As the introductory lecture to his collection of observations on ancient religion, Sayce begins this extract with a consideration of the difficulties of knowing what can be deduced from ancient Mesopotamian religion. Tracing the background history from the rise of Semitic culture in the kingdom of Sargon of Akkad, Sayce examines his conquest of Cyprus and his relations with Egypt. Earlier religions of Mesopotamia are considered, as is the connection between this religion and that of the Israelites. Comparison between Israelite and Babylonian priesthood, ritual, temples, and Sabbaths are considered. Food laws and the question of human sacrifice round out this exploration. Extracted from Sayce’s Origin and Growth of Religion, this booklet will be of interest to those who research the early period of the field of Assyriology in order to learn where various concepts about Mesopotamian religious life have their genesis.

Archibald Henry Sayce (1845-1933) was a renowned Assyriologist, linguist, and sometime archaeologist. Educated at Queens College, Oxford, Sayce eventually came to hold the Professorship of Assyriology at Oxford. A prolific writer, he is responsible for many of the insights taken for granted by scholars today. Sayce, for example, was the first to suggest that the Hittites had been a major empire in ancient Anatolia (what is now Turkey). He was also a clergyman in the Church of England.