The sacrifices were of two kinds, as in the Jewish ritual.

The same animals and the same fruits of the earth were offered by both Babylonians and Israelites, and in many cases the regulations relating to the sacrifices were similar.

The services were elaborate, and the rubrics attached to the hymns and prayers which had to be recited are minute and complicated.

The hymns had been formed into a sort of Bible, which had in time acquired a divine authority.

So sacred were its words, that a single mispronunciation of them was sufficient to impair the efficacy of the service.