the king, could approach a deity directly, the mediation of the priest
was needed on every occasion of a religious import. The ordinary means
at the disposal of the priest for ascertaining the divine will or
caprice were twofold,--directly through oracles or indirectly by means
of omens derived from an examination of the sacrifices offered. A
complete Babylonian ritual therefore required, besides the appeal made
by the petitioner through the priests or with their assistance, an
incantation introduced in some form, an offering, certain symbolical
acts and omens. The offerings and the symbolical acts, as a matter of
fact, appear to have preceded[491] the prayer and the incantation, but
in the prayers they are referred to again, and generally just before the
interpretation of the omens. The omens constituted the ulterior end in
view. Because of the looked-for omens the offering was brought, the
symbolical acts performed, the incantations recited. All these rites
formed the preparation for the grand _finale_. The worshipper waited
anxiously for the decision of the priest. Attached, therefore, to the
prayers we frequently find directions intended for the priests as to the
signs to which his attention should be directed, certain peculiarities
exhibited in parts of the animal sacrificed from which certain
conclusions may be drawn. The observation of these signs grows to the
dimensions of a science equal in extent to the observation of the
heavenly bodies whose movements, as indeed the whole of the natural
world, were supposed to exert an influence over the fate of mankind.

It does not of course follow that in the case of every prayer an
elaborate ritual was observed. Many of the prayers to the gods in their
present form do not embody omens, as indeed many contain no reference to
offerings or symbolical acts. While no conclusion can be drawn from this
circumstance, since the omission may be due to the point of view from
which in a given case a collection of prayers was made by the priest,
still we may well believe that for the exorcising of evil spirits the
utterance of sacred formulas was often considered quite sufficient. In
the earlier stages of the Babylonian religion the priest's function may
have ended when he had exorcised the demons by means of magic words. The
demons were forced to yield. If they nevertheless held out, so much the
worse for them or--for the priest, who, it was concluded, must have lost
his power over