ctical use, 366,
372;
vagueness of o. intentional, 367;
interrelation betw. reports and o., 368, 372-3;
importance of o. deduced from eclipses and more ordinary phenomena,
368-9;
omens deduced from observations of planets, esp. Ishtar, and of other
heavenly bodies, 371-3;
omen calendars, 375, 382;
omens from terrestrial phenomena, 383 ff.;
logical principle controlling the interpretation, 384;
offshoot of sympathetic magic, 384;
birth omens, 384;
partly public, partly private character, 386;
the rarer the phenomena, the greater the significance, 385;
ideas of sympathetic magic in the interpretation of o., 388;
omens from offsprings of animals, 391 ff.;
omens from the actions of animals, 397-402;
omens from dreams, 402-4;
o. of a private character, 403;
popular phase of augury, 403;
omens from individual experiences, 404;
dividing line betw. omens of individual and of public character, 405;
the practical working of the omen belief, 406.

_Ophites_, a gnostic sect, 699.

_Oppert, Jules_, expedition to Babylonia, 8.

_Oracles_, see also _Omens_ and _Witchcraft_, direct means of
forecasting the future, 329;
occasions for asking o., 338 ff.;
blank forms for o., 341;
form of, 341 ff.;
Marduk, god of, 342;
asked of the sun-god, 334 ff.;
of Ishtar of Arbela, 342;
ceremonies accompanying o., 345;
relationship to penitential psalms, 347;
practical purpose of, 349;
by means of dreams, 349 ff.;
generally vague language, 344;
occasionally definite language, 360;
objects with which o. are concerned, 360;
given by priestesses, 485, or priests, 329, 560, 657-8;
asked of the dead, 559-60, 657;
asked on the New Year's festival, 628-9.

_Pantheon_, divisions and development, 48-50;
sources, 51;
comparison betw. p. in historical and in incantation texts, 297;
comparison betw. B. and A. pantheon, 189, 201.

_Papakhu_, chamber of the god, 627;
cosmological significance, 629.

_Pap-sukal_, _i.e._, divine messenger, epithet of Nin-shakh, Nebo, and
Nusku, 93 (cf. 463, 571);
in incantations, 273;
10th month sacred to P., Ishtar, and Anu, 463.

_Pap-u_, god, in the Cassite pantheon, 162, 172;
offspring of E-sharra, 174;
function, 174.

_Paradise_, belief in, among Babylonians, 578.

_Parakku_, chamber of the god, 627.

_Parnapishtim_, immortal, 488, 577;
P. and Gilgamesh, 492 ff.;
son of Kidin-Marduk,