cheenc03a.pdf

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RITUAL
CONTENTS
Name for racrifice (I I). Performance (% 6).
Object5 offexed, age, etc. (I l f). Idea, purpose (%if).
Time and plncc (8 4). Human racr1fice (( 9).
Antiquity of satfice (I 5). Lustlation (B 10).
Summlry (B 1.).
ASSYRIO-BABYLONIAN RITUAL.
A short account of Babvlonian sacrifices has bee,,
already given in the Supplement to Die CuZtur-tafc2 won
Siggav (Joh. Jeremias, Leipsic, 25-31 [1889]). The
question of how far this system is original and how far
it is related to what we find elsewhere has received little
or no attention. The treatment of such questions in
the difficult sphere of religious inrtitutionr being always
involved in uncertainty, . it amears .. to be more than ever
appropriate in regard to sacrifice, an an institution
commoll to all peoples, to explain the same or similar
idear not as borrowed the one from the other, but as
both drawn from the same source. In justification of
the common designation Arryrio-Babylonian it is to be
noted that, apart from a few modifications in their
Pantheon, the religion of the Assyrians agrees throughout
with that of the Babylonians. Of this agreement,
which was maintained in spite of all political strifes, we
have a historical attestation in the fact that ASur-Mni-pal
had the MSS of the Babylonian priestly schools collected,
supplied with an Assyrian interlinear translation, and
preserved in his state archives (see 4 R).'
Sacrifices were called kirbznnu or Rsrbonnu (more
rarelv Rurddnv. riilrubu : in ordinarv usage. 'back-
, 0 .
for sheerh, alms.' A much commoner
sscrifioe, word is niRu, 'to be bent, show
reverence, offer homage' (cp for this
meaning Del. Ai~yr. HWB), used of drink offerings
(Deduce, 147; cp n.3;~ patern) and also of bloody
.". .
the words mubhunr, nloiidrrr (in ~~nh-i~t~), Y Z ~ R ~ TO .
ninhtSh (a??), 'faodoUering,'correrpondriur4lnr(Del. HWB
ss+rbtnx), a word formerly incorrectly rendered 'iltar.' The
rceular stated offerine (iavzid, ,'en) war called sattu&hu lral-
!.rlam. ' ~ v i f . ~ , f ) or drnn y, rrly 'nshc R 11, u r,llndl..~IC
the )c.lrIy. mlntl.i$ ~~~~r~ 1.l'dur. 1441, dmll, con.
trl, 1111 n t tlc tcli.illc I r:l. ,:#yy,rt .I thc ..nrjl#.c mi the
u:rc.,.. . >,,. mn .,. ",, 1 lr*r*ku n:p,i1.,.,. The 1rcc.
. .,
For 'to sacrifice' the commonest word is nn+d.
For the rake of cvmpariron the fallowing m y be mentioned
from the many other erpreirionr in use: r$&, Heb. 2 ney;
$*batu, ~ ~ n>>; b ;dn+". . HC~. n2p; ,jar. ,dm=, ,to prr.
pare m offering.' Of rpcial importmce, moreover, are the
FX~I-~O~S in purification texts: ?arb& (mpn:
.:. often med
of pouring water, occurring with p 1"otwithst.nding Drl.
HWB], in Rarsam2 zss) and +$&N (K 3a45.$~~.),'to wip;
then 'to clear, purify;. meaning thatistmporrant m 31s be~rrng
on Heb. k*@rPp). Cp IVR 135~17 jj; Zimmm, Ba'ttrigg
14226. The offer of the racrifice is csllcd Mrib" or dl2 mi&#
(cp Marseilles Sacrificial Table, nxi iY3).
It should be specially noted that everything that the
land produced war offered to the gods without dis-
,, tinction. Whilst in Israel it war only the
ofiered, produce of a people devoted to cattle-rearing
and agriculture that war offered (cp Di.
~~.iai, 379)-and this war further narrowed by the
ercluion of fruit, honey, and all sweet or fermented
preparations on the one hand. and of beasts of chase
and fish on the other-in the fruitful Lands between the
two rivers every kind of produce was freely offered to the
1 Abbreviations ured in thisarticle. K followed byanumber
=some one of the tablets of tha Koyunjik collecrion in the Brit.
Mu,. ; Nab. Ndu* Crr.=BabZeni~~hc TesIe, Inschr~Yfrra
dcs Ndu6ndnreer. Nobsndid, Cyms, pvblilhcd by T. N.
Strarsmalcr (Leipic, f887): Menant, PG=Lrspirrrrrprauisr
& kz Hn~teAsic(Pxnr. ,883).
gods. Of vegetable products we find frequelit mention
of wine (kaiarnnu),"lust (hmmnu), date wine (fibam.
prepared from corn and dates or honey and dater, cp
Neb. 1035, Nabun 6r2. 871 ; ,?@, cp Nu. 287). honey
(difju, dm), cream (dimifu, nnm),
.:,
a mixture prepared
from varidur ingredients and containing oil and fat
(invariably written GAR Ni.De.,; probably mirsu is
to be read; cp Nab. 9.2, Cyr. 3276, Arab, maris,
' date-stone'), the choice produce of the meadow (rfmnt
afjan'), garlic (?iummu, old), first-fruits (r2iiti; n.@n? ;
Siinh. 161 Kuj 19).' Food specially prepared for the
gods was called aha2 tahnu (4 R. 61. 6zn), with u'hich
should be compared the analogous exprerrion en)
n?,p;l. Upon the table of the gods were Laid zz, or
3 x 12. loaves of A>-AN, that is to ray wheaten flour. as
shewbread (cp Zimmern, Beitrogr983, 104x18 ; fVR
5s2~b 5613a ; Craig, RrZiz. Terti 16.5 ; King. Mogrc
and Sorcery408) ; also nRo2 mut+i, that is to say, unleavened
bread, is several times mentioned (cp Lev.
24~). Special abundance and splendour characterised
the vegetable offerings of the Neo-Babylonian and Seo-
Assyrian k:ngs (cp Pognon. f"rc~@fionr dc U'ddi
Brirra ; Neb. Grot. 1x68 ; Neb. Grot. 226 fi ; Neb
Grd. 378; Sciir. KB278). They were in the form
of the daily sottukku, the state sacrifice, a sort of
representation of the whole agriculture of the land.
Nebuchadrezzar lays on the table of Marduk and
Sarpanit the choicest produce of the meadow, fruit,
herbs, honey, cream, milk, oil, must, date-wine, wine
from different vineyards. Still more abundant in the
offering of Sargon (KB278). a king who offers finally
not to the gods but to himselt His splendid offering
is a brilliant display of his royal wealth, at which even
the gods must be nma~ed.
The commonest bloody racrifice mentiolied is that of
111t. I I I ~ I . ~rltt. I. Ill niki) or nz!r
r,.c%Ap,