THE RELIGION OF THE ASSYRIANS.

BY CANON GEORGE RAWLINSON.

Of all the nations of remote antiquity—of those, I mean, which flourished before the rise of the Greeks and Romans into a conspicuous place—there is none which occupies a higher position, or more deserves to have a share in our thoughts and attention, than the nation of the Assyrians. "The Assyrian was a cedar in Lebanon," says the prophet Ezekiel, "fair of branches, and with a shadowing shroud, and of an high stature; and his top was among the thick boughs nor was any tree in the garden of God like unto him in his beauty" (Ezek. xxxi. 3, 8). The AssyrianEmpire, if we regard it as continued in the later Babylonian, lasted eight hundred years, and extended, at its acme, from the Persian Desert to the Ægean Sea and the Sahara. It included in it Persia, Media, Susiana, Babylonia, Assyria Proper, Mesopotamia, Armenia, great part of Asia Minor, Syria, Phoenicia, Palestine, Idumæa, and Egypt. It was the first example of a really great empire. It consolidated all Western Asia under a single head. It broke the power of the Egyptians. It made great advances in the arts. At a time when Europe was sunk in barbarism it had reached a degree of civilization far from contemptible-in most points equal, in many superior, to the boasted civilization of Egypt.

Besides the general interest attaching to Assyria from its power and position among the nations of the ancient world, a special interest must always attach to it in a Christian land from the part which it played in the history of the "chosen people ”—of that “Israel of God" whereof the Christian community is the continuation and the representative. Assyria was the fated instrument in God's hand for the destruction, first of the kingdom of Samaria, and then of the kingdom of Judæa, and so for the elevation and purification of later Judaism by the "sweet uses of adversity." The names of Shalmaneser, Sennacherib, Nebuchadnezzar, must always remain "household words" in every land in which the Bible is read; and among Bible readers of any intelligence, as well as among students of history generally, there must always be a desire to know what manner of men they were whom those great chieftains led from the banks of the Euphrates and the Tigris to those of the Jordan and the Nile, to Damascus, Samaria, Jerusalem, Memphis.

The most important element in the thought of a people, the chief influence by which their character is formed, and their inner and even their outer life determined, is their religion. If we would possess more than a superficial knowledge of the real history of nations, we must study

carefully-not only the records of their external deeds, and the monuments that they have left behind them, but-principally and above all else-their religions.

With these few preliminary remarks on the importance of the subject assigned to me in this Course of Lectures, I shall proceed to grapple with the task allotted me, and endeavour to set before you, as simply and plainly as I can, the true nature of the Assyrian Religion-or, at any rate, its leading characteristics.

First, then, the Assyrian religion was a polytheism-a system in which the unity of the Godhead was broken up into fragments, and a large number of deities were presented as objects of adoration to the worshipper, each being regarded as distinct from all the rest, each having his own form, his own attributes, his own emblems, his own temples. So far as appears, there was no esoteric religion, or secret teaching, by which the gods were identified one with another, and explained to be mere aspects of a single deity. This was the case in Egypt, but not, so far as I can see, in Assyria or Babylonia. There each god was a really distinct personage. The gods, like men, formed a community, in which councils were held, disputes took place, quarrels even might break out, one god might injure or oppress another; each acted as he pleased, according to his "own sweet will," and wills might conflict; and so there might even be "war in heaven,” as indeed there was upon one occasion, of which I shall speak at more length further on.

Secondly, there was not even among the gods a single acknowledged chief ruler. There were certain gradations of rank, generally, though. not always, observed; but no authority was exercised; many gods are called "chief of the gods," "king of the gods," even "god of the gods." Each seems to be supreme in his own sphere. Any one of many may be taken by a worshipper as his peculiar god, and worshipped almost exclusively of the others. There is no μovapxía-rather what the Greeks would have called ȧvapxía-" an absence of government."

Thirdly, the polytheism is not very multitudinous. We hear, indeed, in certain passages, of the "4,000" and even of the "5,000 gods;" but, practically, only some twenty distinct deities obtain frequent mention in the inscriptions. There are, indeed, a number of local divinities, river gods, country gods, town gods, and village gods-but these are suspected to be in many cases the great gods of the Pantheon, disguised under rustic appellations, while in other cases they are obscure and insignificant personages, known to few, and scarcely worshipped by any. It is not my intention to call your attention to these minor deities, but rather to ask you to concentrate your thoughts for the present on the nineteen or twenty "great gods" of the Assyrian and Babylonian Pantheon.

At the head of the Pantheon in either country stood a god, not the origin of the others, not in any real sense the fountain of divinity, but of higher rank and dignity than the rest-" the first among equals "—ordi

narily named first, and assigned the titles of greatest honour, forming thus the principal, or at least the highest object of worship, both to the kings and to the people. This deity is, in Assyria, Asshur; in Babylonia, Il (or Ra). Some critics are of opinion that the two great gods are essentially one, the Assyrian Asshur being neither more nor less than Il (or Ra) localized, and regarded as the special god of Assyria, the protector of the Assyrian territory, and the tutelary divinity of the Assyrian kings. But this view is not generally accepted, and seems to rest upon no sure foundations. There is a marked difference of character between the Babylonian Il and the Assyrian Asshur. Il, in the Babylonian system, is dim and shadowy; his attributes are, comparatively speaking, indistinct; and his very name is not of frequent occurrence. Asshur, in the Assyrian system, is, of all of the gods, by far the most pronounced and prominent figure. No name occurs so often as his; no god has attributes so clearly marked and positive. On these grounds it has been generally held that the two are not to be identified, but to be kept distinct, and to be regarded as respectively peculiar to the two countries. I shall, therefore, speak of them separately.

Il (or Ra) was, as I have already said, a somewhat shadowy being. There is a vagueness about the very name, which simply means "god," and cannot be said to express any particular attribute. His form is never represented on the monuments; and his name is omitted from many lists, as if he were too holy to be spoken of. He does not appear to have had any special temples; and his name is rarely made an element in the personal appellations of individuals. He must, however, have been originally the tutelary deity of Babylon, which was named after him -Bab-il, or "the gate of Il."

Asshur, the Assyrian substitute for Il, was primarily and especially the tutelary deity of Assyria, and of the Assyrian monarchs. The land of Assyria bears his name without any modification; its inhabitants are "his servants," or "his people;" its troops, "the armies of the God Asshur ; its enemies, "the enemies of Asshur." The kings stand connected with him in respect of almost everything which they do. He places them upon the throne, firmly establishes them in the government, lengthens the years of their reigns, preserves their power, protects their forts and armies, directs their expeditions, gives them victory in the day of battle, makes their name celebrated, multiplies their offspring greatly, and the like. To him they look for the fulfilment of all their wishes, and especially for the establishment of their sons, and their sons' sons, on the Assyrian throne to the remotest ages. Their usual phrase, when speaking of him, is "Asshur, my Lord." They represent themselves as passing their lives in his service. It is to spread his worship that they carry on their wars. They fight, ravage, and destroy in his name. Finally, when they subdue a country, they are careful to "set up the emblems of Asshur,” and to make the people conform to his laws.

The ordinary titles of Asshur are: "The great lord," "the king of all the gods," "he who rules supreme over the gods." He is also called occasionally "the father of the gods," although that is a title which belongs more properly to another deity. He is figured as a man with a horned cap and often carrying a bow-issuing from the middle of a winged circle, and either shooting an arrow from the bow, or stretching forth his hand, as if to aid or smite. The winged circle by itself is also used as his emblem, and probably denotes his ubiquity and eternity, as the human form does his intelligence, and the horned cap his power. This emblem-the winged circle-either with or without the human figure, is an almost invariable accompaniment of Assyrian royalty. The "great king" wears it embroidered upon his robes, carries it engraved upon his seal or cylinder, represents it above his head in the rock tablets whereon he carves his inage, kneels or stands in adoration before it, fights under its shadow, under its protection returns victorious, places it conspicuously upon his obelisks and other monuments; and, in all these representations, it is remarkable how, by slight modifications, he makes. the emblem conform to the circumstances of his own employment at the time. When he is fighting, Asshur, too, has his arrow upon the string, and points it against the monarch's adversaries. When he is returning home victorious with the disused bow in his left hand, and his right hand outstretched and elevated, Asshur has the same attitude. In peaceful scenes the bow disappears altogether. If the king worships, the god holds out his hand to aid; if he is engaged in secular acts, the divine presence is thought to be sufficiently marked by the circle and the wings without the human figure.

In immediate succession to Asshur in Assyria, and Il (or Ra) in Babylonia, we find in both countries a Triad, consisting of Anu, Bel, and Hea (or Hoa). These three are called in some places specially and distinctively "the great gods." In execrations, where curses are invoked on those who shall do certain acts, they are separated off from all the other deities, and placed together in a clause, which stands at the head of the entire list of anathemas. In invocations their names follow, for the most part, immediately after the name of Asshur; and this is their usual and proper place in all complete lists of the chief gods. Anu and Bel in the Babylonian system are brothers, both of them being sons of Il (or Ra); but this relationship is scarcely acknowledged in Assyria. Hea, in both countries, stands apart, unconnected with the other two, but still their equal, and joined with them in a Triad, wherein he occupies the third place.

It has been conjectured by M. François Lenormant, that in this triad We have a cosmogonic myth, and that the three deities which form it represent-Anu, the primordial chaos, or matter without form; Hea, life and intelligence, considered as moving in and animating matter; and Bel, the organizing and creating spirit, by which matter was actually brought into subjection, and the material universe evoked out of chaos

and settled in an orderly way. But it may be questioned whether the veil which hides the inner meaning of the Assyrian religion, if it had an inner meaning, is as yet sufficiently lifted to entitle mere conjectures on its true import to much attention. For my own part, I believe that Anu, Bel, and Hea were originally the gods respectively of the earth, of the heavens, and of the waters, thus corresponding in the main to the wellknown Pluto, Zeus or Jupiter, and Poseidon or Neptune, of the Greeks and Romans, who divided between them the dominion over the visible creation. But this early belief became, in course of time, overlaid to a great extent with other notions; and though Hea continued always to have, more or less, the character of a water deity, Anu and Bel ceased to have peculiar spheres, and became merely "great gods," with a general superintendence over the world, and with no very marked difference of powers.

Anu is commonly spoken of as "the old Anu," "the original chief,” "the king of the lower world," and "the lord of spirits and demons." There is one text in which he seems to be called "the father of the gods;" but the reading is doubtful. We cannot identify as his any one of the divine forms which appear on the Assyrian or Babylonian cylinders or other monuments; nor can we assign to him any distinct emblem, unless it be that of the single upright wedge, which represents him on the Chaldæan numeration tablets. This single upright wedge has the numerical power of "sixty ;" and sixty appears to have been assigned to Anu as his special number. Though a "great god," he was not one towards whom much preference was shown. His name is scarcely ever found as an element in royal or other appellations; the kings do not very often mention it, and only one monarch-the first Tiglath-pileser (about B.C. 1130)-speaks of himself as Anu's special votary.

The second god of the first Triad-the god Bel-familiarly known to us by the mentions of him which occur in the canonical Scriptures and in the Apocrypha, is one of the most marked and striking figures in the Pantheon alike of Babylonia and of Assyria. Bel is "the god of lords," "the father of the gods," "the creator," "the mighty prince," and "the just prince of the gods." He plays a leading part in the mythological legends, which form so curious a feature in the Babylonian and Assyrian religion. In the History of Creation we are told that Bel made the earth and the heaven; that he formed man by a mixture of his own blood with earth, and also formed beasts, and that afterwards he created the sun and the moon, and the five planets. In the War of the Gods we find him contending with the great dragon, Tiamat, and after a terrible single combat destroying her by flinging a thunderbolt into her open mouth. He also, in conjunction with Hea, plans the defence when the seven spirits of evil rise in rebellion, and the dwelling-place of the gods is assaulted by them. The titles of Bel generally express dominion. He is "the Lord" par excellence, which is the exact meaning of his name in