Art. VIII.—A New Version of the Creation-story

Extract

We all know—for the Bible tells us of it—one of the chief characteristics of the Babylonians and Assyrians, namely, their superstition, as shown by their use of charms and magical formulae. Nahum calls Nineveh “the mistress of witchcraft,” who “selleth nations through her whoredoms, and families through her witchcrafts.” Micah, too, speaks of the witchcrafts and soothsayers of one or both of these countries, and Isaiah mentions the multitude of Babylon's sorceries, and the great abundance of her enchantments, calling upon the multitude of the sorcerers and star-gazers to save her, if they could, from the things which were to come upon her. The great use of charms and magic is, indeed, one of the things which strikes the student who examines the literature of these two remarkable countries; for the number of documents referring to the various branches of this art—the “black art,” in fact—far exceeds that of any other branch of Babylonian or Assyrian literature. Omens, medical formulæ in mystic ideographs, and invocations in Akkadian, in Assyrian, and in the two languages together, abound. Many of these last are very elaborate, and have very interesting introductions, and almost all contain a great deal of information about the mythology and superstitions of the two nations by whom they were used.