Babylon the Great -Continued

 Ancient Babylonian religious concepts and practices are  found religions worldwide

"Egypt, Persia, and Greece felt the influence of the Babylonian religion . . . The strong admixture of the Semitic elements both in early Greek mythology and in Grecian cults is now so generalluy admitted by scholars as to require no further comment.  These Semitic elements are to a large extent more specifically  Babylonian." - The Religion of Babylonian and Assyria (Boston. 1898), M. Jastrow Jr., pp 699, 700.

Their gods:   There were triads of gods, and among their divinities were those representing various forces of nature and ones that exercised special influence in certain activities of mankind.  (Babylonian and Assyrian Religion, Norman Ok.;1963, S. H.  Hooke, pp, 14-40)  "The platonic trinity, itself merely rearrangement of older trinities dating back to earlier peoples, appears to be the rational philosophic trinity of attributes that gave birth to the three hypostases or divine persons taught by the Christian churches. . . .This Greek philosopher's [Plato's]conception of the divine trinity . . . can be found in all the ancient [pagan] religions." - Nouveau Dictionnaire Universal (Paris, 1865-1870), edited b M. Lachatre, Vol 2, p 1467.  

Use of images:"[In Mesopotamian religion]the role of he image was central in the cult as well as in private worship, as the wide distribution of cheap replicas of such images shows. Fundamentally, the deity was considered present in its image if it is showed certain specific features and paraphernalia and was cared for in the appropriate manner." - Ancient Mesopotamia-Portrait of a Dead Civilization (Chicago, 1964), A. L. Oppenheim, p.184.

Next time: Babylon the Great - Continued

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