igoS-] 



FOR PLANET IN BABYLONIAN. 151 



convey this idea. The term may, therefore, be regarded as a render- 

 ing of the Babylonian designation " sheep omen " in the general 

 sense above pointed out. 



The objection may be raised at this point, why should not the 

 moon and sun, as playing an equally if not more important role in 

 divination lore, likewise have been designated as Lu-Bat in the 

 generic sense of an "omen" or "auspicium"? The answer is 

 obvious. Sun and moon cults are such ingredient parts of early 

 forms of religion everywhere and the dependence of human for- 

 tune, life, health and welfare upon these two luminaries is so direct 

 that other factors were at work in the development of conceptions 

 regarding these two deities than merely the observation of their 

 movements and changing relationship to one another as a basis 

 for determining what these deities were preparing for mankind. 

 Their cult precedes their introduction into divination texts, whereas 

 the planets were observed solely for purposes of divination. Since 

 the influence of the latter on human life was a matter of speculation 

 rather than of direct experience, the basic and primary motive for 

 noting their movements was in connection with the view that, as rep- 

 resenting gods, their movements indicated the activity of these gods 

 in preparing the events that were to happen on earth. The old 

 and long established names and designations for sun and moon were 

 accordingly retained, whereas the new term chosen for the planets 

 was ordinarily restricted to them. Occasionally, however, so, e. g., 

 III. R, 57, No. 6, 65-67, sun, moon and the five planets are sum- 

 marized as seven Lu-Bat (pi.). 



That the association of ideas did not, on the other hand, lead to 

 the extension of Lu-Bat to the stars in general constitutes no valid 

 objection to the thesis here propounded. In the divination texts the 

 number of stars introduced, outside of the planets, is not large and 

 their role is quite secondary,-^ and it is not until we reach the period 

 when astronomy becomes more definitely difl:'erentiated as a science 

 from astrology, when calculations are made and " planet " tables are 



mark ; and shows that he no longer fully understood the force of the Baby- 

 lonian designation which he here faithfullj^ reproduces. 



^ In astrological texts proper as distinguished from astronomical tablets, 

 the stars mentioned are chiefly certain ones belonging to the constellations of 

 the ecliptic and which are frequently introduced as guides and indications for 

 fixing the position of the planets, rather than as omens. 



