III SCIENCE OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA A History of Science: in Five Volumes. Volume I: The Beginnings of Science | ||
CHALDEAN MAGIC
We turn now from the field of the astrologer to the closely allied province of Chaldean magic—a province
The tablets having to do with omens, exorcisms, and the like magic practices make up an astonishingly large proportion of the Babylonian records. In viewing them it is hard to avoid the conclusion that the superstitions which they evidenced absolutely dominated the life of the Babylonians of every degree. Yet it must not be forgotten that the greatest inconsistencies everywhere exist between the superstitious beliefs of a people and the practical observances of that people. No other problem is so difficult for the historian as that which confronts him when he endeavors to penetrate the mysteries of an alien religion; and when, as in the present case, the superstitions involved have been transmitted from generation to generation, their exact practical phases as interpreted by any particular generation must be somewhat problematical. The tablets upon which our knowledge of these omens is based are many of them from the libraries of the later kings of Nineveh; but the omens themselves are, in such cases, inscribed in the original Accadian form in which they have come down from remote ages, accompanied by an Assyrian translation. Thus the superstitions involved had back of them hundreds of years, even thousands of years, of precedent; and we need not doubt that the ideas with which they are associated were interwoven with almost every thought and deed of the life of the people. Professor Sayce assures us that the Assyrians and Babylonians counted no fewer than three hundred spirits of heaven,
- Take a white cloth. In it place the mamit,
- in the sick man's right hand.
- Take a black cloth,
- wrap it around his left hand.
- Then all the evil spirits (a long list of them is given)
- and the sins which he has committed
- shall quit their hold of him
- and shall never return.
The symbolism of the black cloth in the left hand seems evident. The dying man repents of his former evil deeds, and he puts his trust in holiness, symbolized by the white cloth in his right hand. Then follow some obscure lines about the spirits:
- Their heads shall remove from his head.
- Their heads shall let go his hands.
- Their feet shall depart from his feet.
In regard to evil spirits, as elsewhere, the number seven had a peculiar significance, it being held that that number of spirits might enter into a man together. Talbot has translated [26] a "wild chant'' which he names "The Song of the Seven Spirits.''
- There are seven! There are seven!
- In the depths of the ocean there are seven!
- In the heights of the heaven there are seven!
- In the ocean stream in a palace they were born.
- Male they are not: female they are not!
- Wives they have not! Children are not born to them!
- Rules they have not! Government they know not!
- Prayers they hear not!
- There are seven! There are seven! Twice over there are seven!
- The god (—) shall stand by his bedside;
- These seven evil spirits he shall root out and shall expel them from his body,
- and these seven shall never return to the sick man again.
Altogether similar are the exorcisms intended to ward off disease. Professor Sayce has published translations of some of these. [28] Each of these ends with the same phrase, and they differ only in regard to the particular maladies from which freedom is desired. One reads:
Another is phrased thus:
As to omens having to do with the affairs of everyday life the number is legion. For example, Moppert has published, in the Journal Asiatique, [29] the translation of a tablet which contains on its two sides several scores of birth-portents, a few of which maybe quoted at random:
Some of these portents, it will be observed, are not in much danger of realization, and it is curious to surmise by what stretch of the imagination they can have been invented. There is, for example, on the same tablet just quoted, one reference which assures us that "when a sheep bears a lion the forces march multitudinously; the king has not a rival.'' There are other omens, however, that are so easy of realization as to lead one to suppose that any Babylonian who regarded all the superstitious signs must have been in constant terror. Thus a tablet translated by Professor Sayce [30] gives a long list of omens furnished by dogs, in which we are assured that:
- If a yellow dog enters into the palace, exit from that palace will be baleful.
- If a dog to the palace goes, and on a throne lies down, that palace is burned.
- if a black dog into a temple enters, the foundation of that temple is not stable.
- If female dogs one litter bear, destruction to the city.
III SCIENCE OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA A History of Science: in Five Volumes. Volume I: The Beginnings of Science | ||