being scattered abroad.

* * * * *

I shall briefly refer to certain evidence from Asia and America in
illustration of this fact and in substantiation of the reality of the
diffusion to the East of some of the beliefs I have been discussing.

The unity of Egyptian and Babylonian ideas is nowhere more strikingly
demonstrated than in the essential identity of the attributes of Osiris
and Ea. It affords the most positive proof of the derivation of the
beliefs from some common source, and reveals the fact that Egyptian and
Sumerian civilizations must have been in intimate cultural contact at
the beginning of their developmental history. "In Babylonia, as in
Egypt, there were differences of opinion regarding the origin of life
and the particular natural element which represented the vital
principle." "One section of the people, who were represented by the
worshippers of Ea, appear to have believed that the essence of life was
contained in water. The god of Eridu was the source of the 'water of
life'."[107]

"Offerings of water and food were made to the dead," not primarily so
that they might be "prevented from troubling the living,"[108] but to
supply them with the means of sustenance and to reanimate them to help
the suppliants. It is a common belief that these and other procedures
were inspired by fear of the dead. But such a statement does not
accurately represent the attitude of mind of the people who devised
these funerary ceremonies. For it is not the enemies of the dead or
those against whom he had a grudge that run a risk at funerals, but
rather his friends; and the more deeply he was attached to a particular
person the greater the danger for the latter. For among many people
the belief obtains that when a man dies he will endeavour to steal
the "soul-substance" of those who are dearest to him so that they
may accompany him to the other world. But as stealing the
"soul-substance"[109] means death, it is easy to misunderstand such a
display of affection. Hence most people who long for life and hate death
do their utmost to evade such embarrassing tokens of love; and most
ethnologists, misjudging such actions, write about "appeasing the dead".
It was those whom the gods _loved_ who died young.

Ea was not only the god of the deep, but also "lord of life," king of
the river and god of creation. Like Osiris "he fertilized parched and
sunburnt wastes through rivers and irrigating canals