In this way, new deities were apparently created even at an advanced stage of the Babylonian religion, but deities that differed totally from those that are characteristic of the earlier periods. The differentiation of the arts, and the assignment of a patron to each branch, reflect the thoughts and the aspirations of a later age. These views must have arisen under an impulse to artistic creation that was called forth by unusual circumstances, and I venture to think that this impulse is to be traced to the influence of the Assyrian rulers, whose greatest ambition, next to military glory, was to leave behind them artistic monuments of themselves that might unfold to later ages a tale of greatness and of power. Sculpture and works in metal were two arts that flourished in a special degree in the days when Assyria was approaching the zenith of her glory. Nabubaliddin's reign falls within this period; and we must, therefore, look from this time on for traces of Assyrian influence in the culture, the art, and also to some extent in the religious beliefs of the southern district of Mesopotamia. FOOTNOTES: [196] The text is defective at the point where the god's name is mentioned. See _Keils Bibl._ 3, 1, p. 133. King reads, Lugal-diri-tu-gab. [197] _Kosmologie_, pp. 481 _seq._ [198] Belser, _Beitraege zur Assyr._ ii. 203, col. vi. [199] _Kossaer_, pp. 25-27. [200] Delitzsch, _Kossaer_, p. 33. [201] See above, p. 105. [202] Examples of punning etymologies on names of gods are frequent. See Jensen's discussion of Nergal for examples of various plays upon the name of the god. _Kosmologie_, pp. 185 _seq._ [203] Jensen, _Kosmologie_, pp. 185 _seq._ and p. 218. [204] _Kosmologie_, p. 195. [205] Rawlinson, i. 29, 16. [206] This notion that the ground belongs to the gods, and that man is only a tenant, survives to a late period in Semitic religions. The belief underlies the Pentateuchal enactments regarding the holding of the soil, which is only to be temporary. See W. R. Smith, _Religion of the Semites_, pp. 91 _seq._ [207] In Babylonian, _Kallat Eshara_, with another play upon her name. See above, p. 173. [208] _I.e._, (Protect) his life, O Gula. [209] Servant of Gula. [210] See V.R. pl. 60. [211] To this day in the Orient, fine productions of man's skill are attributed to the influence of hidden spirits, good or bad, as the case may be. [212] This position does not, of course, exclude the fact that in the original form of the tradition, Tubal-cain, Naamah, and other personages in the fourth chapter of Genesis were deities. CHAPTER XI. SURVIVALS OF ANIMISM IN THE BABYLONIAN RELIGION.