tiquity of Babylonian astronomy1. These classes scientific and priestly-were not confined to Babylon. They had flourishing schools at Borsippa, Erech, and other leading cities of the empire.

The usual material on which priests and philosophers, kings and civilians, wrote was the tablet of clay. The great library of Assurbanipal, king of Assyria (d. c. B.C. 626), was composed almost entirely of such tablets, probably over 10,000. Other kings before him, Tiglath Pileser II. (B.C. 745), Sargon (B.C. 722), Sennacherib (B.C. 705), and Esarhaddon (B.C. 681), had helped in collecting inscribed tablets, but it was reserved for Assurbanipal, the great conqueror, as his "grandest work" to collect, copy, and store in the library of the palace of Nineveh tablets which he intended for the inspection of the people, and for the diffusion of knowledge among the Assyrians. There were historical texts, the histories of former native kings, and copies of royal inscriptions from other places; copies of treaties, despatches, and orders from kings to generals and ministers: there were tablets connected with legal, social, commercial, and economical science, giving judicial and legal decisions, contracts, loans, deeds of sale and exchange, lists of tribute and taxes, property, and population;-in short, much which would help towards the formation of the census and a précis of the general state of the empire at various times: there were mythological tablets giving lists of the gods, their titles, attributes, and temples, hymns and prayers liturgical, official, and private; and there was the scientific division which dealt with earth and sky, the celestial phenomena and natural history, the appearance and motions of the heavens and the geography of earth with its flora and fauna. But in addition to the tablet of clay, the Babylonians used other materials. On some of the Assyrian monuments officers may be noticed writing down lists of spoil, captives, &c., on a material which is evidently papyrus, parchment, or leather. "In the night-time," says a charm, "bind round the sick man's head a sentence taken from a good book:" elsewhere the advice is given, "care not to save the newly written books," -passages which confirm Pliny's statements as to the ancient use of papyrus; while the word usually employed (sip-ra-a-ti) supports the linguistic correctness of the term (sepher) used in Dan. i. 4.

1 This part of a large subject will be found summarized by Sayce, Trans. of Soc. of Bibl. Arch.' III. pp. 145-9.

2 See Layard, Nineveh and Babyl.' Introd. Ch.; Lenormant, Les prem. Civ.' II. 151 sq; Sayce, in Fraser's Mag.' July, 1874; G. Smith, Assyria,' s. n. Assurbanipal.

Sayce, Use of Papyrus among the Accadians,' in 'Trans. of Soc. of B. A.' I. p. 343; Fox Talbot, in do. III. p. 432.

VOL. VI.

On

The ancient monuments which reveal to the decipherer the fact that in the composition of the population of Chaldæa and Babylonia there existed two principal elements, two great nations the Accadians and Sumerians, reveal also the fact that Accadian (or Turanian) and Semitic (called "Assyrian") were the languages in use. It is to the Accadians that the Chaldæan Babylonians were indebted for the cuneiform system of writing, the characters of which are sometimes ideographic, sometimes syllabic in value, sometimes both: and it is from the same source that "magic" with its beliefs and practices, as it entered into Chald.Babylonian civilization, is to be traced. the other hand astrology and astronomy are not to be referred to an Accadian, but rather to a Cushite-Semitic origin. Consequently, while Accadian is essentially the language of magic, astrological and astronomical documents are in Assyrian, and both sciences are couched in idioms consecrated to them. In the course of time it would seem that the religious belief and the language of the Semite became predominant. The ancient Accadian magic and the ancient Accadian idiom was gradually but completely superseded. By the 12th cent. B.C. the Accadian language was, like Latin in the middle ages, the language of the learned; and, above all, a language consecrated to religious things. The venerable liturgical hymns and magic formula, which furnished the text-books of sacerdotal "wisdom," were still sung at certain ceremonies and recited in theurgic operations in the time of Assurbanipal (7th cent, B. C.), but they were no longer "understanded of the people;" these were dependent upon the Assyrian translation which accompanied the originals. To the priesthood of Babylonia and Chaldæa at that period Accadian was the language of religious symbolism, the holy language of prayer to the gods, and that mysterious idiom which had power to command spirits: it was the language in which they wrote the divine names, even though they read them in their Semitic form. It is in keeping with this hybrid growth and commixture of Semitic creeds and Accadian language, that in the time of Nebuchadnezzar those educated in the sacerdotal schools were known by the originally ethnic but then class name of Chaldæans (Casdim). How much earlier this took place, and how much later it continued, is immaterial. That name was then, by popular usage, at once assigned to the whole scientific body and also narrowed to that class to which alone it was strictly appropriate—the priest-magicians.

It will be readily understood that tablets (astronomical or otherwise) written in the primitive Accadian idiom, and in a style differ

ent from that current at a later date, would require explanation. Grammars, dictionaries,

syllabaries, &c., were consequently prepared to facilitate study and translation by Assyrianspeaking people. By degrees the corruption of style and confusion of language became greater. It is not uncommon to find the grammar of some tablets Semitic, while the words will be sometimes Accadian, sometimes Assyrian1. This mixture of vocabularies is to this day one of the main difficulties of decipherment: for example; the astrological tablets are often written ideographically and in terms different from those of ordinary life. It was thus easy to conceal the meaning of these astrological observations from all but the initiated. So with the magical tablets; the language was Accadian with an Assyrian translation which helped to decipher the meaning of the original. Accadian was a dead language; but for that very reason the privileged readers of the tablets had invested with mysterious efficacy words which were unintelligible sounds to an ignorant and superstitious people2.

It was in the booklearning and the ancient and modern languages intelligible to his instructors that Daniel and his companions were educated. That these Jews were not members of the priest-class may be asserted with safety: the monotheistic Hebrew could not conscientious

ly have any religious sympathy with the polytheistic Babylonian (see Dan. iii.). There is, however, nothing impossible in the conjecture that Daniel especially was trained in such rudiments of their science, true and false, as familiarized him with their books and tablets, and enabled him to discern between the good and the evil, between the wisdom and the folly contained in them. The position, however, assigned to him by Nebuchadnezzar (ii. 48), by Belshazzar (v. 29), and Darius the Mede (vi. 2), rather points to a professional or political career as that for which he had been prepared by early training; and this would be much more in keeping with what would be expected. It is known that the "Chaldæans" were not only priests and philosophers but also statesmen and generals. They commanded armies and held the chief offices of state. The archimagus was, next to the king, the first person in the realm; he accompanied the sovereign to the wars, and advised military operations in accordance with sacerdotal presage. During any vacancy in the succession he administered the government, and, as in the case of Nebuchadnezzar (see on ii. 1), handed it over to the lawful heir: sometimes, as in the case of Nabonadius, he himself became king3. Daniel's

1 Sayce, in 'Trans. of Soc. of Bibl. Arch.' III. p. 150, &c.

2 Lenormant, 'La Magie,' pp. 2, 240 sq. Cp. Rawlinson's Herodotus, I. p. 480 n.

3 Cp. Lenormant, Anc. Hist. of the East,' I. 495.

instructors for his career were therefore members of the dominant scientific and political body; and to their care-humanly speaking—he owed the development of his great natural abilities.

According to Grätz, the whole narrative being purely fictitious in its tendency, it is best to substitute for the text " 1151 700 (the "learning" and "tongue" of the Greeks), and understand by it a reflection of the Taidela Envik. The youths of the Maccabean period were tempted to learn Greek, adopt Greek manners, &c. (cp. 1 Macc. i. 11—15). Why should they not? Let them do so, just as Daniel was (in the fiction) alleged to have learnt the profane learning and manners of his time. He and his friends suffered no harm; neither should those young patriots, who would be Greeks and yet remain true Jews. This is very ingenious but utterly opposed to all that is known of the tendencies of the religious party in that period 5.

The Names given to Daniel and his Companions.

7. The names given to Daniel and his companions as well as the names Arioch and Belshazzar may be conveniently considered in the English alphabetical order. Scholars considered for some time that all these names were Persian; a better acquaintance with the Assyrian-Babylonian language has at least modified this conception. The names of the astronomers and astrologers who sign the reports preserved in the British Museum contain usually the name of a god; e.g. Nebo-chadrezzar, Nebo-akhi-erba, Nergal-edir, Merodach, Abil-Istar. The inference that this was also the case with the other scientific classes, as

well as with the people generally, will commend itself as legitimate to any reader of the names of eponyms, officers, &c. The natural supposition, to be deduced from iv. 8 (A.V.), is that the names of gods would enter into the composition of those trained in Babylonian schools. This is now known to be the fact.

אריוך

Arioch," ii. 14. The name occurs as that of the king of Ellasar (Gen. xiv. I, see note). Whether or not Ellasar be Larsa (mod. Senkereh), or "the city of Assur" (mod. Kileh-Sherghat), Arioch is considered by some Elamitic rather than Persian 7, by others Accadian, and by others again Se

4 Beiträge z. Sach- u. Worterklärung d. B. Daniel,' in Monatschr. f. Gesch. u. Wissensch. d. Judenthums,' 1871, pp. 338, 339. 5 See e.g. Derenbourg's Palestine,' p. 55. 6 Lenormant, 'Man. of Anc. Hist. of East,' I. 349; Sayce, Trans. of Soc. of B. A.' 11. p. 243.

7 Fox Talbot, MS. communication; just as Nebo-chadrezzar is the name of an Elamite astronomer. Sayce, Trans. of Soc. of B. A.' III. p. 195.

8 Sayce, MS. communication.

a well-known sacred symbol both among Babylonians and Egyptians1,-and consider the termination an Aramaic suffix, or the proper name of a god (“Ak”– Nebo), and therefore "the lion-god3." The great difficulty in this and similar words is the final guttural. If Semitic, it may be the suffix of the 2nd person singular; very much as the final guttural in the biblical Chaldee 17 and 17 (so frequent in Ezra iv. v. and vi.), or in the later Chaldee idiom of the Babylonian Talmud 77 and 7, or in Arabic1; possibly it may be here and in similar proper names (Meshach, Shadrach) an Accadian post-position: an example of which -not in a proper name is supposed by Sir H. Rawlinson to occur in the word "for sale," found on the bricks of Nebuchadnezzar at Babylon. The question of etymology is, therefore, not yet solved, but that the name was not a very uncommon one seems supported by its occurrence in early and late inscriptions. It is the Eri-aku (Rī-agū) who was the son of Kudur-mabuk (probably the Chedor-laomer of Gen. xiv. 1), king of Elam and of the northern part of Babylonia; and the Armenian Arak (Aracha) who called himself "Nebuchadnezzar son of Nabonidus” and opposed the great Darius Hystaspis". The occurrence of this name in the Behistun Inscription is of great importance. Inasmuch as it is there stated that this insurgent came from Babylon, the name may be supposed to have been both common and well known in Babylonia; and, as adopted by one who personated Nebuchadnezzar, was much more likely to have been of Babylonian (and Semitic) than Aryan derivation.

1y, "Abed-Nego." This name should probably be "Abed-Nebo," the "servant of Nebo," the god whose name enters into the composition of such familiar names as Nebuchadnezzar, Nabo-polassar, Nebu-zaradan, &c. Sir H. Rawlinson has found the name Abed-Nebo in a "registry" tablet from the record office of the Assyrian kings; it occurs there as the name of a witness to a deed of sale of a slave girl by her joint owners: the tablet is dated from Nabu-shar-uzur who was Eponym during the last year of the reign of

1 Kolbe, De leonis in sacris Ægyptiorum et Babyloniorum signo,' p. 2.

Meier, in Zeitschr. d. D. M. G.' XVII.

p. 682.

3 Hincks, 'Arioch and Belshazzar,' in 'Journ. of Sacr. Lit.' 1862, pp. 401, 417.

♦ Luzzatto-Krüger, 'Grammatik,' 5 'Journ. R. A. S.' 1864, p. 228.

pp. 12, 72.

G. Smith, 'Notes on the Early Hist. of A. and B.' pp. 22, 23..

? Behistun Inscription.

Sennacherib (B.C. 683)8. The junction of the word y with the name of a deity finds its Hebrew counterpart in Obadiah and Abdiel, and its modern representative in Abdallah. Among the Babylonians Nebo was a god of great renown, but among the Assyrians his cultus was of the most fluctuating kind. He was the patron-god of Borsippa, where he was associated with the goddess Nana 10. In the Chaldæan-Babylonian system he was one of the gods of the five planets, and corresponds to Mercury; being both an evening and a morning star, he had two names, Nebo and Nouskou; the former name, given to him as the "proclaimer" or precursor of the sun, recalls the familiar Hebrew word nabi or prophet. His Accadian names were Sulpa-udda, "the messenger of the rising sun," and mul-anPa, "star of Nebo." Nebo was always considered the god of prophetic inspiration, of letters, and of eloquence. One of his most frequent titles is "scribe of the universe." In the various hymns to his honour he is called "the son of Bel," the "maker of interpretations," "the intelligent god," "the supreme intellione "to whose power no power is gence, equal," one "whose will like the heavens does not vary, one who "in the heavens is sublime." He is described as "watching over the legions of heaven and earth," i.e. over the regularity of the movements of the heavenly bodies and terrestrial phenomena. Nebo is, at the same time, the god of royal unction, and the special protector of kings. In the London Inscription Nebuchadnezzar says: "I caused to be built in Babylon, of bitumen and bricks, according to the rules of art, a temple in honour of the god Nebo, the supreme regent, who bestows the sceptre of justice to govern the legions of men." He calls it "the temple of him who confers the sceptre." Not the protective but the destructive power of this god is appealed to in another inscription in the Paris library (the Caillou Michaux stone brought from Bagdad): "May Nebo, the mighty intelligence, strike with affliction and terror, so as to cast into hopeless despair, "-is the imprecation upon the man who shall move the landmark described in the inscription. On the monuments he wears a tiara with horns rising in three pairs above each other, four large wings being often attached to his shoulders. An alabaster figure of the god describes, on the shoulder, in hieratic characters, the three qualifications of the god of fire, of the canal, and of action, the last qualification being sometimes symbolized by the presence of the sceptre, the emblem of authority".

It would be interesting, if it were possible, to trace the reasons for the corruption of Abed-Nebo into Abed-Nego. If Nego be the true reading (see the Greek versions), Nego may have some connection with the title of the god, Nouskou; the interchange of g and k presents no difficulty; the insertion of the s does, If Nebo be the original word, the change to Nego was in all probability due to a clerical error, the copyist making a mistake between and, and that mistake being perpetuated by those to whom the name was no longer familiar. That the mistake was of early date is proved by its existence in the LXX. version 'Aßdevayo, from which Theodotion and the later versions copied it. As a rule, the Hebrew reproduction of Babylonian names is exact so far as the consonants are concerned1, and this makes the error the more remarkable. The mistake may, of course, have been wilful, for the Jews -it is asserted-"often played with the names of the heathen gods in a spirit of scorn and contumely." At least it is certain that the "scribe," who literally as well as conscientiously held by the commandment "make no mention of the name of other gods," &c. (Exod. xxiii. 13 and reff.), would find no difficulty in excusing any orthography he chose to adopt, nor would he feel himself debarred from accompanying the hateful name with some word expressive of disgust (2 K. xxiii. 13). v. Bel-shazzar. The name of the son of Nabonadius (see notes to ch. v.) signifying "Bel, protect the king," or "Bel has formed a king" (Hincks); the former being now generally preferred. The god Bel was the third member of the first triad -Anou, Nouah, Bel-which the Chaldean-Babylonian religion placed as emanations under the great god Ilou (Accad. Dingira): in this triad Bel was the demiurgus and god of the organized universe. Among the planetary gods-the secondary manifestations of the superior triads -he is identified with Merodach. Under the Accadian name of Moul-ge, he and the goddess Belit (Beltis) were worshipped at Nipur;

,בלשאצר

and when identified with Merodach he was the patron-god of Babylon. It is unquestionable that, in the course of time, the primitive conception of the gods was changed, according to Accadian, Assyrian, and Babylonian religious mythology. Hence it will not be surprising if Merodach is found in Babylonian astral-theology identified with both Jupiter and Mercury, and that Bel should be a name sometimes

Magie,' index s. n.; Sayce, B. A.' III. pp. 168, 174, &c.

coupled with Anou, sometimes separated, sometimes identified with Jupiter, sometimes assigned to a revolution of the moon. The first month (Nisan) of the year was dedicated to Anu and Bel, and the standard astrological work of the Babylonians was called after his name Namar-Bili or Enu-Bili, the "illumination" or "eye" of Bel. In the ancient Chaldæan account of the deluge he bears the title of "prince of gods, warrior," and his temple at Nipur, the ancient capital of Babylonia was restored, if not founded, by the king Urukh whose inscriptions are supposed to be the oldest contemporary documents from Babylonia3. That temple was further restored by the kings Ismidagan, Kudurmabuk, Kuri-galzi1, and finally by Nebuchadnezzar whose "devotion" to Merodach is so fully recorded in the East India Company's Inscription". In that inscription such titles as "the great god," "the first-born and highest of the gods," "the preserver of heaven and earth," "the sublime master of the gods;" and such attributes as who "confers empire over the legions of men," who "creates to govern," who "examines the secret motives of the heart," who "inspires a fear and respect for his divinity," who "protects (as a tutelary god) his town Babylon”—give a fair idea of the veneration with which his royal servant regarded him. Following out the identification of Bel with Merodach (Jupiter), his star is called, appositely, the "star of the king," and hymns are sung to his honour. One has been compared with Ps. cxlvii.: it contains such noble parallelisms as the following:

"Lord, prophet of all glory, lord of battles,

Thou art sublime, who is equal to thee? Thy will is a sublime decree, which thou dost

establish in heaven and earth.”

Another hymn speaks of "the great heavens, the father of the gods" as "the resting-place of his watching;" and others speak of his work as a mediator and his connection with the belief in the resurrection.

which was the general emblem of divinity and In the monuments he wears the horned cap, a special symbol of this god: his name enters largely into the composition of the eponyms, and, with less frequency, into that of kings and people".

,בלטשאצר

YN, "Belteshazzar," i. 7, ii. 26, V. 12. The name is the Babylonian Bilatsarra-utsur, "Beltis defend the kings;"

1 Lenormant, Les prem. Civ.' 11. 209. That this exactness would not be found as regards vowels stands to reason, if the addition of the vowel-points be placed in A. D. 6th cent., when authentic tradition about the mode of pronouncing these names was lost.

2 Rawlinson, A. M.' 111. p. 27, n. 13.

Do. Early History of Babylonia,' in 'Trans. of Soc. of B. A.' I. pp. 34, 70.

5 Cp. Oppert's Transl.' passim, and for the description of the temple of Belus in the time of Herod. (1. 181) Rawlinson, A. M.' III. 515.

Lenormant, 'Les prem. Civil.' II. 169-80. 7 See works referred to under Abed-Nebo. 8 Sir H. Rawlinson ('Journ. R. A. S.' 1864,

Bilat being the feminine of Bil, "a lord," and the name of the goddess-spouse of Bel. Her Accadian name was Nin-gelal, or Ninge, or Nin-ki-gal; and the primitive conception regarded her and Moul-ge (Bel) as "the lord and lady of the abysses of the earth,' that mysterious region to which the dead were considered to descend. An ancient hymn speaks of her as "reposing on elevated altars" with Moul-ge in that temple where there is no thought, no blessing...but darkness and blindness1. Yet out of this chaos of darkness and death came life and living things. The goddess Beltis, in whom seem merged many of the attributes and functions assigned to the goddess-spouses of Anou and Nouah, becomes the feminine principle of nature, the matter moist, passive, and fruitful, in whose bosom the generation of gods and men is produced. If Beltis is the "lady of the lower abyss 2," she is also "the mother of the gods" and "queen of fertility:" if she is Allat, the goddess of the infernal regions, "the mother of the city of Erech"-the great necropolis of Chaldæa; she is also Tamti, "the sea," that representa tive of the primordial humidity whence everything is deemed to have sprung. In astraltheology Beltis is identified with Istar, the Babylonian Venus; and as a star bears the poetical names of Nin-si-anna, "lady of the defences of heaven," and Mustelil, "the brilliant." The planet was a favourite object of observation, and the two phrases are carefully noted, but with a confusion of the two names in the astronomical tablet: Venus at sunset is "Istar of Erech" and "Bilat Ili," queen of the gods; Venus at sunrise is "Istar among the stars." This identification with Istar opens up to the scientific student the point of connection with the ancient legends known among cuneiform scholars as the "descent of Ishtar to Hades."

That the goddess Beltis was, from early times, held in great renown, appears from the frequent mention of her name in the Inscriptions. In the year 1874, Mr G. Smith found bricks from the "temple of Ishtar" with the dedication, "To Beltis, his lady, Shalmaneser, viceroy of Assur, king of nations," this Shal

p. 236), and Sayce (MS. communication), are agreed in recognizing Bilat as the first element in this name, though the teth is substituted for the tau. Oppert, 'Journ. asiat.' 1864, p. 52, and Schrader, 'die Keilinschr. u. d. A. T.' p. 278, take the name as Baltasu-usur (Balatsuusur), "protect his life;" but Dan. iv. 8 is in favour of the former opinion that "the name of my god" enters into the composition of Belteshazzar. Canon Rawlinson, A. M.' III. 82, gives another derivation.

1 Lenormant, La Magie,' pp. 153, 154. Sayce, Trans. of Soc. of B. A.' III. pp. 169, 197.

Translated by Messrs. Fox Talbot, G. Smith, Lenormant, Schrader and others.

maneser being the builder of the palace of Nineveh (c. 1300 B.C.); and another inscription from the same spot records how "Tugulti-ninip, king of nations, son of Shalmaneser...the temple of Beltis built." Beltis is the goddess whom the great king Assurbanipal, in accordance with a custom of which Nebuchadnezzar's Inscription furnishes another instance, claims as his parent: "I am Assurbanipal, the progeny of Assur and Beltis"." Previously to the Persian conquest the shrine of the great temple of Belus was occupied by colossal images, one of which was that of Beltis. Before it were two golden lions, ard near them two enormous serpents of silver A hymn speaks of the fast celebrated to her at her town of Erech; and the words, "I do not follow mine own will; I do not glorify myself," specifying the character of her worshippers', happily illustrate the meekness and modesty so discernible in the character of the Belteshazzar of Scripture. At Babylon the worship of the goddess had lost its sombre and more sublime aspect; it had sunk into the encouragement of sensuality8.

The practice of forming the name of a male with a female element. not unknown among ourselves and modern nations, is not without its parallel in Assyrian-Babylonian times. Abil-Istar and Istar-so-um-esses are names of writers of astronomical reports?; and a tablet relative to the moon-god is signed by Istarso-um-Kamis the chief librarian of Assurbanipal...and son of Nabo-zir-asir the chief astrologer 10.

The LXX. (followed by Theod., Jerome &c.) makes no difference between Belshazzar and Belteshazzar. It has but one name, Baλráoap, to represent both. This is another instance of the priority of the existing Hebrew text and its accuracy. The compiler of the Greek version had forgotten, or chose to forget, that distinction between the two names which Daniel himself had carefully marked.

TD, "Meshach," i. 7 and iii. "It is impossible," says Max Müller 11, "to give any etymology of" this name and Shadrach. "No names similar to them," says Sayce 12, "are found in the inscriptions." Hence critics have indulged freely in conjectures. Hitzig and Zöckler trace the first name to the Sanskrit mêschah = a ram, maesha, Justi. "It may have been," says Max Müller, "mis, friend, and shah,