380 The Religions of Ancient Egypt and Babyloniaan error of pronunciation was more fatal than a misunderstanding
of their meaning. As long as the words were recited correctly,
it mattered little whether either priest or people understood
precisely what they meant.
I have already in an earlier lecture quoted some lines from
the hymn to the moon-god which was probably composed for
the services in the great temple of Ur. The hymns in honour
of the sun-god are much more numerous, and formed part of
a collection which seems to have been made by the priests of
Bit-Uri, the temple of the sun-god at Sippara. The sun-god they
celebrate is the incorruptible“judge of mankind,”the rewarder
of the innocent and the punisher of the guilty, who sees all that
is done on earth, and acts towards those who call upon him with
justice and mercy.“O lord, we read in one of them,^322 “illuminator of the
darkness, opener of the sickly face,”
merciful god, who setteth up the fallen, who helpeth the
weak,
unto thy light look the great gods,
the spirits of earth all gaze upon thy face.
[415] Tongues in unison like a single word thou directest,
smiting their heads they look to the light of the mid-day sun.
Like a wife thou standest, glad and gladdening.
Thou art their light in the vault of the far-off heaven.
Thou art the object of their gaze in the broad earth.
Men far and near behold thee and rejoice!”
The language of another hymn is in a similar strain—(^322) WAI.iv. 19, No. 2.