THE liELIGlOUS IDEAS OF THE BABYLONIANS. 11 



We here getMerodach expressly identified witli no less than 

 thirteen other gods, and as the tablet is broken, it is probable 

 that he was, when the text was perfect^ identified with at 

 least as many more — in fact, these gods were all manifesta- 

 tions of Merodach with reference to the various things 

 (agricultural, mihtary, &c.) named. This, in itself, is 

 sufficiently remarkable, and may be regarded, it seems to me, 

 as being at least an approach to monotheism. But this is 

 not all. Assur-baui-apli, king of Assyria, in a letter to the 

 Babylonians, of a date (650 B.C.) possibly anterior to that ot 

 the text printed above, mentions only the deities Bel (once), 

 and Merodach (twice) — both of them designations of one and 

 the same deity ; and in the body of the letter he twice uses 

 the word ilu, " God," in the same way as a monotheist would. 

 AVhen exhorting the Babylonians to keep to the agreements, 

 he says : u raincmkunu, ma jychi Hi Id tuhattd, " and commit 

 not, yourselves, a sin against God ; " and : u hattu ina lib udi 

 ina pan Hi, "and a sin concerning the agreements is before 

 God," — the whole letter, in fact, seeming to be written in 

 accordance with the views current at the time. 



These, however, are not the only indications of a tendency 

 to monotheism, or to the idea that all the gods were but 

 mere manifestations of one supreme deity ; nor have we far 

 to look for an example, for the name of the eponym for 651 

 B.C. — the year before the abovenamed letter was written, is 

 handed down to us in the following form : — 



^ TJ ^^ F ^H="Assur (is) Aa." 

 Assur - A-aJ ^ 



An examination of further texts gives still more examples 

 of this, thus the eponym for 723 B.C. is ] ^>{- >^ >->f- ]'^ |][, 

 D.PP. Ninip-D.P. Aa, " Ninip (is) Aa," whose name occurs in 

 one copy written ] >->^ >f- yj y][ as eponym for 737 B.C. As 

 eponym for 770 B.C. we find f ^^l ^>f f]^ y{, Beli-D.P. Aa, 

 "(My) lord (is) Aa;" for 810 and 819 B.C. f ->f >f>f 

 ->f yi ]l D.PP. Nergal-D.P. Aa, "Nergal (is) Aa;" for 820 B.C. 

 y ^^ j^ ^>^ yy yr^ D.PP. Samas-D.P. Aa, " Samas (is) Aa." 

 Nergal-Aa (Nergal (is) Aa) occurs, written y (>-HP) ^^]] 

 >->y- y]^ y^, as the name of the eponym for 832.* We find the 



* In one copy the divine prefix is wanting before the name of Nergal, 

 but is present in both cases before that of Aa (see Delitzsch's Lesestiicke 

 2nd edition, p. 89, 1. 81). 



