654 JASTROW— HEPATOSCOPY AND ASTROLOGY [December 4, 



mishaps and accidents of daily life. Indeed, one may safely go a 

 step further and set up a contrast between hepatoscopy and astrology 

 corresponding to the difference nowadays between the popular views 

 of the universe which are still so largely controlled by superstitious 

 beliefs and crude speculations — instance the hold that astrology, 

 phrenology, chiromancy, clairovoyance, dreams and belief in the 

 power of ghosts still have upon the masses, — and those held by 

 scientific thinkers. The astrological system of Babylonia and As- 

 syria, which is the earliest known to us, might be described as 

 taking the place in antiquity that in modern times is taken by the 

 " Darwinian " theory of evolution in so far as it is the product of 

 the schools and not of popular conceptions. 



It may reasonably be supposed that the recognition of the 

 regular movements of the planets and that within certain periods 

 they pass through a well-defined course as do the sun and moon, 

 was the decisive step which led to the departure from along the 

 lines of popular conceptions. With the planets thus placed on a 

 par with sun and moon, it was a natural sequence to regard them 

 also as gods, or, what amounted to the same thing, as the seats of 

 gods, and to endow them with the power to control occurrences 

 on earth. In the oldest astrological texts, as a matter of fact, we 

 find the five planets already identified with the chief gods of the 

 Babylonian-Assyrian pantheon, Jupiter being known as Marduk, 

 Venus as Ishtar, Saturn as Ninib, Mercury as Nebo and Mars 

 as Nergal.^'' This identification in itself is sufficient to establish the 

 advanced character of the entire astrological lore, for the gods in 

 question, according to the popular conceptions and even in the 

 official cult, stand in no connection with the stars. Marduk, Ninib 

 and Nergal are originally solar deities. Nebo appears originally to 

 have been a water deity,-° while Ishtar is the earth goddess, the sym- 

 bol and personification of fertility in general. In thus being identified 

 with the planets, the original character of the deities in question is 

 entirely lost sight of. The identification, therefore, represents a 

 break with popular conceptions and with the traditions that had 



" Kugler, " Sternkunde und Sterndienst in Babel," I., p. 8 with the cor- 

 rections on pp. 221 and 286. 

 ^"Jastrow, o. c, I., p. 118. 



