act that the Egyptian civilization was mainly
Euphratean in origin" (Robert Brown, _op. cit._).

The following facts contained in Prof. Morris Jastrow's admirable hand
book on the "Religion of Babylonia and Assyria," further establish the
pervading influence of the number seven. "The two most famous zikkurats of
seven stages were those in Babylon and Borsippa, opposite Babylon. The
latter bears the significant name E-ur-imin-an-ki, _i. e._, 'the house of
seven divisions of heaven and earth.' Two much older towers than those of
Babylon and Borsippa bear names in which 'seven' is introduced. One of
these is the zikkurat to Nin-girsu at Lagash, which Gudea describes as
'the house of seven divisions of the world,' the other the tower at Uruk,
which bore the name 'house of seven zones.' The reference in both cases
is, as Jensen has shown, to the seven concentric zones into which the
earth was divided by the Babylonians."

In a standard German book of reference (Spamer's Illustrierte
Weltgeschichte I Theil, Alterthum, I Theil, s. 371), I find the statement
that the zikkurat of the temple I-zidda at Borsippa, was called "the
temple of the seven lights of heaven and earth," which seem to have been
symbolized also by the seven-branched candlestick of the Hebrews.
Considering that other sacred symbols which were employed in Solomon's
temple are believed by Professor Jastrow to be "imitations of Babylonian
models," it seems justifiable to endeavor to trace to the same source the
origin of the Hebrew "seven-branched candlestick," to which I shall revert
later on. Prof. Morris Jastrow offers the suggestion that the name "seven
directions of heaven and earth" may point to a conception of seven zones
dividing the heavens as well as the earth, and states that the "seven
divisions" and "seven zones" are merely terms equivalent to universe. He
explains that the seven directions were interpreted by the Babylonian
theologians as a reference to the seven great celestial bodies, the sun
and moon, Ishtar, Marduk, Ninib, Nergal and Nabu. To each of these one
story was supposed to be dedicated and the tower thus became a
cosmological symbol. Moreover, from Herodotus' description of the seven
concentric walls of Ecbatana, in which each wall was distinguished by a
certain color, the conclusion has been drawn that the same colors--white,
black, scarlet, blue, orange, silver and gold--were employed by the
Babylonians for the stages of their towers.