CHAPTER VII.

A GENERAL inquiry into the nature of the worship of the Assyrians would be beyond the scope of these volumes. I will merely point out how far their religious system is illustrated by the newly discovered monuments, and what information, when better understood, they are likely to furnish on the subject. As I have more than once had occasion to observe, a marked distinction may be traced between the religion of the earliest and latest Assyrians. It is probable that corruptions gradually crept into their theology. Originally it was a pure Sabæanism, in which the heavenly bodies were worshipped as mere types of the power and attributes of the supreme deity. Of the great antiquity of this primitive worship, there is abundant evidence; and that it originated amongst the inhabitants of the Assyrian plains, we have the united testimony of sacred and profane history. It obtained the epithet of perfect, and was believed to be the most ancient religious system, having preceded even that of the Egyptians."

"Egyptiis vero antiquores esse magos Aristoteles auctor est in primo de philosophiâ libro." (Theopomp. Frag.) Iamblichus de Myst. p. 3, ed. Gale, ἡμεῖς οὖν τὰ μὲν ̓Ασσυρίων πάτρια (in some MSS. πρώτα) δόγματα παραδώσομεν σοι μετὰ ἀληθείας τὴν γνώμην. The identity of many of the Assyrian doctrines with those of Egypt, is alluded to by Porphyry and Clemens. (See Gale, ibid. p. 185.) I am indebted to Mr. Birch for the following observations on this subject.

There can be no doubt of the Sabæanism of the Chaldees, and apparently of the early Assyrians, whose pantheon, from its fusion of human and animal forms. resembles the Egyptian and Hindhu. The relation of religion with astronomy is, however, more striking in Assyria than in Egypt; the system of the latter country

On the earliest monuments we have no traces of fire-worship, which was a corruption of the purer form of Sabæanism; but in the bas-reliefs of Khorsabad and Kouyunjik, as well as on a multitude of cylinders of the same age, we have abundant proofs of its subsequent prevalence in Assyria. Although we may not, at present, possess sufficient materials to illustrate the most ancient Sabæanism of the Assyrians, we may, I think, pretty confidently judge of the nature of the worship of a later period. The symbols and religious ceremonies represented at Khorsabad and Kouyunjik, and on the cylinders, are identical with those of the ancient monuments of Persia; at the same time, the sculptures of Persepolis, in their mythic character, resemble in every respect those of the Assyrians. We have the same types and groups to embody ideas of the divinity and to convey sacred subjects. When the close connection, in

being solar, while the Assyrian worship was rather astral. On the Babylonian cylinders and monuments, the sun and moon constantly occur, and often seven stars arranged more in the manner of the Pleiads than of the Great Bear, but probably the latter. Zodiacal signs are frequently placed in the area along with the sun, moon, and seven stars, and show unequivocally that the Greeks derived their notions and arrangements of the Zodiac from the Chaldees: thus, I. a fish (Cullimore, on Cyl. Nos. 19, 28, 88, 113) stands for pisces; II. the extraordinary combination, Capricorn (Ibid. 29, 30, 32), on cylinders bearing, in the lapidary Babylonian cuneiforms, the name of Nebuchadnezzar; III. a woman, Virgo (Ibid. 50, 94, 117, 91); IV. the two men, Gemini (Ibid. 65, 70, 94) with Capricorn (Ibid. 71); VI. the bull, Taurus (Ibid. 91, 92, 106, 156); VII. the archer, Sagittarius (Ibid. 107). Other signs appear to be, IX. a man, probably Aquarius (Ibid. 51, 95, 66, 112); X. an uncertain and ill-defined animal, perhaps a dog (Ibid. 51, 52, 53, 57); XI. a goat (Ibid. 107, 136, 95, 93, 112, 113); XII. a lion Leo (Ibid. 91, 94). I do not pretend to explain every symbol on these cylinders, but all those which I have selected, are placed in the area, are not essential to the general subject, and are of smaller proportions than the principal figures, which may also have an astronomical import. The identity of Nimrod and he constellation Orion, is not to be rejected; and Nimrod may be one of the divinities standing on a dog with eight stars behind him (Ibid. 157). Another god with four wings, each terminating in a star (Ibid. 153), is apparently a constellation, as also the god seated on a throne with eight stars all round him (Ibid. 153)." The strange animal forms on the Babylonian relic called the "Caillou de Michaud," have apparently some reference to the zodiacal signs: amongst them is the scorpion.

early ages, between religion and art is borne in mind, it will be at once conceded, that a nation like the Persian would not borrow mere forms without attaching to them their original signification.* If even this were not, as a general rule, the case, there is still at Persepolis sufficient to prove that the religious symbols of the Persians were adopted from the Assyrians. The form of supreme deity (the winged figure within the circle), and the types of wisdom and power, are precisely similar on the monuments of both people. Moreover, the testimony of Herodotus leads to the same conclusion: "The Persians adore," says he, "the sun, the moon, earth, fire, water, and the winds, which may be termed their original divinities. In after times, from the example of the Assyrians and Arabians, they added Urania (Venus) to the number." From this expression it may be inferred that the worship of Venus was added by both nations to a system identically the same.†

The identity of the Assyrian and Persian systems appears also to be pointed out by the uncertainty which exists as to the birthplace and epoch of Zoroaster. According to the best authorities, he was a Chaldæan, who introduced his doctrines. into Persia and central Asia. The Persians themselves may

The connection, as exhibited by art, between Assyria and Persia, illustrated in a previous chapter, is sufficient, I think, to prove the origin of the symbols and myths of the Persians.

†These facts show that it is unnecessary, with Heeren and other German writers, to seek for the origin of the monsters of Persepolis in Bactria and central Asia. It has long been a favorite speculation in Germany to trace the source of all religious systems to the great table-land of the Asiatic continent, from whence, according to this theory, it spread into the lower country, to the Persians and their neighbors. But when Persia was a mere province, and long before her name is found amongst the civilized nations of antiquity, the religious system of the Assyrians was not only perfected, but was falling into decay. The Assyrian empire had ceased to exist before its myths and symbols were transferred, with its arts, to the walls of Persepolis.

The country of Zoroaster, the time of his birth, the nature of his doctrines, and the authenticity of those attributed to him, are amongst the many disputed questions of ancient history. We must presume that there were two persons, if not more, of the same name, if we wish to reconcile the conflicting accounts. According to some, Zoroaster was a king of Bactria in the time of Ninus and Semiramis. Cephalion and Moses of Chorene assert that he was born on the same day as Semi

have recognized the Assyrian source of their religion when they declared Perseus, the founder of their race, to have been an Assyrian.*

The origin of the Chaldæan theology has ever been a favorite theme of the poet and philosopher. The Assyrian plains, uninterrupted by a single eminence, and rarely shadowed by a passing cloud, were looked upon as a fit place for the birth of a system which recognized the heavenly bodies as types of the supreme power, and invested them with supernatural influences. The wonderful regularity of their periodical movements, their splendor, and even their effects upon the physical world, must have been apparent to the Chaldæan shepherd long before they became the study of the philosopher and the priest. Whilst he watched his sheep by night, he marked the stars as they rose above the horizon, and learned to distinguish one from another, and, to invest the most remarkable groups with distinct forms. If the attributes of the Deity were to be typified-if the limited intellect of man required palpable symbols to convey ideas which he could not understand in the abstract, more appropriate objects could not have been chosen than those bright luminaries whose motions and influences were enveloped in mystery, although they themselves were constantly present. The transition from this adoration to a national system of astronomy is natural; and it is not surprising that the Chaldæans, being the first to invest the heavenly bodies with sacred properties, should have been also the first to cultivate the

ramis. Pliny places his birth many thousand years before that of Moses; whilst others would fain bring the time of his ministry down to the reign of Darius Hystaspes. According to Suidas he was a Chaldæan. That the fire-worship did no* originate with any Zoroaster may perhaps be inferred from the concurrent testimony of ancient authors. According to a fragment of Apollonius (69 ed. Muller), Ninus taught the Assyrians to worship fire: and so Marcellinus (1. 23), "Cujus scientiæ seculis priscis multa ex Chaldæorum arcanis Bactrianus addidit Zoroastris."

*Herodotus, 1. vi. c. 54. Some traditions made this Perseus a great astronomer, who instructed men in the knowledge of the stars. "Iepoeus & Hλtos, Perseus is the sun, says the scholiast in Lycophr. v. 18. According to some, he married Astarte, the daughter of Belus. All these traditions point to his Assyrian origin.

sublimest sciences.* The periodical movements of the heavenly bodies were ascertained by constant observations, originating probably in religious duties; their causes were investigated, and in process of time their motions were calculated and predicted. At a very early period the Assyrian priests were able to fix the date of events by celestial phenomena, and to

"Principio Assyrii, propter planitiem magnitudinemque regionum quos incolebant, cum cœlum ex omni parte patens et apertum intuerentur, trajectiones motusque stellarum observaverunt." (Cicero de Divin. 1. i.) The greatest of our modern poets has thus beautifully conveyed the sentiment and philosophy of this Chaldæan star-worship:

"Chaldæan shepherds, ranging trackless fields,
Beneath the concave of unclouded skies
Spread like a sea, in boundless solitude,
Looked on the polar star, as on a guide

And guardian of their course, that never closed
His steadfast eye. The planetary Five
With a submissive reverence they beheld;

Watched, from the centre of their sleeping flocks,
Those radiant Mercuries, that seemed to move,
Carrying through ether, in perpetual round,
Decrees and resolutions of the Gods;
And, by their aspects, signifying works
Of dim futurity, to Man revealed.

The imaginative faculty was lord

Of observations natural: and, thus

Led on, those shepherds made report of stars
In set rotation passing to and fro,
Between the orbs of our apparent sphere
And its invisible counterpart, adorned
With answering constellations, under earth,
Removed from all approach of living sight
But present to the dead; who, so they deemed,
Like those celestial messengers, beheld

All accidents, and judges were of all."

The Chaldæans maintained their pre-eminence as astronomers until the complete extinction of the Perso-Babylonian empire. They instructed Thales and Pythagoras in the most flourishing period of Greece, and Eudoxus and Aristotle as Babylon fell; Ptolemy, in the second century of the Christian era, still had recourse to their calculations. (See some valuable observations in Grote's History of Greece, vol. iii. c. 19.)