Zeus : a study in ancient religion - Warburg Institute

, Jacob
12 8 The Pillar of Light
lighted upon a certain place, and tarried there all night, because the sun was
set ; and he took one of the stones of the place, and put it under his head, and
lay down in that place to sleep. And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up
on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven : and behold the angels of God
ascending and descending on it. And, behold, the Lord stood above it.... And
awaked out of his sleep, and he said. Surely the Lord is in this place ;
and 1 knew it not. And he was afraid, and said. How dreadful is this place !
this is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven. And
Jacob rose up early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put under
his head, and set it up for a pillar, and poured oil upon the top of it. And he
called the name of that place Beth-el : but the name of the city was Luz at the
first 1.'
Ladder and pillar coalesce in the stepped tower or zikkurat of
the Babylonians^, as in the coliimna cochlis of the Romans, to which
indeed the spiral tower of Samarra {s. ix A.D.)— a direct derivative
of the zikkurat—bears a marked resemblance^ The seven steps of
the zikkurat—eight, if we reckon in, as Herodotos does^ the
sanctuary on the summit—have undoubtedly a cosmic significance-^
1 Gen. 28. 10 ff. For discussion of the passage in its various aspects see in primis
J. Skinner A critical and exegetical Commentary on Genesis Edinburgh 1910 pp. 375— 380.
2 Supra i. 603. A useful summary of the present state of knowledge on the subject
will be found in A. Jeremias Haiidbiich der altorientalischen Geisteskultur Leipzig 191
pp. 44—47. The article by Scheil there cited as forthcoming has since appeared (F. V.
Scheil 'Esagil ou le temple de Bel-Marduk a Babylone' in the Mhnoires de VAcad^rnie
des inscriptions [Institut de France) pr^sent^s par divers savants 1913 xxxix. 293—308,
cp. M. Dieulafoy 'Temple de Bel-Marduk' ib. pp. 309— 372).
^ E. Herzfeld Samarra Berlin 1907 pp. 23— 36 pi. 3. Good photographs are reproduced
by AL Jastrow Aspects of Religious Belief and Practice in Babylonia and Assyria
New York and London 191 1 p. 291 pi. 23, 2, A. Jeremias Handbiich der altorientalischen
Geisteskultur Leipzig 19 13 p. 44 n. 5 fig. 26, Capt. K. A. C. Creswell in the Bulletin de
rIfistitut frattfais d''Archdologic orientate 1919 xvi pi. i fig. B.
* Hdt. 1. 181 ff. iv Se (papae'C eKarepitj rfjs ttoXios rereixK^TO ev fiifftfi' ev t(^ r/ev to.
^ixaCkqCa, wepi^oXiii /xeydXtji re Kal iax'^PV' ^'' ^^ ''