s entered a human body, it is to
Ea that, in the last resort, the appeal is made to free the sufferer
from his pain. Ea is the god of the physicians. Nay, more, it is Ea who
presided at the birth of humanity, so that his protection reaches far
back, beyond even the beginnings of civilization, almost to the
beginning of things. Lastly, as the god of civilization, it is to him
that the great works of art are ascribed. He is the god of the smithy,
the patron of the gold and silversmiths, of workers in lapis-lazuli, and
all kinds of precious stones. He is the god of sculpture. The great
bulls and lions that guarded the approaches to the temple and palace
chambers, as well as the statues of the gods and kings, were the work of
his hands. Furthermore, he is the patron of weavers, as of other arts.
This conception may have been perfected in a general way, and in all
probability was perfected before the days of Hammurabi, though perhaps
not prominently brought forward; but important modifications were
introduced into it, through the compromise that had to be arranged
between the position of Ea and that of Marduk. Of course, neither the
rulers nor the priests of Babylon could have permitted the reverence for
Ea to have gone to the length of throwing Marduk into the shade. Many of
the functions assigned to Ea seemed to belong of right to Marduk, who,
as the patron of Babylon, presided over the destinies of what to the
Babylonians was the essential part of mankind,--namely, themselves.
Moreover, Babylon being the seat of culture as well as of power, in the
period following upon Hammurabi, Marduk was necessarily conceived as
possessing the same wisdom that distinguishes Ea. As a consequence, the
attributes of Ea were transferred in a body to Marduk. An amalgamation
of the two, however, such as took place in the case of other deities,
was neither possible, nor, indeed, desirable. It was not possible,
because of the antiquity of the Ea cult and the peculiar position that
he, as a common heirloom of all Babylonia, occupied; nor was it
desirable, for to do so would be to cut off completely the bond uniting
Babylon to its own past and to the rest of Babylonia. The solution of
the problem was found in making Ea, the father of Marduk--the loving and
proud father who willingly transfers all his powers and qualities to his
son, who rejoices in the triumph of his offspring, and who suffers no
pangs of jealousy when beholding the superior honor