2 In the channel of the deep seven (are) they!
3 (In) the radiance of heaven seven (are) they!
4 In the channel of the deep in a palace grew they up.
5 Male they (are) not, female they (are) not.[1]
6 (In) the midst of the deep (are) their paths.
7 Wife they have not, son they have not.
8 Order (and) kindness know they not.
9 Prayer (and) supplication hear they not.
10 The _cavern_ in the mountain they enter.
11 Unto Hea (are) they hostile.
12 The throne-bearers of the gods (are) they.
13 Disturbing the _lily_ in the torrents are they set.
14 Baleful (are) they, baleful (are) they.
15 Seven (are) they, seven (are) they, seven twice again (are) they.
16 May the spirits of heaven remember, may the spirits of
earth remember.

[Footnote 1: The Accadian text, "Female they are not, male they are not."
This order is in accordance with the position held by the woman in Accad;
in the Accadian Table of Laws, for instance, translated in "Records of the
Past," vol. iii. p. 23, the denial of the father by the son is punished
very leniently in comparison with the denial of the mother.]

CHALDEAN HYMNS TO THE SUN

TRANSLATED BY FRANCOIS LENORMANT

The sun-god, called in the Accadian _Utu_ and _Parra_ (the latter is of
less frequent occurrence), and in the Semitic Assyrian _Samas_, held a
less important rank in the divine hierarchy of the Chaldaic-Babylonian
pantheon, afterward adopted by the Assyrians, than the moon-god (in the
Accadian _Aku, Enizuna_, and _Huru-ki;_ in the Assyrian _Sin_), who was
even sometimes said to be his father. His principal and most common title
was "Judge of Heaven and Earth," in the Accadian _dikud ana kia_, in the
Assyrian _dainu sa same u irtsiti_. The most important sanctuaries of the
deity were at Larsam, in southern Chaldsea, and Sippara, in the north of
Babylonia.

Some few fragments of liturgical or magical hymns addressed to Shamas have
come down to us. These are five in number, and I give a translation of
them here. They have all been studied previously by other Assyriologists,
but I think the present interpretation of them is superior to any which
has as yet been furnished.

The following are the chief bibliographical data concerning them:

I. The primitive Accadian text, accompanied by an interlinear Assyrian
version published in the "Cuneiform Inscriptions of Western Asia," Vol.
IV, pl. 20, No. 2. I put forth a first attempt at a translation in my