Religions of the Past And Present

Cover Religions of the Past And Present
Genres: Fiction » Literature

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER III THE RELIGION OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA BY MORRIS JASTROW, JR Our interest in the religion of Babylonia and Assyria is threefold: for its antiquity; for its connection with one of the most remarkable of ancient civilizations j1 and for its bearings, in part direct, in part indirect, on the unfolding of religious thought among the ancient Hebrews. We are now able to trace the history of the Euphrates Valley back to a period considerably beyond 3000 B.c. At that early date there were two distinct ethnic groups forming the main body of the population. As depicted on the monuments and works of art the one group is clean shaven, the other bearded, though not infrequently with the upper lip shaved.2 The former group is marked by obliquely set eyes and a long but not thick nose, and by thin lips and rat

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her high cheek bones, the other has the fleshy nose and thick lips as well as other features characteristic of the Semitic race. The variation extends to the dress, a flounced garment hanging from the waist in the one case, a plaid thrown across the shoulder and draping the entire body in the other. The group with the racial characteristics of the Semites was known as the Akkadians; the other, a non-Semitic group, but whose possible affinities with other races has not yet been determined, bore the name Sumerian. The centre of the Semitic settlements, at the time when the monumentalmaterial comes into view, was in the northern section of the Euphrates Valley, while the strongholds of the Sumerians were in the south.3 The Semites appear to have entered the valley from the northwest, coming down from the mountain regions of Syria, while the Sumerians ?also a people of mountainous origin?probably came from the northeast, though this is still a mooted point. Which of the two ...

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Religions of the Past And Present
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