Project Gutenberg's The Religion of Babylonia and Assyria, by Morris Jastrow

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Title: The Religion of Babylonia and Assyria

Author: Morris Jastrow

Release Date: March 7, 2007 [EBook #20758]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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HANDBOOKS
ON THE
HISTORY OF RELIGIONS

EDITED BY
MORRIS JASTROW, Jr., PH.D.
_Professor of Semitic Languages in the University of Pennsylvania_

VOLUME II

THE RELIGION

OF

BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA

BY
MORRIS JASTROW, Jr., PH.D.
(LEIPZIG)
PROFESSOR OF SEMITIC LANGUAGES IN THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA

GINN & COMPANY

BOSTON . NEW YORK . CHICAGO . LONDON

COPYRIGHT, 1893
By MORRIS JASTROW, Jr.

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

35.11

The Athenaeum Press
GINN & COMPANY . PROPRIETORS
BOSTON . USA

TO

H. B. J.

MY FAITHFUL COLLABORATOR

PREFACE.

It requires no profound knowledge to reach the conclusion that the time
has not yet come for an exhaustive treatise on the religion of Babylonia
and Assyria. But even if our knowledge of this religion were more
advanced than it is, the utility of an exhaustive treatment might still
be questioned. Exhaustive treatises are apt to be exhausting to both
reader and author; and however exhaustive (or exhausting) such a
treatise may be, it cannot be final except in the fond imagination of
the writer. For as long as activity prevails in any branch of science,
all results are provisional. Increasing knowledge leads necessarily to a
change of perspective and to a readjustment of views. The chief reason
for writing a book is to prepare the way for the next one on the same
subject.

In accordance with the general plan of this Series[1] of Handbooks, it
has been my chief ai