Bag

BAG like. Their princes were proud and boastful. "Is not this great Babylon, that I have built ... by the might of my power, and for the honor of my majesty?'' was the boastful speech of its greatest king, Nebuchadnezzar. Dan 4:30. In architecture, sculpture, science, philosophy, astronomical and mathematical knowledge, and in learning the Babylonians made original investigations and discoveries not surpassed by any other ancient people. " To Babylonia," says G. Rawlinson, "far more than to Egypt, we owe the art and learning of the Greeks." --Five Ancient Monarchies, iii. 76. In religion the Babylonians differed little from the early Chaldaeans. Their chief deities were Bel, Merodach, and Nebo. The names of these gods frequently appear in the names of noted princes, as Bel-shazzar, Nabo-polassar, Merodach-baladan, Evil-merodach Abed-nebo or -nego. Their gods were worshipped with great pomp and magnificence. The temples erected in honor of the gods and devoted to their worship were celebrated for their vastness, and for the massiveness and finish of their sculptures. Of the precise mode of their worship little is known. It was conducted by priests, through whom the worshippers made offerings, often of great value, and sacrifices of oxen and goats. Images of the gods were exhibited, probably on frames or sacred vehicles, and, as some suppose, were some times set up in a public place, as on the plain of Dura, Dan 3:1; but late investigations indicate that the image there set up was a statue of Nebuchadnezzar. See on this text Canon Cook's Bible Commentary, 1876. Some of the principal temples of their gods noted by Rawlinson were that of Bel at Babylon, another of the same god at Niffer, one of Beltis at Warka or Erech, one of the Sun-god at Sippara or Sepharvaim, and one of Nebo at Borsippa. The empire began with the accession of Nabo-polassar, b.c. 625: was in its greatest prosperity during the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, lasting forty -four years, to b.c. 561. See Nebuchadnezzar. Under the less able rulers who followed, the power of the empire declined, and it fell a comparatively easy prey to the Medo-Persians under Cyrus, b.c. 538. See Chaldaea, Assyria, and Media. For sketch-map see Assyria, and also map at the end of this volume.