The Mathews journal. (Mathews C.H. [Court House]) 1903-1937, 1911-11-02
PRIESTS USED ASTROjG6Y
TO GAIN POWER IN ORIENT

Antiquities in the same city, in his
initial lecture before the Lowell In
stitute on "Astrology and Religion. 8"
of Boston, recently explained why as
trolOgy came to be so potent an
element in Oriental beliefs. In it's
most concise form ii was because,
through their observations of the
heavens, the priests of old were able
to predict occurrences, even as COM
pick as eCipSeS, and consequently had
great power, through belief on the
part of the people of the good in
huence of the Star-gods, and that the
evil omens might he palliated or the
i'll aVerted by sacrifice.
The earlier paragraphs of the story
were explanatory of modern re
searches, whereby the true relations
of astrology to the life of the people in
Babylon have become known. with
in few years" said the speaker,
the attention Of scholars has been
drawn to the discoveries in the East.
Great palaces have been unearthed
which were formerly unknown. and
the wealth of literature has exceeded
all expectation. In all of this there
is much now known about the ancient
religions, and among them, that
erroneous belief, astrology. should be
most interesting, in that for a long
time il exercised enormous influence
over the religions of many peoples
This domination, that existed for CEN
tuTleS. broke DOWN nnallN with the
fall Of the geocentric idea of the uni
verse.
When the Copernican system came
into science the heavens were robbed
of the enormous portent that they had
borne, and thus passed the most mon
strOus Of chimeraS. the eighteenth and
nineteenth centuries entirely con-
demning these heresies. At the end
Of the nineteenth century such de-
Yelopments OF history were possible
that astrology has once more COM
PEELED attention. but not as the NOV
interesting force of ages long gone
by
First TO Have COSmic Religion.
Professor CumOnt noted how Baby
lon was the first nation to have a
cosmic religion bound by the scientific
facts of the times into harmony with
nature. and how the effort was made
to eliminate the narrow limits of pure
paganism, and thus there was paved
the way for Christianity. Quite at
length the speaker related how efforts
have been made to revive the old star
worship. or at least to give to il
greater significance than belongs to il.
one Of these attempts was by citizen
DupuiS in 1924, who tried TO carry
back the limits of exact scientific
knowledge through some of the dis
cONerieS of Napoleon. one of these
included zOdiacs Of fabulous antiquity
thirteen centuries at least before the
Christian era. These suggestions OF
Dupuis failed, however, when the dis
cOVery was made that they represent
ed only the time of the last of the
Pharaohs.
The later developments show that
the beginnings of astronomy must now
be sought. not on the banks OF the
Nile but in the valley of the Euph-
rates. The neutrality-suspicious. have in
antiquity for precise observations.
claiming an astral conception of the
universe which was in effect in early
ages extending into the domain of in
tellectual activity. The hypothesis Of
this group of men, Professor Cumont
characterized in the words, They con-
tain nothing true that is new, and
nothing new that is true" Many of
the claims are anarchronistic. as for
example, how could the Chaldeans
avail themselves of the corrections of
procession of the equinoxes, when this
very procession was not known for
centuries later. Just as the breeze Of
Dupuis was diSpelled when the time
was settled of the construction of the
zodiacS, so the notions of the Pan
have fallen before later
precise knowledge"
Development of knowledge.
The second half of the lecture of
Professor Cumont was devoted to the
setting forth Of the date at which
scientific knowledge was developed at
Babylon, and in outlining the way in
which this knowledge came TO be the
basis of the religion. When was
astronomy accepted in Babylon?"
Thanks to recent researches it is now
possible TO determine the amount of |
his knowledge at different dates. Be |
-ore the eighth century, Il. G., there !
vas no scientific astronomy possible /
which is shown by the fact that there
existed no exact system of chronology. !
During the first twenty or thirty CEN |
uries of MeSopotamian history, the |
Observations were merely empirical !
md the astronomy here shows no valid |
Inference from that of Egyptians |
or the AZtecs. 747 3. G. may
low be adopted for the so-called era |
II Nabonassar, and thereafter logical |
count was kept of time and it became
possible to construct tables and later |
wen to compute eclipses.
Then was begun the accumulation
# the data which were available for
'tOlemy in his computations. The
cientific facts are thus established !
While the library of Ashurbanipal-
napalus-furnishes in its cunei-
orm tablets evidence as to the
trength of the astral factor to the re
iSion. Under prosperous times Baby |
on evidenced astonishing progress in
stronomy, which showed no diminu-
ION for two hundred years.
These computers of old could figure
he monthly places of the sun ana
noon and determine the weaving i'm
ma out of the seven planets. The
ablet of Il. c. 523 is the Oldest known
document Of Babylonian astronomers
nd between that time and b. c. s,
here are fifty others that serve TO give
good idea of the progress of astronO-
ny. The Chaldean astronomy is there
ore not Of the great antiquity of the
ourth or fifth millennium. but of the
rst gradually and Iaboriously con I
tructed, and Babylon and Greece
ere cOntemporaneous workers in the
evelopment of the science But
mere was a difference in the develop ,
lent OF the two countries, the Baby ,
'nians got little farther than obser- .
ational astronomy, while the Greeks :
lpidly reached forward into the !
leoretical. On the other hand. II
as the more eastern nation that !
ade its religion profit by the new :
:
Primitive Religions. Z
DR.. Cumont next outlined the {
'oWth of primitive religions in gen
al, noting how the natural forces | Z
,cessarily present themselves in their o
lations to man. A god in every I