bu. In E-Sagila the installation of the
rulers over Babylonia took place, and a visit to Marduk's temple was
incomplete without a pilgrimage across the river to E-Zida. The
influence exerted by these two temples upon the whole course of
Babylonian history from the third millennium on, can hardly be
overestimated. From the schools grouped around E-Sagila and E-Zida, went
forth the decrees that shaped the doctrinal development of the religion
of Babylonia and Assyria. In these schools, the ancient wisdom was
molded into the shape in which we find it in the literary remains of the
Euphrates Valley. Here the past was interpreted and the intellectual
future of the country projected. The thought of E-Sagila and E-Zida must
have stored up emotions in the breast of a Babylonian and Assyrian, that
can only be compared to a pious Mohammedan's enthusiasm for Mecca, or
the longing of an ardent Hebrew for Jerusalem. The hymns to Marduk and
Nabu voice this emotion. There is a fervency in the prayers of
Nebuchadnezzar which marks them off from the somewhat perfunctory
invocations of the Assyrian kings to Ashur and Ishtar. An appreciation
of the position of E-Sagila and E-Zida in Babylonian history is an
essential condition to an understanding of the Babylonian-Assyrian
religion. The priests of Marduk could view with equanimity the rise and
growth of Assyria's power. The influence of E-Sagila and E-Zida was not
affected by such a shifting of the political kaleidoscope. Babylon
remained the religious center of the country. When one day, a Persian
conqueror--Cyrus--entered the precincts of E-Sagila, his first step was
to acknowledge Marduk and Nabu as the supreme powers in the world; and
the successors of Alexander continue to glory in the title 'adorner of
E-Sagila and E-Zida.'[1431] With the same zeal that distinguishes a good
Babylonian, Antiochus Soter hastens to connect his reign with the two
temples by busying himself with their enlargement and beautification.
There was no better way in which he could indicate, at the same time,
his political control over the country.

One more factor contributing to the general influence of the Babylonian
temples remains to be noted. In the course of time, all the great
temples in the large centers became large financial establishments. The
sources whence the temples derived their wealth were various. The kings
both of Babylonia and Assyria took frequent occasions to endow the
sanctuaries with lan