eased! the golden
city ceased!... How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the
morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the
nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend unto heaven,
I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will sit also upon
the mount of the congregation, _in the sides of the north_; I will
ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most
High."[361] The king is identified with Lucifer as the deity of fire
and the morning star; he is the younger god who aspired to occupy the
mountain throne of his father, the god Shar--the Polar or North Star.

It is possible that the Babylonian idea of a Celestial mountain gave
origin to the belief that the earth was a mountain surrounded by the
outer ocean, beheld by Etana when he flew towards heaven on the
eagle's back. In India this hill is Mount Meru, the "world spine",
which "sustains the earth"; it is surmounted by Indra's Valhal, or
"the great city of Brahma". In Teutonic mythology the heavens revolve
round the Polar Star, which is called "Veraldar nagli",[362] the
"world spike"; while the earth is sustained by the "world tree". The
"ded" amulet of Egypt symbolized the backbone of Osiris as a world
god: "ded" means "firm", "established";[363] while at burial
ceremonies the coffin was set up on end, inside the tomb, "on a small
sandhill intended to represent the Mountain of the West--the realm of
the dead".[364] The Babylonian temple towers were apparently symbols
of the "world hill". At Babylon, the Du-azaga, "holy mound", was
Merodach's temple E-sagila, "the Temple of the High Head". E-kur,
rendered "the house or temple of the Mountain", was the temple of Bel
Enlil at Nippur. At Erech, the temple of the goddess Ishtar was
E-anna, which connects her, as Nina or Ninni, with Anu, derived from
"ana", "heaven". Ishtar was "Queen of heaven".

Now Polaris, situated at the summit of the celestial mountain, was
identified with the sacred goat, "the highest of the flock of
night".[365] Ursa Minor (the "Little Bear" constellation) may have
been "the goat with six heads", referred to by Professor Sayce.[366]
The six astral goats or goat-men were supposed to be dancing round the
chief goat-man or Satyr (Anshar). Even in the dialogues of Plato the
immemorial belief was perpetuated that the constellations were "moving
as in a dance". Dancing began as a magical or religious practice, and
the earliest astro