436 The Religions of Ancient Egypt and Babyloniaothers. Many of these occurred at fixed times of the year,
and commemorated the divinities worshipped in one or other
of the sanctuaries of Babylonia. Some of them were observed
throughout the country; others only in a particular city and
district. With the deification of a new king came a new festival
in his honour; and if his cult lasted, the festival continued also
by the side of the established festivals of the older gods. But
new festivals might further be instituted for other reasons. The
building or restoration of a sanctuary, or even the dedication of
a statue, was a quite sufficient pretext. When Gudea consecrated
the temple of Inguriaa at Lagas, he tells us how he had“remitted
penalties and given presents. During seven days no service was
exacted. The female slave was made the equal of her mistress;
the male slave was made the equal of his master; the chief and
his subject have been made equal in my city. All that is evil I
removed from this temple.”^379
The temporary freedom thus granted to the slave seems to
have been a characteristic of the Babylonian festival. Berossos
stated that in the month of Lôos or July, the feast of Sakæa
was celebrated at Babylon for five days, when it was“the
custom that the masters should obey their domestics, one of
whom is led round the house clothed in a royal garment.”^380 The
custom has often been compared with that which prevailed at
the Roman Saturnalia, and a baseless theory has recently been
[476] put forward connecting with it the Hebrew feast of Purim.^381
(^379) Amiaud's translation inRecords of the Past, new ser., ii. pp. 83, 84.
(^380) Athenæus,Deipnosophist, 14.
(^381) The most obvious derivation of the Hebrew Purim is that which I have
proposed in theProceedings of the Society of Biblical Archæology, xix. 7, pp.
280, 281, little as it may suit certain fashionable hypotheses. On the Black
Obelisk (175), Shalmaneser says:“For the second time the Pûr-festival of
Assur and Hadad I celebrated”; and a deed of sale (Rm. 2. 19) is dated in the
eponymy of Bel-danan,B.C.{FNS734,“in the year of his Pûr-office”(ina sanê
puri-su). Pur, which is interpreted“a lot,”has naturally no connection with the
Assyrianbur, which is stated to mean“a stone.”That we must readburand