Lecture VI. Cosmologies. 343
Eridu, on the contrary, was the dwelling-place of the god of
the deep. Its temple, Ê-Saggila,“the house of the high head,”
was, we are told,“in the midst”of the encircling ocean on which
the whole earth rested, and in it was the home of Ea,“the lord
of the holy mound.”^291 Its god was the author of Babylonian
writing and civilisation, and his son and interpreter was Aaari, [375]
“the benefactor of man.”While the theology of Nippur concerned
itself with the dead, that of Eridu was pre-eminently occupied
with the living. Asari is invoked as the god who raised the dead
to life, and the arts which make life pleasant were the gifts of
Ea himself. It is perhaps not without reason that, while En-lil of
Nippur appears as the destroyer of mankind, Ea is their creator
and instructor. He not only created them, but he taught them
how to live, and provided for them the spells and remedies which
could heal the sick and ward off death.
Like Khnum of Egypt, he was called“the potter,”for he had
moulded mankind from the clay which his waters formed on the
(^291) Du-azagga. As the“holy mound”was the home of Ea, it follows that it
was originally part of the Persian Gulf; on the other hand, the name given to it
implies that it resembled a mountain lifting itself up into the sky. The sun rose
from it (WAI.v. 50. 5a); hence it must have been the eastern horizon, which, to
an inhabitant of Eridu, would have been the horizon of the sea, that ascended
towards the heavens like a great mound. A model was made of it, which
became theparakkuor mercy-seat of Ea in his temple at Eridu. When Eridu
and its god were supplanted by Babylon and Bel-Merodach, the Du-azagga was
transferred to the latter city and became“the seat of the oracles”in the shrine
of Bel-Merodach,“whereon,”according to Nebuchadrezzar,“at the festival of
Zagmuku, at the beginning of the year, on the 8th and 11th days, the king of the
gods of heaven and earth, Bel, the god, seats himself, while the gods of heaven
and earth reverently regard him, standing before him with bowed heads.”When
Nebo became the minister of Merodach, he too was addressed as“the god of
the holy mound”(WAI.ii. 54. 71), and one of“the three great names of Anu”
was said to be“the king who comes forth from the holy mound,”another of the
names being“the creator of the heavenly hosts”(WAI.iii. 68. 19, 20). Even
Istar, or rather Iskhara, is called“the goddess of the holy mound”(WAI.iii. 68.
27). It may be added that a lexical tablet makes the“holy mound”a synonym
of the deep (WAI.v. 41, No. 1).