ue religious ceremonials among the
descendants of the earliest settlers in the Tigro-Euphrates valley.
Merodach's spouse Zerpanitu^m was not a shadowy deity but a goddess
who exercised as much influence as her divine husband. As Aruru she
took part with him in the creation of mankind. In Asia Minor the
mother goddess was overshadowed by the father god during the period of
Hatti predominance, but her worship was revived after the early people
along the coast and in the agricultural valleys were freed from the
yoke of the father-god worshippers.

It must be recognized, in this connection, that an official religion
was not always a full reflection of popular beliefs. In all the great
civilizations of antiquity it was invariably a compromise between the
beliefs of the military aristocracy and the masses of mingled peoples
over whom they held sway. Temple worship had therefore a political
aspect; it was intended, among other things, to strengthen the
position of the ruling classes. But ancient deities could still be
worshipped, and were worshipped, in homes and fields, in groves and on
mountain tops, as the case might be. Jeremiah has testified to the
persistence of the folk practices in connection with the worship of
the mother goddess among the inhabitants of Palestine. Sacrificial
fires were lit and cakes were baked and offered to the "Queen of
Heaven" in the streets of Jerusalem and other cities. In Babylonia and
Egypt domestic religious practices were never completely supplanted by
temple ceremonies in which rulers took a prominent part. It was always
possible, therefore, for usurpers to make popular appeal by reviving
ancient and persistent forms of worship. As we have seen, Jehu of
Israel, after stamping out Phoenician Baal worship, secured a strong
following by giving official recognition to the cult of the golden
calf.

It is not possible to set forth in detail, or with intimate knowledge,
the various innovations which Sammu-rammat introduced, or with which
she was credited, during the reigns of Adad-nirari IV (810-782 B.C.)
and his father. No discovery has been made of documents like the
Tell-el-Amarna "letters", which would shed light on the social and
political life of this interesting period. But evidence is not
awanting that Assyria was being suffused with Babylonian culture.
Royal inscriptions record the triumphs of the army, but suppress the
details of barbarities such as those which sully the annals of
As