FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   130   131   132   133   134   135   136   137   138   139   140   141   142   143   144   145   146   147   148   149   150   151   152   153   154  
155   156   157   158   159   160   161   162   163   164   165   166   167   168   169   170   171   172   173   174   175   176   177   178   179   >>   >|  
tached to the hymns and prayers which had to be recited are minute and complicated. The hymns had been formed into a sort of Bible, which had in time acquired a divine authority. So sacred were its words, that a single mispronunciation of them was sufficient to impair the efficacy of the service. Rules for their pronunciation were accordingly laid down, which were the more necessary as the hymns were in Sumerian. The dead language of Sumer had become sacred, like Latin in the Middle Ages, and each line of a hymn was provided with a translation in Semitic Babylonian. In appearance, a Babylonian temple was not very unlike those of Canaan or of Solomon. The image of the god stood in the innermost shrine, the Holy of Holies, where also was the mercy-seat, whereon it was believed, as upon a throne, the deity was accustomed to descend at certain times of the year. In the little temple of Balawat, near Nineveh, discovered by Mr. Hormuzd Rassam, the mercy-seat was shaped like an ark, and contained two written tables of stone; no statue of the god, however, seems in this instance to have stood beside it. In front of it was the altar, approached by steps. In the court of the temple was a "sea" or "deep," like that which was made by Solomon. An early hymn which describes the construction of one of them, states that it was of bronze, and that it rested on the figures of twelve bronze oxen. It was intended for the ablutions of the priests and the vessels of the sanctuary, and was a representation of that primaeval deep out of which it was believed that the world originated. One peculiarity the Babylonian temples possessed which was not shared by those of the west. Each had its _ziggurat_ or "tower," which served for the observation of the stars, and in the topmost storey of which was the altar of the god. It corresponded with the "high-place" of Canaan, where man imagined himself nearest to the gods of heaven. But in the flat plain of Babylonia it was needful that the high-place should be of artificial construction, and here accordingly they built the towers whose summits "reached to" the sky. The temples and their ministers were supported partly by endowments, partly by voluntary gifts, sometimes called _kurbanni_, the Hebrew _korban_, partly by obligatory contributions, the most important of which was the _esra_ or "tithe." Besides the fixed festivals, which were enumerated in the calendar, special days of thanksgiving or h
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   130   131   132   133   134   135   136   137   138   139   140   141   142   143   144   145   146   147   148   149   150   151   152   153   154  
155   156   157   158   159   160   161   162   163   164   165   166   167   168   169   170   171   172   173   174   175   176   177   178   179   >>   >|  



Top keywords:
temple
 

Babylonian

 

partly

 
Canaan
 

temples

 

believed

 

bronze

 

construction

 

Solomon

 

sacred


peculiarity

 
originated
 

primaeval

 
calendar
 
enumerated
 

shared

 

observation

 

festivals

 

served

 

ziggurat


possessed

 

sanctuary

 

describes

 

states

 

thanksgiving

 
rested
 

ablutions

 

priests

 

vessels

 

intended


special

 

figures

 
twelve
 

representation

 

needful

 

artificial

 

voluntary

 

Babylonia

 

reached

 

ministers


summits
 
endowments
 

towers

 

heaven

 

important

 
contributions
 

corresponded

 
Besides
 
supported
 

storey