itute the most conservative elements
in a religion. Such rites are much less liable to change than the cult
of the gods. Foreign invasion would not affect the funeral rites, even
where other religious customs are altered. Even so violent a change as
that produced by the introduction of Mohammedanism into Mesopotamia has
not removed traces of the old Babylonian religion. Dr. Peters has shown
that the district in the Euphrates Valley selected by the modern Arabs
and Persians for the interment of their dead[1254] derives its sanctity
from the days of the old Babylonian kingdom, and many of the customs
observed by the modern Moslems tally with the funeral rites of ancient
Babylonia.[1255] That the dead were always buried, and that cremation
was practically unknown, may now be regarded as certain. The conception
of Aralu, which, we have seen, belongs to the most ancient period of
religion, is only intelligible upon the assumption that burial was the
prevailing custom. On one of the oldest monuments of Babylonian
art,--the stele of vultures,--earth-burial is represented.[1256] A few
years ago, some German scholars[1257] claimed to have furnished the
proof that the Babylonians cremated their dead. But, in the first place,
the age of the tombs found by them was not clearly established; and,
secondly, it was not certain whether the charred remains of human bodies
were due to intentional burning or accidental destruction by fire, at
the time that the city explored by the German scholars was destroyed.
The fact that, as the explorers themselves observed, the bodies were not
completely burned argues in favor of the latter supposition. The
explanation offered by Koldewey[1258] for this peculiar condition of the
remains--that the burning was symbolical, and, therefore, not
complete--is unsatisfactory in every particular. There can be no doubt
that some, at least, of the tombs discovered at Warka by Loftus[1259]
belong to the period before the conquest of the country by Cyrus, and
this is certainly the case with many of the tombs discovered at Nippur.
Nowhere do we find traces of burning of bodies.[1260] If it should turn
out that cremation prevailed for a certain period, the fashion, we may
feel certain, was due to foreign influences, but it is more than
questionable whether it was ever introduced at all. Certainly,
earth-burial is the characteristically Babylonian (and general Semitic)
method of disposing of the dead.

The character