Explorations in Bible lands during the 19th century - H. V. Hilprecht

—
DURING torn CENTURY: ASSYRIA AND BABYLONIA 463
generally style " the world."
It extends from the upper or
heavenly ocean (the seat of Anu) to the lower or
terrestrial
ocean (the seat of Ea), which was regarded as the continuation
of the former around and below the earth.
In other words,
Bel rules an empire which includes the whole world with
the exclusion of the upper and lower oceans, or an empire
confined on the one hand by the starry firmament which
keeps back the waters of the upper ocean (Gen. i : 6-8) and
is called heaven {an), and on the other hand by that lower
" firmament " which keeps the waters of the lower ocean in
their place (Gen. i :
9, 10) and is called earth (ki). 1 But his
empire not only lies between these two boundaries, it practically
includes them. The ziggurrat of Bel is " the link of
heaven and earth" which connects the two extreme parts
of his empire ; that is, it is the local representation of the
great mythological " mountain of the world," l Kharsagkurkura,
a structure "the summit of which reaches unto
heaven, and the foundation of which is laid in the clear
apsii," 2 i.