106 



THEOPHILUS G. PINCHES, LL.D., M.R.A.S._. ON 



^' The gods, all of them — the gods of 

 Eorsippa, Cuthah, Kis, 

 and the gods of the cities all, 



to take the hands of Kayanu (and) the great lord ^lerodach, 

 shall go to Babylon, and with him 



at the new year's festival, in the sanctuary of the king, 

 offer gifts before them." 



It is also probable that on the same occasion the ruling king 

 of Babylon, whoever he might be, and of whatever faith or 

 nationality (for the Babylonians had been ruled in their time 

 by aliens from all parts of the east), was expected to " take the 

 hand of Bel," though it may be doubted whether Darius 

 Hystaspis, that stern worshipper of Hormuzd, ever consented 

 to assist in what he must have regarded as a heathen ceremony. 

 This street for the sacred processions in Babylon must, there- 

 fore, be regarded as having been the most noted roadway in 

 the city, and we can imagine the long procession passing 

 through the southern gatewws, taking part in the ceremonies 

 in the temple of Belus and at the Tower of Babylon connected 

 therewith, crossing the Libil-hengala canal, then passing the 

 royal palace and under the gateway of Istar, to the Chamber of 

 Fate, which is regarded as having been situated at the eastern 

 ■end of the Merodach canal. The distance from the gate of 

 Uras, which was the city's southern entrance to the Chamber 

 ■of Fate, was a little over a mile and a quarter. Unfortunately, 

 the remains of the Tower of Babel — that structure so renowned 

 of old — have, within recent years, been cleared away to build 

 the dam of the Hindiyeh Canal, and instead of a great 

 monument, the depression where its foundations were laid is 

 now all that exists. 



As might be expected, tlie spouse of Merodach, Zer-panitum, 

 the principal goddess of the Babylonian pantheon, came in for 

 a share of the honours. She appears to have been worshipped 

 at the Tower of Babel along with him, but besides this she had 

 a temple of her own on the east of the Istar gate, and its 

 foundations still exist in a fairly complete state. This rough 

 photograph, made up of several smaller pictures kindly lent me 

 by permission of the German Orient-Gesellschaft, shows the 

 north front with the altar before one of the recesses. This is 

 the celebrated E-mah, " the supreme temple," dedicated to Nin- 

 mah, " the supreme lady," as Zer-panitum was also called. The 

 larger picture on the next slide is stated to be the north-west 

 corner of this temple — apparently the interior — with an altar 

 and platform, and another picture shows the exterior of the 



