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Original cover of The Two Babylons, which alleges that many of the Roman Catholic churches doctrines and ceremonies came from ancient Babylonian culture. The Two Babylons was a religious pamphlet initially produced by Alexander Hislop in 1853, later expanded in 1858 and finally created as a book in 1919. Its central theme was that the Roman Catholic church was the new Babylon and that it was based on paganism. Due to this, Hislop stated that "she must be stripped of the name of a Christian Church altogether" [1] (http://www.biblebelievers.com/babylon/intro.htm). Extensively footnoted, some commentators (in particular Ralph Woodrow) have nonetheless noted that there are numerous misconceptions and factual errors in the document.
Roman Catholicism and Babylonian mystery religion
Hislop starts by comparing the Babylonians mystery religions to the Roman Catholic church. He links them by quoting Revelation 17:4-5 ("The woman was dressed in purple and scarlet, and was glittering with gold, precious stones and pearls. She held a golden cup in her hand, filled with abominable things and the filth of her adulteries. This title was written on her forehead: MYSTERY BABYLON THE GREAT THE MOTHER OF PROSTITUTES AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH" [2] (http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelation17:4-5)), in particular emphasising the "MYSTERY" part of the verse and the golden cup that the women holds. Hislop draws an analogy between the Babylonian religious ceremonies and Roman Catholic practices. The Babylonians required the participation in ceremonies to be initiated into their "mysteries" by drinking "mysterious beverages", which Hislop says dulled the partaker and opened them to concepts they would not accept in a normal state, and so the analogy he makes with the Roman Catholic church is that the priesthood gradually introduced concepts to Christianity that the original Christians would not have accepted. He further notes that, in 1825, Pope Leo XII released a Jubilee medallion with an image of the Pope on one side and an image of a woman — representing the Roman Catholic church — with a cross in one hand and a cup in the other hand. Hislop then provides evidence that foreign concepts have been introduced into the church, such as celibacy and the confessional. He cites evidence that several graves in the Roman catacombs have inscriptions that show that priests and elders were married, and alleges that the system of Roman Catholic confessional was borrowed from the Babylonians and is contrary to James 5:16 ("Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective." [3] (http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=James%205:16)). Hislop concludes the first chapter by observing that in much the same way that "Chaldean priests were believed alone to possess the key to the understanding of the Mythology of Babylon, a key handed down to them from primeval antiquity, so the priests of Rome set up to be the sole interpreters of Scripture; they only had the true tradition, transmitted from age to age, without which it was impossible to arrive at its true meaning." [4] (http://www.biblebelievers.com/babylon/sect1.htm)
Trinity in Unity
After an involved explanation of how the Babylonian culture of idolatory influenced the Ancient Greeks in chapter 2, section 1, Hislop states that there is unity in the Godhead and then diverts attention to a discussion of his understanding of Hinduism and its relation to Genesis and Exodus. Hislop then gives evidence that concept of the Trinity existed in Babylonia (they employed the use of the equilateral triangle), in Hinduism (he states Indian Hindus represented their god with a statue that has three heads on one body under the name "Eko Deva Trimurtti") and in Buddhism (he states that Japanese Buddhists worshipped an image of Buddha that had three heads and that had the name "San Pao Fuh").
Hislop focuses on the Babylonian understanding of the trinity. He explains that he believes the hieroglyphic meaning of the circle is zero, and that zero also signified "the seed" to the Babylonians. He cites Austen Henry Layard and concludes that "the triune emblem of the supreme Assyrian divinity shows clearly what had been the original patriarchal faith. First, there is the head of the old man; next, there is the zero, or circle, for "the seed"; and lastly, the wings and tail of the bird or dove; showing, though blasphemously, the unity of Father, Seed, or Son, and Holy Ghost."
The Mother and Child, and the Original of the Child
The image on the left, dating from 20BC, depicts Isis and Horus, the image on the right is an early christian depiction of Mary and Jesus, from 5th century Fayum In chapter 2, section 2, Hislop alleges that in the same way that first persons in the Godhead (or rather, the Father) was not worshipped by the Babylonians or the Indian Hindus, the Roman Catholic church no longer worships the Father but instead emphasises worship of the Mother and the Child. He states that the Babylonians "worshipped a Goddess Mother and a Son, who was represented in pictures and in images as an infant or child in his mother's arms" and that "[in] Egypt, the Mother and the Child were worshipped under the names of Isis and Osiris". Further similarities are noted in other cultures: in India, as Isi and Iswara; in Asia, as Cybele and Deoius; in Pagan Rome, as Fortuna and Jupiter-puer, or Jupiter, the boy; in Greece, as Ceres, the Great Mother, with the babe at her breast, or as Irene, the goddess of Peace, with the boy Plutus in her arms; and in Tibet, in China, and Japan where Hislop says that "Jesuit missionaries were astronished to find the counterpart of Madonna and her child as devoutly worshipped as in Papal Rome itself; Shing Moo, the Holy Mother in China, and a glory around her, exactly as if a Roman Catholic artist had been employed to set her up.".
The Child in Assyria
Further on in section 2, under a new subsection entitled "The Child in Assyria", Hislop explores the relationship of the ancient Babylonian mother and child and their similarities to the Roman Catholic church. He says that the Babylonian mother, who he says was worshipped as Rhea by other nations, was Semiramis. He further says that the son of Semiramis is Tammuz (from the Bible), or otherwise known as Bacchus by other classical writers. Hislop then notes that Ninus, the son of Belus or Bel, was the husband of Semiramis and thus Ninus was both the son and husband of Semiramis. Later in his text Hislop attempts to show how as Rhea was Semiramis this accounts for the confusion caused by the relationship between Isis and Osirus, who he says was represented in Egypt as both son and husband of his mother and thus the reason why the Indian god Isawara is represented as a baby at the breast of his wife, Isi or Parvati.
Hislop says that Gnaeus Pompeius Trogus, a 1st century BC Roman historian, states that Ninus was king of the Assyrians, and thus he is clearly Nimrod. He backs up his hypothesis with accounts of Diodorus Siculus and on the basis of Genesis 10:11, where he says that Asshur was expelled by Nimrod and setup a kingdom that competed with him. Under the assumption that Ninus was Nimrod, and that Ninus is the son of Bel (who was said to have founded Babylon), Hislop states that Bel /Belus must have been Cush as Genesis 10:8 says that "Cush begat Nimrod". From this he says that Cush is the son of Ham, or by his Egyptian name Hermes, or also known as Mercury. Hermes, says Hislop, was the original "prophet of idolatory" who caused the division of languages in Genesis 11. He says that the pagans recognised Hermes as the interpreter of the Gods.
Furthermore, Hislop links Janus (the Roman god of gates, doors, doorways, beginnings, and endings) to Cush, who he identifies as Bel "The Confounder", via Janus's symbol, the club. He says the ancients called Janus "Chaos" and then states that this is the real origin of Vulcan's Hammer (which he connects to Jeremiah 50:23 — "How broken and shattered is the hammer of the whole earth! How desolate is Babylon among the nations!"). Hislop connects the Hebrew word used for scattering, Hephaitz, with the Greek form of the word Hephaizt, which he then connects to Hephaistos to Vulcan, "The father of the gods." (it appears that Hislop made a mistake here, because Vulcan was son of Jupiter and Juno). Further, from these ideas he concludes that as "Hephaistos [was] the name of the ringleader in the first rebellion" he states compares the similarity of Hephaistos to Bel, the "Confounder of tongues".
Hislop comes to the conclusion that Bel/Belus founded Babylon but Ninus or Nimrod built the city, and that as the historical Bel is Cush then the identity of Ninus and Nimrod are confirmed.
The Child In Egypt
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