The discoveries of the last three-quarters of a century have opened for us the doors to a new library of ancient Oriental literature. These clay and alabaster volumes cover a large range of subjects, and treat them in a manner entirely unique. The first that attracted attention was, of course, the immense amount of historical matter, found mainly in the ruins of Assyria. Another large element in these tablets, particularly in Babylonia,. is the poetry, pure Semitic poetry, or interhneated with so-called Akkadian or Sumerian poetry, whose character is determined by the presence of parallel members. This poetry contains hymns to the gods, penitential psalms, incanta tions, magical formulae, and even epics of sur prising strength. Examples of this poetry in Assyria were copied from Babylonian originals, as Assyria was notably weak in its literary abil ity. Then there are legends, mythology and popular treatments of technical subjects. We find also treatises that are geographical, biolog ical, geological ; tablets that are commercial is character, recording loans, deeds, rents and trades; long lists of matter that is purely linguistic, for it deals with signs and their values; a codified system of laws that touched almost every complication in the complexities of Babylonian life; letters, domestic and inter national, that reveal both the home customs of the nation and their foreign relationships and authority.
Myth and The poems that are sometimes called epic, in the literature of Baby lonia, are based upon events that are usually termed mythical. The epic and mythical ele ments are so thoroughly commingled that the entire narrative may be termed mythological. The scenes depicted are those between gods and gods, and between gods and men, and other creatures. The most famous stories classified as mythology are the so-called creation epic, the epic of Gilgamesh, of the eleventh tablet or in the Babylonian story of the deluge.
ere are several legends and fragments of legends which have received careful study in recent years, whose matter is arranged on the customary Babylonian poetical plan. Some of these are, the descent of Ishtar into the world of departed spirits, the Namtar legend, the Adapa and Etana legends, and legends of va rious gods. Some of these entertaining literary stories take their place for real merit and in terest beside the best legendary lore of ancient Greece. Their archaeological value is often con siderable, and their relation to the religious life of Babylonia-Assyria immeasurable.
Religion.— The primitive religion of Baby lonia was doubtless the worship of the different powers of nature. These became personified and everything that took place in the world was simply the result of the action of some particu lar god, who stood above man in the scale of being, and executed all movements in the espe cial sphere where he was supreme. The repre sentatives of these divinities on the monuments are seen sometimes to be men, and at other times to be part man and part beast and bird.
Those in the form of men possessed attributes like, but far superior to, man. Since they rep resented different powers in nature, none of them was all-powerful. Their functions lay in spedal lines, and for these they were wor shipped. In Assyria the gods as a whole were practically borrowed from Babylonia. But Asshur, the great divinity of Assyria, stood alone, unique in all the Mesopotamian pantheon and supreme in Assyria. The chief gods of Babylonia, those that were supreme in its were three, Anu, thegod of heaven• Bel, the god of the earth, and Ea, the god of the abyss and of secret knowledge. These great three were followed by another triad, who reg ulated light and the weather, namely, Shamash, the sun-god, Sin, the moon-god, and Ramman or Adad, the weather-god. These six divinities were localized, in that each was the patron deity of some city. For exampleAnu was the patron deity of Erech, 13e1 of Nippur, Ea of Eridu, Shamash of Larsa and Sippar, and Sin of Ur (of the Chaldees). There is a long list of other gods and goddesses who were doubtless re lated to the two chief triads, but up to the pres ent time this relationship in all cases cannot be determined. Slightly aside from the lists al ready named we find the great goddess Ishtar, one of whose feats is described in the legend, 'Descent of Ishtar.' Worship.— The cities of Babylonia-Assyria were well supplied with temples in which the gods were devotedly and assiduously wor shipped. Indeed, this worship was an essential element in the life of the Babylonians, to a greater extent than among the Assyrians. The temples were the most elaborate buildings of Babylonia, and were under the immediate direc tion of the priesthood, the most powerful class of men, next to the king, in the nation. Baby lonian inscriptions, particularly, enumerate many temples in the chief cities that were dedi cated to the patron deity of each several city. Each temple had an organization of official priests, whose duties included the preservation and propagation of the worship of the god.of that temple, and the ritual and traditions thereof. The king was the great overlord or guardian of the temple, and spared no means to keep it in a thoroughly good state of preservation and to increase its popularity among his subjects. The support of the priesthood was provided for by revenues produced by the lands attached to the temple, or belonging thereto, supple mented by regular offerings. These priests, as those in Egypt, were the most influential men in the kingdom, for they controlled the religious life of the community and had no smallpart in the affairs of political and civil life. They were probably the best educated men in the , nation, and by their learning filled the offices that required a somewhat broad training, such as scribes, historians and librarians.