e. The "ziggurat" represented in its form the mountain of the
world, and the halls ranged at its feet resembled approximately
the accessory parts of the world: the temple of Merodach at Babylon
comprised them all up to the chambers of fate, where the sun received
every morning the tablets of destiny. The name often indicated the
nature of the patron deity or one of his attributes: the temple of
Shamash at Larsam, for instance was called E-Babbara, "the house of
the sun," and that of Nebo at Borsippa, E-Zida, "the eternal house." No
matter where the sanctuary of a specific god might be placed, it always
bore the same name; Shamash, for example, dwelt at Sippara as at Larsam
in an E-Babbara. In Chaldaea, as in Egypt, the king or chief of the
State was the priest _par excellence_, and the title of "vicegerent,"
so frequent in the early period, shows that the chief was regarded as
representing the divinity among his own people; but a priestly body,
partly hereditary, partly selected, fulfilled for him his daily
sacerdotal functions, and secured the regularity of the services. A
chief priest--"ishshakku"--was at their head, and his principal duty was
the pouring out of the libation. Each temple had its "ishshakku," but he
who presided over the worship of the feudal deity took precedence of
all the others in the city, as in the case of the chief priests of
Bel-Merodach at Babylon, of Sin at Uru, and of Shamash at Larsam or
Sippara. He presided over various categories of priests and priestesses
whose titles and positions in the hierarchy are not well known. The
"sangutu" appear to have occupied after him the most important place, as
chamberlains attached to the house of the god, and as his liegemen.
To some of these was entrusted the management of the harem of the god,
while others were overseers of the remaining departments of his
palace. The "kipu" and the "shatammu" were especially charged with the
management of his financial interests, while the "pashishu" anointed
with holy and perfumed oil his statues of stone, metal, or wood, the
votive stelae set up in the chapels, and the objects used in worship
and sacrifice, such as the great basins, the "seas" of copper which
contained the water employed in the ritual ablutions, and the victims
led to the altar. After these came a host of officials, butchers and
their assistants, soothsayers, augurs, prophets,--in fact, all the
attendants that the complicated rites, as numerous in Ch