Publisher's Synopsis
Excerpt from The Oath in Babylonian And Assyrian Literature
Babylonian and Assyrian literature abounds in religious material. It does so because religion was a vital part of the very existence of those people, whose gods were unquestioned realities. The natural method, therefore, of giving assurance to the truth of a statement was to refer the matter to the gods, calling upon them to hear witness to its truth. The gods were so inseparably a part of their life that such appeals occured very frequently. Thus, Babylonian and Assyrian literature is full of oaths. Again, if an oath was false taken, or when taken sinned against, the holiness of the gods was blasphemed and their anger kindled. The displeasure of the gods was na turally a curse, as the Babylonian and Assyrian depended upon his god at every step, without whose assistance every effort failed, and the sinner was defenceless against the attacks of evil spirits. But in the condition of being cursed the sinner was not hopelessly lost. Gods still existed and them he could supplicate, and they were ever ready and willing to help. What was then desired was reunion by pardon with the god, and the return to favour was in itself a benediction. So we can see how closely these three elements of Babylonian and As syrian religion, oath, curse, and benediction, were knit together and interrelated.
About the Publisher
Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com
This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
