omptly responds by copious offerings, and the goddess appears
to be pacified.

There is another feature connected with the oracles that must be touched
upon before passing on. The oracles stand obviously in close
relationship to the penitential psalms. It was, naturally, in times of
political distress that the kings would be particularly zealous in
maintaining themselves on good terms with the powerful gods. Without
their aid success could not be expected to crown any efforts. Guiding
their steps by frequent consultations of the priests, the appeals of the
kings would increase in earnestness and fervor as the campaign
progressed and assumed more serious aspects. When disaster stared them
in the face, they would be forced to conclude that the gods were
angered, and there was only one way left of averting the divine wrath--a
free confession of sins, accompanied, of course, by offerings and magic
rites. The Assyrian kings do not tell us in their annals of
discomfitures that they encountered. The penitential psalms supply this
omission. We have such a psalm written in the days of Ashurbanabal,[535]
in which that proud monarch humbles himself before the great god Nabu,
and has the satisfaction in return of receiving a reassuring oracle. He
prays:

I confess to thee, Nabu, in the presence of the great gods,
[Many[536] (?)] are my sins beyond endurance?[537]
[Lord (?)] of Nineveh, I come before thee, the warrior among the gods,
his brothers.
[Prolong (?)] the life of Ashurbanabal for a long period.
... At the feet of Nabu I prostrate myself.

The god reassures the king:

I will grant thee life, O Ashurbanabal, even I,
Nabu, to the end of days
Thy feet shall not grow weary, nor thy hands weak (?),
These lips of thine shall not cease to approach me,
Thy tongue shall not be removed from thy lips,
For I give thee a favorable message.
I will raise thy head, I will increase thy glory in the temple of
E-babbara.[538]

The reference to the temple of Shamash at Sippar reveals the situation.
Babylonia was the cause of much trouble to Ashurbanabal, owing chiefly
to the intrigues of his treacherous brother Shamash-shumukin.[539]
Ashurbanabal at one time was not merely in danger of losing control over
the south, but of losing his life in the rebellion organized by his
'faithless brother.' A successful rebellion is a clear sign of a god's
displeasure. Marduk, as we have seen, was not often appealed t