Lecture IX. The Ritual Of The Temple. 419
the sea. When theziggurattook its final shape, the deities of [456]
Babylonia had already been transported to the sky.
It is also significant that there was no image of the god. The
spiritual had been finally separated from the material, and where
the god himself came in spiritual form no material image of
him was needed. Though none might be able to see him with
mortal eye save only his inspired priestess, he was nevertheless
as actually present as if he had embodied himself in some statue
of metal or stone. The denizen of heaven required no body or
form of earthly make; the divine spirits who were worshipped in
the sun or stars were seen only by the eye of faith.
But it was in thezigguratonly that the deity thus came down
from heaven in spiritual guise. In the chapels and shrines that
stood at its foot images were numerous; here the multitude,
whether of priests or laymen, served and worshipped, and the
older traditions of religion remained intact. On the eastern side
of the tower was the sanctuary of Nebo, the“angel”or interpreter
of the will of Merodach, with Tasmit, his wife. To the north
were the chapels of Ea and Nusku, and to the south those of Anu
and En-lil, while westward was the temple of Merodach himself.
It consisted of a double building, with a court between the two
wings. In the recesses of the inner sanctuary was thepapakhu, or
“Holy of Holies,”with its golden image of the god. Here too was
the golden table of shewbread and theparakku, or mercy-seat,
which at times gave its name to the whole shrine.
The innermost sanctuary was known as the Du-azagga, or
“Holy Hill,”after which the month Tisri received one of its
names.^351 But the name had really come from Eridu. It was [457]
the dwelling-place of Ea on the eastern horizon of the sea,
(^351) The Sumerianduhas, of course, nothing to do with the Semitic Babylonian
dû,“a chapel”(unless, indeed, the latter is borrowed from the Sumerian word).
It is properly the equivalent oftilu,“a mound”or“hill”; but as thetiluortel
was generally inhabited, it came further to acquire the signification ofsubtu,
“a dwelling-place.”