n against eye
disease. One is not to cross a stream[622] on the 20th day of the 5th
month; on certain days one is not to sell grain; other days are again
noted as specially favorable for military movements.

Some of the precautions prescribed in this calendar may have been meant
for the populace in general, such as the order not to cross a stream or
to strike a bargain. The belief in lucky and unlucky days has a distinct
popular flavor, but it is doubtful whether the ordinary public consulted
the priests, as a general thing, in order to find out what days were
lucky and what not. It is more plausible to assume that the priests
embodied in their official calendars some of the notions that arose
among the people, and gave to them an official sanction.

There are a considerable number of references to the king in the
complete calendar under consideration, and we are permitted to assume,
therefore, that the calendar served as a further guide for the priests
in their instructions to the king. The allusion to oracles, curses, and
weapons points in this same direction, and when, as in a number of
instances, a day is described as one on which Shamash or some other god
is 'angry,' it is in all probabilities against the ruler rather than
against private individuals that the god's displeasure has been
manifested. A similar official and public character is borne by another
calendar, where months alone are indicated and their significance
interpreted.[623] The twelve months are arranged in as many columns.
Under each column the indications 'favorable' or 'not' are entered,
while at the right end of the tablet the specifications are added for
what undertakings the month is, or is not, favorable. One of these
specifications is "the soldiery to make an attack upon a hostile city,"
and upon referring to the list of months, we learn that the 2d, 6th,
7th, 8th, and 12th months are favorable for such an undertaking, but the
others are 'not.' Again, the 1st, 3d, 4th, 6th, 8th, 9th, 10th, and 11th
are 'favorable' for "the entrance of any army upon foreign soil," but
the remainder 'not.' The other specifications refer likewise to the
movements of the armies. Such a calendar was evidently drawn up on the
basis of omens, for a specific purpose, and, we may add, for some
specific expedition to serve as a guide to the military commander. In
the same way, calendars were drawn up devoted to indications regarding
crops and for other purposes of pub