by Harvey Kraft
The original Hebrew nation under Kings David and Solomon had been divided into Judea and Israel. More than one hundred years before the Babylonians took Judea (597 BCE) the Assyrians had invaded Israel (722 BCE), razed it to the ground, and scattered the ten Israelite tribes. One group of skilled Israelites, excellent chariot riders and horse trainers, were sent to the far-off land of Medes (northern Iran). Becoming part of that nation, they helped the Medians grow stronger. Finally, their mutual hate for the brutal Assyrians dislodged the occupiers from Medes. But the mighty Assyrian Empire did not fall until the Babylonians joined in the effort.
Nebuchadnezzar made an ally of the Medes by taking a wife of royal Median descent. She, in turn, introduced him to the Median clergy, the Magi Order, whom he brought to Babylon to manage the rebuilding of the Esagila Temple in the center of the city. The Magi assumed the roles of divine advisors, stargazers, and scribes to the king.
Nebuchadnezzar reconstructed48 the Esagila temple complex in the heart of Babylon to once again reclaim the city as the center of the Universe, as it had been during the Old Babylonian Empire some twelve hundred years earlier. Its main temple housed Marduk’s idol.
Visitors entering the Marduk temple walked into a large oblong court overlooking a fountain pond whose pure water symbolized the Abzu, the primordial Water Dragon-God tamed by Enki in the Sumerian creation story. A smaller court ahead hosted a shrine housing an inner sanctum displaying the statues of Marduk and his female consort (Sarpanit), and featuring the god’s reclining couch and throne. Smaller temples on the grounds contained various idols or relics from conquered territories now part of the new Babylonian Empire. Repeatedly, when Babylon was sacked in the past, its victors would abscond with Marduk’s statue, only to return it when the next sovereign to capture Babylon demanded its return to Esagila. Now the Babylonians held the gods of others under the shadow of their dominance.
The jewel of the Esagila complex was its Watchtower, the Etemenanki Ziggurat (“The Anchor of Heaven on Earth”). Its name heralded it as the visionary axis for channeling between Heaven and Earth. The tower climbed one hundred yards high. One could enter it through any of six bronze gates located around its four hundred-square yard base aligned with the four cardinal points. Above this platform arose seven stepped tiers (tupukati) with sloped facings—each representing a gateway to one of seven Heavens. Four doors all led to a causeway inside the platform intersecting at a lapis-paved spiral stairway in the center of the ziggurat. It led up to a penthouse chapel at the top, a sanctuary containing no statue, but regarded among the priests as the holy seat where the transcendental Lord (Bel) would come to observe the whole city.
Although charged with caring for Marduk’s Esagila, the Magi Order embarked on an interfaith policy. They invited leaders and scribes representing the spectrum of religions in the realm. Experts in divination, trance-meditation, and astronomy joined their ranks, and kindled a new era of debate and examination of beliefs. The Magi Order infused in Babylon an active pursuit of Universal Truth and the meaning of God. Among the first Magi advisors serving Nebuchadnezzar was a Judean noble, Daniel,49 described in the Hebrew Bible as a dream interpreter who survived being placed in a den of lions.
The Esagila Ziggurat was the leading celestial observatory of its time, used for the study of the cosmos. Its Babylonian Magi stargazers took turns to collect astronomical data for use in mathematical charting and as visionary guideposts for divine prophecy. A divination practitioner, prior to advising the king, might consult a lapis lazuli tablet. The golden flecks in the deep blue marble would simulate his meditative trip to the stars. Looking into it, he would enter a trance state. Seeing the Earth covered completely with water, he would then observe Stardust pouring out of the stars. Once it fell to Earth it transformed into the land and people. Next he envisioned miners toiling in the dirt for precious metals and earth minerals when out of the ground a beam of “energy” appeared. The miners went to the source of the beam and there extracted a tablet containing the dual elements of Light and Heaven—gold and lapis. The seer now possessing this magical slab looked into it and found therein a light beam that came from a stargate. Entering it in his mind he experienced a rush of spiritual knowledge bestowed by the gods.
When a few acolytes surrounded the Magi sage later that day, he cautioned them that the use of such a tablet was replete with difficulty and danger. A multitude of possible paths would appear, and unable to choose among them, an amateur or vain imposter may become lost in illusion for an eternity. Without appropriate training and guidelines, he warned, those who attempted to “walk among the stars” could awake into a bewildered state of mind, fall into a coma bedeviled by scary demons, or be trapped in a delirious dream-state whereby they imagined the world of the living to be different from the way it really is.
CHAPTER THREE
Crossroads
The morning sun splashed into the castle monastery in the Saka city of Babil,50 as the young students assembled for this day’s lectures and debate (550 BCE). Three teachers of the interfaith Magi Order, each wearing an amulet carved with a symbol of their belief, entered the hall and took a seat. On this day their topic would be: Who is the Supreme Being?
A Levite scholar, disciple of the dream interpreter Daniel, expressed his view that there was but One Almighty God, Creator and overlord of the world.
“The Supreme God, Elohim, had two natures: Reward and Punishment. God punished sinners, but was even harder on those who should know better. That is why he had sent the Assyrians and Babylonians to cast my people, the Israelites and Judeans, from our Promised Land,” he said. “God had made it clear to us that we had failed to listen to him. Because we prayed to idols, and betrayed his laws, he punishes us like a parent punishes his children. His purpose is to teach us believers that the reward of his protection is reserved only for the faithful, pure of heart, and those worthy of salvation.”
In exile, the Levites preached that only by accepting Elohim exclusively, as the one and only true Supreme God, would the people of Abraham and Moses receive his forgiveness. Then and only then he may allow them to return to the Promised Land he bequeathed to Abraham in his Covenant with God.
“Penitence is the path to God’s merciful and eternal embrace. It is for the glory of our God that we, the Levi religious caste, ask for his forgiveness. Having been exiled to Babylon and other lands, we, the scribes assembled here in Babil have joined the Magi Order so that we may compile the “Story of our Journey” (aka the Bible), so that our people may know God’s word and find their way back to him. May we be blessed to be alive to see the One-Who-Comes to Declare the Truth, like Moses before him, come to liberate us, God’s outcasts. May we return to honor our God’s Name by rebuilding his sacred Temple in Jerusalem.”51
An Assyrian cleric responded. He said that the first gods of his heritage were the gods of the ancient Akkadians led by Enlil, the God of the Sky, whom Nippur recognized to be the Supreme Being. Once he ruled the world with an iron hand and dispensed the destinies the Assembly of Gods had decreed. But as human beings had failed to do as he bid them, the rains stopped falling from the sky and Akkad’s empire fell. Rising from its ashes, the Assyrians embraced the God Assur who gave them the power to conquer their neighbors and defeat Marduk of Babylon. Thus Assur became the Supreme God over the world of men.
“Although he rewarded us, the Assyrians, with tribute from many vassals for nearly one thousand years, the empire fell when Assur’s glory was undermined because people followed primitive gods and demons and acted in uncivilized ways. As has been foretold, the time will come when the One-Who-Comes to Declare the Truth will appear to lead the people back to glory. We pray for our Supreme God of All Gods to conquer the demons of our dark natures—ignorance, depravity and laziness,“ he said.“ Eventually, the good nature of the Supreme Being must destroy the forces of darkness and when that is done the world will be transformed once again into a peaceful Paradise, as the gods had intended from th
e beginning of time.”
“It is to make clear the difference between the forces of day and night that we, the Assur clergy, have joined the Magi Order. We turn our eyes to the winged disc,52 the soaring spirit of our heavenly host, Assur, the Bull-Moon God, also known to my Arya colleagues as Varuna.53 It is his spirit that has guided us here to Babil where we are recording the “Story of Our Journey” from the beginning of Creation to the end of days when the victory of God, may his names be many, prevail over the beast in us all.”
Next, a Vedic Rishi expressed the view that the Supreme Being had many aspects. “When the hymns of the Rig Veda were written we wore the face of Agni, the progenitor of inspiration. He is the god who produces the Fire of Life that is the pure spark and essence of our soul, the engine of thought, and the fire of desires that burns in the human heart. A wise sage should recognize that it is “sin” that puts out the Fire of Life, and it is “purity” that lights the Fire of Immortality freeing the soul from a world of enduring suffering. A great sage may light the eternal flame and merge as one with the Supreme Being.”
“We have long celebrated the “Songs of Our Journey” (aka the Rig Veda) and now our sages are charged with recording “The Journey of the Soul” (aka Upanisads).54 For this reason we have gathered here in Babil to prepare the way for the One-Who-Comes to Declare the Truth. We pray that this savior come soon to show us the way.”
Among a group of children studying at the Babil Sanctuary of the Magi Order, one curious twelve-year-old boy listened intently. Siddhartha Gautama, the son and crown prince of the Saka nation, persistently asked several questions of each speaker. Impressed by his eagerness to learn, they agreed to answer, but often the answers did not seem to satisfy his bottomless curiosity. Excelling in all religious studies, the ever-inquisitive prodigy would soon be sent to Babylon for advanced studies at the Magi Conservatory in Esagila.
ARRIVAL OF THE MAGI
Waves of Arya-led Eurasian tribes from the Black Sea region (today Turkey, Russian Steppes, Armenia, and Azerbaijan) had descended southward into Central Asia (1800–1000 BCE). They established the vast Vedic territory of Greater Aryana (Skt. Uttarapatha)55 between the Black Sea, Zagros Mountains and the Indus Valley.
The northwestern sector of Aryana encompassed the pastoral plateau of Medes (today northern Iran), a vast green plain located south of the Caspian Sea. Six tribes (the Magi, Budii, Arizanti, Busae, Struchates, and Paretaceni) shared this idyllic herding region. They were often at odds with one another, but would unite when threatened by external enemies. As the Magi tribe looked and behaved differently from the others, it had some difficulty being accepted by the rest.
The Magi were led by a highly secretive religious order whose practices reflected the advance of Lion-Sun shamanism into the area. Although they subscribed to the cosmology of the Luminous Gods (Deva) as described in the Rig Veda hymnals (aka Samhita) of the Aryans, the Magi nonetheless believed in a nameless Supreme Being. The other Medes tribes worshipped local gods and spirits, numbering in the hundreds, depicting the various forces of nature and the light-giving celestial bodies.
The Magi had developed a tolerance for all beliefs as they applied their talents with little concern for the deities being worshipped. In due course they provided other Median tribes with the services of their shamanic order. Magi seers could be relied upon to use their skills for divination, healing, trance meditations, ritual offerings, and sacrificial fire rites. Honoring the wishes of their “clients” they respected the deities of many worshippers.
But when the Assyrians invaded their land, no prayers sufficed, and no sacrifice would do. For the next one hundred years, with little to no hope of liberation from their oppressors, the six tribes of Medes suffered brutal oppression. Their men were forced into hard labor and were required to provide massive agricultural tribute to feed the conqueror’s military. But never could they have expected what would follow. Suddenly the Assyrians placed tens of thousands of strangers in their midst, people deported from a far away land. The arrival of many exiles from Israel (starting 735 BCE) brought into Medes a defeated nation of slave laborers. The Assyrians needed horses for their military, and wild ones roamed the Medes planes. The Israelites would be used to train them.
The open-minded Magi Order had survived the Assyrian occupation by accepting into its ranks religious beliefs representing many gods, including the Western gods of Assur and Marduk; the Eastern gods of Indra, Brahma, and Agni; the Sumer/Akkad celestial divinities of Shamash, Sin, and Ishtar; as well as the local tribal gods of Medes. The Israelite faith in YWHW (Elohim was a later Babylonian rendition) had included his female consort, Ashera,56 and the worship of various female goddess figurines. But by the time they arrived in Medes, any association with female Assyrian deities would have been hard to maintain. The Israelites felt the wrath of God.
The Magi Order respected their counterparts, the Levite clergy, as they were also adept at ritual practices, prophesying, and mythic writing. But the Levites were troubled. They found it difficult to assuage the anger among many of their people who could not cope with the thought that their God abandoned them.
Although their insertion into Medes was forced, the Israelites found some comfort in their shared suffering with the indigenous tribes. The Assyrian occupation unintentionally had made allies of the locals and foreigners. Under the tent of the Magi all the tribes of Medes held secret discussions and invited the Levites of Israel to join in on behalf of their people. They prayed for vengeance for the cruelty that had befallen them at the hands of their Assyrian captors.
The Magi shamans may have secretly convinced the disparate populations of the area, the Median tribes, Israelites, as well as their Elamite neighbors to the south, to put aside their differences and unite. Their common desire for liberation catalyzed an underground movement preparing for an overthrow of Assyria.
The land of Elam (southern Iran) boasted a rich and old history. Located to the south of Medes, on the coast of the Persian Gulf just east of Babylon, Elam was one of the world’s earliest established economic powers (2700 BCE), and boasted the world’s most skilled artisans. Elam’s capital since ancient times, Susa, had acquired precious stones from Harrapan miners and traded them with Egypt and Sumer. All admired Elam’s exceptional craftsmanship with gold, lapis, and other precious stones and metals, as well as its decorative pottery and architectural creations.57 Mesopotamian kings and those in far away countries jealously sought their services for decorating ziggurats, temples, and palaces.
The Akkadian Empire (2350 BCE), the world’s first major military power, conquered Elam for the first time, prompting it to develop its own armies. Although Akkad fell as a result of the Epic Drought, Hammurabi’s Babylonian Empire (1764 BCE) became a new threat. For centuries Elam was in nearly perpetual conflict with its Babylonian neighbors. They sacked Babylon (1168 BCE), and imprisoned its last Kassite king. They absconded with the statue of Marduk from the Esagila temple until Nebuchadrezzar I attacked Elam and retrieved the statuary (1105 BCE).
The earliest religion of Elam echoed both Aryan and Sumerian influences. Their pantheon of local and celestial gods featured solar, lunar, planetary, and astral bodies. Their titular triad of gods, following the classic two-male, one female configuration, placed particular emphasis on the Earth as the middle level between the light of Heaven and the darkness below. Elam’s God of Light, Sky, and Air was Khumban; its Earth Mother Goddess was Kiririsha (aka Kirisha) and Inshushinak was its God of Darkness and the Underworld, for whom Elam had built the largest ziggurat of its time at Choga Zambil (1250 BCE).
The Elamite clergy practiced animal sacrifices, but it held the bull to be sacred, reflecting the early influence in Elam of moon-worshipping shamans. Their devotional ritual sacrifices to Varuna, the moon, would align the god’s “wisdom“ with that of the sun, represented by the solar deity, Mitra.
In the final Assyrian invasion of Elam, the King Assurbanipal (640 BCE) destroyed the Ziggurat-tem
ple. After the attack its deities disappeared, but the distinction the Elamite religion made between the forces of Light and Darkness reappeared in the next century when the Persians emerged out of the ashes of Elam as the new lords of that land.
BRUTALITY
Assyria surged to power in north Mesopotamia where initially it had been a vassal state of the Akkadians. Over a period of five hundred years (17th–12th century BCE) Assyria was vulnerable to intermittent conquests by Babylon or the Mittani-Hittites, their Black Sea neighbors. But beginning with the reign of King Assur-uballit I (1365–1330 BCE) and for most of the next seven-hundred and fifty years Assyria emerged as the dominant military force in the world.
Initially, it preferred to rule through proxies, but it increasingly took steps to impose greater direct control. When an internal power struggle for the crown of Babylon deteriorated into the murder of a sitting king, the Assyrian King Asur-uballit I sacked Babylon and placed his preferred Kassite vassal on the throne, cementing the alliance through marriage with an Assyrian princess. Reflecting its military dominance over Babylon, the Assyrian clergy sought to eclipse Babylon in the cosmic realm. They elevated their God Assur, deity of the Old Assyrian capital city of the same name that was once an Akkadian-language city located in the upper region of the Tigris River, from a city-god to the ruling God of the empire. Displaying their conquest of the Babylonian pantheon, they adapted Babylon’s Seven Tablets of Creation called the Enuma Elish, but in their edition Marduk (Akk. Merodach) was replaced with Assur investing in him the title of superseding Lord God (Akk. Bel). Their Supreme God, Assur, like Marduk before him, would rule over the subservient gods of conquered states. In the Assyrian version of the World Creation story, it would now be Assur who slew the chaos-creating monster (Tiamat) and it would be Assur who recreated the world and placed mankind in it.
