Lecture IX. The Ritual Of The Temple. 423
size. Its sides were frequently inlaid with gems and gold, and it
always bore a special name. One at least of the names indicates
that the ship goes back to the days when as yet the gods had
not assumed human forms; the ship of Bau is still that of“the
holy cow.”In early times the ship was provided with captain and
crew; later, it was reduced in size so that it could be carried like
an ark on the shoulders of men. But its original object is clear.
On days of festival the god was rowed in it on the sacred river,
where he could enjoy the cool breeze, and return, as it were,
to the“pure”waters of the primeval deep. Gradually it became
merely his travelling home when he left his usual dwelling-place.
In Assyria its place was even taken by a throne or platform borne
upon the shoulders in the religious processions. The ship, in fact,
passed into an ark, the curtained palanquin or shrine wherein the
deity could conceal himself from the eyes of the profane when [461]
he left his own sanctuary.
A discovery made by Mr. Hormuzd Rassam in the mounds of
Balawât, some fifteen miles from Mossul, shows that in Assyria
the development of the ship into the ark was as complete as it
was in Israel. Here he found a small chapel dedicated to the god
of dreams. At the entrance of the sanctuary was a stone coffer,
which contained two small alabaster slabs thickly covered with
cuneiform writing. They proved to be records of the conquests
of Assur-nazir-pal, the builder of the chapel, and each tablet
contained the same text. It was not surprising that the native
workmen when they opened the coffer believed that they had
discovered the veritable tables of the Mosaic Law! We are told
in the Old Testament that the latter were kept in the ark. Not far
from the coffer in the north-west corner of the shrine was a stone
altar the ascent to which was by a flight of five steps.
The temples were served by an army of priests. At the
head came thepatesior“high priest,”who in the early days
of Babylonian history performed the functions of a king. But
thepatesiwas essentially the vicegerent of the god. The god