Produced by John Bickers and Dagny THE RELIGION OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA By Theophilus G. Pinches, LL.D. First Published 1906 by Archibald Constable & Co. Ltd. THE RELIGION OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA BY THEOPHILUS G. PINCHES, LL.D. Lecturer in Assyrian at University College, London, Author of "The Old Testament in the Light of the Records of Assyria and Babylonia"; "The Bronze Ornaments of the Palace Gates of Balewat" etc. etc. PREPARER'S NOTE The original text contains a number of characters that are not available even in 8-bit Windows text, such as H with a breve below it in Hammurabi, S with a breve, S and T with a dot below them, U with macron, and superscript M in Tašmêtum. These have been left in the e-text as the base letter. The 8-bit version of this text includes Windows font characters like S with a caron above it (pronounced /sh/) as in Šamaš, etc. These may be lost in 7-bit versions of the text, or when viewed with different fonts. Greek text has been transliterated within brackets "{}" using an Oxford English Dictionary alphabet table. Diacritical marks have been lost. THE RELIGION OF THE BABYLONIANS AND ASSYRIANS CHAPTER I FOREWORD Position, and Period. The religion of the Babylonians and Assyrians was the polytheistic faith professed by the peoples inhabiting the Tigris and Euphrates valleys from what may be regarded as the dawn of history until the Christian era began, or, at least, until the inhabitants were brought under the influence of Christianity. The chronological period covered may be roughly estimated at about 5000 years. The belief of the people, at the end of that time, being Babylonian heathenism leavened with Judaism, the country was probably ripe for the reception of the new faith. Christianity, however, by no means replaced the earlier polytheism, as is evidenced by the fact, that the worship of Nebo and the gods associated with him continued until the fourth century of the Christian era. By whom followed.