The cuneiform inscriptions and the Old Testament - The Search For ...

80 THE CUNEIFORM INSCRIPTIONS AND TEE 0. T.
390 sanctuaries , artistically wrought cells *, in the city Dtir-
Sarrukin". We also learn from this passage that the
abode of the gods lies upon the summit of a mountain,
which is itself situated in the Arallu district i. e. at the
spot where lies the entrance to the lower world. It is
not stated on the monuments that this mountain exists in
the North (pDV V^T'^ Is. XIV. 13). We may, however,
conjecture that the Babylonians regarded it as Northern in
position, from the circumstance that they describe the land
Aralu as a land of darkness. Compare also the passage
from Job XXXVII. 22, quoted by Delitzsch, «from the
North comes gold", and likewise Bottcher in Dillmann, Job
p. 332. See also Ezek. XXVIIL 14, 16.
15. t'iN?^ Slieol. This name for the Lower world
has not yet been discovered on the monuments. Delitzsch's
Su-al "mighty city" is only to be regarded as a conjecture.
The Assyrian name of the "land where one sees not" is
is to be found (II Rawl. 51 No. 1 line 11a. b; comp. Delitzsch, Parad.
pp. 101 — 2). The range Aralu is simply the mountain-range named
after the country whose loftiest peak is Charsaggalkurkurra.—Respec-
ting arallu, aralu "lower world", the a-sar la a-ma-ri "the place
without seeing" i. e. "the place of darkness" (IV Rawl. 24 b 7/8), see
Oppert, I'immortalite de I'dme chez les Chalddens p. 4; Lenormant,
Chaldaean Magic pp. 151— 2; Fried. Delitzsch, Parad. p. 118. Compare
also V Rawl. 16. 42 e. f. in which I'-kur-bat i. e. "house of the laud
of death" = aralu (a-ra-li) is interpreted by mitu (mi-i-tuv) = njj
i. e. the dead (collect, sing). The Assyrian for 'death' is mutu, for
'dying' mi tutu.— P. de Lagarde compares with this the cuneiform
Aralu, the Armenian AQakt'Q, a name for supernatural, mythical
beings. See Nachrichten von der Getting. Gesellsch. der Wissen-
schaften 1882 No. 7 (March. 31) pp. 164 foil.—On the archaeological
bearings compare also Clermont Ganneau, L'Enfer Assyrien (Revue
Arch^ologique Dec. 1879).
* Zukku synonym of parakku according to II Rawlinson 35,
14a. b (33, 64 a. b; 28, 41a). Del.