ology. So completely did this system
in the course of time sway men's minds that the cult, from being an
expression of animistic beliefs, took on the colour derived from the
"astral" interpretation of occurrences and doctrines. It left its trace in
incantations, omens and hymns, and it gave birth to astronomy, which was
assiduously cultivated because a knowledge of the heavens was the very
foundation of the system of belief unfolded by the priests of Babylonia and
Assyria. "Chaldaean wisdom" became in the classical world the synonym of
this science, which in its character was so essentially religious. The
persistent prominence which astrology (_q.v._) continued to enjoy down to
the border line of the scientific movement of our own days, and which is
directly traceable to the divination methods perfected in the Euphrates
valley, is a tribute to the scope and influence attained by the astral
theology of the Babylonian and Assyrian priests.

As an illustration of the manner in which the doctrines of the religion
were made to conform to the all-pervading astral theory, it will be
sufficient to refer to the modification undergone in this process of the
view developed in a very early period which apportioned the control of the
universe among the three gods Anu, Bel and Ea. Disassociating these gods
from all local connexions, Anu became the power presiding over the heavens,
to Bel was assigned the earth and the atmosphere immediately above it,
while Ea ruled over the deep. With the transfer of all the gods to the
heavens, and under the influence of the doctrine of the correspondence
between the heavens and the earth, Anu, Bel and Ea became the three "ways"
(as they are called) on the heavens. The "ways" appear in this instance to
have been the designation of the ecliptic circle, which was divided into
three sections or zones--a northern, a middle and a southern zone, Anu
being assigned to the first, Bel to the second, and Ea to the third zone.
The astral theology of the Babylonian-Assyrian religion, while thus bearing
the ear-marks of a system devised by the priests, succeeded in assimilating
the beliefs which represented the earlier attempts to systematize the more
popular aspects of the religion, and in this way a unification of diverse
elements was secured that led to interpreting the contents and the form of
the religion in terms of the astral-theological system.

The most noteworthy outcome of this system in the realm of r