fire god. Great bonfires were lit to strengthen him, or as a
ceremony of riddance; the old year was burned out. Indeed the god
himself might be burned (that is, the old god), so that he might renew
his youth. Melkarth was burned at Tyre. Hercules burned himself on a
mountain top, and his soul ascended to heaven as an eagle.

These fiery rites were evidently not unknown in Babylonia and Assyria.
When, according to Biblical narrative, Nebuchadnezzar "made an image
of gold" which he set up "in the plain of Dura, in the province of
Babylon", he commanded: "O people, nations, and languages... at the
time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery,
dulcimer, and all kinds of musick... fall down and worship the golden
image". Certain Jews who had been "set over the affairs of the
province of Babylonia", namely, "Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego",
refused to adore the idol. They were punished by being thrown into "a
burning fiery furnace", which was heated "seven times more than it was
wont to be heated". They came forth uninjured.[397]

In the Koran it is related that Abraham destroyed the images of
Chaldean gods; he "brake them all in pieces except the biggest of
them; that they might lay the blame on that".[398] According to the
commentators the Chaldaeans were at the time "abroad in the fields,
celebrating a great festival". To punish the offender Nimrod had a
great pyre erected at Cuthah. "Then they bound Abraham, and putting
him into an engine, shot him into the midst of the fire, from which he
was preserved by the angel Gabriel, who was sent to his assistance."
Eastern Christians were wont to set apart in the Syrian calendar the
25th of January to commemorate Abraham's escape from Nimrod's
pyre.[399]

It is evident that the Babylonian fire ceremony was observed in the
spring season, and that human beings were sacrificed to the sun god. A
mock king may have been burned to perpetuate the ancient sacrifice of
real kings, who were incarnations of the god.

Isaiah makes reference to the sacrificial burning of kings in Assyria:
"For through the voice of the Lord shall the Assyrian be beaten down,
which smote with a rod. And in every place where the grounded staff
shall pass, which the Lord shall lay upon him, it shall be with
tabrets and harps: and in battles of shaking will he fight with it.
For Tophet is ordained of old; yea, for the king it is prepared: he
hath made it deep and large: the pile there