ay believe Herodotus[1359] when he tells us that the statue
of Marduk in his temple at Babylon and the table in front of it was of
gold. It was to the papakhu that the priests retired when they desired
to obtain an oracle direct from the god; and as in the course of time
the sanctity of the spot increased, we may well suppose that the
occasions when the deity was directly approached in his papakhu became
rarer. Through the influence of the schools attached to the Marduk cult
at Babylon, the New Year's Festival--the character of which we will have
occasion to explain later on--came to be regarded as the season most
appropriate for approaching the oracular chamber. During this festival,
Marduk was supposed to decide the fate of mankind for the whole year,
and the intercession of the priests on the occasion was fraught with
great importance.

A special significance, moreover, came to be attached to the sacred
chamber in the Marduk temple. Complementing in a measure, the
cosmological associations that have been noted in connection with the
zikkurat, the papakhu of Marduk was regarded as an imitation of a
cosmical 'sacred chamber.' As the zikkurat represented the mountain on
which the gods were born and where they were once supposed to dwell, so
the sacred room was regarded as the reproduction of a portion of the
great mountain where the gods assembled in solemn council. This council
chamber was situated at the eastern end of the great mountain, and was
known as Du-azagga, that is, 'brilliant chamber.' The chamber itself
constituted the innermost recess of the eastern limit of the mountain,
and the special part of the mountain in which it lay was known as
Ubshu-kenna, written with the ideographic equivalents to 'assembly
room.' It will be apparent that such a view of the papakhu is the result
of theological speculation, and is not due, as is the conception of the
zikkurat, to popular beliefs.

The assembly of the gods presupposes a systematization of the pantheon,
and the fact that it is only the papakhu in Marduk's temple which is
known as Du-azagga[1360] is a sufficient indication of the influences at
work which produced this conception. In the creation epic, there is a
reference to the Ubshu-kenna[1361] which shows the main purpose of a
divine assembly in the eyes of the priests of Babylon. The gods meet
there in order to do homage to Marduk. They gather around the victorious
vanquisher of Tiamat, as the princes gather r