Оглавление
Lewis Spence. Myths & Legends of Babylonia & Assyria
Myths & Legends of Babylonia & Assyria
Table of Contents
PREFACE
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
CHAPTER I: BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA IN HISTORY AND LEGEND
The Akkadians
The Semite Conquerors
A Babylonian Conqueror
The First Library in Babylonia
Gudea
Khammurabi the Great
A Court Murder
Tiglath-Pileser
Semiramis the Great
The Second Assyrian Empire
Sardanapalus the Splendid
The First Great Library
The Last Kings of Assyria
Nebuchadrezzar
The Last of the Babylonian Kings
The History of Berossus
Berossus' Account of the Deluge
Analogies with the Flood Myth
Babylonian Archæology
The Tower of Babel
Nimrod, the Mighty Hunter
Abram and Nimrod
A Persian Version
The 'Babylonica'
Cuneiform Writing
Grotefend
Rawlinson
Origin of Cuneiform
The Sacred Literature of Babylonia
Hymn to Adar
CHAPTER II: BABYLONIAN COSMOGONY. The Babylonian Myth of Creation
The Birth of the Gods
A Darksome Trinity
Type of Babylonian Cosmology
Connexion with the Jonah Legend
CHAPTER III: EARLY BABYLONIAN RELIGION. The Beginnings of Babylonian Religion
Spirits and Gods
Was Babylonian Religion Semitic in Type?
Totemism in Babylonian Religion
The Great Gods
Bel
Bel and the Dragon
Beltis
The Temple of Bel
Nergal
Dibarra
Shamash
Ea
The Writings of Oannes
The Story of Adapa and the South Wind
Anu
Ishtar
The Descent of Ishtar into Hades
Tammuz and Ishtar
At the Gates of Aralu
Ishtar and Persephone
Lamentations for Tammuz
An Allegorical Interpretation of the Myth
Ishtar, Tammuz, and Vegetation
Ishtar and Esther
Lang on the Esther Story
Nin-Girsu
Bau
Nannar
Nannar in Decay
Aralu, or Eres-ki-Gal
Dagon
Nirig, or Enu-Restu
CHAPTER IV: THE GILGAMESH EPIC
The Birth of Gilgamesh
Eabani
Gilgamesh as Tyrant
The Beguiling of Eabani
Gilgamesh meets Eabani
The Monster Khumbaba
Ishtar's Love for Gilgamesh
The Bull of Anu
The Death of Eabani
The Quest of Gilgamesh
Gilgamesh and Ut-Napishtim
The Deluge Myth
The Babylonian Ark
The Bird Messengers
CHAPTER V: THE LATER PANTHEON OF BABYLONIA
Nebo
Nebo as Grain-God
Tashmit
Shamash and Khammurabi
Hadad
Hadad, Dáda, David, and Dido
Ea in Later Times
Zu
The Legend of Zu
Bel
The Triad of Earth, Air, and Sea
Dawkina
Anu
CHAPTER VI: THE GREAT GOD MERODACH AND HIS CULT
A New-Year's Ceremony
CHAPTER VII: THE PANTHEON OF ASSYRIA
Asshur
The Secret of Assyrian Greatness
Asshur as Conqueror
Ishtar in Assyria
Ishtar as a War-Goddess
Ninib as an Assyrian War-God
Ninib as Hunter-God
Dagan
Anu
Ramman
Shamash
Sin in the Northern Land
Nusku of the Brilliant Sceptre
Bel-Merodach
Prisoner-Gods
The Assyrian Bel and Belit
Nabu and Merodach
Ea
Dibbarra
Lesser Gods
CHAPTER VIII: BABYLONIAN STAR-WORSHIP
Legend of the Origin of Star-Worship and Idolatry
Speculations of the Chaldeans
Planets identified with Gods
CHAPTER IX: THE PRIESTHOOD, CULT, AND TEMPLES
Sacrifices
The Temples of Babylonia and Assyria
The Great Temple-Builders
The Temple of E-Kur
The Brilliant House
Ur, the Moon-City
The Twin Temples
Temples as Banks
Feasts and Festivals
The Chamber of Fates
Lamentation Rituals
The Terror of Eclipse
CHAPTER X: THE MAGIC AND DEMONOLOGY OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA
The Roots of Science
Priestly Wizards
A Toothache Myth
The Word of Power
Babylonian Vampires
The Bible and Magic
The Speaking Head
Gods once Demons
The Legend of Ura
Purification
The Chamber of the Priest-Magician
The Witch-Finding
The Magic Circle
Babylonian Demons
Taboo
Popular Superstitions
Omens
The Ritual of Hepatoscopy
The Missing Caravan
CHAPTER XI: THE MYTHOLOGICAL MONSTERS AND ANIMALS OF CHALDEA
Winged Bulls
The Dog in Babylonia
A Dog Legend
Gazelle and Goat Gods
The Goat Cult
The Invasion of the Monsters
The Eagle
CHAPTER XII: TALES OF THE BABYLONIAN AND ASSYRIAN KINGS
Poet or Braggart?
The Autobiography of Assur-bani-pal
Dream of Gyges
Assur-bani-pal as Architect
A 'Likeable' Monarch
The Fatal Eclipse
A Royal 'Day'
CHAPTER XIII: THE COMPARATIVE VALUE OF THE BABYLONIAN AND ASSYRIAN RELIGIONS
Semitic Conservatism
Teutonic and Celtic Comparisons
Babylonian Religion Typically Animistic
A Mother-Goddess Theory
Babylonian Influence on Jewish Religion
Babylonian Influence upon the other Semites
The Canaanites
The Gods of the Phœnicians
The Carthaginian Religion
The Religion of Zoroaster
Babylonian Ethics
CHAPTER XIV: MODERN EXCAVATION IN BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA
Sir Henry Layard
Where Rawlinson Slept
George Smith
The Palace of Nimrûd
Hormuzd Rassam
De Sarzec
The American Expedition of 1889
The Business Quarter of Nippur
The Fourth Campaign
Hilprecht Returns
The House of the Dead
The Temple Library
A Babylonian Museum
Haynes' Work at Nippur
Recent Research
The Babylon of Nebuchadrezzar II
The Outer Wall
Bâbil as a Citadel
Babylon's Water-Supply
Nebuchadrezzar's Palace
The Palace without Windows
The Great Throne Room
The Drainage System
The Hanging Gardens
The Great Gate of Ishtar
The Street of Processions
The Temples of Babylon
E-Sagila
The Great Tower of Nabu (E-Zida)
The Euphrates Bridge
The Elder Babylon
Town-Planning
CHAPTER XV: THE TWILIGHT OF THE GODS
The Conquering Cyrus
A Great Lesson
GLOSSARY AND INDEX. THE PRONUNCIATION OF ASSYRIAN
Table of Contents — extended
Отрывок из книги
Lewis Spence
Published by Good Press, 2021
.....
The circumstances which necessitated this intervention are not unlike those of the assassination of King Alexander of Serbia and Draga, his Queen, that happened 3000 years later. The Kassite king of Babylonia had married the daughter of Assur-yuballidh of Assyria. But the match did not meet with the approval of the Kassite faction at court, which murdered the bridegroom-king. This atrocious act met with swift vengeance at the hands of Assur-yuballidh of Assyria, the bride's father, a monarch of active and statesmanlike qualities, the author of the celebrated series of letters to Amen-hetep IV of Egypt, unearthed at Tel-el-Amarna. He led a punitive army into Babylonia, hurled from the throne the pretender placed there by the Kassite faction, and replaced him with a scion of the legitimate royal stock. This king, Burna-buryas, reigned for over twenty years, and upon his decease the Assyrians, still nominally the vassals of the Babylonian Crown, declared themselves independent of it. Not content with such a revolutionary measure, under Shalmaneser I (1300 B.C.) they laid claim to the suzerainty of the Tigris-Euphrates region, and extended their conquests even to the boundaries of far Cappadocia, the Hittites and numerous other confederacies submitting to their yoke. Shalmaneser's son, Tukulti-in-Aristi, took the city of Babylon, slew its king, Bitilyasu, and thus completely shattered the claim of the older state to supremacy. He had reigned in Babylon for some seven years when he was faced by a popular revolt, which seems to have been headed by his own son, Assur-nazir-pal, who slew him and placed Hadad-nadin-akhi on the throne. This king conquered and killed the Assyrian monarch of his time, Bel-kudur-uzur, the last of the old Assyrian royal line, whose death necessitated the institution of a new dynasty, the fifth monarch of which was the famous Tiglath-pileser I.
Tiglath-pileser, or Tukulti-pal-E-sana, to confer on him his full Assyrian title, came to the throne about 1120 B.C., and soon commenced the career of active conquest which was to render his name one of the most famous in the warlike annals of Assyria. Campaigns in the Upper Euphrates against alien immigrants who had settled there were followed by the conquest of the Hittites of Subarti, in Assyrian territory. Pressing northward toward Lake Van in the Kurdish country he subsequently turned his arms westward and overran Malatia. Cappadocia and the Aramæans of Northern Syria next felt the force of his arms, and he penetrated on this occasion even to the sources of the Tigris. He left behind him the character of a great warrior, a great hunter, and a great builder, restoring the semi-ruinous temples of Asshur and Hadad or Rimmon in the city of Asshur.
.....
