countenance. Of all which were preserved delineations in the temple of
Belus at Babylon."

[Illustration: Babylonian Demon. [No. 93,089.]]


[THE SLAUGHTER OF THE QUEEN OF THE ABYSS.]

"The person, who presided over them, was a woman named OMUROCA; which
in the Chaldean language is THALATTH; in Greek THALASSA, the sea; but
which might equally be interpreted the Moon. All things being in this
situation, Belus came, and cut the woman asunder: and of one half of
her he formed the earth, and of the other half the heavens; and at the
same time destroyed the animals within her. All this (he says) was an
allegorical description of nature."


[THE CREATION OF MAN.]

"For, the whole universe consisting of moisture, and animals being
generated therein, the deity above-mentioned[1] took off his own head:
upon which the other gods mixed the blood, as it gushed out, with the
earth; and from whence were formed men. On this account it is that
they are rational and partake of divine knowledge."

[Footnote 1: The god whose head was taken off was not Belus, as is
commonly thought, but the god who the cuneiform texts tell us was
called "Kingu."]