152 JASTROW— THE SIGN AND NAME [April 25, 



prepared independently of divination, that star-lore assumes larger 

 dimensions. Besides, in securing omens the positions of the stars 

 constitute a minor factor and are of value chiefly, if not exclusively, 

 in relationship to phenomena connected with the planets — a condition 

 which is specially applicable to the relationship between the planets 

 and the constellations of the zodiac. 



Attention has already been called to the fact that although Lu- 

 Bat is commonly applied to any planet, there are only two planets — 

 Mercury and Saturn— that regularly appear written with this com- 

 pound ideograph,-^ the former being designated as Lu-Bat Gu- 

 Ud/° the latter as Lu-Bat Sag-Us, while Mars occasionally appears 

 as Lu-Bat Dir.^^ The other planets appear in the lists IIR, 48, 

 48-54 ab and IIIR, 57, No. 6, 65-67, as (il) Sul-pa-Ud-Du-a 

 (Jupiter) (il) Dil-Bat (Venus) and ZAL-BAT-a-nu (Mars), with 

 MuL = kakkabu interchanging with an = ilu. Moreover, the 

 phonetic reading bi-ib-bu in the latter list for Lu-Bat Gu-ud points 

 to Mercury as being the planet par excellence. Why should Mer- 

 cury have been assigned to this preeminent position among the 

 planets? It has been suggested to me'''- that the position of Mer- 

 cury nearest to the sun may have led to its being looked upon as 

 the chief planet for purposes of divination and it is perhaps not 

 without significance that in Greek astrology Mercury, frequently 

 designated as aril^iuv, " shining, "^^ is closely associated with the 

 sun, and indeed at times identified with Apollo.^* Certainly, the 

 peculiar conceptions connected with Mercury in the astrology of 

 the Greeks and of other nations — whose dependence upon Baby- 

 lonian beliefs and speculations is generally admitted — sharply sepa- 

 rate that planet from his fellows. While the others, c. g., are con- 

 ceived as masculine or feminine. Mercury, and Mercury alone, is 

 double sexed.^^ Qualities are heaped upon Mercury in profusion, 



™ See above, p. 141, note 2. 



^"Generally read Gud-Ud but the reading Gu-Ud seems preferable. 



^^ See above, p. 141, note 2. 



"By my friend, Mr. H. H. Furness, Jr., whose suggestion commended 

 itself to my colleague, Professor C. L. Doolittle, Director of the Flower 

 Observatory (University of Pennsylvania). 



^^ Bouche-Leclercq, " L'Astrologie Grecque," pp. 66 and 100. 



^* Ibid., p. 100, note 5. 



^ Ibid., p. 102. So also in modern astrology. See Ellen H. Bennett, 

 "Astrology" (New York, 1897), p. 98. 



