d submit to any
conditions imposed on her and would give Nergal the sovereignty of the
earth. Nergal accordingly relented, and Allatu became the queen of the
infernal world. Etanna conspired with the eagle to fly to the highest
heaven. The first gate, that of Anu, was successfully reached; but in
ascending still farther to the gate of Ishtar the strength of the eagle
gave way, and Etanna was dashed to the ground. As for the storm-god Zu, we
are told that he stole the tablets of destiny, and therewith the
prerogatives of Bel. God after god was ordered to pursue him and recover
them, but it would seem that it was only by a stratagem that they were
finally regained.

Besides the purely literary works there were others of the most varied
nature, including collections of letters, partly official, partly private.
Among them the most interesting are the letters of Khammurabi, which have
been edited by L. W. King. Astronomy and astrology, moreover, occupy a
conspicuous place. Astronomy was of old standing in Babylonia, and the
standard work on the subject, written from an astrological point of view,
which was translated into Greek by Berossus, was believed to go back to the
age of Sargon of Akkad. The zodiac was a Babylonian invention of great
antiquity; and eclipses of the sun as well as of the moon could be
foretold. Observatories were attached to the temples, and reports were
regularly sent by the astronomers to the king. The stars had been numbered
and named at an early date, and we possess tables of lunar longitudes and
observations of the phases of Venus. In Seleucid and Parthian times the
astronomical reports were of a thoroughly scientific character; how far the
advanced knowledge and method they display may reach back we do not yet
know. Great attention was naturally paid to the calendar, and we find a
week of seven and another of five days in use. The development of astronomy
implies considerable progress in mathematics; it is not surprising,
therefore, that the Babylonians should have invented an extremely simple
method of ciphering or have discovered the convenience of the duodecimal
system. The _ner_ of 600 and the _sar_ of 3600 were formed from the _soss_
or unit of 60, which corresponded with a degree of the equator. Tablets
[v.03 p.0108] of squares and cubes, calculated from 1 to 60, have been
found at Senkera, and a people who were acquainted with the sun-dial, the
clepsydra, the lever and the pulley, must have