylon, 220.
Garstang, Professor, on fall of Hatti and god cult, 268; on Totemic Adonis boar, 293, 294; Hittite Sandan disk, 348.
Garuda (găr-ood´ă), Indian eagle god, Zu bird and, xxvi; myth of, 74, 75; Etana eagle and, 165; sons of, 166; identified with Agni, Brahma, Indra, Yama, &c, 168, 169; wheel of life and, 346, 347.
Gauls, Hittite raiders like the, 261; gods of and the Babylonian, 316, 317.
Germ theory, anticipatedby Babylonians, 61, 234.
Germany, double-headed eagle of, 168; the Baghdad railway, 357.
Gezer cave dwellings, 10; cremation practised in, 11.
Ghosts, "wind gusts" as, 48, 49; associated with demons, 60, 215, 216; as birds, 65; as death bringers, 69, 295; the terrible mothers, 69; where dreaded and where invoked, 69, 70; Babylonian "night prowlers", 70; food required by, 70, 212, 213; Ishtar's threat to raise, 215; King of Cuthah and, 215, 216; as "Fates" and enemies of the living, 295; worship of, 295; Orion and Jupiter as, 305.
Giants, the British Alban, 42; the Babylonian, 71; graves of, 296.
Gibil (gi´bil), fire god, Nusku and, 353.
Gilgamesh (gil´gä-mesh), the Babylonian Hercules, 41; revelation of ghost to, 48, 49, 183, 184; quest of, 164; birth legend of, 171; eagle rescues, 171; lord of Erech, 172; coming of Ea-bani, 173; Ishtar's fatal love of, 174; "La Belle Dame Sans Merci", 174, 175; Ishtar spurned by, 99, 176; Ishtar's bull slain, 176; death of Ea-bani, 176; quest of Water of Life and Plant of Life, 177; the mountain tunnel and Sea of Death, 178; song of the Sea Lady, 178, 179; reaches Pir-napishtim's island, 180; ancestor's revelation to and magic food, 182; plant of life, 183; Earth Lion robs, 183; Germanic gods and heroes and, 184, 185; flood legend revealed to, 190 et seq.; Tammuz and, 210; Ashur and, 336; Persian eagle and, 493.
Gillies, Dr. Cameron, on Scottish folk cures, 232, 233.
Gira (gi´ra), the god, 42.
Girru (gir´rü), the fire god, 49.
Gish Bär, the fire god, 49.
Goat, inspiration from blood of, 48; demons enter the, 71; on Lagash vase, 120; the six-headed, 332; the satyr or astral goat man, 333; the white kid of Tammuz, 85, 333; the Arabic "kid" star, 333; associated with Anshar, Agni, Varuna, Ea, and Thor, 329, 333, 334; forehead symbol of like Apis symbol, 334; Minerva's shield has skin of, 337.
Goblin, the Babylonian, 66.
God, the Dead, grave of Osiris, 296; also alive and in various forms, 297.
God cult, fusion of with goddess cult, 105.
Goddesses, at once mothers, wives, and daughters of gods, 99, 101, 436; husbands of die annually, 101 et seq.; lovers of various, 102; of Mediterranean racial tribes, 105; Ishtar as "La Belle Dame Sans Merci", 174-176; the Semiramis legend, 417 et seq.
Gods, Babylonian and Egyptian groups, 36, 37; the younger and elder, 149; why Sumerian were bearded, 135-137 .
Goodspeed, Professor, on early astronomy, 321, 322.
Gorgons, the, Tiamat and, 159.
Graves, charms and weapons in, 206; as houses of dead, 206, 208; of gods and giants, 296.
Great Mother, the, forms of, 36; Hittite and Sumerian forms, 267; Anaitis, Ate, Cybele, Ishtar, Isis, Astarte, Ashtoreth, and Atargatis, 267; Kadesh, Anthat, and Danu, 268.
Greece, spitting customs in, 46, 47; blood drinking in, 48; wanton goddesses of, 104; imported gods in, 105; dragon myths of, 151, 152; eagle connected with birth and death in, 168; flood legend of, 195, 196; "Island of Blessed", 203; star myths of, 300; Babylonian culture reached through Hittites, 306; doctrine of world's ages, 310 et seq.; pre-Hellenic beliefs in, 84, 104, 317; astrology in, 318 et seq.; astronomy in, 316, 319 et seq.; in pre-Phrygian period, 386; fusion of races in, 393.
Greeks of Cilicia, Ashur-bani-pal and, 484. See Ionians.
Green, a supernatural colour, 186.
"Grey Eyebrows", a Gaelic hag, 87; myth of, 101.
Gudea (gü´de-a), King of Lagash, sculptures, buildings, and trade of, xxiii, 129, 130; bearded gods of, 136.
Gula (goo´lä), mother goddess, 100; Bau and, 116; feast of, 476.
Gungunu (gün´gün-ü), King of Ur, 132.
Guns, called after giants "Long Meg" nd "Long Tom", 156.
Gutium (gü´tium), northern mountaineers, 128, 129, 264; demons and, 307.
Gyges (gȳ´jes), King of Lydia, emissaries of visit Nineveh, 483, 486.

H

Hadad, Ramman as, 57, 261, 411.
Haddon, Dr., Achaean racial affinities, 377.
Hades, Ishtar receives water of life in, 44; Tammuz spends winter in, 53, 98; Indian "land of fathers", 56; land of no return, 58; descent of Ishtar to, 95 et seq.; "Island of the Blessed", 180 et seq.; Babylonian conception of, 203; the Celtic, 203; the Greek, Germanic, Indian, and Egyptian, 204; the grave as, 206; the Japanese, 206; the Roman, 207; Babylonian king and queen of. See Nergal and Eresh-ki-gal.
Hags, of storm, marsh and mountain as primitive goddesses: the Scottish, 64, 87; the Babylonian, 68, 71, 72, 73, 185; the Germanic, 72, 73, 95. See Annie, Annis, Beowulf, Mothers, and Tiamat.
Hair, evidence from early graves and sculptures, 4, 9, 10.
Hamath, Hittite city of, 395; Israel overcomes, 449; Ilu-bi-di, the smith king of, 457, 458.
Hamites, Biblical reference to, 276.
Hammurabi (häm´mü-rä´bi), Dagan as creator of, 31; Sin-muballit father of, 133; pantheon of, 134, 254; the Biblical Amraphel, 131, 246, 247; "Khammurabi" and "Ammurapi" forms of, 247, 248; Rim Sin, the Elamite, and, 249; character of, 249-255 ; god Nebo ignored by, 303; legal code of, 2, 222, 223 et seq.
Hammurabi Dynasty, the, Amorites and, 217, 218; early Amorite kings of Sippar, 241, 242; schools and correspondence during, 252; Kassites first appear during, 255; Sealand Dynasty in, 257; late kings of, 257, 258; Hittite raid at close of, 258-260 ; Assyria during, 279, 419; astronomy in, 300.
Hanuman (hăn´u-män), the Indian monkey god, Bhima and, 187; like Gilgamesh, 188, 189.
Hapi (hä´pi), Nile god, a bi-sexual deity, 161.
Haran, Abraham's migration from Ur to, 131, 245; Ashur and Sin worshipped at, 353; Nabonidus's temple to Sin at, 494.
Harper, Professor, 321.
Harvest deities, fish forms of, 29, 32; river and ocean gods as, 33; the pre-Hellenic, 84; the Egyptian, 85.
Harvest moon, the, crops ripened by, 52.
Hathor (hät´hor), the fish goddess and, 29; Ishtar and, 57, 99.
Hathor-Sekhet, the destroyer, 157, 197.
Hatshepsut (hat-shep´soot), Queen of Egypt, 16; Sumerian queen earlier than, 115.
Hatti (hät´ti), dominant tribe of Hittites, 246; of Armenoid race, 262; as Great Father worshippers, 260; Mitannians and, 269.
Hattusil I (hat-too´sil), King of Hittites, 283.
Hattusil II, Hittite king, Egyptian treaty, 366; influence of in Babylonia, 364, 368; marriage treaty with Amorite king, 418.
Hawes, Mr., on Cretan chronology, xxv; Cretan racial types, 8.
Hawk, demons enter the, 71.
Hazael (haz´ā-el), King of Damascus, 410; Shalmaneser III defeats, 411; Israel oppressed by, 412.
Heaven, Queen of, Hebrews offer cakes to, 106; women prominent in worship of, 106, 107.
Hebrews, in Canaan, 379; Philistines as overlords of, 379, 380, 386, 387; as allies of Egypt and Tyre, 388; under David and Solomon, 388, 389; Pharaoh Sheshonk plunders, 391; kingdoms of Judah and Israel, 401 et seq.; in late Assyrian period, 448 et seq. See Israel and Judah.
Heimdal (hīm´dal), as patriarch and world guardian, 93; Tammuz and Agni like, 94; Nin-Girsu of Lagash like, 116.
Hercules, Gilgamesh and, 41, 164, 172; as dragon slayer, 152; eagle as soul of, 170, 349; burning of, 171; of Cilicia and deities that link with, 261; Merodach and, 316; Ashur and, 336; astral arrow of, 337; Melkarth and, 348.
Hermes (her´mēz), Nebo as, 303.
Hermod (her´ mod), the Germanic Patriarch, 93; Gilgamesh and, 184.
Herodotus, on Babylonian harvests, 21, 22; on Babylonian burial customs, 214; description of Babylon, 219 et seq.; on Babylonian marriage market, 224, 225; on doctors and folk cures, 231, 232; on origin of Nineveh, 277; on Egyptian Totemism, 293, 432; on pre-Hellenic beliefs, 317; on Semiramis legend, 425; on fall of Assyria, 488.
Heth, children of, Hittites as, 246.
Hezekiah (hez-e-kī´ah), 21, 340; Merodach-Balad conspiracy, 465; destruction of Assyrian army, 466, 467; Esarhaddon and, 471, 472.
Hierap´olis, Atargatis goddess of, 267.
"High Heads", symbols and "world spine", 332; Anshar, Anu, Enlil, Ea, Merodach, Nergal, and Shamash as, 334
Hindus, Mediterranean race represented among, 8.
Hipparchus, the Greek astronomer, discoveries of, 320, 321.
Hiram, King of Tyre, as Solomon's ally, 388, 389.
Hit, the bitumen wells of, 25.
Hittites, the father worshippers among, xxx, 420; racial types in confederacy of, 11, 12, 246, 265, 266; double-headed eagle of, 168; in ethnics of Jerusalem, 246; Hebrews, dealings with, 246, 266, 267; earliest references to in Egypt and Babylonia, 258, 259, 264; prehistoric culture of, 263; thunder god of and linking deities, 261, 268; Merodach carried off by, 261; fusion of god and goddess cults by, 267, 268; relations with Mitannians and Kassites, 270-272 , 282, 358; Subbi-luliuma, the conqueror, 283; conquest of Mitanni, 284; Babylonian culture passed to Greece by, 306, 316; the winged disk of, 347, 348; Ashur cult and, 355; Syria after expansion of, 363; King Mursil, 364; influence of in Egypt and Babylonia, 364; wars of Seti I and Rameses II against, 364, 365; alliance with Egypt, 366; early struggle with Assyria, 367, 368; Muski as overlords of, 380; Nebuchadrezzar I defeats, 381; late period of Empire of, 386; city states of Hamath and Carchemish, 395; Shalmaneser III and, 414; "mother right among", 418; connection of with Urartu, 440 n.; combination against Sargon II, 459, 460; Biblical reference to Tabal and Meshech, 464.
Horse, sea god as a, 33; demons enter the, 71; domesticated in Turkestan, 271; introduction of to Babylonia and Egypt, 270, 271; sacrificed by Aryo-Indian and Buriats, 271, 309; constellation of, 309.
Horus (ho´rus), god of Egypt, creative tears of, 45; as the sun, Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars, 300, 304; the "elder" and "younger", 302; as the "opener", 304; "world soul" conception and, 304; has many forms like Tammuz, 305; Ninip and, 316; "winged disk" of, 336; the eagle and, 343.
Hoshea (ho-she´a), King of Israel, 453, 454.
Host of heaven, 305.
Hotherus (hoth´erus), Gilgamesh and, 184, 185.
"House of Clay", the grave called, 56; 206-208 .
Hraesvelgur (hrā´svel-gur), Icelandic wind demon, 72.
Human sacrifices, the May Day, 50. "Husband of his mother", xxxii; in Sumerian, Indian, and Egyptian mythologies, 106, 304, 305; Kingu becomes lover of Tiamat, 106; sun as offspring and spouse of the moon, 301; Adad-nirari IV as, 420. See Father and son conflict.
Hydra, as Dragon, 152.
Hyksos (hik´sos), Egypt invaded by, 259; Mitannians and, 270; horse introduced into Egypt by, 271; theories regarding, 271; trading relations of with Crete and Persia, 273; period of expulsion of, 275.