Babyloniaca, études de philologie assyro-babylonienne.

BABYLONIAN BOOKS OF PRIVATE DEVOTION

5

prayer which was used as the eighth one in the liturgy for the u house
of baptism1,,. The Babylonians made a liturgical selection of private
prayers to be used in the house of baptism, but until we have more
examples from this liturgy, we shall be unable to say under what
circumstances individuals were admitted to it. The u house of washing n
was probably a temporary hut made for the occasion. I am of the opinion that whether the private liturgy, was the," house of washing,,,
the a house of baptism,, or the a house of light,, group, that the name
refers to the place of the ritual and the purpose.
Of the liturgy called bit rimki or," house of washing,, we have
fortunately one long prayer and fragments of two others2. The last one
of the section is addressed to Tasmetumn the spouse of Nebo. This same
prayer was used in another3 liturgy, quite different from the liturgy
of the bit rimki: the only difference is that the prayer, when used in
the bit rimki liturgy, has an insertion concerning an eclipse of the
moon and evil portents which threaten the king and his land. We
therefore infer, that the liturgy of the bit rinki was for the private
devotions of the king in time of the evil portents attending the monthly darkness of the moon. This liturgy was made by collecting prayers
of private devotion to various gods, and inserting proper lines to mention the eclipse of the moon and the king as suppliant. The first prayer
of the section is addressed to the moon god, the second to Istar
as the evening star; the third, which is entirely broken away, was undoubtably addressed to Nebo, and the fourth already discussed to
Nebo's consort TaBmet.
Beside the section of four prayers already mentioned from this ritual,
a very large tablet has been preserved, which certainly reveals a ceremony for the king in the bit rimki4. The first prayer is directed to the
sun god and enumerates the personal sorrows of the worshipper any one
1. KING, Magic no 48. For a translation of the letter K 168 there mentioned,
see now LSS II 1, 97.
2. KING, Magic no 1.
3. Ibid. no 33.
4. V R 50-51.