For the identity of Nin-Karrak and Gula, see the 'Shurpu'
Incantation Series, iv. l. 86 (ed. Zimmern), where the former is called
the 'great physician,'--the epithet peculiar to Gula.

[336] East India House Inscription, col. iv. l. 44.

[337] VR. 34, col. ii. l. 26, or simply Tur-lil (East India House
Inscription, col. iv. l. 49, not Tur-e, as Winckler, _Keils Bibl._ 3, 2,
18, reads).

[338] _I.e._, king or lord of Sarbi. Pognon (_Les Inscriptions
Babyloniennes de Wadl Brissa_), p. 46, is of the opinion that _sarbi_ is
the palm, but he fails to bring sufficient proof, and his theory is
improbable. The stem _sarabu_ means to burn, and the "fiery lord" is
certainly an epithet belonging to some solar deity.

CHAPTER XV.

THE RELIGIOUS LITERATURE OF BABYLONIA.

The pantheon of a religion presents us with the external phases of the
religion in question. In order to penetrate further towards the core of
the religion, and to see it at its best, the religious thought as
manifested in the national literature constitutes our most valuable
guide. The beginnings of Babylonian literature are enveloped in
obscurity. We have seen that we are justified in passing beyond the
period of Hammurabi[339] for these beginnings, but exactly when and
precisely how the literary spirit first manifested itself in Babylonia
will probably remain for a long time, if not for always, a matter of
conjecture. The great political and religious centers of Babylonia, such
as Ur, Sippar, Agade, Eridu, Nippur, Uruk, perhaps also Lagash, and
later on Babylon, formed the foci of literary activity, as they were the
starting-points of commercial enterprise. This intimate connection of
religion with literature left its impress upon all branches into which
the Babylonian literature was in the course of time differentiated. In a
certain sense all the literature of Babylonia is religious. Even the
legal formulas, as embodied in the so-called contract tablets, have a
religious tinge. The priests being the scribes, a contract of any kind
between two or more parties was a religious compact. The oath which
accompanied the compact involved an invocation of the gods. The decree
of the judges in a disputed suit was confirmed by an appeal to the gods.
The terms in which the parties bound themselves consisted largely of
religious phrases, and finally the dating of the tablet often contained
a reference to some religious festival or to some event of religious
im