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The suggestion has already been thrown out that there is a wider aspect to omens in the Babylonian religion than their employment in connection with sacrificial offerings. We have reached a point when it will be proper to take up this wider aspect. Harper's Assyrian Letters, no. 219. Knudtzon, no. 1.
The omens were not, of course, intended to be recited. They are enumerated as a guide to the priests. The various signs that may be looked for are noted, and according to what the priest finds he renders his decision. Knudtzon has made the observation that in the prayers published by him, the signs found on the animal are noted but not interpreted.
Lit., 'proceed. Knudtzon, no. 66. Other examples are furnished in George Smith's History of Ashurbanabal, pp. 184, 185. A district to the northeast of Assyria; Knudtzon, no. 29. Ib. no. 107. Ib. no. 101. For a good summary of the character of the Assyrian epistolary literature, see Johnston's article in the Journal of the American Oriental Society, xviii. 1, pp. 125-134. Harper, no. 77.
Knudtzon, and the long inscription which Nebuchadnezzar II cut on the rocks at Wadi Brissa in the Lebanon, formerly published by M. Pognon, has been recopied by Dr. Weissbach.
That the priest recites the prayer and not the king is shown by the frequent introduction of the king's name in the 3d person. See, e.g., Knudtzon, nos. 40-47. 2d month. 5th month. I.e., the priest is only asked for an oracle regarding the events of the next one hundred days. Various machines are mentioned. The precise meaning of the technical terms employed is not known.
Dating from the reigns of Esarhaddon and Ashurbanabal we have an elaborate series of prayers addressed to the sun-god, all dealing with questions of a political import. These prayers, so admirably edited and analyzed by Knudtzon, are all arranged according to a single pattern. Each one opens with a question or series of questions which Shamash, the sun-god, is asked to answer.
See American Journal of Semitic Languages, Vol. XXXI, April 1915, p. 226. It is written nig-gil in the First Column. See Winckler, El-Amarna, pl. 35 f., No. 28, Obv., Col. II, l. 45, Rev., Col. I, l. 63, and Knudtzon, El-Am. Taf., pp. 112, 122; the vessels were presents from Amenophis IV to Burnaburiash.
E.g., Knudtzon, no. 124. Zimmern, Busspsalmen, p. 32. The popularity of the sun-cult in Assyria in connection with omens and oracles is probably due also in part to the influence of Marduk, who was, as we have seen, a solar deity. Lehman, Samassumukin, p. 42. See Ploss, Das Weib, pp. 594-606; also above, p. 267. IVR. pl. 61. I.e., Ishtar sends the wind with a clear message. 3d month.
This touch appears to have been added by the Hebrew writer. Nebuchadnezzar is but a disguise for Antiochus Epiphanes. VR. 33, col. ii. l. 22-col. iii. l. 12. VR. 61, col. vi. ll. 1-13. Hilprecht, Old Babylonian Inscriptions, i. 1, pl. 23, no. 62. In the museum at Copenhagen. Described by Knudtzon in the Zeits. f. Assyr., xil. 255. Tiele, Babylonisch-Assyrische Geschichte, p. 287.
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