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The great antiquity of Chaldea cannot be doubted, and its intimate connection with Hindostan, or Egypt, is abun dantly proved by the little that is known concerning its religion, and by the few fragments that remain of its former grandeur. The ruins of Nineveh have lately been excavated, after having lain concealed from the eye of man for two thousand five hundred years. Obelisks, and gigantic sphinxes have thus been brought to light, and images of the sacred bull, often represented winged and with a human head. The sun, moon, and trident of Siva were found over the entrances of temples, the same as in Hindostan. Hieroglyphics were cut on the monuments, and the sculptures were painted blue, red, and yellow, the brightness of which faded when exposed to the air, after their long interment. The triangular harp of Egypt is represented, and so is the Tree of Life, which both in Egypt and Hindostan was believed to confer immortality on those who ate of its fruit. The attitude of adoration, standing with uplifted hands, is the same as in Egypt. Deities are represented with the heads of birds, and carry lotus-blossoms in their hands, or rings to represent completed cycles. The bull, the ram, the lion, the goat, the seven planets, and other astronomical emblems, occur everywhere. One of their deities is represented with four wings, each terminating in a star. An orb with wings is conspicuous among their sacred emblems, and strongly resembles the winged globe of the Egyptians, the symbol of Osiris. Diodorus, the historian, says Chaldeans called the planets by the very same names which Greeks used to designate them, and Greeks borrowed their names from the Egyptians. The sexual emblem, so common in Egypt and Hindostan, has not been found on the ruins of Nineveh.

Chaldeans believed in One Supreme Being, and a multitude of subordinate deities emanating from him, in successive gradations. Spirits that were nearer the Divine Source were clothed with more ethereal forms than those more remote. The human soul was a portion of God, and originally had wings, which having perished, must VOL. I.-22

be reproduced before it could return to its source. The stars were Spirits, and had an influence, beneficent or malignant, on the affairs of the world; and wise men, by observing certain rules, could discover the secrets they revealed. They believed the world was created in six successive periods, and was alternately destroyed and renewed in the course of revolving ages. Whenever all the planets met in the sign of Capricorn the whole earth was overwhelmed with a deluge of water, and whenever they all met in Cancer it was consumed by fire.

There was a powerful order of priests, who conducted the ceremonies of religion, explained the laws, practised medi- ̧ cine, interpreted dreams, and averted evils by magical rites. A class of them were set apart on purpose to observe the heavenly bodies and keep record of their changes. The chief use made of this knowledge was to foretell weather and predict future events. These prophets became so celebrated that for many centuries all astrologers were known by the general name of Chaldeans. They were believed to be acquainted with spells that could command Spirits, and induce them to reveal supernatural virtues existing in herbs and stones. These laws of magic were deemed so important that the kings of Chaldea and Persia were instructed therein as a valuable instrument of government. It was supposed that the forces of an enemy might be routed, and a whole army struck with sudden panic, by the due performance of prescribed ceremonies and invocations. The priests had secret doctrines and religious mysteries, which they transmitted from father to son, and carefully veiled from the populace, who worshipped sun, moon, and stars, not as emblems, but as real deities.

The idea that heavenly luminaries were inhabited by Spirits, of a nature intermediate between God and men, first led mortals to address prayers to the orbs over which they were supposed to preside. In order to supplicate these deities, when sun, moon, and stars were not visible, they made images of them, which the priests consecrated with many ceremonies. Then they pronounced solemn

invocations to draw down the Spirits into the statues provided for their reception. By this process it was supposed that a mysterious connection was established between the Spirit and the image, so that prayers addressed to one were thenceforth heard by the other. This was probably the origin of image worship everywhere.

The highest deity among the Chaldeans was called Bel, or Baal, which signifies Lord, or Prince, of the Heavenly Luminaries. The symbol sacred to him was a circle with wings, probably to represent the disc of the Sun and the Spirit presiding over that resplendent orb. Some have supposed that Belus, a beneficent ruler, who improved agriculture, united rivers by canals, and fortified Babylon with walls, was believed to be an avatar, or incarnation of this deity, and therefore received his name. Animals were sacrificed to Bel, and probably human beings also. Queen Semiramis erected a temple for his worship at Babylon, which on account of its great height was used to observe the stars. Herodotus says it was ascended by steps on the outside, from the ground to the highest point of the tower. At the top was a chapel, containing a table of solid gold, and a couch magnificently adorned, where Bel was said to sleep. A priestess resided there, whom the priests affirmed to have been selected by the god himself to attend upon him, because she was more beautiful than any other woman in the nation. This famous temple is reported to have contained three golden statues. One of Bel, forty feet high; another of a goddess supposed to have been a symbol of Nature, recipient and preserver of the lifegiving principle of the world. She sat in a golden chair, with two lions by her side, and two huge silver serpents at her feet. Another goddess represented the planet which we call Venus, and was supposed to preside over generation. Her forehead was surmounted by a star, she held in her right hand a serpent, in her left, a sceptre adorned with gems. Syrians worshipped her under the name of Astarte, and it is supposed she is alluded to in Hebrew Scriptures as "The Queen of Heaven." It is said every woman in

Babylon was obliged to offer her person for sale one day in the year, at the temple of this goddess, and give the money thus obtained to defray the expenses of her worship. In Syria, every woman was required to conform to the same custom, or in lieu thereof cut off all her hair as an offering to Astarte. We have no description of the religious festivals of the Chaldeans, but from the great wealth of Babylon, and the expense so lavishly bestowed on sacred edifices, we may reasonably infer that their religious anniversaries were observed with pompous processions and splendid pageantry. In autumn they had a harvest festival of five days, during which time masters everywhere exchanged places with their servants, one of whom presided over the household in royal robes. When Babylon was conquered by the Persians, under Cyrus the Great, the magnificent temple of Bel was robbed of its treasures in gold, silver and gems.

PERSIA, though ancient to us, was a modern nation compared with Hindostan, Egypt, or Chaldea. When Babylon was in its glory, Persia was inhabited by rude tribes, who had no place in history till the time of Cyrus the Great. It was originally called Iran, which means the Land of Light. Herodotus informs us that their religious ceremonies were conducted with great simplicity. They had neither temples nor altars, and considered it impious to make images of Divine Beings. They ascended mountains, and offered sacrifices, hymns, and prayers to the whole expanse of the Firmament; or rather to the Deity, the Centre and Source of Universal Light, whom they supposed to reside there. They likewise worshipped sun, moon, fire, air, earth, and water.

Concerning their great religious teacher Zerdusht, or Zoroaster, the most confused and contradictory accounts are given. Aristotle, Pliny, and others, fix his date five thousand years before the Trojan war, which would be more than six thousand years before the Christian era; and Plato mentions this as the most common opinion.

Plutarch and others say he flourished only five hundred years before the Trojan war. The Persians themselves had a tradition that he came from some country to the east of them, and they believed him to have been more ancient than the date we assign to Moses. That he was a foreigner is indicated by a passage in the Zendavesta, which represents Ormuzd as saying to him, "Up! and go into the Land of Iran." The confusion in chronology has led some scholars to suggest that there might have been two celebrated sages, who bore the same name; one very ancient, and the other, who was the great reformer of the old religion of Persia, not dating much farther back than the time of Cyrus the Great, who lived five hundred and fiftynine years before Christ. The learned Heeren thinks it is satisfactorily proved by internal evidence from Zoroaster's own writings, that he lived at "a period anterior to the very commencement of the Median empire, ascending beyond the eighth century before the Christian era." He adds: "Whether we must refer him to a still more ancient epoch, must remain a question." One thing is certain; there was a man called Zoroaster, whom all Asiatic writers agree in representing as eminent for wisdom, particularly for knowledge of astronomy. The religion which bore his name is well known to have prevailed throughout Persia in the time of Socrates; and of the Sacred Books ascribed to him mutilated copies still remain.

Tradition reports that his mother had alarming dreams of Evil Spirits seeking to destroy the child to whom she was about to give birth. But a good Spirit came to rescue him, and said to her: "Fear nothing! Ormuzd will protect this infant. He has sent him as a prophet to the people. The world is waiting for him." When he was born, wicked Spirits threw him into a flaming fire; but his mother found him sleeping sweetly there, as if it were a pleasant bath. It is said that he lived twenty years in the wilderness, on cheese that never grew stale. Then he retired to a solitary mountain, and devoted himself to silent contemplation, in order to attain perfect holiness. One VOL I.-22*

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