"

(Dr. S.

was the most ancient one of God amongst the Semitic races Birch in Wilkinson's Ancient Egyptians, ed. 1878, vol. 3, pp. 144, 145). Prof. Sayce some time ago (Modern Review, Oct., 1882, p. 857) put forth the "tentative suggestion" that the name JEHOVAH may have been derived from the Hittites. In behalf of this suggestion he pointed to the use of "Jehovah" in forming the names of certain princes of the Hittite city Hamath, whence were obtained a few years ago several important Hittite inscriptions now at Constantinople. The name of one of the Hamathite kings referred to by Professor Sayce is Jahu-bidi or Yahu-bidi, a name found in the Assyrian inscriptions. But besides this there is the name Joram in the Second Book of Samuel (viii. 9, 10): "When Toi king of Hamath heard that David had smitten all the host of Hadadezer, then Toi sent Joram his son unto king David, to salute him, and to bless him, because he had fought against Hadadezer, and smitten him: for Hadadezer had wars with Toi." The writer in the Chronicles, not liking, apparently, that a prince outside Israel, and belonging to an alien race, should bear a name compounded with the sacred name Jehovah, gives, instead of Joram, the name Hadoram, the latter name being formed with that of the Syrian god Hadad (1 Chron. xviii. 10). But the fact appears to be, that, as was the case with other deities in other countries, the cult, or, at least, some respect for the name, of the God of Israel, Jehovah, extended after a time beyond the boundaries of Israel. There is in the British Museum a small coin which has been thought to come from a city on the Philistine coast, and which, as shown by the letters inscribed upon it, represents Jehovah, though after the fashion in which the Greek Zeus or the Roman Jupiter was represented, seated in a chariot, and with other congruous attributes.

The name Jehovah, though not of Hittite origin, was, nevertheless, in all probability, a foreign name. It seems to me most likely that it was derived from the name of the Vedic deity Dyau-s, a name which gave birth likewise to Zeus, and to Jupiter, Jovis. It most probably came to the Hebrews through traffic with India, by way of Chaldea and the Persian Gulf Dyaus was a god of the sky; and the derivation I have thus indicated may make it a little more easy to understand the designation Jehovah Tsebaoth, "The LORD of hosts," that is, in all probability, of the stars, the heavenly hosts. The explanation given in Exod. iii. 14 has been rejected by distinguished scholars; and it probably originated in accordance with the well-known method by which foreign names, imported into a language, and whose origin and meaning have been lost through lapse of time, come to be treated as native-born words, and explained accordingly. It would not be very difficult to find examples more or less analogous in our own language.

The treaty with Rameses shows, as we have seen, that Ashtoreth was a Hittite goddess. She was also a principal deity of the Phoenicians, though the origin of the name is to be traced to the Mesopotamian and Chaldean Ishtar. She comes before us in the Old Testament as the "Queen of

Heaven," that is, the Moon, in whose honour certain cakes were made; a custom said to be still observed in or near the same localities. As the new moon is regarded as horned, it is easy to understand Ashtoreth being represented with the head of a horned cow. It is probably in connection with this representation that we should understand the name Ashterothkarnaim, i.e., "Ashteroth of the two horns" (Gen. xiv. 5). And on one of the inscriptions from the Hittite city Hamath, already alluded to, this goddess is undoubtedly represented by a crescent moon with one of its horns terminating in a horned ox-head. And on a Hittite seal in the British Museum, from Yuzgât in Asia Minor, there is represented the winged solar disk, similar in some measure to figures which are to be seen on the Assyrian monuments, but having on each side of it ox-headed figures with human-shaped bodies in the act of adoration, the Moon thus, as it were, confessing the Sun's superiority.

In a number of passages in the Old Testament is to be found the word Asherah, which the Authorized Version renders somewhat incongruously by "grove." As an example, may be adduced 2 Kings xxi. 7, "And he set a graven image of the grove that he had made in the house, of which the LORD said to David, and to Solomon his son, In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all tribes of Israel, will I put my name for ever." A "graven image of a grove" must certainly have been something remarkable. The Revised Version, in the passages cited and elsewhere, preserves the original Hebrew word in the form "Asherah." Of this Asherah it has been said, "This symbol seems in all cases to have been of wood, and the most probable etymology of the term indicates that it was formed of the straight stem of a tree, whether living or set up for the purpose, and thus points to the phallic rites with which no doubt the worship of Astarte was connected" (the late Prof. Gotch, in Smith's Dictionary). The "graven image of Asherah" probably implied a certain amount of sculpture with the view of closer representation. It then became an "abomination" or "horror" (R.V. "an abominable image for an Asherah”), 1 Kings xv. 13. Asherah, "the straight," was, however, closely connected with Ashtoreth-a connection in no way difficult to understand, if we recollect those licentious rites connected with the worship of Ashtoreth just alluded to. And Ashtoreth, as mentioned above, was a moon-goddess. It is interesting to find that in the inscriptions from Jerablûs, probably the ancient Carchemish, in the British Museum, a straight symbol is again and again found by the side of a crescent-moon, the combination evidently being an object of worship, in fact, a symbol of deity. It is always, or with scarcely an exception, found at the top of the line, above other objects and symbols. It is to be seen above a sacred tree or other consecrated objects, and the hand is held up to it in worship.

Connected with the worship of the Sun, the King of Heaven, was probably that of the Eagle, the Bird of the Sun. It is in this way, as seems likely, that Chemosh, as a solar deity, is represented by an eagle in the

symbol of the name Car-chemish. But, whatever may be the truth with regard to this explanation, which, however, seems to me in a high degree probable, the evidence of coins shows that the cult of the eagle existed in the country near Carchemish to a much later date. And the eagle or hawk is a well-known Egyptian Symbol of Horus, the Rising Sun.

I have yet to speak of what is perhaps the most curious fact in relation to the Hittite religion-the sacredness of the triangle, or rather, perhaps it should be said, of the equilateral triangle. This fact was not discovered till some four years ago, and then the discovery was made by the examination of a seal with five engraved faces, now in the Ashmolean Museum, which had been found near Tarsus, and had been brought to this country by the Rev. Greville Chester. Previously the occurrence of the equilateral triangle had been observed, as, for example, on the seal from Yuzgât already mentioned; and on the Carthaginian monuments it had been noticed that there was frequently to be seen a triangle with what looked like a rude representation of a head and projecting arms at the apex; but of this figure no satisfactory explanation had been given. On the Tarsus seal, however, were to be seen most curious figures, resembling to a certain extent the headed triangle of the Carthaginian monuments, but with such modifications and such accompanying figures as to suggest not only a mystical signification, but also to imply, or render probable, that the equilateral triangle, by virtue of its geometrical properties, was regarded as of widespread potency, or even as the source of life. The idea of three-in-oneness represented by the triangle is exhibited also on the Tarsus seal by the trident; but of the curious scenes represented on the five faces of this seal it is scarcely possible to give an adequate idea without the aid of figures. Further research showed not only a widespread use of symbols apparently derived from the triangle, but suggested the possibility that the Egyptian symbol of life, the crux ansata, or ankh, was also at a period of exceedingly remote antiquity, derived from the headed triangle. There is strong reason, also, to believe, on the evidence of a broken tablet in the British Museum, that in Babylonia the equilateral triangle had the meaning "life." I ought to add that, in the Louvre, is a very curious impression from a Hittite seal obtained in Asia Minor. On this seal the triangle has, apparently, eyes. The symbol of a hand is held up to it in supplication. The base is curved downwards, either to denote an inclination towards the worshipper, or possibly to represent a fulness of divine influence, a stream of which is issuing from one of the corners. This stream is, as I take it, analogous to the streams represented on Babylonian seals as issuing from the deity towards the worshipper-a curious fact which was detected by Dr. Hayes Ward, of New York.

With two general statements I may conclude. The first is, that, so far as we can at present see, the writing on the Hittite monuments is, with the partial exception of proper names, pictorial or ideographic, that is, that it pictures objects and ideas, and does not represent sounds. Attempts have

been made to show that the inscriptions are alphabetic or syllabic; but these attempts can scarcely be regarded as other than failures. The second is, that though the Hittite symbols may very possibly have been used by peoples speaking other dialects, the evidence looks in the direction of the Semitic languages, Hebrew, Chaldee, Syriac ; and this fact gives the Hittite inscriptions and the Hittite religion especial interest and importance in relation to the religious history of Israel.

If the reader wishes to pursue the subject further, I may mention that there is a good deal of additional information relating to the Hittite monuments, illustrated by figures, in five articles which I contributed to Nature, March 29th to April 26th, 1888. I hope, after a time, to republish the substance of these articles, with additions.

THE RELIGION OF BABYLONIA.

BY W. ST. CHAD BOSCAWEN.

IN coming before a mixed audience, to lecture on the Religion of Babylonia, I feel that I stand in a different position from the lecturers who have preceded me. Unlike the learned scholars who have spoken to you regarding the teachings, creeds, and ceremonies of Buddhism, Hinduism, or Mohammedanism, I can bring before you no sacred canon of books upon which to base my analysis of this ancient religion. Among the sacred writings of the land of Chaldea, we find no class of works which can be studied in the same systematic manner or submitted to the same analysis as the Vedas, the Sutras, or the Quran. There is another difficulty which we encounter upon the threshold of the exposition of the principal features of the history of religious development in Chaldea. It carries us back to so remote an antiquity, before the birth of the most ancient of the religions with which we are familiar, and which have formed the data upon which the students of the science of comparative religions have formulated the laws governing the growth of religions in general, that it is extremely difficult to trace its growth and development in accordance with those laws waich are applicable to the Aryan and other systems.

Our earliest inscriptions from the cities of Southern Chaldea carry us back to a period certainly long prior to B.C. 3800; and yet these inscriptions prove that religion had already passed through more than one of the earlier stages of development. Animism or Shamanism, the crude cultus of the magician and sorcerer, ever in contact with the evil opponents in nature, the spirits which waged war against man, had passed away and given place to the worship of the Creator God (Dimmera). While, however, this progress had been attained, and a crude theocracy formulated, yet the older creeds still lingered on and intermingled with the religion of the period; and fragments of their litanies and liturgies are still preserved

to us.

It is in this mixed character of the religion in the inscriptions that one of our chief difficulties is found.

The sacred literature is by no means scanty; thousands of tablets exist in our museums, which contain prayers, litanies, and liturgical texts. Our difficulty lies rather, however, in the fact that these tablets present no regular arrangements, as to class, date, or authorship; and this is still further complicated by the fact that many of the tablets are rather to be regarded as scattered pages of lost works than complete works in themselves.