Part 27 (1/2)
The Persian G.o.d Ahura Mazda hovers above the king in sculptured representations of that high dignitary, enclosed in a winged wheel, or disk, like Ashur, grasping a ring in one hand, the other being lifted up as if blessing those who adore him.
Shamash, the Babylonian sun G.o.d; Ishtar, the G.o.ddess of heaven; and other Babylonian deities carried rings as the Egyptian G.o.ds carried the ankh, the symbol of life. Shamash was also depicted sitting on his throne in a pillar-supported pavilion, in front of which is a sun wheel. The spokes of the wheel are formed by a star symbol and threefold rippling ”water rays”.
In Hitt.i.te inscriptions there are interesting winged emblems; ”the central portion” of one ”seems to be composed of two crescents underneath a disk (which is also divided like a crescent). Above the emblem there appear the symbol of sanct.i.ty (the divided oval) and the hieroglyph which Professor Sayce interprets as the name of the G.o.d Sandes.” In another instance ”the centre of the winged emblem may be seen to be a rosette, with a curious spreading object below. Above, two dots follow the name of Sandes, and a human arm bent 'in adoration' is by the side....” Professor Garstang is here dealing with sacred places ”on rocky points or hilltops, bearing out the suggestion of the sculptures near Boghaz-Keui[393], in which there may be reasonably suspected the surviving traces of mountain cults, or cults of mountain deities, underlying the newer religious symbolism”. Who the deity is it is impossible to say, but ”he was identified at some time or other with Sandes”.[394] It would appear, too, that the G.o.d may have been ”called by a name which was that used also by the priest”. Perhaps the priest king was believed to be an incarnation of the deity.
Sandes or Sandan was identical with Sandon of Tarsus, ”the prototype of Attis”,[395] who links with the Babylonian Tammuz. Sandon's animal symbol was the lion, and he carried the ”double axe” symbol of the G.o.d of fertility and thunder. As Professor Frazer has shown in _The Golden Bough_, he links with Hercules and Melkarth.[396]
All the younger G.o.ds, who displaced the elder G.o.ds as one year displaces another, were deities of fertility, battle, lightning, fire, and the sun; it is possible, therefore, that Ashur was like Merodach, son of Ea, G.o.d of the deep, a form of Tammuz in origin. His spirit was in the solar wheel which revolved at times of seasonal change. In Scotland it was believed that on the morning of May Day (Beltaine) the rising sun revolved three times. The younger G.o.d was a spring sun G.o.d and fire G.o.d. Great bonfires were lit to strengthen him, or as a ceremony of riddance; the old year was burned out. Indeed the G.o.d himself might be burned (that is, the old G.o.d), so that he might renew his youth. Melkarth was burned at Tyre. Hercules burned himself on a mountain top, and his soul ascended to heaven as an eagle.
These fiery rites were evidently not unknown in Babylonia and a.s.syria.
When, according to Biblical narrative, Nebuchadnezzar ”made an image of gold” which he set up ”in the plain of Dura, in the province of Babylon”, he commanded: ”O people, nations, and languages... at the time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, dulcimer, and all kinds of musick... fall down and wors.h.i.+p the golden image”. Certain Jews who had been ”set over the affairs of the province of Babylonia”, namely, ”Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego”, refused to adore the idol. They were punished by being thrown into ”a burning fiery furnace”, which was heated ”seven times more than it was wont to be heated”. They came forth uninjured.[397]
In the Koran it is related that Abraham destroyed the images of Chaldean G.o.ds; he ”brake them all in pieces except the biggest of them; that they might lay the blame on that”.[398] According to the commentators the Chaldaeans were at the time ”abroad in the fields, celebrating a great festival”. To punish the offender Nimrod had a great pyre erected at Cuthah. ”Then they bound Abraham, and putting him into an engine, shot him into the midst of the fire, from which he was preserved by the angel Gabriel, who was sent to his a.s.sistance.”
Eastern Christians were wont to set apart in the Syrian calendar the 25th of January to commemorate Abraham's escape from Nimrod's pyre.[399]
It is evident that the Babylonian fire ceremony was observed in the spring season, and that human beings were sacrificed to the sun G.o.d. A mock king may have been burned to perpetuate the ancient sacrifice of real kings, who were incarnations of the G.o.d.
Isaiah makes reference to the sacrificial burning of kings in a.s.syria: ”For through the voice of the Lord shall the a.s.syrian be beaten down, which smote with a rod. And in every place where the grounded staff shall pa.s.s, which the Lord shall lay upon him, it shall be with tabrets and harps: and in battles of shaking will he fight with it.
For Tophet is ordained of old; yea, for the king it is prepared: he hath made it deep and large: the pile thereof is fire and much wood: the breath of the Lord, like a stream of brimstone, doth kindle it.”[400] When Nineveh was about to fall, and with it the a.s.syrian Empire, the legendary king, Sardanapalus, who was reputed to have founded Tarsus, burned himself, with his wives, concubines, and eunuchs, on a pyre in his palace. Zimri, who reigned over Israel for seven days, ”burnt the king's house over him with fire”[401]. Saul, another fallen king, was burned after death, and his bones were buried ”under the oak in Jabesh”.[402] In Europe the oak was a.s.sociated with G.o.ds of fertility and lightning, including Jupiter and Thor. The ceremony of burning Saul is of special interest. Asa, the orthodox king of Judah, was, after death, ”laid in the bed which was filled with sweet odours and divers kinds of spices prepared by the apothecaries' art: and they made a very great burning for him” (_2 Chronicles_, xvi, 14). Jehoram, the heretic king of Judah, who ”walked in the way of the kings of Israel”, died of ”an incurable disease. And his people made no burning for him like the burning of his fathers”
(_2 Chronicles_, xxi, 18, 19).
The conclusion suggested by the comparative study of the beliefs of neighbouring peoples, and the evidence afforded by a.s.syrian sculptures, is that Ashur was a highly developed form of the G.o.d of fertility, who was sustained, or aided in his conflicts with demons, by the fires and sacrifices of his wors.h.i.+ppers.
It is possible to read too much into his symbols. These are not more complicated and vague than are the symbols on the standing stones of Scotland--the crescent with the ”broken” arrow; the trident with the double rings, or wheels, connected by two crescents; the circle with the dot in its centre; the triangle with the dot; the large disk with two small rings on either side crossed by double straight lines; the so-called ”mirror”, and so on. Highly developed symbolism may not indicate a process of spiritualization so much, perhaps, as the persistence of magical beliefs and practices. There is really no direct evidence to support the theory that the a.s.syrian winged disk, or disk ”with protruding rays”, was of more spiritual character than the wheel which encloses the feather-robed archer with his trident-shaped arrow.
The various symbols may have represented phases of the G.o.d. When the spring fires were lit, and the G.o.d ”renewed his life like the eagle”, his symbol was possibly the solar wheel or disk with eagle's wings, which became regarded as a symbol of life. The G.o.d brought life and light to the world; he caused the crops to grow; he gave increase; he sustained his wors.h.i.+ppers. But he was also the G.o.d who slew the demons of darkness and storm. The Hitt.i.te winged disk was Sandes or Sandon, the G.o.d of lightning, who stood on the back of a bull. As the lightning G.o.d was a war G.o.d, it was in keeping with his character to find him represented in a.s.syria as ”Ashur the archer” with the bow and lightning arrow. On the disk of the a.s.syrian standard the lion and the bull appear with ”the archer” as symbols of the war G.o.d Ashur, but they were also symbols of Ashur the G.o.d of fertility.
The life or spirit of the G.o.d was in the ring or wheel, as the life of the Egyptian and Indian G.o.ds, and of the giants of folk tales, was in ”the egg”. The ”dot within the circle”, a widespread symbol, may have represented the seed within ”the egg” of more than one mythology, or the thorn within the egg of more than one legendary story. It may be that in a.s.syria, as in India, the crude beliefs and symbols of the ma.s.ses were spiritualized by the speculative thinkers in the priesthood, but no literary evidence has survived to justify us in placing the a.s.syrian teachers on the same level as the Brahmans who composed the Upanishads.
Temples were erected to Ashur, but he might be wors.h.i.+pped anywhere, like the Queen of Heaven, who received offerings in the streets of Jerusalem, for ”he needed no temple”, as Professor Pinches says.
Whether this was because he was a highly developed deity or a product of folk religion it is difficult to decide. One important fact is that the ruling king of a.s.syria was more closely connected with the wors.h.i.+p of Ashur than the king of Babylonia was with the wors.h.i.+p of Merodach.
This may be because the a.s.syrian king was regarded as an incarnation of his G.o.d, like the Egyptian Pharaoh. Ashur accompanied the monarch on his campaigns: he was their conquering war G.o.d. Where the king was, there was Ashur also. No images were made of him, but his symbols were carried aloft, as were the symbols of Indian G.o.ds in the great war of the _Mahabharata_ epic.
It would appear that Ashur was sometimes wors.h.i.+pped in the temples of other G.o.ds. In an interesting inscription he is a.s.sociated with the moon G.o.d Nannar (Sin) of Haran. Esarhaddon, the a.s.syrian king, is believed to have been crowned in that city. ”The writer”, says Professor Pinches, ”is apparently addressing a.s.sur-bani-apli, 'the great and n.o.ble Asnapper':
”When the father of my king my lord went to Egypt, he was crowned (?) in the _ganni_ of Harran, the temple (lit. 'Bethel') of cedar. The G.o.d Sin remained over the (sacred) standard, two crowns upon his head, (and) the G.o.d Nusku stood beside him. The father of the king my lord entered, (and) he (the priest of Sin) placed (the crown?) upon his head, (saying) thus: 'Thou shalt go and capture the lands in the midst'. (He we)nt, he captured the land of Egypt. The rest of the lands not submitting (?) to a.s.sur (Ashur) and Sin, the king, the lord of kings, shall capture (them).”[403]
Ashur and Sin are here linked as equals. a.s.sociated with them is Nusku, the messenger of the G.o.ds, who was given prominence in a.s.syria.
The kings frequently invoked him. As the son of Ea he acted as the messenger between Merodach and the G.o.d of the deep. He was also a son of Bel Enlil, and like Anu was guardian or chief of the Igigi, the ”host of heaven”. Professor Pinches suggests that he may have been either identical with the Sumerian fire G.o.d Gibil, or a brother of the fire G.o.d, and an impersonation of the light of fire and sun. In Haran he accompanied the moon G.o.d, and may, therefore, have symbolized the light of the moon also. Professor Pinches adds that in one inscription ”he is identified with Nirig or En-reshtu” (Nin-Girsu = Tammuz).[404]
The Babylonians and a.s.syrians a.s.sociated fire and light with moisture and fertility.
The astral phase of the character of Ashur is highly probable. As has been indicated, the Greek rendering of Anshar as ”a.s.soros”, is suggestive in this connection. Jastrow, however, points out that the use of the characters Anshar for Ashur did not obtain until the eighth century B.C. ”Linguistically”, he says, ”the change of As.h.i.+r to Ashur can be accounted for, but not the transformation of An-shar to Ashur or As.h.i.+r; so that we must a.s.sume the 'etymology' of Ashur, proposed by some learned scribe, to be the nature of a play upon the name.”[405]
On the other hand, it is possible that what appears arbitrary to us may have been justified in ancient a.s.syria on perfectly reasonable, or at any rate traditional, grounds. Professor Pinches points out that as a sun G.o.d, and ”at the same time not Shamash”, Ashur resembled Merodach. ”His identification with Merodach, if that was ever accepted, may have been due to the likeness of the word to Asari, one of the deities' names.”[406] As Asari, Merodach has been compared to the Egyptian Osiris, who, as the Nile G.o.d, was Asar-Hapi. Osiris resembles Tammuz and was similarly a corn deity and a ruler of the living and the dead, a.s.sociated with sun, moon, stars, water, and vegetation. We may consistently connect Ashur with Aushar, ”water field”, Anshar, ”G.o.d of the height”, or ”most high”, and with the eponymous King a.s.shur who went out on the land of Nimrod and ”builded Nineveh”, if we regard him as of common origin with Tammuz, Osiris, and Attis--a developed and localized form of the ancient deity of fertility and corn.
Ashur had a spouse who is referred to as Ashuritu, or Beltu, ”the lady”. Her name, however, is not given, but it is possible that she was identified with the Ishtar of Nineveh. In the historical texts Ashur, as the royal G.o.d, stands alone. Like the Hitt.i.te Great Father, he was perhaps regarded as the origin of life. Indeed, it may have been due to the influence of the northern hillmen in the early a.s.syrian period, that Ashur was developed as a father G.o.d--a Baal.
When the Hitt.i.te inscriptions are read, more light may be thrown on the Ashur problem. Another possible source of cultural influence is Persia. The supreme G.o.d Ahura-Mazda (Ormuzd) was, as has been indicated, represented, like Ashur, hovering over the king's head, enclosed in a winged disk or wheel, and the sacred tree figured in Persian mythology. The early a.s.syrian kings had non-Semitic and non-Sumerian names. It seems reasonable to a.s.sume that the religious culture of the ethnic elements they represented must have contributed to the development of the city G.o.d of a.s.shur.