M88 Evidence of an annual tenure of the kingship at Babylon. Further, it would seem that in very early times the kings of Babylon were put to death at the end of a year’s reign. The mock king put to death at the festival of the Sacaea was probably a substitute for the real king. 348 M. Jastrow, _The Religion of Babylonia and Assyria_, p. 680; H. Zimmern, in E. Schrader’s _Die Keilinschriften und das Alte Testament_,3 pp. 374, 515; C. Brockelmann, “Wesen und Ursprung des Eponymats in Assyrien,” _Zeitschrift für Assyriologie_, xvi. (1902) pp. 391 _sq._, 396 _sq._ 349 Athenaeus, xiv. 44, p. 639 C; Dio Chrysostom, _Or._ iv. pp. 69 _sq._ (vol. i. p. 76, ed. L. Dindorf). Dio Chrysostom does not mention his authority, but it was probably either Berosus or Ctesias. The execution of the mock king is not noticed in the passage of Berosus cited by Athenaeus, probably because the mention of it was not germane to Athenaeus’s purpose, which was simply to give a list of festivals at which masters waited on their servants. A passage of Macrobius (_Saturn._ iii. 7. 6) which has sometimes been interpreted as referring to this Babylonian custom (F. Liebrecht, in _Philologus_, xxii. 710; J. J. Bachofen, _Die Sage von Tanaquil_, p. 52, note 16) has in fact nothing to do with it. See A. B. Cook, in _Classical Review_, xvii. (1903) p. 412; _id._ in _Folk-lore_, xv. (1904) pp. 304, 384. In the passage of Dio Chrysostom ἐκρέμασαν should strictly mean “hanged,” but the verb was applied by the Greeks to the Roman punishment of crucifixion (Plutarch, _Caesar_, 2). It may have been extended to include impalement, which was often inflicted by the Assyrians, as we may see by the representations of it on the Assyrian monuments in the British Museum. See also R. F. Harper, _Assyrian and Babylonian Literature_, p. 41, with the plate facing p. 54. The proper word for impalement in Greek is ἀνασκολοπίζειν (Herodotus, iv. 202). Hanging was also an Oriental as well as Roman mode of punishment. The Hebrew word for it (חלה) seems unambiguous. See Esther, v. 14, vii. 9 _sq._; Deuteronomy, xxi. 22 _sq._; Joshua, viii. 29, x. 26; Livy, i. 26. 6. 350 See above, pp. 21, 26 _sqq._ M89 The festival of the Sacaea was perhaps identical with Zagmuk. Festival of Zagmuk in Assyria. Trace of an annual tenure of the kingship in Assyria. 351 Bruno Meissner, “Zur Entstehungsgeschichte des Purimfestes,” _Zeitschrift der deutschen morgenländischen Gesellschaft_, I. (1896) pp. 296-301; H. Winckler, _Altorientalische Forschungen_, Zweite Reihe, Bd. ii. p. 345; C. Brockelmann, “Wesen und Ursprung des Eponymats in Assyrien,” _Zeitschrift für Assyriologie_, xvi. (1902) pp. 391 _sq._