42 THEOPHILUS G. PINCHES^ ESQ., LL.D., M.R.^.S., ON 



suggests that Merodach had long been recognized as chief of 

 the Babylonian pantheon. 



The fact that there were other gods who exercised dominion 

 in the kingdom of heaven before Merodach, seems to show that 

 changes had taken place in the religion of the country, and it 

 is not impossible that these changes are a reflection of its 

 political history. Thus, from the first tablet of the Semitic 

 story, we see that Anu, god of the heavens, was the chief 

 divinity, and head of the pantheon. This is followed by a 

 reference to the older Bel, and then to Ae, the father of 

 Merodach. Farther on in the legend, where the revolt of 

 Tiawthu is related, Anu and Ae are again spoken of, and this 

 in such a way as to suggest that they had been failures in 

 their mission, as it were. They both went in turn against the 

 foe, but without success, being (at least in one case) terrified at 

 her frightful appearance. The explanation of this would seem 

 to be, that it is intended as a symbolical representation of the 

 development of the Babylonian religion. First came Anu, the 

 deity personifying the heavens, worshipped at Erech along with 

 the goddess Istar, and also at other places in Babylonia. He 

 would seem to have been the first of the great divinities, and 

 this leads to the supposition that a state where he was adored 

 as patron-divinity became, at some early period, predominant 

 among the early kingdoms of Babylonia. The next one who 

 failed to meet the Dragon of Chaos was Ae, the principal seat 

 of whose worship seems to have been Eridu, identified with 

 Abu-shahrein, near the Persian Gnlf. ]N"ow the earliest period 

 at which Erech came forward as chief state — or one of the 

 chief states — of the Babylonian confederacy, w^as during the 

 reign of Lugal-zag-gi-si, whose date is set down roughly at 

 about 4,000 years before Christ ; but, as far as we know, Eridu 

 never had any great political predominance, though it may at 

 some time have become the religious capital of the country. 

 It would seem, however, to be certain that the adoption of 

 Merodach as chief of the Babylonian pantheon was due to the 

 rise of Babylon to the position of capital of the chief province, 

 and the worship of this divinity continued in all probability 

 until the decay of the city, when that of Anu-Bel took its 

 place, that is, if we may accept the indications furnished by a 

 tablet of the time of Hyspasines. Anu-Bel was worshipped at 

 the well-known temple of E-saggil, which contained the great 

 shrine of Bel at Babylon, and it may be supposed that, in con- 

 sequence of a change in the teaching of the priests, Merodach 



