f Babylonia in presenting gardens[1531] and lands to the gods as
votive offerings; but for all that, in ancient Babylonia and Assyria, as
among other peoples of antiquity, the more fervent religious spirit was
manifested in the small tokens of the masses, whose attachment to the
temples was of a different order from that which prompted the rulers of
the north and south to a display, in which vanity and the desire to
manifest their power play a larger part as one generation succeeds the
other.

Festivals.

We have seen[1532] that in the developed system of the Babylonian
religion, every day of the year had some significance, and that certain
days in each month--so, _e.g._, the 7th, 14th, 19th, 21st, and 28th--had
a special significance. It has also been pointed out that in different
religious centers, the days singled out for special significance
differed. In view of this, we must be prepared to find that the festival
days were not the same in all parts of Babylonia, nor necessarily
identical in the various periods of Babylonian and Assyrian history.

The common name for festival was _isinnu_. If we may judge from the use
of _assinnu_ as a general name for priest,[1533]--a servant of a
deity,--the underlying stem appears to signify simply 'to serve.'
Another name that reveals more as to the character of the Babylonian
festivals is _tashiltu_, which is used as a synonym for 'joy, delight.'
The festivals were indeed joyous occasions, marked by abundance of
offerings and merry-making, though, as we shall see, the somber note in
the rejoicings was not absent. The kings dedicate their temples and
palaces amidst manifestation of rejoicing. They pray that the gods may
occupy the dwellings prepared for them "in joy and jubilance,"[1534] and
the reference to festivals in the historical texts are all of such a
character as to make us feel that the Babylonian could appreciate the
Biblical injunction to "rejoice"[1535] in the divine presence, on the
occasions set apart as, in a peculiar sense, sacred.

Defective as our knowledge of the ancient Babylonian festivals still is,
the material at our disposal shows that at a comparatively early period,
there was one day in the year on which a festival was celebrated in
honor of a god or goddess that had a more important character than any
other. In the developed zodiacal system of Babylonia each month is
sacred to a deity.[1536] This system was perfected under the direct
influence of