council chamber by the priesthood. It was
indeed termed 'the assembly room' the 'place of fates,' 'the court of the
world,' 'the house of oracle,' also as the 'sacred room where the gods
assembled in solemn council' and 'the chamber of fates' where the chief
god sits on New Year's day and decides the fate of mankind for the ensuing
year" (Jastrow, _op. cit._ p. 423).

The Babylonian and Assyrian kings were the living representatives of the
chief god and Professor Jastrow states that "it was into the papakhu that
the priests retired when they desired to obtain an oracle direct from the
god.... It is particularly interesting to collate the statements 'that the
New Year's day was the occasion of a symbolical marriage between a god and
goddess,' and that 'the New Year's festival came to be the season most
appropriate for approaching the oracular chamber.' " It thus appears that
the papakhu was the sacred and secret chamber where the ancient kings and
their councillors united to confer upon the government of the nation and
decreed the irrevocable laws which decided the fate of individuals.

"The 'decision of fates' is, in Babylonian theology, one of the chief
functions of the gods. It constitutes the mainspring of their power. To
decide fates is to control the arrangement of the universe--to establish
order." The "tablets of fate" are repeatedly mentioned in the Assyrian
epics where it is described how one god addressing another, "gives him the
tablets of fate, hangs them on his breast and dismisses him," with the
words: "thy command be invincible, thy order authoritative" (Jastrow, pp.
420 and 424). It is evident that these words were supposed to convey the
power to establish order and issue irrevocable laws.

The temple of Shamash (who, like Marduk, was evidently identical with
Bel), situated in Babylon, was termed "the house of the universal judge,"
and it is extremely interesting to find this "god"(95) represented on a
stone tablet found at Sippar, as seated on a low throne in the sanctuary
or papakkhu, of the temple El-bab-bara, while in front of him on an altar
rests what Professor Jastrow describes as "a wheel with radiant spokes."

A fine illustration of this tablet which bears an inscription by the king
Nabupaliddin (879-855 B.C.) being published in Spamer's standard work
already cited, I have been able to note the interesting fact that the
"wheel with radiant spokes" exhibits four pointed rays, directed outwards