The  oldest  writings  brought  into  use  as
scriptures  of  religion  were  the  Babylon-
ian, dating  from  about  4000  B.  C.  The
Egyptians  also  had  sacred  writings,  such
as  the  <Book  of  the  Dead,>  which  may
have  had  nearly  as  early  an  origin.  In-
dia comes  next  to  Egypt  and  Babylonia
in  the  antiquity  (perhaps  2000-1500
B.  C.)  of  the  poems  or  hymns  made  into
sacred  books  and  called  the  Veda.  Per-
sia follows  in  order  of  time,  perhaps
1400  B.  C.  To  the  Greeks,  from  about
900  B.  C,  the  Homeric  poems  were
sacred  scriptures  for  many  centuries,
very  much  as  in  India  Sanskrit  poems
became  sacred.  The  Chinese  scriptures
date  not  far  from  600  B.  C,  and  the
Buddhist  about  a  hundred  years  later.
The  Hebrews  first  got  the  idea  at  the
last  end  of  their  history,  when  in  exile
in  Babylon;  and  they  not  only  borro'wed
the  idea,  but  borrowed  stories  and  be-
liefs and  religious  feelings.  Under  the
direction  of  Ezra,  a  governor  sent  from
Babylon,  they  publicly  recognized  writ-
ings got  together  by  the  priestly  scribes
as  their  sacred  scriptures.  The  exact
date  was  444  B.  C.  The  idea  of  script-
ures of  religion  is  a  universal  ancient
idea,  similar  to  the  idea  of  literature  in
modern  times.  It  in  some  cases  g^w
very  largely  out  of  belief  that  the  trance
inspiration,  which  was  very  common,
was  of  divine  origin.  The  Koran,  or
Qur'an,  which  came  very  late,  622  A.  D.
