Page:Star Lore Of All Ages, 1911.pdf/38

6, can be traced through all the ages, from remote antiquity until it reaches our dollar sign. [sic]

Then there is a tradition that has survived the ages, that Noah, who was also known as Oannes and Janus, was the inventor of astronomy. It is certain that Noah and his family were soon worshipped and inextricably mixed with stars and gods.

The Chaldeans attributed their knowledge of the stars to Noah, who became a two-faced deity, as he could look backwards and forwards. He was known as "the God of Gates," as he opened the door which God shut, and Noah and the Ark became Janus and Jana, solar and lunar deities. Of all this tradition meets us everywhere.

It is a remarkable fact that, from the earliest times, as far as we can judge from the cuneiform inscriptions and hieroglyphics that have been deciphered, the sign for God was a star.

Astronomy unites with history and archæology in pointing to the Euphrates Valley, and, as we might expect, the region of Mt. Ararat, as the home of those who originated the ancient constellation figures.

Authorities agree, for the most part, that the originators of Sabianism and stellar lore in this region were not the Semitic Babylonians, but a people generally termed "Akkadians," a word meaning highlanders, or mountaineers, the most ancient race known to us, who came down from the mountainous region of Elam or Susiana, to the east of Assyria, bringing with them the rudiments of writing and civilisation.

The Babylonians, previous to the invasion of the Akkadai, unquestionably had some knowledge of the stars. It was thought in those early times that the mountains on

the east supported the firmament, and that the zenith was fixed over Elam. There were observatories established in all the large cities of Chaldea, many of the shrines on the topmost terraces being dedicated to this purpose, and at an early date the stars were named and numbered.