of Nabonidus, and, rejecting the latter, transferred his protection to the alien, Cyrus.

The sacrifices offered by the Babylonians and Assyrians seem to have resembled those of the other ancient nations of Western Asia. Sheep and cattle were slaughtered as offerings to the gods, and gifts of vegetable products were also made to them. Libations of wine were poured out before them; special sacrifices were offered every month. Nebuchadnezzar says that at the great festivals he offered to Merodach and Nebo, in their temples, bulls without blemish, fish, birds, garlic, honey, wine, milk, and other drinks-all in great abundance. Many of the offerings were, of course, devoted to the maintenance of the priests. To the latter, tithes were regularly paid, and besides that, they possessed large property in land and in gold, with which the kings had endowed them. The kings themselves were regarded as high priests of the gods, and the latter is one of their proudest titles. There seem to have been several orders of priests, who were known by different designations.

*

There

Of other ritual observances we know little. were rites of purification by water, and it seems that vessels of lustral water, similar to those represented in the bas-relief of the temple of the god Khaldia in Armenia, stood at the entrances of the temples; the sculpture shows two circular vessels, supported on tripods, and in shape resembling the immense "Vase of Amathus,' now in the Louvre. Incense was

* See page 294.

burnt in honour of the gods, and pillars with smoking censers at the top are seen in the bas-reliefs. Hymns were sung to the accompaniment of wind-instruments and harps. Prayers were recited by the priests, usually in the Accadian language, according to the general law of religious conservatism, which preserves the ancient language of religious worship even when it ceases to be understood by the vulgar. It has been already remarked that the liturgical formulæ of Babylonia were borrowed from the Accadians, together with much of their religion. Possibly the priests of Babylonia were an hereditary caste of Accadian descent, as certain passages in ancient authors might imply; but this is uncertain. They had, of course, learnt to use the Semitic Babylonian in the ordinary intercourse of life; and they bore Semitic names.

One of the bas-reliefs from the palace of Ashurnasir-pal at Calah exhibits this monarch offering to the gods a bull, which he had slain during one of his hunting expeditions. The king, dressed in his royal robes, and with the peaked tiara of royalty upon his head, holds in one hand his bow, upon which he leans, and in the other a goblet containing the wine of libation. Behind the king stands the chief eunuch, holding over the monarch the royal umbrella, which was an emblem of kingly power in ancient Assyria, from whence it was borrowed by the Persians and, in later times, by Mahometan sovereigns. Behind the eunuch are two of the great officers of the court, and facing the king are three figures, one with the fly-flap,

while the others stand with clasped hands, and are probably the chief priests. Behind the latter are two musicians with harps, or, rather, lyres, which they strike with the plectrum, while the priests sing their hymns to the gods.

Another bas-relief, which proceeds from the palace of Sardanapalus at Nineveh, represents a similar scene: the offering up of lions slain by the monarch during one of the lion-hunts which the sculptures of his reign so vividly reproduce for us. The ritual followed is similar to that in the sacrifice of Ashur-nasir-pal.

An inscription of Sardanapalus also speaks of certain offerings which he made in memory of his ancestors.

Some of the mystical purifications and other religious or magical rites of the Chaldæans were handed down to comparatively late times, and were borrowed by some of the Greek philosophical sects.

Of the internal arrangement of the temples we know little. At the extremity appears to have been the shrine of the god, concealed by a veil. Before this were altars and tables, on which the offerings were laid. Many lamps were kept burning in the temples, which admitted no daylight except through the door.

It should not be forgotten that besides the gods, the Assyrian and Babylonian mythology included an immense number of spirits who inhabited heaven and earth; some were good, and some were evil. To the latter diseases and misfortunes of all sorts were attributed, and the sorcerers and enchanters muttered their incantations for the purpose of driving them away.

One of the oldest legends of Babylonia narrates the attack of seven evil spirits upon the moon. Some of

the sculptures seem to represent the popular idea of such malignant demons, in the figures of monsters, with human bodies and the heads of wild beasts, or other monstrous forms which we see in, the bas-reliefs.

CHAPTER XVIII.

THE ASSYRIAN AND BABYLONIAN LANGUAGE.

SINCE the language of the Assyrians and Babylonians was a Semitic language, closely allied to the Hebrew, the monuments of it that have been discovered during this century are of great value for comparison with the language of the Old Testament; and as the study of the cuneiform inscriptions progresses, it may be expected that the two branches of the Semitic family of speech will throw more and more light upon one another. It is usual to speak of Assyrian and Babylonian as a single branch of language, because, so far as it can be judged, they were, though undoubtedly distinct dialects, yet so nearly identical that for ordinary purposes they may be accepted as one. As it has already been remarked, however, the cuneiform system of writing is often far from giving an exact reproduction of the sounds of the languages which it expresses, and therefore, probably, many shades of difference in the pronunciation of vowels and consonants escape us, which would form further proofs of dialectical differences if we were aware of them.

No other language of the Semitic family can show written monuments contemporary with the books of