igoS.] 



IN BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 647 



nations of antiquity.^ In addition to this branch of involuntary 

 divination, we have the significance attached to diverse occurrences 

 that by their more or less unusual or striking character attract at- 

 tention or that for any other reason were regarded as fraught with 

 some special importance. The interpretation of dreams falls within 

 this category. Monstrosities among human beings and animals 

 form another subdivision, while peculiar actions among animals — 

 snakes, dogs, ravens, locusts and the like — further extend the scope 

 of involuntary divination until it becomes practically boundless. 

 All the little mishaps and accidents of daily life were looked upon 

 as signs, indicative of the disposition of the gods towards men, and 

 in a still larger sense, as affecting the general welfare, were storms, 

 floods, swollen streams, climatic disturbances and more the like. 



In order to differentiate between these two methods of divination 

 we may designate the signs derived from voluntary divination as 

 omens, and those obtained from involuntary divination as portents, 

 while within the field of involuntary divination two broad divisions 

 may be recognized, the one represented by portents connected with 

 the phenomena of the heavens, including clouds, storms and rains, 

 and such as are connected with terrestrial phenomena. In grouping 

 the portents derived from the observation of the phenomena of 

 nature under the general heading of astrology, it must therefore be 

 borne in mind that the term includes more than the mere study of 

 the stars, but so far at least as Babylonia and Assyria are concerned, 

 there is no distinction between the character of the interpretations 

 offered for the phenomena of the heavens in the narrower sense, and 

 such phenomena as are merely associated with the heavens. For 

 the Babylonians and Assyrians, as for the nations of antiquity in 

 general, heaven is not very far removed from the earth.* It was 

 supposed to begin where the solid earth came to an end and indeed 

 the tops of mountains so frequently enveloped in clouds appear to 

 have been regarded as bordering on the domain of heaven if not 



'Dr. J. G. Frazer calls my attention to the fact that astrology in any 

 proper sense is not found among peoples of primitive culture. 



* This view underlies the Biblical story of the building of the Tower 

 of Babel (Genesis, chapter XL), as is shown by the circumstance that the 

 task of building a tower which should reach to heaven is not looked upon 

 as an impossible task but as a wicked one. 



