SHALLOT, Allium ascalonicum, a hardy bulbous perennial, which has not been certainly found wild and is regarded by A. de Candolle as probably a modification of A. Cepa, dating from about the beginning of the Christian era (Origin of Cultivated Plants, p. 71). It is extensively cultivated and is much used in cookery, besides which it is excellent when pickled. It is propagated by offsets, which are often planted in September or October, but the principal crop should not be got in earlier than February or the beginning of March. In planting, the tops of the bulbs should be kept a little above ground, and it is a commendable plan to draw away the soil surrounding the bulbs when they have got root-hold. They should not be planted on ground recently manured. They come to maturity about July or August. There are two sorts—the common, and the Jersey or Russian, the latter being much larger and less pungent.
SHALMANESER [Ass. Ṣulmānu-aṣarid, “the god Sulman (Solomon) is chief”], the name of three Assyrian princes.
Shalmaneser I., son of Hadad-nirari I., succeeded his father as king of Assyria about 1310 B.C. He carried on a series of campaigns against the Aramaeans in northern Mesopotamia, annexed a portion of Cilicia to the Assyrian empire, and established Assyrian colonies on the borders of Cappadocia. According to his annals, discovered at Assur, in his first year he conquered eight countries in the north-west and destroyed the fortress of Arinnu, the dust of which he brought to Assur. In his second year he defeated Sattuara, king of Malatia, and his Hittite allies, and conquered the whole country as far south as Carchemish. He built palaces at Assur and Nineveh, restored “the world-temple” at Assur, and founded the city of Calah.
Shalmaneser II. succeeded his father Assur-nazir-pal III. 858 B.C. His long reign was a constant series of campaigns against the eastern tribes, the Babylonians, the nations of Mesopotamia and Syria, as well as Cilicia and Ararat. His armies penetrated to Lake Van and Tarsus, the Hittites of Carchemish were compelled to pay tribute, and Hamath (Hamah) and Damascus were subdued. In 854 B.C. a league formed by Hamath, Arvad, Ammon, “Ahab of Israel” and other neighbouring princes, under the leadership of Damascus, fought an indecisive battle against him at Karkar (Qarqar), and other battles followed in 849 and 846 (see Jews § 10). In 842 Hazael was compelled to take refuge within the walls of his capital. The territory of Damascus was devastated, and Jehu of Samaria (whose ambassadors are represented on the Black Obelisk now in the British Museum) sent tribute along with the Phoenician cities. Babylonia had already been conquered as far as the marshes of the Chaldaeans in the south, and the Babylonian king put to death. In 836 Shalmaneser made an expedition against the Tibareni (Tabal) which was followed by one against Cappadocia, and in 832 came the campaign in Cilicia. In the following year the old king found it needful to hand over the command of his armies to the Tartan (commander-in-chief), and six years later Nineveh and other cities revolted against him under his rebel son Assur-danin-pal. Civil war continued for two years; but the rebellion was at last crushed by Samas-Rimmon or Samsi-Hadad, another son of Shalmaneser. Shalmaneser died soon afterwards in 823 B.C. He had built a palace at Calah, and the annals of his reign are engraved on an obelisk of black marble which he erected there.
See V. Scheil in Records of the Past, new series, iv. 36-79.
Shalmaneser III. (or IV.) appears as governor of Zimirra in Phoenicia in the reign of Tiglath-pileser IV. (or III.) and is supposed by H. Winckler to have been the son of the latter king. At all events, on the death of Tiglath-pileser, he succeeded to the throne the 25th of Tebet 727 B.C., and changed his original name of Ululā to that of Shalmaneser. The revolt of Samaria took place during his reign (see Jews § 15), and while he was besieging the rebel city he died on the 12th of Tebet 722 B.C. and the crown was seized by Sargon.
For all these rulers see Babylonia and Assyria, Sections V. and VIII., and works quoted. (A. H. S.)
SHAMANISM, the name commonly given to the religion of the Ural-Altaic peoples. Properly speaking, however, there is nothing to distinguish Shamanism from the religions of other peoples in a similar stage of culture. On the other hand, the shaman or priest (Tungus saman, Altain Turk kama, cf. Russian kamlanie) performs duties which differ in some respects from those of the ordinary magician; one of his main functions is to protect individuals from hostile supernatural influence. He deals both with good and bad spirits; he also performs sacrifices and procures oracles. The drum (tungur) is an important instrument in his ceremonies; it may be assumed that in many cases the effect of the preliminary performances is to induce autohypnotic phenomena. The shaman's office is held to be hereditary and his chief assistants are ancestral spirits.
See Radloff, Aus Sibirien, ii.; C. de Harlez, Religion nationale des Tatares orientaux; Hiekisch, “Die Tungusen,” Mitt. der anthropologischen Gesellschaft, Wien, xviii. 165-182; Revue de l'histoire des religions, xl. 321, xlvii. 51.
SHAMASH, or Šamaš, the common name of the sun-god in Babylonia and Assyria. The name signifies perhaps “servitor,” and would thus point to a secondary position occupied at one time by this deity. Both in early and in late inscriptions Shamash is designated as the “offspring of Nannar,” i.e. of the moon-god, and since, in an enumeration of the pantheon, Sin generally takes precedence of Shamash, it is in relationship, presumably, to the moon-god that the sun-god appears as the dependent power. Such a supposition would accord with the prominence acquired by the moon in the calendar and in astrological calculations, as well as with the fact pointed out (see Sin) that the moon-cult belongs to the nomadic and therefore earlier, stage of civilization, whereas the sun-god rises to full importance only after the agricultural stage has, been reached. The two chief centres of sun-worship in Babylonia were Sippara (Sippar), represented by the mounds at Abu Habba, and Larsa, represented by the modern Senkerah. At both places the chief sanctuary bore the name E-barra (or E-babbara) “the shining house”—a direct allusion to the brilliancy of the sun-god. Of the two temples, that at Sippara was the more famous, but temples to Shamash were erected in all large centre—as Babylon, Ur, Nippur and Nineveh.
The attribute most commonly associated with Shamash is justice. Just as the sun disperses darkness, so Shamash brings wrong and injustice to light. Khammurabi attributes to Shamash the inspiration that led him to gather the existing laws and legal procedures into a code, and in the design accompanying the code the king represents himself in an attitude of adoration before Shamash as the embodiment of the idea of justice. Several centuries before Khammurabi, Ur-Engur of the Ur dynasty (c. 2600 B.C.) declared that he rendered decisions “according to the just laws of Shamash.” It was a logical consequence of this conception of the sun-god that he was regarded also as the one who released the sufferer from the grasp of the demons. The sick man, therefore, appeals to Shamash as the god who can be depended upon to help those who are suffering unjustly. This aspect of the sun-god is vividly brought out in the hymns addressed to him, which are, therefore, among the finest productions in the entire realm of Babylonian literature.
It is evident from the material at our disposal that the Shamash cults at Sippara and Larsa so overshadowed local sun-deities elsewhere as to lead to an absorption of the minor deities by the predominating one. In the systematized pantheon these minor sun-gods become attendants that do his service. Such are Bunene, spoken of as his chariot driver, whose consort is Atgimakh, Kettu (“justice”) and Mesharu (“right”), who are introduced as, servitors of Shamash. Other sun-deities, as Ninib (q.v.) and Nergal (q.v.), the patron deities of important centres, retained their independent existence as certain phases of the sun, Ninib becoming the sun-god of the morning and of the spring time, and Nergal the sun-god of the noon and of the summer solstice, while Shamash was viewed as the sun-god in general.
Together with Sin and Ishtar, Shamash forms a second triad
