Rising, and sometimes by their Setting, and at other times by
their Colour, as may be experienc'd by those that will diligently
observe it; sometimes foreshewing Hurricanes, at other times
Tempestuous Rains, and then again exceeding Droughts. By these,
they say, are often portended the appearance of Comets, Eclipses
of the Sun and Moon, Earthquakes and all other the various
Changes and remarkable effects in the Air, boding good and bad,
not only to Nations in general, but to Kings and Private Persons
in particular. Under the course of these Planets, they say are
Thirty Stars, which they call Counselling Gods, half of whom
observe what is done under the Earth, and the other half take
notice of the actions of Men upon the Earth, and what is
transacted in the Heavens. Once every Ten Days space (they say)
one of the highest Order of these Stars descends to them that are
of the lowest, like a Messenger sent from them above; and then
again another ascends from those below to them above, and that
this is their constant natural motion to continue for ever. The
chief of these Gods, they say, are Twelve in number, to each of
which they attribute a Month, and one Sign of the Twelve in the
Zodiack.

"Through these Twelve Signs the Sun, Moon, and the other Five
Planets run their Course. The Sun in a Years time, and the Moon
in the space of a Month. To every one of the Planets they assign
their own proper Courses, which are perform'd variously in lesser
or shorter time according as their several motions are quicker or
slower. These Stars, they say, have a great influence both as to
good and bad in Mens Nativities; and from the consideration of
their several Natures, may be foreknown what will befal Men
afterwards. As they foretold things to come to other Kings
formerly, so they did to Alexander who conquer'd Darius, and to
his Successors Antigonus and Seleucus Nicator; and accordingly
things fell out as they declar'd; which we shall relate
particularly hereafter in a more convenient time. They tell
likewise private Men their Fortunes so certainly, that those who
have found the thing true by Experience, have esteem'd it a
Miracle, and above the reach of man to perform. Out of the Circle
of the Zodiack they describe Four and Twenty Stars, Twelve
towards the North Pole, and as many to the South.

"Those which we see, they assign to the living; and the other
that do not appear, they conceive are Constellations for the
Dead; and they term them Judges of all things. The Moon, they
say, is in the lowest Orb; and being therefore next to the Earth
(because she is so small), she finishes her Course in a little
time, not through the swiftness of her Motion, but the shortness
of her Sphear. In that which they affirm (that she has but a
borrow'd light, and that when she is eclips'd, it's caus'd by the
interposition of the shadow of the Earth) they agree with the
Grecians.

"Their Rules and Notions concerning the Eclipses of the Sun are
but weak and mean, which they dare not positively foretel, nor
fix a certain time for them. They have likewise Opinions
concerning the Earth peculiar to themselves, affirming it to
resemble a Boat, and to be hollow, to prove which, and other
things relating to the frame of the World, they abound in
Arguments; but to give a particular Account of 'em, we conceive
would be a thing foreign to our History. But this any Man may
justly and truly say, That the Chaldeans far exceed all other Men
in the Knowledge of Astrology, and have study'd it most of any
other Art or Science: But the number of years during which the
Chaldeans say, those of their Profession have given themselves to
the study of this natural Philosophy, is incredible; for when
Alexander was in Asia, they reckon'd up Four Hundred and Seventy
Thousand Years since they first began to observe the Motions of
the Stars."


Let us now supplement this estimate of Babylonian influence with
another estimate written in our own day, and quoted by one of the
most recent historians of Babylonia and Assyria.[24] The estimate
in question is that of Canon Rawlinson in his Great Oriental
Monarchies.[25] Of Babylonia he says:

"Hers was apparently the genius which excogitated an alphabet;
worked out the simpler problems of arithmetic; invented
implements for measuring the lapse of time; conceived the idea of
raising enormous structures with the poorest of all materials,
clay; discovered the art of polishing, boring, and engraving
gems; reproduced with truthfulness the outlines of human and
animal forms; attained to high perfection in textile fabrics;
studied with success the motions of the heavenly bodies;
conceived of grammar as a science; elaborated a system of law;
saw the value of an exact chronology--in almost every branch of
science made a beginning, thus rendering it comparatively easy
for other nations to proceed with the superstructure.... It was
from the East, not from Egypt, that Greece derived her
architecture, her sculpture, her science, her philosophy, her
mathematical knowledge--in a word, her intellectual life. And
Babylon was the source to which the entire stream of Eastern
civilization may be traced. It is scarcely too much to say that,
but for Babylon, real civilization might not yet have dawned upon
the earth."


Considering that a period of almost two thousand years separates
the times of writing of these two estimates, the estimates
themselves are singularly in unison. They show that the greatest
of Oriental nations has not suffered in reputation at the hands


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