Note 250.1 — Chapter XIII · Babylonian, Anatolian, and Aegean Ritual.
Reading edition
As the phenomenon, then, is of such importance, it is necessary to be critical and unbiased in the collection of statistics. Our present field of inquiry is the Eastern and Western Mediterranean area; and here our conspicuous example is the ancient Sumerian-Babylonian ritual of Tammuz,250.1 a folk-service of lamentation and rapture, psychologically akin in many respects to Christianity, and of most powerful appeal.