he
beliefs and myths and customs of widely separated peoples, it cannot
be overlooked that pronounced and striking differences remain to be
accounted for. Human experiences varied in localities because all
sections of humanity were not confronted in ancient times by the same
problems in their everyday lives. Some peoples, for instance,
experienced no great difficulties regarding the food supply, which
might be provided for them by nature in lavish abundance; others were
compelled to wage a fierce and constant conflict against hostile
forces in inhospitable environments with purpose to secure adequate
sustenance and their meed of enjoyment. Various habits of life had to
be adopted in various parts of the world, and these produced various
habits of thought. Consequently, we find that behind all systems of
primitive religion lies the formative background of natural phenomena.
A mythology reflects the geography, the fauna and flora, and the
climatic conditions of the area in which it took definite and
permanent shape.

In Babylonia, as elsewhere, we expect, therefore, to find a mythology
which has strictly local characteristics--one which mirrors river and
valley scenery, the habits of life of the people, and also the various
stages of progress in the civilization from its earliest beginnings.
Traces of primitive thought--survivals from remotest antiquity--should
also remain in evidence. As a matter of fact Babylonian mythology
fulfils our expectations in this regard to the highest degree.

Herodotus said that Egypt was the gift of the Nile: similarly
Babylonia may be regarded as the gift of the Tigris and
Euphrates--those great shifting and flooding rivers which for long
ages had been carrying down from the Armenian Highlands vast
quantities of mud to thrust back the waters of the Persian Gulf and
form a country capable of being utilized for human habitation. The
most typical Babylonian deity was Ea, the god of the fertilizing and
creative waters.

He was depicted clad in the skin of a fish, as gods in other
geographical areas were depicted wearing the skins of animals which
were regarded as ancestors, or hostile demons that had to be
propitiated. Originally Ea appears to have been a fish--the
incarnation of the spirit of, or life principle in, the Euphrates
River. His centre of worship was at Eridu, an ancient seaport, where
apparently the prehistoric Babylonians (the Sumerians) first began to
utilize the dried-up be