Notwithstanding the return of large numbers of Jews to Jerusalem, a considerable portion of the nation had become attached to the land of their captivity, and remained in Babylon and the other cities of Chaldea, as well as in Persia. These, no longer captives, but settlers by their own free will, had probably decided to stay in the land either from the desire to continue the businesses which they had started there, the relinquishing of which would have meant, in all probability, ruin to themselves and their families; or because of aged relatives for whom the journey to Jerusalem, however much they might have desired it, would have been an impossibility; or because of official and civil positions which they held either at court or in the employment of rich or influential personages, by whose support they hoped to be able to aid their compatriots; or because of the attractions of a great city, whose origins must for them have possessed a [pg 475] special interest (notwithstanding the horrors of the captivity which their forebears must have experienced there), and whose position for thousands of years as the capital of a large province gave it a preponderating influence, not only in the country of which it was the capital, but in all the civilized world at the time.
This being the case, there numbers of the Jews stayed, and there they witnessed the gradual departure of the sceptre from that city which one of their own writers had described as the glory of kingdoms, and the beauty of the Chaldees' excellency. After the passing of the kingdom into the hands of the alien Persian kings, things went on as usual under their rule for a considerable time—the people lived on their land, and bought and sold, and transacted their ordinary business, and trade seems to have been good (judging from the number of documents which have been preserved) until the end of the reign of Darius Hystaspis. Thereafter there was either a great falling off, or else the documents were deposited in other places, or a more perishable material was used for them. In any case, they become comparatively scarce, and their rarity may be due to the departure of trade from the capital, brought about by the removal of the court from Babylon, and the consequent migration of her merchants to other places.
Things had been going, in fact, from bad to worse for Babylon, and among the clay records left, some of the royal names which we should like to see are to all appearance absent. It was still, however, a place of great importance, when, in the year 331 b.c., it opened its gates to Alexander the Great, surrendering, like Susa and Persepolis, without striking a blow. Doubtless to them it was perfectly indifferent under which foreign potentate they lived, and a change in that respect could not make their condition worse, and might be to their advantage. Had he not died long before the term which nature has fixed, the city [pg 476] might have taken upon it such a renewed lease of life as would have caused it to exist as a great capital to the present day. As it happened, the Babylonians began to see their fondest hopes realized, for it must soon have become noised abroad that the new conqueror of Asia intended to make Babylon his Eastern capital, and they saw the clearing away of the rubbish which was the preliminary to the restoration of the great and renowned temple of Belus, Ê-sagila (or Ê-sangil as they called it at that time), actually proceeding, not only during the reign of Alexander, but also during that of his successor, Philip, as well. The mental calibre of the latter, however, who came to the throne on the death of Alexander in the year 323 b.c., must soon have told the Babylonians that the realization of his great predecessor's schemes was hopeless, and the downward course of the city's star, arrested as it were for a moment, soon began again.
The next change of rulers was that following upon the unworthy bearing of Antigonus with regard to Seleucus, Alexander the Great's favoured general, who had espoused his claims to the throne of the Eastern empire. After aiding Ptolemy of Egypt against Demetrius, son of Antigonus, he set out with a small force, and gathering recruits in his course, especially among the Babylonians, with whom he was popular, he entered their capital without opposition in 312 b.c., from which date the era of the Seleucidæ is regarded as beginning. How the Babylonians took the foundation of Seleucia on the Tigris, which is often mentioned in the numerous astrological tablets of this period, is not recorded, but from the way in which they speak of the migration of the inhabitants of Babylonia to Seleucia implies that they took it greatly to heart.
“Blessed shall he be who serveth thee as thou hast served us,” sang the Psalmist when lamenting the captivity of the Jews at Babylon, and if success in conquest be a sign of blessedness, then Seleucus must [pg 477] have been happy indeed. The Babylonians could not have regarded the continual and increasing desolation of their city with indifference, however, and it is not impossible that their loyalty to their king suffered somewhat in consequence. This, to all appearance, found vent in expressions of regret, and an old lamentation, referring to the depredations of the Qutû at a period so remote that we can hardly, at this distance of time, estimate, and of which a copy was made for a certain Bêl-zēr-lîšir, might well express their feelings at this period:
“Like its original written, made clear, and acquired.
Tablet of Bêl-zēr-lîšir, son of Bêl-âba-usur, descendant of the sculptor.
(By) the hands of Bêl-bulliṭ-su, his son. He who fears the king shall not take (?) (this) tablet (?) away.
“Babylon, month Elul, day 15th, year 25th, Siluku and Antiukusu (Seleucus and Antiochus), king of countries.
By those same “rivers of Babylon” where the Israelites had mourned in captivity, thinking of Jerusalem, there the Babylonians themselves came at last to lament the departed glories of their land. Many a time, it is true, they had seen the country which was their fatherland overrun by enemies, but it had always recovered, and risen to a greater height of prosperity. [pg 479] This time, however, there was to be no healing of her wound. The large and well-peopled space within the walls of the great city gradually became uninhabited, and the houses fell into ruin. A time even came at last when the great walls had to be demolished—or at least practically so—in order that they might not afford protection to the lawless bands which infested the country, and were only too ready to make the most of such an advantage.
Notwithstanding the desolation of the city, however, a certain number of people continued to inhabit the site, probably officials of the temples (whose services still continued), and tradesmen who supplied the wants of those whose duty held them attached to the place. Here, year after year, the usual sacrifices were offered to the old gods of the Babylonians, especially “My Lord and Lady,” i.e. Bêl (Merodach) and Beltis (Zēr-panitum, his consort), and prayers were made for the king at the time reigning, and also for his sons (if he had any). That inscriptions may come to light which will show more clearly the state of things in that vast ruined city is exceedingly probable, and a sufficient number of tablets referring to this period are known to exist even now, and show in some measure the state of the city and the kind of people who dwelt in such parts of it as had been reserved for that purpose.
To those who inhabited Babylon's desolation, the most important thing, in all probability, was the worship, with all the old rites and ceremonies, of the deities whose temples and shrines still existed there. But those old priests and temple scribes occupied their time in another way, namely, the keeping of careful records of every historical event for the purpose of being able to tell the future. These historical notices are preceded by indications of the positions of the moon and the planets, together with the price of grain or other produce, during the period referred [pg 480] to. The positions of the planets, etc., were combined afterwards, by the “monthly prognosticators,” with the historical happenings, for the purpose of foretelling events, which at that late period was probably done much more systematically than during earlier ages, to the great advantage of the modern student of this period.
The following will give an idea of these historical notices:—
(Month Ab, 143rd year, Anti'ukusu, king = 168 b.c., reign of Antiochus Epiphanes.)
“An., the king, marched victoriously among the cities of the land of Meluḫḫa, and ... the people (puliṭē144 the Greek πολίτης) (constructed?) idols (puppē, evidently a Greek word, probably meaning ‘images of gods’) and works like a shrine (of?) the Greek(s?)....”
The inscription then goes on to speak of the appointment of a zazak (apparently a grade of priests) by the king, the handing to him of the gold in the treasury of Ê-saggil for the great (shrine) of Bêl, the (dedication?) of an unsuitable or an untimely image of the god Uru-gala on the 8th day of the month, and other similar occurrences. From the lines translated above, it will be seen that the Babylonians had not by any means escaped from the influence of Greek civilization, not only Greek words, but also, to all appearance, Greek gods and shrines having made their appearance. The word used in speaking of the image of the god Uru-gala is tamšil, but the things which the citizens made were puppē, possibly used like our word “idol.” It is possibly to this period, or a little later, that the transcriptions into Greek of Babylonian [pg 481] tablets (which promise to be of considerable value for the study of the Assyro-Babylonian language) belong.
If the translation given above be correct, it would confirm the account in the second book of Maccabees (vi. 2), from which it would appear that this ruler tried to habituate the Jews to Greek customs, and also to the Greek religion, going even so far as “to pollute also the temple in Jerusalem, and to call it the temple of Jupiter Olympus; and that in Garizim, of Jupiter the Defender of strangers, as they did desire that dwelt in the place” (vi. 2). “The abomination of desolation” which was set on the altar at Jerusalem (1 Macc. i. 54) is understood by commentators to mean an idol-altar, though almost any heathen image would suit the sense, and a statue of a god, with or without a shrine, might be meant. The reference to Meluḫḫa in all probability refers to one of his expeditions to Egypt, and is generally supposed to indicate Ethiopia.
Another change which the Babylonians experienced was when the rule of their Greek masters was exchanged for that of the Parthians, and the Seleucidæ gave way to the Arsacidæ. Concerning the period of the change, and the way in which it came about, very little is known. The varied fortunes of the Seleucid princes is illustrated by the fact that a satrap of Media named Timarchus, in 161-160 b.c., had succeeded in proclaiming himself king of Babylon; and from 153-139 b.c., Arsaces VI. (Mithridates I.) was in possession of all the district east of the Euphrates—Babylonia, Elam, and Persia. After his death, however, all this portion seems to have returned to the rule of the Seleucidæ, and their era was in all probability restored. After the death of Antiochus Sidetes, in 129 b.c., the province of Kharacene became independent under a ruler named Hyspasines or Spasines, who, two years later, seems [pg 482] to have made himself master of Babylon. An interesting tablet dated in the reign of this king (who used the Seleucian era) shows something of the state of things on the site of the old city, and that somewhat vividly.
(The inscription is preceded by five introductory lines, which are unfortunately imperfect, but do not seem to affect the transaction as a whole.)
“In the month Iyyar, the 24th day, year 185th, Aspāsinē (being) king, Bêl-lûmur, director of Ê-saggil, and the Babylonians, the congregation of Ê-saggil, took counsel together, and said thus—
“'Itti-Marduk-balaṭu, chief of the construction over the artificers (?) of the houses of the gods, scribe of Anu-Bêl, son of Iddin-Bêl, who formerly stood (?) at the side of Aspāsinē, the king, who (relieved?) want in the gate of the king; lo, this is for Bêl-âḫê-uṣur and Nabû-mušêtiq-ûrri, his sons—
“ ‘(As) they find the whole of his keep, a sum (?) has been collected (?) in the presence of the aforesaid Bêl-lûmur and the Babylonians, the congregation of Ê-saggil.
“ ‘From this day of this year we will give 1 mana of silver, the sustenance of Itti-Marduk-balaṭu, for their father, to Bêl-âḫê-uṣur and Nabû-mušêtiq-ûrri, from our (own) necessities. The amount, as much as Itti-Marduk-balaṭu, their father, has taken, they shall keep for (his) keep, and they shall give the grant for this year.’
“(Done along) with Bêl-šunu; Nûr; Muranu; Iddin-Bêl; Bêl-uṣur-šu, the scribe of Anu-Bêl, and the deputy-scribes of Anu-Bêl.”145
Though the translation is necessarily, from the [pg 483] mutilation of the text, not altogether satisfactory, certain items of information which it contains will hardly admit of doubt. There were still inhabitants of the city, there were temple-servants, who were probably under a kind of overseer of the works, and these apparently attended to all the temples. Whether this man was too old to work or not is doubtful, but it would seem that it was considered too much that his sons should keep him altogether, hence the drawing up of the document here quoted.
It is noteworthy that, instead of Merodach, or Bêl-Merodach, the god of Babylon, who became the chief deity of all Babylonia, a new deity appears, namely, Anu-Bêl, i.e. Anu the Lord, or, paraphrased, the Lord God of Heaven, probably the god Merodach identified with Anu. The religion of the Babylonians probably underwent many changes during this later period, when those who belonged to it came into contact with foreigners, many of them most intelligent men, whose teaching must have had with them great weight.
Another important inscription, in the British Museum, gives many details of the period of this little-known king, Aspāsinē. From this we learn that the Elamites made incursions in the neighbourhood of the Tigris. Pilinussu, the general in Akkad, apparently carried on operations against another general, and seems to have gone to the cities of the Medes before Bāgā-asā, the brother of the king. A man named Te'udišī also seems to have opposed the general in Akkad. Yet another inscription of the same period states that Ti'imūṭusu, son of Aspāsinē, went from Babylon to Seleucia (on the Tigris), showing that the former renowned place was still regarded as one of the cities of the land. At this time one of the opponents of Aspāsinē's generals was “Pittit, the enemy, the Elamite.” Elam, to its whole extent, was smitten with the sword, and Pittit (was slain, or [pg 484] captured). Sacrifices were made to Bel, probably on account of this victory.
Similar inscriptions of the time of the Arsacidean rule in Babylonia also exist, and would probably be useful if published. Unfortunately, they are all more or less damaged and mutilated, but of those which I have been able to make notes of, one may be worth quoting. The following extract will show its nature:—
“This month I heard thus: Aršakā the king and his soldiers departed to the city of Arqania.... (I) heard thus: The Elamite and his soldiers departed to battle before the city Apam'a which is upon the river Ṣilḫu....”
The remainder is very mutilated, and requires studying in conjunction with all the other inscriptions of the same class, though even then much must necessarily be doubtful.
In many of these inscriptions each of the long paragraphs ends with a reference to the sacrifices which had been made in the temples of Babylon among the ruins, and sometimes, though rarely, they refer to something of the nature of an omen. The following will serve as an example:—
“... descended to Babylon from Seleucia which is upon the Tigris. Day 10, the governor of Akkad ... the congregation of Ê-saggil, (sacrificed) one ox and 4 lambs in the gate Ka-dumu-nuna of Ê-saggil, (and) made (prayer for the lif)e of the king and his preservation. On the 5., one ox and 3 lambs (they sacrificed). The congregation of Baby]lon came to Ka-dumu-nuna of Ê-saggil, offerings like the former ones were made ... went forth from Sippar. This month a goat brought forth, and the litter was 15.”
Contract-tablets, some of them of a very late date indeed, within a decade or two of the Christian era, show that the temples still existed, and that sacrifices and services still went on, probably uninterruptedly, at the temples of Babylon, and this implies that, [pg 485] though the country had no national existence, the beliefs of the people survived for many centuries the downfall of their power. In all probability, what took place at Babylon had its counterpart in other places in the country—the fanes renowned of old—as well. Indeed, it is known that, at the most perfectly preserved of the temple-towers of Babylonia at the present day—that at Borsippa, now and for many centuries known as the Birs Nimroud, “the tower (as it is explained) of Nimrod,”—the services and worship were continued as late as the fourth century of the Christian era. The worship of Nebo, the god of wisdom, or, rather, letters, had always been extremely popular, hence, in all probability, the continuation of his cult until this late date. But this was to all appearance the last remnant of the powerful and picturesque creed of old Babylon, and details of its slow and gradual disappearance from the religious beliefs of the world would probably be as interesting as the story of its growth and development.
“The Church at Babylon,” mentioned in 1 Peter v. 13, is generally understood allegorically, as of the Church in the world, or that in the great Babylon of the time when the apostle wrote, namely, Rome. Though it is unknown whether a Christian Church existed in his time anywhere in Babylonia, it is probably certain that the native Christians of Baghdad (and 'Irāq in general) are pure descendants of the ancient Babylonians, to whom, in form and stature, as well as in character, and their tendency to progress, they have a great likeness. The same may be said of the native Christians of Assyria.
Could we but know the history of Assyria at this period, it is very probable that we should find it to resemble in certain things—perhaps in the main—that of Babylonia after her downfall. From the religious point of view, also, there must have been similarity. They, too, knew the worship of the [pg 486] “merciful Merodach,” to them a type of Christ, and his father Êa (from whom he obtained the means of helping mankind), in name and position a type of Jah, God the Father, whom the Christians worshipped. But we shall never in all probability know whether they thus analyzed and compared the two faiths, though it is very possible that they did, for it is said that the Egyptians were attracted to Christianity by the comparison of Christ with their Osiris. Such, however, is the tendency of the mind of mankind. Ever unwilling to break with the old, he seeks for some analogy in the new, to form a bridge whereby to pass to higher things. Minor deities have ever tended to become Christian saints, and such may have been—indeed, probably was—the case with the Babylonians and the Assyrians.