The Religions of Ancient Egypt and Babylonia

270 The Religions of Ancient Egypt and Babylonia

the gods who inhabit the grave, I then presented.”^231 The gifts,
it will be noticed, are not only set by the side of the dead, but
are also presented to the sun-god, who is thus associated with
the deceased king. They are consecrated to the god of light, who
judged mankind, before they can be claimed by the gods of the
grave.
But with all this it must be allowed that a great contrast exists
[294] between the Babylonian and the later Egyptian view of the
imperishable part of man and its lot in the other world. And this
difference of view results from a further difference in the view
taken of this present life. To the Egyptian the present life was
but a preparation for the next; not only the spiritual elements of
which he was composed, but, as he hoped, his body itself would
survive beyond the grave. It was otherwise in Babylonia. No
traces of mummification are to be found there; at most we hear
of the corpse being anointed for death, as it were, with oil or
honey; and cremation, partial or complete, seems to have been
practised. The thoughts of the Babylonian were fixed rather on
this world than on the next; his horizon, speaking generally, was
bounded by death. It was in this world that he had relations
with the gods and duties towards them, and it was here that
he was punished or rewarded for the deeds committed in the
flesh. The practical character of the Babylonians did not lend
itself to dreams and speculations about the future; the elaborate
map of the other world, which is drawn in the sacred books of
Egypt, would have been impossible for them. They were too
much absorbed in commerce and trade and the practical pursuit
of wealth, to have leisure for theories that concerned themselves
with a doubtful future and an invisible world. The shadow of the
old religion of Nippur, moreover, with its underground Hades
of darkness and gloom, rested to the last on the mind of the
Babylonian people. The brighter views which had emanated

(^231) Quoted by King,Babylonian Religion, p. 49.