THE BABYLONIAN STORY OF THE CREATLON. 



31 



called by the nations of the ancient world on that account, for 

 Jove and Merodach, as is well known, are one and the same, 

 the former being his western, and the latter his eastern name. 

 As Merodach was king of the gods, so was Jupiter, the planet, 

 the overseer of the stars, traversing and crossing the heavens 

 from end to end, and preventing them from leaving their paths 

 or their stations in the celestial vault. 



His next work, according to the tablet, was to place with his 

 own the stations of Bel and Ea, with the great gates on both 

 sides, and the bolts right and left, the zenith (such seems to be 

 the meaning of the word) being set between. To all appear- 

 ance this is a description of the heavens according to the ideas 

 of the Babylonians, who thought of the great blue vault as pos- 

 sessing these things ; for through the doors which were opened 

 for this at the beginning of each day, the sun came forth, " as a 

 bridegroom coming out of his chamber, who rejoiceth as a strong 

 man to run his course." According to the hymn to the setting 

 sun which was chanted at the Birs Nimroud, anciently called 

 E-zida, and identified by tradition with the tower of Babel, the 

 spouse of the sungod went to meet her lord at the close of the 

 day, and the doors and the bolts of the high heavens gave 

 him greeting, thus verifying what is stated in the Semitic 

 Babylonian story of the Creation at this point with regard 

 to the arrangement of the heavens in Babylonian cosmology. 



First among the remaining heavenly bodies is mentioned the 

 moon, in this place called Nannaru, which was caused to shine 

 forth, and ruled the night. He was set as an adornment of the 

 night, to make known the days {i.e., the festivals and divisions 

 of time). Monthly, without ceasing, he was provided with a 

 crown, an expression which probably means that he appeared in 

 the form of a narrow crescent. Appearing in the land at the 

 beginning of the month, the horns are described as shining 

 forth to make known the seasons, and the crown is said to be 

 perfected on the seventh day, when the crescent, having become 

 a half-disc, no longer had the form which the Babylonians were 

 accustomed to regard as a crown. Considerable doubt exists as 

 to the real meaning of the lines which follow, the inscription 

 being very imperfect at this point, but there seems — merely 

 seems — to be a reference to the luminary being full when oppo- 

 site the sun, and if this be the case, there is just the possibility 

 that the Babylonians had noticed that the moon shone with 

 light borrowed from the sun. 



In this place, after an interval, Professor Jensen inserts a 

 fragment which may well belong to this series. It seems, on. 



