jgoS.] IN BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 663 



the name given to the planets in Babylonia we have, I venture to 

 think, a direct proof of this dependence of astrology upon hepa- 

 toscopy. It has always been a puzzle to scholars that the common 

 designation for planet should have been a compound ideograph,^'^ 

 the two elements of which signify " sheep " and " dead." xA.ttempts 

 to furnish a satisfactory explanation have failed and the interpreta- 

 tion offered by Babylonian scribes as " causing the death of cattle,"^* 

 while confirming the division of the sign into the two elements in 

 question, is purely fanciful and is of value chiefly as showing that the 

 real origin of the designation had already in ancient times become 

 obscured. Through a syllabary (II. Rawlinson, PI. 6, 4 c-d) we 

 learn that the compound sign (Lu-Bat) is to be read bi-tb-bu and 

 the context in which the word occurs^** is sufficient to show that it 

 is one of the names for " sheep." This, moreover, is confirmed 

 by the fact that the first element, Lu, with or without the addition 

 of the sign for " male " designates the " sheep." Now, the second 

 element (Bat) has also the force of fcrtii, "omen,"*° the explanation 



" Lu-Bat. For a full discussion see a special article by the writer 

 " The Sign and Name for Planet in Babylonian " in the Proceedings of the 

 American Philosophical Society, Vol. XLVII., pp. 141-155. It is also to be 

 noted that while all the planets are designated as Lu-Bat or bibbu, there are 

 two. Mercury and Saturn, to whom the designation is specially applied. On 

 the reason for this as well as for the explanation of the Babylonian names 

 for Mercury (Lu-Bat Gu-Ud) and Saturn (Lu-Bat Sag-Us) see the article 

 just referred to, in which on p. 142 a reference should have been added to 

 Zimmern, " Keilinschriften u. das alte Testament," p. 622, seq. 



^^ mns-mit bu-lim (V. Rawlinson, PL 46, Nr. i (rev.), 41), in which 

 equation Lu is entered as the equivalent of bulu " cattle " and Bat as IIL, 

 I of mdtii " cause the death " or " kill." The artifical character of the expla- 

 nation is revealed by the unwarranted extension of Lu in the general sense 

 of "cattle," nor can Bat without some further qualifying prefix mean "cause 

 to die " but merely " to die " or " to be dead." Lu-Bat could have the 

 force of " sheep that is dead " or " sheep that is killed," but never " sheep 

 (or 'cattle') that kill." 



^ It is followed by a-tu-du " goat " and sap-pa-ru " mountain goat." 

 Note also that 1. i, a-b Lu = kir-ni — a common term for " lamb." Dr. Ru- 

 dolf Eisler finds in the double sense of the Semitic stem amar " word " and 

 "sheep" a further support for the thesis here set forth ("Origin of the 

 Eucharist," p. 10 — an address before the Third International Congress for 

 the History of Religions at Oxford, Sept. 18, 1908.) 



*" See II., Rawlinson, PI. 27, No. 2, 46 obv. c-d. Ur-Bat = tcr-fum sa 

 ha-se-e, i. e., "omen of the liver," the first element (Ur) being the common 



