Myths of Babylonia and Assyria | Page 8

... He formed mankind.[11]
Ea acquired in time, as the divine artisan, various attributes which
reflected the gradual growth of civilization: he was reputed to have
taught the people how to form canals, control the rivers, cultivate the
fields, build their houses, and so on.
But although Ea became a beneficent deity, as a result of the growth of
civilization, he had also a demoniac form, and had to be propitiated.
The worshippers of the fish god retained ancient modes of thought and
perpetuated ancient superstitious practices.
The earliest settlers in the Tigro-Euphrates valley were agriculturists,
like their congeners, the proto-Egyptians and the Neolithic Europeans.
Before they broke away from the parent stock in its area of
characterization they had acquired the elements of culture, and adopted
habits of thought which were based on the agricultural mode of life.
Like other agricultural communities they were worshippers of the
"World Mother", the Creatrix, who was the giver of all good things, the

"Preserver" and also the "Destroyer"--the goddess whose moods were
reflected by natural phenomena, and whose lovers were the spirits of
the seasons.
In the alluvial valley which they rendered fit for habitation the
Sumerians came into contact with peoples of different habits of life and
different habits of thought. These were the nomadic pastoralists from
the northern steppe lands, who had developed in isolation theories
regarding the origin of the Universe which reflected their particular
experiences and the natural phenomena of their area of characterization.
The most representative people of this class were the "Hatti" of Asia
Minor, who were of Alpine or Armenoid stock. In early times the
nomads were broken up into small tribal units, like Abraham and his
followers, and depended for their food supply on the prowess of the
males. Their chief deity was the sky and mountain god, who was the
"World Father", the creator, and the wielder of the thunder hammer,
who waged war against the demons of storm or drought, and ensured
the food supply of his worshippers.
The fusion in Babylonia of the peoples of the god and goddess cults
was in progress before the dawn of history, as was the case in Egypt
and also in southern Europe. In consequence independent Pantheons
came into existence in the various city States in the Tigro-Euphrates
valley. These were mainly a reflection of city politics: the deities of
each influential section had to receive recognition. But among the great
masses of the people ancient customs associated with agriculture
continued in practice, and, as Babylonia depended for its prosperity on
its harvests, the force of public opinion tended, it would appear, to
perpetuate the religious beliefs of the earliest settlers, despite the efforts
made by conquerors to exalt the deities they introduced.
Babylonian religion was of twofold character. It embraced temple
worship and private worship. The religion of the temple was the
religion of the ruling class, and especially of the king, who was the
guardian of the people. Domestic religion was conducted in homes, in
reed huts, or in public places, and conserved the crudest superstitions
surviving from the earliest times. The great "burnings" and the human

sacrifices in Babylonia, referred to in the Bible, were, no doubt,
connected with agricultural religion of the private order, as was also the
ceremony of baking and offering cakes to the Queen of Heaven,
condemned by Jeremiah, which obtained in the streets of Jerusalem and
other cities. Domestic religion required no temples. There were no
temples in Crete: the world was the "house" of the deity, who had
seasonal haunts on hilltops, in groves, in caves, &c. In Egypt
Herodotus witnessed festivals and processions which are not referred to
in official inscriptions, although they were evidently practised from the
earliest times.
Agricultural religion in Egypt was concentrated in the cult of Osiris and
Isis, and influenced all local theologies. In Babylonia these deities were
represented by Tammuz and Ishtar. Ishtar, like Isis, absorbed many
other local goddesses.
According to the beliefs of the ancient agriculturists the goddess was
eternal and undecaying. She was the Great Mother of the Universe and
the source of the food supply. Her son, the corn god, became, as the
Egyptians put it, "Husband of his Mother". Each year he was born
anew and rapidly attained to manhood; then he was slain by a fierce
rival who symbolized the season of pestilence-bringing and parching
sun heat, or the rainy season, or wild beasts of prey. Or it might be that
he was slain by his son, as Cronos was by Zeus and Dyaus by Indra.
The new year slew the old year.
The social customs of the people, which had a religious basis, were
formed in accordance with the doings of the deities; they sorrowed or
made glad in sympathy with the spirits of