ion, the force of which
could not be disputed. It mattered little to whom the dream was sent.
Ashur, on one occasion, chose to reveal himself to an enemy of
Ashurbanabal with a message. He appears in a dream before Gyges, the
king of Lydia, and tells him,[545] "Pay homage to Ashurbanabal, the king
of Assyria, and by the power of his name conquer thine enemies." Gyges
obeys and sends a messenger to the Assyrian monarch to inform him of the
dream. Occasionally in this way a deity might appear to a king, but in
general it was to the professional 'dreamer' rather than to the laity to
whom oracles were thus sent. The message was not necessarily delivered
in person by the deity. Sin, the moon-god, on one occasion writes his
message on the moon's disc:

Against all who have evil designs
And hostile sentiments towards
Ashurbanabal, the king of Assyria,
Will I send a miserable death.[546]

Every dream was of course sent by some god, but the dreams of others
than those who acted as mediators between the gods and men were of a
different character. They were omens. The gods would reveal themselves
indirectly by means of pictures or symbols, and it would require the
services of a priest again to interpret such symbols or omens. The gods
were asked to send such dreams as might receive a favorable
interpretation,[547] and when a dream came unsolicited, the gods were
implored to convert the dream into a favorable omen.

In the case of dreams, it will be apparent, the dividing line between
oracles proper and omens becomes exceedingly faint and it is very
doubtful whether the Babylonians or Assyrians recognized any essential
difference between the two. The suggestion has already been thrown out
that there is a wider aspect to omens in the Babylonian religion than
their employment in connection with sacrificial offerings. We have
reached a point when it will be proper to take up this wider aspect.

FOOTNOTES:

[491] See King, _Babylonian Magic_, p. xxx.

[492] Harper's _Assyrian Letters_, no. 219.

[493] _Assyrische Gebete an den Sonnengott fuer Staat und Koenigliches
Haus_ (Leipzig, 1893, 2 vols.).

[494] Knudtzon, no. 1.

[495] That the priest recites the prayer and not the king is shown by
the frequent introduction of the king's name in the 3d person. See,
_e.g._, Knudtzon, nos. 40-47.

[496] 2d month.

[497] 5th month.

[498] _I.e._, the priest is only asked for an oracle regarding the
events of the next one