As families were formed into tribes and communities, they came to have a common ruler or priest, and his dwelling-place was counted by all as the common center of covenant with their common deity; and when they would worship that deity there, they worshiped at the threshold altar of his sanctuary. So it was that the threshold was the place of the hearth-fire and altar, in both house and temple.
When man acquired property rights beyond his dwelling-place, and communities and peoples gained control over portions of country more or less extensive, the boundary limits of their possessions were extended, but were no less real and positive than before. The protecting deity of the region thus bounded was recognized as having sway in that domain; and those who were dwellers there were in covenant relations with him. Therefore it was that the boundary line of such domain was deemed its threshold, and as such was held sacred as a place of worship and of sacrifice.
A private landmark was a sacred boundary, and was a threshold altar for its possessor. To remove or to disregard such a local threshold, was an offense not only against its owner, but against the deity in whose name it had been set up.
Among the earliest remains from unearthed Babylonia are local landmarks, or threshold boundary stones, inscribed, severally, with a dedication and an appeal to the deity honored by him who erected the stone. These local landmarks were ordinarily in the form of a phallus; as phallic forms were numerous under Babylonian temple thresholds. Among the records of those peoples are writings, showing the importance attached to such threshold stones, in the contracts accompanying their setting up, and in the sacred ceremonies on that occasion.
Illustrations of the importance attached by the ancient Babylonians to a boundary stone, or threshold landmark, are found in the records of the imprecations inscribed on these phallic pillars, as directed against the violator of their sacredness.[471] For example, a Babylonian, Sir-usur [“O snake-god protect”], a descendant of the house of Habban, presented a valuable tract of land to his daughter on her betrothal to Tâbashâp-Marduk. The withering curse inscribed on the conventional boundary-stone pillar is as follows: