=The Gods.=—­The supreme god at Babylon is Ilou; in Assyria, Assur.  No temple was raised to him.  Three gods proceed from him:  Anou, the “lord of darkness,” under the figure of a man with the head of a fish and the tail of an eagle; Bel, the “sovereign of spirits,” represented as a king on the throne; Nouah, the “master of the visible world,” under the form of a genius with four extended wings.  Each has a feminine counterpart who symbolizes fruitfulness.  Below these gods are the Sun, the Moon, and the five planets, for in the transparent atmosphere of Chaldea the stars shine with a brilliancy which is strange to us; they gleam like deities.  To these the Chaldeans raised temples, veritable observatories in which men who adored them could follow all their motions.

=Astrology.=—­The priests believed that these stars, being powerful deities, had determining influence on the lives of men.  Every man comes into the world under the influence of a planet and this moment decides his destiny; one may foretell one’s fortune if the star under which one is born is known.  This is the origin of the horoscope.  What occurs in heaven is indicative of what will come to pass on earth; a comet, for example, announces a revolution.  By observing the heavens the Chaldean priests believed they could predict events.  This is the origin of Astrology.

=Sorcery.=—­The Chaldeans had also magical words; these were uttered to banish spirits or to cause their appearance.  This custom, a relic of the Turanian religion, is the origin of sorcery.  From Chaldea astrology and sorcery were diffused over the Roman empire, and later over all Europe.  In the formulas of sorcery of the sixteenth century corrupted Assyrian words may still be detected.[20]

=Sciences.=—­On the other hand it is in Chaldea that we have the beginning of astronomy.  From this land have come down to us the zodiac, the week of seven days in honor of the seven planets; the division of the year into twelve months, of the day into twenty-four hours, of the hour into sixty minutes, of the minute into sixty seconds.  Here originated, too, the system of weights and measures reckoned on the unit of length, a system adopted by all the ancient peoples.

ARTS

=Architecture.=—­We do not have direct knowledge of the art of the Chaldeans, since their monuments have fallen to ruin.  But the Assyrian artists whose works we possess imitated those of Chaldea, and so we may form a judgment at the same time of the two countries.  The Assyrians like the Chaldeans built with crude, sun-dried brick, but they faced the exterior of the wall with stone.

=Palaces.=—­They constructed their palaces[21] on artificial mounds, making these low and flat like great terraces.  The crude brick was not adapted to broad and high arches.  Halls must therefore be straight and low, but in compensation they were very long.  An Assyrian palace, then, resembled a succession of galleries; the roofs were flat terraces provided with battlements.  At the gate stood gigantic winged bulls.  Within, the walls were covered now with panelling in precious woods, now with enamelled bricks, now with plates of sculptural alabaster.  Sometimes the chambers were painted, and even richly encrusted marbles were used.