DURING the Persian and Hellenistic periods Babylon exerted an influence upon contemporary races of which we may trace some survivals in the civlization of the modern world. She was the mother of astronomy, and the twelve divisions on the dial of our clocks and watches were ultimately derived, through Greek channels, from her ancient system of time-division. It was under the Neo-Babylonian kings tha the Hebrew race first came into close contact with her culture, and there can be no doubt that the Jews, in the time of their captivity, renewed their interest in her mythology when they found it presented some parallels to their own. But in the course of this history it has been shown that, during far earlier periods, the civilization of Babylon had penetrated throughout a great part of Western Asia. It is admitted that, as a result of her westward expansion at the time of the First Dynasty, her culture had spread during subsequent periods to the Mediterranean coast-lands, and had moulded to some extent the development of those peoples with whom it came in contact. And since the religious element dominated her own activities in a greater measure than was the case with most other races of antiquity, it has been urged that many features in Hebrew religion and in Greek mythology can only be rightly explained by Babylonian beli efs in which they had their origin. It is the purpose of this chapter to examine a theory of Babylon's external influence, which has been propagated by a school of writers and has determined the direction of much recent research.

It is scarcely necessary to insist on the manner in which material drawn from Babylonian and Assyrian sources has helped to elucidate points in the political and religious history of Israel. Scarcely less striking, though not so numerous, are the echoes from Babylonian legends which have long been recognized as existing in Greek mythology. The best known example of direct borrowing is undoubtedly the myth of Adonis and Aphrodite, the main features of which correspond closely to the Babylonian legend of Tammuz and Ishtar. In this case not only the myth, but the accompanying festival and rites were also borrowed, passing to Greece by way of Byblos on the Syrian coast and Paphos in Cyprus, both centres of Astarte worship. Another Greek legend, obviously of Babylonian origin, is that of Actaeon, who is clearly to be identified with the shepherd, loved by Ishtar and changed by her into a leopard, so that he was hunted and killed by his own hounds.

 

King Standing on Sphinxes and Holding a Lion in Each Hand; Palm Tree with Winged Sun-Disk Above (Persia, Achaemenid period, ca. 550–330 B.C.)

 

Some parallels have also long been pointed out between the national heroes Heracles and Gilgamesh. It is true that most races of antiquity possess stories of national heroes of superhuman strength and power, but there are certain features in the traditions concerning Heracles which may have some ultimate connexion with the Gilgamesh cycle of legends. Less convincing is the analogy which has been suggested between Icarus and Etana, the Babylonian hero or demi-god, who succeeded in flying to the highest heaven only to fall headlong to the earth. For in Etana's case there is no question of human flight: he was earned to heaven by his friend the Eagle, to whose wings he clung while they mounted to heaven's gates. But the examples already referred to may suffice to illustrate the way in which it has long been agreed that Babylonian mythology may have left its impress on that of Greece.

But the views now held by a considerable body of scholars suggest a much broader extension of Babylonian influence than is implied by a series of isolated and fortuitous connexions; and, as the character of this influence is ex hypothesi astronomical, any attempt to define its limits with precision is a matter of some difficulty. For it will be obvious that, if we may assume an astronomical basis or background to any two mythologies, we at once detect a great number of common features the existence of which we should not otherwise have suspected. And the reason is not far to seek; for the astronomical phenomena with which we go to work are necessarily restricted in number, and they have to do duty many times over as a background in each system. In spite of this disadvantage, which is inherent in their theory, Winckler and his school have rendered good service in working out the general relationship which was believed by the Babylonians to exist between the heavenly bodies and the earth. He has shown sound reasons for assuming that, according to the tenets of Babylonian astrology, events and institutions on earth were in a certain sense copies of heavenly prototypes.

It is well known that the Babylonians, like the Hebrews, conceived the universe as consisting of three parts : the heaven above, the earth beneath, and the waters under the earth. The Babylonians gradually elaborated this conception of the universe, and traced in the heavens a parallel to the threefold division of earth, separating the universe into a heavenly and an earthly world. The earthly universe consisted as before of three divisions, that is to say the heaven (limited to the air or atmosphere above the earth), the earth itself, and the waters beneath it. Those corresponded in the heavenly world to the Northern heaven, the Zodiac, and the Southern heaven or heavenly ocean. By the later Babylonian period the greater gods had long become identified with the planets, and the lesser gods with the fixed stars, each deity having his special house or star in heaven in addition to his temple on earth. This idea appears to have been carried still further by the later Greek astrologers, by whom lands and cities in addition to temples were thought to have their cosmic counterparts. But even for the Babylonians the moving stars were not merely symbols serving as interpreters to men of the divine will; their movements were the actual cause of events on earth. To use an apposite simile of Winckler, heaven was believed to be related to earth much as a moving object seen in a mirror was related to its reflection.

In order to illustrate the way in which these astral ideas are said to have supplied material to Greek mythology, a test instance may be selected, the suggested explanation of which involves one of the essential features of Winckler's astral system as he eventually elaborated it. We will take the story of the Golden Lamb of Atreus and Thyestes, which is introduced by Euripides into one of the choruses in his Electra. According to the story, which is referred to, but not explicitly told, by Euripides, the Lamb with the Golden Fleece was brought by Pan to Atreus, and was regarded by the Argives as a sign that he was the true king. But his brother Thyestes, with the help of Atreus' wife, stole it and claimed to be king; so strife ensued, good was turned to evil, and the stars were shaken in their courses. It is curious that the theft of the Lamb should have such a special effect upon the heavens and the weather, for this is definitely stated in the second strophe and antistrophe of the chorus. Though details are obscure, it is clear that we here have a legend with strongly marked astrological elements. The theft of the Lamb changes the sun's course, and from other lines in the chorus we gather that the alteration led to the present climatic conditions of the world, the rain-clouds flying northward and leaving "the seats of Ammon"—that is, the Libyan desert—parched and dewless.

In its original form the legend may well have been a story of the First Sin, after which the world was changed to its present state, both moral and atmospheric. There is definite evidence that the Golden Lamb was identified with the constellation Aries; and since Babylon was admittedly the home of astrology, it is not an improbable suggestion, in spite of the reference to Ammon, that we should regard it as one of the lost legends of Babylon. According to Winckler's theory of the Babylonian religion, we should go further, and trace the origin of the legend to a convulsion in Babylonian thought which took place in the ninth and eighth centuries B.C. At this period, it is asserted, the sun at the vernal equinox was moving from the constellation Taurus into Aries. The bull, according to the theory, was identified with Marduk, the god of Babylon, and all the time he was yielding his place to the Ram, Babylon was declining before the power of Assyria. The disorganization of the calendar and the seasons, due to the imperfect method of time-reckoning in vogue, was associated with this event, giving an impetus to a fresh birth of legends, one of which has found its way in a Greek dress into this chorus of Euripides. Or, as it has been put rather differently, the story is a piece of Babylonian astronomy misunderstood.

The theory underlying this interpretation of the legend is based on the axiom that the Babylonian religion was essentially a star-worship, and that behind every department of the national literature, secular as well as religious, lay the same astral conception of the universe. Before treating the theory in greater detail, it may be well to ascertain how far the history of the country substantiates this view. In the earliest period of which we have recovered material remains there can be no doubt that image-worship formed a characteristic feature of the Babylonian religious system, though we have no means of tracing its gradual evolution out of the fetish and stock-and-stone worship which necessarily preceded it. The extraneous civilization, which the Sumerians introduced, most probably included cult-images of their gods, and these may well have been already anthropomorphic. Fashioned in the god's form, the image was believed to enshrine his presence, and for the Babylonians of all periods it never lost this animistic character.

A tribal or city-god, in his earliest stage of development, was doubtless wholly identified with his cult-image. No more than one image of each was worshipped, and the idea of a god's existence apart from this visible form must have been of gradual growth. The misfortunes of the material image, especially if unaccompanied by national disaster, would have fostered a belief in the god's existence apart from his visible body of wood or stone. And such a belief eventually developed into the Babylonian conception of a heavenly division of the universe, in which the great gods had their dwelling, making their presence manifest to men in the stars and planets that moved across the sky. But this development marked a great advance upon pure image-worship, and undoubtedly followed the growth of a pantheon out of a collection of separate and detached city-gods. We have no means of dating the association of some of the greater gods with natural forces. It would seem that, in the earlier Sumerian period, religious centres in the country were already associated with lunar and solar cults and with other divisions of nature-worship. But it is quite certain that, during all subsequent stages of Babylonian history, the divine image never degenerated into a mere symbol of divinity. Without consciously postulating a theory in explanation of his belief, the Babylonian found no difficulty in reconciling a localization of the divine person with his presence at other cult centres and ultimately with a separate life in the heavenly sphere.

That this was actually the case is proved by a number of historical examples. With the rise of Babylon we may note the important part which the actual image of Marduk played in each coronation ceremony and in the renewal of the king's oath at every subsequent Feast of the New Year; the hands of no other image than that in E-sagila would serve for the king to grasp. In Hammurabi's reign we see the Babylonian's conception of his visible gods reflected in his treatment of foreign images. The international exchange of deities in the fourteenth and thirteenth centuries has already been referred to, and the recovery of captured images was always recorded with enthusiasm. For the was simply that he ignored the feeling. Historical evidence thus suggests that the astral aspect of divinity in Babylonia was not an original feature of its religious system, and that it was never adopted to the exclusion of more primitive ideas.

A similar result follows if we examine the relation of a Babylonian deity to his sculptured emblem, by means of which his authority or presence could in certain circumstances be secured or indicated. The origin of such emblems was not astrological, nor is it to be sought in liver-augury: they were not derived from fancied resemblances to animals or objects, presented either by constellations in heaven, or by markings on the liver of a victim. It is clear that they arose in the first instance from the characters or attributes assumed by the gods in the mythology; their transference to constellations was a secondary process, and their detection in liver-markings resulted, not in their own origin but in that of the omen. In the earliest period the emblem of a city-god might symbolize his city's power, and those of other deities expressed some quality in the character of their possessor, or were drawn from a weapon, object or animal with which they were associated in tradition.

sumerian harp

Another class of images were the animal forms, also drawn largely from the mythology, which adorned the earlier temples and were reproduced in enamelled brick­work on secular buildings by the Neo-Babylonian kings. Most of these, in the later as in the earlier periods, were placed near temple-entrances, and where stone was so plentiful that it could be used in bulk in the structure of buildings, the doorways themselves were carved in the same way. That animal forms were employed to symbolize sound is suggested by the representation of a great harp or lyre on a Sumerian-bas-relief, in which the figure of a bull surmounting the sound-case is evidently intended to suggest the peculiarly deep and vibrant tones of the instrument. Moreover, on cylinder-seals engraved with the figure of the Sun-god emerging from the Eastern Gate of heaven, two lions are often set immediately above the opening doors, and in one specimen the gate-pivots rest upon a second pair arranged symmetrically below them.

The symbolism of these and similar monsters may well have been suggested by the grinding of the hea.vy doors in their stone sockets and the shrieking of their bolts. The noises suggested the cries of animals, which, in accordance with the tenets of primitive animism, were thought to inhabit the doors and gateways and to guard them. We may probably trace to this ancestry the colossal lions and winged bulls which flanked the doorways of Assyrian and Persian palaces, and, like the enamelled monsters of Babylon and Persepolis, continued to be reproduced as divine guardians of a building after their primitive associations had been forgotten or modified.

Archaeological evidence thus supports the view, already deduced from historical considerations, that astrology did not dominate the religious activities of Babylon. And an examination of the literature points to the same conclusion. Magic and divination bulk largely in the texts recovered, and in their case there is nothing to suggest an underlying astrological element. We are the less inclined, therefore, to accept the axiom that an astral conception of the universe permeated and coloured Babylonian thought to such an extent, that not only myths and legends, but even historical events, were recorded in terms which reflect the movements of the sun, moon and planets and the other phenomena of the heavens. If we once grant this assumption, it might perhaps have followed, as the astral mythologists claim, that the beliefs of the Babylonian star-worshippers became the prevailing doctrine of the ancient East and left their traces' broadcast upon the records of antiquity. But the original assumption appears to be unsound, and the theory can only find support by treating late evidence as applicable to all stages of Babylonian history.

The roots of the theory are placed in a purely imaginary age, where evidence for or against it is lacking. Thus the oldest monuments which have been recovered upon Babylonian sites are not considered relics of' the early stages of Babylonian culture. It is asserted that in the periods behind them there existed an elaborate and highly developed civilization, lying back in the darkness beyond the earliest extant records. In the total absence of material evidence, it is no difficult task to paint this age in colours which are shared by no other early or primitive race in the world's history. It is assumed that war and violence had no existence in Babylonia in this prehistoric time. Intellect dominated and controlled the passions of the primaeval but highly gifted people, and in particular one form of intellectual conception based on a scientific knowledge of astronomy. It is postulated that a purely astronomical theory of the universe lay at the root of their civilization, and governed their whole thought and conduct. This was no teaching of a learned priesthood, but was a universally held belief which permeated every branch of the national and individual life. The theory in its perfect and uncorrupted state had perished with the other relics of its inventors. But it was inherited by the Semitic immigrants into Babylonia, and, though employed by them in an altered and corrupted form, has, it is said, left its traces in the later records. In this way the astral mythologist would explain the fragmentary character of his data, from which he claims to reconstruct the original beliefs in their entirety.

One such belief has been preserved by Seneca, who, giving Berossus as his authority, refers to a Chaldean theory of a great year, a long cosmical period having, like the year, a summer and a winter. The summer is marked by a great conflagration produced by the conjunction of all the planets in Cancer, and the winter is characterized by a universal deluge caused by a similar conjunction of all the planets in Capricorn. The idea is evidently based on the conception that, as the succession of day and night corresponds to the changes of the seasons, so the year itself must correspond to greater cycles of time. Though Berossus is our earliest authority, the doctrine is regarded as a primitive Babylonian one. It is further argued that, even in the earliest period, the inhabitants of Babylonia conceived the history of the world to have been evolved in a series of successive ages, bearing the same relation to these aeons of the world-cycle as the year bore to them.

The theory of Ages of the World is familiar enough from the classical conception, first met with in Hesiod's "Works and Days", which profoundly influenced later Greek speculation. There is nothing particularly astral about Hesiod's conception of four ages, distinguished by the principal metals and showing progressive deterioration. But it is claimed that Hesiod's theory, and all parallel conceptions of World-Ages, are derived from a Babylonian prototype, Hesiod's Golden Age reflecting the general condition of prehistoric Babylonia. Assuming a close correspondence between the zodiac and the earth in early Babylonian thought, it is argued that the inhabitants of the country from the earliest periods divided the world's history into ages of about two thousand years each, according to the particular sign of the zodiac in which the sun stood each year at the vernal equinox, when the New Year's Festival was celebrated. Although these ages are never named nor mentioned in the inscriptions, they are referred to by the astral mythologists as the Ages of the Twins, the Bull, and the Ram, from the zodiacal constellations of Gemini, Taurus, and Aries.

This is a vital point of the theory and it postulates on the part of the early Babylonians a highly accurate knowledge of astronomy : it assumes a knowledge of the procession of the equinoxes, which could only be based on a very rigid system of astronomical observation and record. But the ancient Babylonians are supposed to have been quite familiar with these facts, and to have traced a close connexion between them and the world's history. Certain myths are supposed to have characterized each of these world ages, not only affecting religious beliefs, but so obsessing Babylonian thought that they influenced historical writings. As the sun at the vernal equinox gradually progressed through the ecliptic constellations, so, according to the theory, the history of the world was believed to be evolved in harmony with its course, and the pre-ordained fate of the universe was slowly unrolled.

Up to this point the astral theory is very complete and, granting its original hypotheses, it goes smoothly enough. But as soon as its authors try to fit the existing legends to their theory, difficulties begin. In Babylonian mythology we find no pair of heroes who present any resemblance to the Dioscuri. But lunar cults were prominent in the earliest Babylonian epoch, and, in default of any closer parallel, the two phases of the waxing and the waning moon have been treated as characterizing the myths and legends of the Age of the Twins. Borrowing a term from music, they are described as the characteristic motif of the age. The second Age, that of the Bull, begins roughly with the rise of Babylon to power. There is very slender evidence for connecting Marduk, the god of Babylon, with the zodiacal constellation of the Bull, but the connexion is confidently assumed. The Third Age, that of the Ram, presents even more difficulties than its two predecessors, for no amount of ingenuity can discover material for a Ram motif at Babylon. But Jupiter Amnion was represented with the head of a ram, and he is assumed to have been identical in his nature with Marduk. Thus the new reckoning is supposed to have passed over to Egypt, while Babylon remained unaffected. The explanation put forward is that the Ram Age began at a time when the power of Babylon was on the decline; but why the Babylonians should therefore have ignored the true position of the sun at the vernal equinox is not quite obvious.

The foreign influence of Babylon's conception of the universe is said to have left its strongest imprint on Hebrew historical writing. It is claimed that the Biblical narratives relating to the earlier history of the Hebrews have in particular been influenced by the Babylonian myths of the universe, and that a great number of passages have in consequence an astral significance. This side of the subject has been worked out in detail by Dr. Alfred Jeremias, and a few examples will suffice to illustrate the system of interpretation which is suggested. We will take one of the Babylonian legends which is said to be most frequently encountered in the Hebrew narratives, the Descent of the goddess Ishtar into the Underworld in search of her youthful husband Tammuz, which in its Babylonian form is unquestionably a nature-myth. There can be little doubt that in the myth Tammuz represents the vegetation of spring; this, after being parched up by the summer-heat, is absent from the earth during the winter months, until restored by the goddess of fertility. There is also no doubt that the cult of Tammuz eventually spread into Palestine, for Ezekiel in a vision saw women at the north gate of the temple at Jerusalem weeping for Tammuz. We have already noted its arrival in Greece in the story of Adonis and Aphrodite. In its Greek form the contest between Aphrodite and Persephone for the possession of Adonis reproduces the struggle between Ishtar and Ereshkigal in the Abode of the Dead; and the annual disappearance and reappearance of Tammuz gives rise in the Greek version to the decision of Zeus that Adonis should spend one part of the year above ground with Aphrodite and the other part underground with Persephone. Such are the main facts, which are not disputed, concerning this particular Babylonian myth. We may now note the manner in which it is said that motifs from it are interwoven in the Old Testament with traditions concerning the early history of the Hebrews.

It is well known that in early Christian writings, such as the Syriae Hymn of the Soul, a Gnostic composition of the second or third century A.D., the land of Egypt is sometimes referred to in a metaphorical or allegorical sense. It is suggested that the story of Abraham's journey with his wife Sarah into Egypt may have been written, by a parallel system of allegory, in terms reflecting a descent into the underworld and a rescue from it. It is true that in the story Pharaoh's house is plagued, probably with sterility, a feature that recalls the cessation of fertility on earth while the goddess of love remains in the underworld. But the same motif is traced in the rescue of Lot from Sodom : here Sodom is the underworld. The pit into which Joseph is thrown by his brethren and the prison into which Potiphar casts him also represent the underworld; and his two fellow-prisoners, the chief baker and the chief butler, are two minor deities in Marduk's household. The cave at Makkedah, in which the five kings of the Amorites hid themselves after their defeat by Joshua is said to have the same motif underlying it. In short, any cave, or prison, or state of misery mentioned in the Hebrew narratives may, according to astral interpretation, be taken as representing the underworld.

The one other motif we will take from the Babylonian mythology is the Dragon-combat, since this illustrates the principal pattern, or system, on which the astral mythologist arranges his material. In the Babylonian story of the Creation it will be recalled how Tiamat, the dragon of chaos, revolted with Apsul the god of the abyss, against the new and ordered ways of the gods; how Marduk, the champion of the gods, defeated her, and, cutting her body in half, used one half of her as a firmament for the heaven, and then proceeded to carry out his other works of creation. The probability has long been noted that the Dragon-combat may have suggested certain metaphorical phrases or descriptions in Hebrew poetical and prophetic literature. But the astral mythologist uses it as the dominant motif of his Age of Taurus; and, since this age began, according to his theory, before the period of Abraham, the Marduk myths are traced more frequently than any others in the Old Testament. The astral god plays the part of a deliverer in the mythology: hence any Biblical hero who is recorded to have rescued any one, or to have delivered his family or people, forms a convenient peg on which to hang a motif . So too the birth of the founder of a dynasty, or of the inaugurator of a new age, is said to reflect the solar motif of the birth of the spring sun.

In this process of detecting hidden motifs, numbers play an important part. To take one example, they are said to indicate that David's fight with Goliath reflects the myth of the Year-Cycle. The forty clays during which Goliath, who is identified with the Dragon Tiamat, drew near to the Israelites morning and evening are symbolical of winter. In the Hebrew text his height is given as six cubits and a span; the figure is emended to read five cubits and a span, since otherwise the number would not correspond to the five and a quarter epagomenal days. With the best will in the world to be convinced one cannot help feeling that, even assuming the soundness of the theory, its authors have let it run away with them. It cannot of course be denied that astrological conceptions may colour some of the stories in the Old Testament. The three hundred foxes, with firebrands tied to their brushes, with which Samson destroyed the standing corn of the Philistines, find a striking parallel in the eeremonial which took place annually in the circus at Home during the Cerealia, and may well be regarded as folk-mythology of astrological origin. Elijah's chariot of fire may have been suggested by some astronomical phenomenon, perhaps a comet; it was probably the product of the same association of ideas as Medea's dragon-chariot, the gift of Helios. But this searcely prepares us to accept such an allegorizing of details as is proposed in other passages.

Precisely the same principles of interpretation have been applied to the heroes of Greek legend. Professor Jensen of Marburg, in his work on the Babylonian epic of Gilgamesh, has attempted to trace almost every figure, not only in the Old Testament, but also in classical mythology, to a Babylonian source. But his rather monotonous method of perceiving on all sides reflexions of his own hero Gilgamesh has already been criticized sufficiently, and we will take some examples from a more recent work by Dr. Carl Fries, who has made other contributions of a less speculative character upon Greek and Oriental connexions. Elaborating a published suggestion of Professor Jensen, Dr. Fries has enthusiastically applied the astral method of interpretation to the Odyssey. Such an episode as the voyage of Odysseus to Hades, in order to consult the Theban prophet Teiresias, undoubtedly presents a close parallel to the journey of Gilgamesh to Xisuthros in Babylonian legend; and, though similar traditions are not uncommon in the epics of other races, the Greek form of the story may perhaps retain an echo from Babylon. But a far closer relationship than that is suggested.

The section of the Odyssey which is said to have been principally exposed to Babylonian influence is the sojourn of Odysseus in Scheria, the whole episode of his entertainment by the Phaeacians being said to reflect the Babylonian Feast of the New Year. From the moment of his awakening on the island we begin to perceive astral motifs. In Nausicaa's choral game of ball with her maidens, the ball symbolizes the sun or moon which revolves from one side of heaven to the other; when it falls into the river it is the setting sun or moon. Odysseus, awakened by the maiden's shrill cry, comes forth from the darkness of the wood : he is the rising sun. The Way into the city which Nausicaa describes to Odysseus corresponds to the sacred Procession Street in Babylon, along which Marduk was carried from his temple through the city at the Feast of the New Year. The cult-image on its journey must be protected from the gaze of unconsecrated eyes; so Athene sheds a mist about Odysseus lest any of the Phaeacians should accost him by the way. Other astral elements are suggested without a specially Babylonian colouring.

We are not here concerned with Dr. Fries' theory on the origin of Greek tragedy, but we may note in passing that Odysseus, in relating his adventures, is the priest-singer at the festival of the Light-god. In other parts of the Odyssey Dr. Fries does not attempt to trace many astral motifs, though he certainly remarks that the adventures of Odysseus are merely survivals of astral myths, and, in spite of a hundred transformations, ultimately relate only to the journey of the Light-god over the heavenly ocean. The closing scenes of the Odyssey also receive a thoroughly astrological interpretation, and moon- and sun-motif appear promiscuously. From the speech of Antinous at the trial of the bow we know that the slaying of the wooers took place at the Feast of the New Moon, for after Eurymachus and the other wooers had failed to bend it, he makes the feast an excuse for his proposal to postpone the trial till the morrow. This fact leads to the suggestion that in Odysseus returning at the Feast of the New Moon we are to recognize the Moon-god himself, who triumphs over the darkness with his bow or crescent. On the other hand, the twelve axes, through which the arrow flies, suggest, presumably by their number, the sun. Penelope wooed by the suitors is the moon whom the stars surround, and her weaving and unravelling of the web is a moon-motif. Then Odysseus as the sun draws near, and all the stars are eclipsed at his appearance.

In such hands the astral theory carries its own antidote, for one cannot but be struck with the ease with which it may be applied. There is generally no need to prove a mythological setting to the narrative; all that is necessary is to assume an astral meaning beneath the text. In fact, one way of demonstrating its unsoundness has been to apply its methods to the records of the life of a historical personage. But this argument amounts at best to a reductio ad absurdum, and the most damaging criticism has been directed from the purely astronomical side.

It is well known that the different ecliptic constellations which make up the signs of the zodiac do not each occupy thirty degrees of the ecliptic, but that some are longer and some shorter than others. Also, the constellations of the Babylonian astronomers during the late period did not completely coincide with ours. For instance, the most eastern star of our constellation Virgo was counted by the Babylonians of the Arsacid era as belonging to the next ecliptic constellation, Leo, since it was known as "the hind-foot of the lion". But, fortunately for our purpose, not much doubt can exist as to the eastern limit of the Twins and the western limit of the Ram, which mark the beginning and end of the three World Ages of the astral mythologists. For the two bright stars, Castor and Pollux, from which the Twins receive their name were undoubtedly reckoned in that constellation by the Neo-Babylonians. And the easternmost star of our constellation of the Fishes (a piscium) was probably well beyond the Babylonian constellation of the Ram.

Working on this assumption, and assuming thirty degrees to each of the three intervening constellations, Dr. Kugler has calculated the years in which the sun entered these signs of the zodiac at the vernal equinox, the points, that is to say, at which the astral World-Ages would have begun and ended. His figures entirely dispose of Winckler's claim to an astronomical basis for his astral system. The Age of the Twins, instead of ending, according to the theory, at about 2800 B.C., really ended in the year 4383 B.C. Thus the Age of the Bull began over fifteen hundred years before the birth of Sargon I, who is supposed to have inaugurated its beginning; and it ended in 2232 B.C.— that is, considerably before the birth of Hammurabi, under whom we are told the Bull Age motifs were principally developed. Moreover, from the time of the First Dynasty onwards down to the year 81 B.C.—that is to say, during the whole course of her history— Babylon was really living in the Age of the Ram, not in that of the Bull. Thus all the motifs and myths, which have been so ingeniously connected with the Bull sign of the zodiac, ought really to have been connected with the Ram. But even the astral mythologists admit that there is not a trace of a Ram-motif in the Babylonian mythology. Granting all the assumptions made by Winckler and his school with regard to the astronomical knowledge of the early Babylonians, the theory evolved from them is found to be baseless. Winckler's astronomy was at fault, and his three astrological World-Ages do not really correspond to his periods of history.

Babylon was, indeed, the mother of astronomy no less than of astrology, and classical antiquity was indebted to her in no small measure; but, strictly speaking, her scientific observations do not date from a very early period. It is true we have evidence that, as early as the close of the third millennium, the astronomers recorded observations of the planet Venus, and there is also a fragment of an early text which shows that they attempted to measure approximately the positions of the fixed stars. But their art of measuring remained for a long time primitive, and it was only the later Babylonians, of the period from the sixth to the first century B.C., who were enabled to fix with sufficient accuracy the movements of the planets, especially those of the moon, and by this means to found a reliable system of time-measurement. The mere fact that the astrological texts, even in the late Assyrian period, treat eclipses as possible on any day of the month, and use the term for any kind of obscuration of the sun and moon, is sufficient evidence that they had not at that time noted their regular occurrence and still had comparatively crude notions of astronomy.

The earliest scientific document in the strict sense of the word dates from the second half of the sixth century, when we find for the first time that the relative positions of the sun and moon were calculated in advance, as well as the conjunction of the moon with the planets and of the planets with each other, their position being noted in the signs of the zodiac. But the tablets afford no evidence that the Babylonian astronomers possessed any knowledge of the precession of the equinoxes before the close of the second century B.C., and the traditional ascription of the discovery to Hipparchus of Nicaea, working between the years 161 and 126 B.C. on the observations of his Babylonian predecessors, may be accepted as accurate.

There are, in short, no grounds for the theory that the Babylonians divided the history of the world into astral ages, nor that their myths and legends had any peculiar connection with successive signs of the zodiac. That astrology formed an important section of the Babylonian religious system from an early period there can be no doubt; but at that time the stars and planets did not exercise any preponderating influence on religious belief, and many features of the system, for which an astral origin has been confidently assumed, must be traced to a simpler and more primitive association of ideas. But the necessary modification of the astral theory still leaves open the possibility that Hebrew literature may have acquired a strong astrological tinge in the Exilic and post-Exilic periods. Were Jewish traditions affected in Babylon, for example, in some such way as the Mithraic legends from Persia? Since the astral theory has no claim to dictate the answer for us, the question must be decided by the ordinary rules of historical and literary evidence.

If we are to assume that Babylonian astrology exerted so marked an influence on the Jews of the Exile, we should at least expect to find some traces of it in practical matters and in terminology. And in this connexion there are certain facts which have never been fairly met by the astral mythologists. It is true that the returning exiles under Zerubbabel had adopted the Babylonian names of the months for civil use; but the idea of hours—that is to say, the division of the day into equal parts—does not seem to have occurred to the Jews till long after the Exile, and even then there is no trace of the Babylonian double hour.The other fact is still more significant. With the exception of a single reference to the planet Saturn by the prophet Amos, none of the Hebrew names for the stars and constellations, which occur in the Old Testament, correspond to those we know were in use in Babylon. Such a fact is surely decisive against any wholesale adoption of astral mythology from Babylon on the part of the writers or redactors of the Old Testament, whether in pre-Exilic or in post-Exilic times. But it is quite compatible with the view that some of the imagery, and even certain lines of thought, occurring in the poetical and prophetic books of the Hebrews, betray a Babylonian colouring and may find their explanation in the cuneiform literature. There can be no doubt that the Babylonian texts have afforded invaluable assistance in the effort to trace the working of the oriental mind in antiquity

With regard to the suggested influence of Babylon on Greek religious thought, it is essential to realize that the temperaments of the Babylonian and the Hellene were totally distinct, the fanatic and self-abasing spirit of the East contrasting vividly with the coolness, civic sobriety, and self-confidence of the West. This has been pointed out by Dr. Farnell, who lays special emphasis on the total absence of any trace in Mesopotamian cults of those religious mysteries, which, as he has shown elsewhere, formed so essential a feature in Hellenic and iEgean society. Another fact in which he would see significance is that the use of incense, universal from immemorial times in Babylonia, was not introduced into Greece before the eighth century B.C. This little product, it will be readily admitted, was much easier to import than Babylonian theology. Few will disagree with him in regarding the suggestion, that for long centuries the Hittite empire was a barrier between Mesopotamia and the coast-lands of Asia Minor, as a sufficient reason for this check in the direct spread of Babylonian influence westward. But no political barrier is effective against the tales that are remembered by travelling merchants and are retold around the camp-fires of the caravan. That Babylon should have contributed in some degree to the rich store of legends current in varies forms throughout the region of the eastern Mediterranean is what one would expect.

The cultural influence of Babylonia had from the earliest period penetrated eastward, and the civilization of Elam, her nearest neighbour, had been to a great extent moulded by that of Sumer. But even at that time the trade-routes had been open to the west, and before the rise of Babylon both soldier and merchant had passed from the lower Euphrates into Syria. With the expansion of the Western Semites the two regions were drawn into more intimate relationship, and the political control of the middle Euphrates, first established in the age of Hammurabi, was followed by an increased commercial traffic, which continued with few interruptions into the Neo-Babylonian and later periods. Babylon's foreign policy was always dominated by the necessity of keeping her connexion open with the west; and it was mainly due to her commercial enterprise, and not to any territorial ambitions, that her culture reached the farther limits of Palestine and has left some traces in Greek mythology.