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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 15 March 2011
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.
page 393 note 1 I do not, in the present instance, include in this expression the numerous contract-tablets and legal documents.
page 397 note 1 Aruru was a goddess. She was called “the lady of the gods of Sippar and Aruru.”
page 398 note 1 Mummu-tiamtu (Mιουμς ταυθ) may be regarded, though, as equivalent the goddess Aruru.
page 398 note 2 An excellent analysis of this text will be found in Schrader's, Cuneiform Inscriptions and the Old Testament, vol. i. pp. 1–14Google Scholar.
page 400 note 1 Ê-kura.
page 400 note 2 Omitted on the original.
page 400 note 3 Here, on the original, the character uš is incorrectly repeated.
page 400 note 4 Ê-sagila.
page 400 note 5 Omitted on the original.
page 400 note 6 Aruru.
page 400 note 7 Idiglat û Puratta.
page 403 note 1 In 1. 38 the Akkadian equivalent is followed by 
, ki, “earth,” “land,” “place,” most likely a determinative suffix.
page 403 note 2 Sada would have been written 