of the Marduk cult with the chief rôle assigned to their favourite. The hymns once sung in the temple of Bel were re-edited and adapted to the cult of Babylon. In this process the older Bel was deliberately set aside, and the climax was reached when the conquest of the monster Tiamat, symbolizing the chaos prevailing in primeval days, was ascribed to Marduk instead of, as in the older form of the epic, to Bel. With this stroke Marduk became the creator of the world, including mankind—again setting aside the far older claims of Bel to this distinction.
Besides absorbing the prerogatives of Ea and Bel, Marduk was also imbued with the attributes of other of the great gods, such as Adad, Shamash, Nergal and Ninib, so that, more particularly as we approach the days of the Neo-Babylonian Empire, the impression is created that Marduk was the only real deity recognized, and that the other gods were merely the various forms under which he manifested himself. So far as one can speak of a monotheistic tendency in Babylonia it connects itself with this conception that was gradually crystallized in regard to the old solar deity of Babylon.
The history of the city of Babylon can now be traced back to the days of Sargon of Agade (before 3000 B.C.) who appears to have given the city its name. There is every reason to assume, therefore, that the cult of Marduk existed already at this early period, though it must always be borne in mind that, until the days of Khammurabi, his jurisdiction was limited to the city of which he was the patron and that he was viewed solely as a solar deity.
On monuments and cylinders he is represented as armed with the weapon with which he despatched the monster Tiamat. At times this monster is also depicted lying vanquished at his feet, and occasionally the monster with the lance or the lance alone is reproduced instead of the god himself.
In the astral-theological system, Marduk is identified with the planet Jupiter. As the creator of the world, the New Year’s festival, known as Zagmuk and celebrated at the time of the vernal equinox, was sacred to him. The festival, which lasted for eleven days, symbolized the new birth of nature—a reproduction therefore of the creation of the world. The arbiter of all fates, Marduk, was pictured as holding an assembly of the gods during the New Year’s festival for the purpose of deciding the lot of each individual for the year to come. The epic reciting his wonderful deed in despatching the monster Tiamat and in establishing law and order in the world in the place of chaos was recited in his temple at Babylon known as E-Saggila, “the lofty house,” and there are some reasons for believing that the recital was accompanied by a dramatical representation of the epic.
The meaning of the name Marduk is unknown. By a species of word-play the name was interpreted as “the son of the chamber,” with reference perhaps to the sacred chamber of fate in which he sat in judgment on the New Year’s festival. Ideographically he is represented by two signs signifying “child of the day” (or “of the sun”) which is a distinct allusion to his original solar character. Other ideographic signs describe him as the “strong and universal ruler.” The name of his consort was Sarpanit, i.e. the shining or brilliant one—again an allusion to Marduk’s solar traits—and this name was playfully twisted by the Babylonian priests to mean “the seed-producing” (as though compounded of zēr, seed, and bānit, producing), which was regarded as an appropriate appellation for the female counterpart of the creator of mankind and of life in general. The punning etymology betrays the evident desire of the priests to see in Marduk’s consort a form or manifestation of the great mother-goddess Ishtar (q.v.), just as in Assyria Ishtar frequently appears as the consort of the chief god of Assyria, known as Assur (q.v.). (M. Ja.)
MARE, the English term for the female of any animal of the family Equidae, of the ass, or zebra, but particularly of the horse. It is also used of the camel. To find a “mare’s nest” is an old proverbial saying for a purely imaginary discovery. In
“night-mare,” an oppressive or terrifying dream, the termination
is a word appearing as mar, maer and mara in various Teutonic
languages for a goblin, supposed to sit on a sleeper’s chest
and cause these dreams: cf. elf. This Teutonic word also
appears in the French cauchemar, the first part being from
caucher, to tread or trample upon, Lat. calcare.
MARE CLAUSUM and MARE LIBERUM (Lat. for “closed sea”
and “free sea”), in international law, terms associated with the
historic controversy which arose out of demands on the part of
different states to assert exclusive dominion over areas of the
open or high sea. Thus Spain laid claim to exclusive dominion
over whole oceans, Great Britain to all her environing narrow
seas and so on. These claims gave rise to vigorous opposition
by other powers and led to the publication of Grotius’s work
(1609) called Mare liberum. In Mare clausum (1635) John
Selden endeavoured to prove that the sea was practically as
capable of appropriation as territory. Owing to the conflict of
claims which grew out of the controversy, maritime states had
to moderate their demands and base their pretensions to maritime
dominion on the principle that it extended seawards
from land.
A formula was found by Bynkershoek in his De dominio maris (1702) for the restriction of dominion over the sea to the actual distance to which cannon range could protect it. This became universally adopted and developed into the three-mile belt (see Territorial Waters). In recent times controversies have arisen in connexion with the Baltic, the Black Sea and more especially the Bering Sea. In the latter case the United States, after the purchase of Alaska, vainly attempted to assert dominion beyond the three-mile limit. Still more recently the hardship of treating the greater part of Moray Firth as open sea to the exclusion of British and to the advantage of foreign fishermen has been raised (see North Sea Fisheries Convention; Territorial Waters).
Conventions for the suppression of the slave trade, including the Brussels General Act of 1885, and the North Sea Fisheries Convention, have placed restrictions on the freedom of the high sea, and possibly, in the general interest, other agreements will bring it further under control, on the principle that what is the property of all nations must be used without detriment to its use by others (see High Seas). (T. Ba.)
MAREE, LOCH, a fresh-water lake in the county of Ross and
Cromarty, Scotland. Its name—of which Maroy and Mourie
are older variants—does not, as is often supposed, commemorate
the Virgin, but St Maelrubha, who came from Bangor in Ireland
in 671 and founded a monastery at Applecross and a chapel (now
in ruins) on Isle Maree. Trending in a south-easterly to north-westerly
direction, the lake has a length of 1312 m. from Kinlochewe
at the head of the dam erected in the 16th century (or earlier)
by the iron-smelters of the Cheardach Ruardh, or Red Smiddy,
on the short but impetuous river Ewe by which it drains to the
sea. It lies at a height of 32 ft. above sea-level; the greatest
breadth is just over 2 m. at Slattadale, the mean breadth being
910 of a mile; and the greatest depth, 367 ft., occurs in the upper
basin, the mean depth being 125 ft. Its waters cover an area
of fully 11 sq. m., and its islands nearly 1 sq. m., while the
drainage area is 171 sq. m. A remarkable feature is the large
number (more than 30) and considerable area of the islands.
Excepting Loch Cròcach, a small lake in the Assynt district of
Sutherlandshire, its insularity (i.e. the ratio of the total area of
the islands to that of the water surface) is higher than that of
any other lake in Great Britain, Loch Lomond coming next.
Nearly all the islands lie north and east of Slattadale, the largest
being Eilean Subhainn, or St Swithin’s Isle, which contains a
small lake 750 ft. long, 300 ft. broad and 64 ft. deep. For two-thirds
of its length the loch is flanked by magnificent mountains.
On the north-east the principal heights are Ben Slioch (3217 ft.),
whose sugar-loaf form dominates the landscape, Ben Lair (2817)
and Ben Airidh-a-Char (2593), and, on the south-west, the peaks
of Ben Eay, four of which exceed 3000 ft.
MAREMMA (a corruption of Marittima, “situated on the sea”), a marshy region of Tuscany, Italy, extending from the mouth of the Cecina to Orbetello and varying in breadth from 15 to 20 m. In Etruscan and Roman times the Maremma was a
