When for seven days, for seven For six days and nights
nights,
The flood had overwhelmed the The wind blew, the flood, the
land, tempest overwhelmed the land.
When the wind-storm had driven When the seventh day drew near,
the great boat over the the tempest, the flood, ceased
mighty waters, from the battle
In which it had fought like a
host.
The Sun-god came forth shedding Then the sea rested and was
light over heaven and earth. still, and the wind-storm, the
flood, ceased.
(3) Col. V, ll. 3-6 are here compared with Gilg. Epic, XI,
ll. 128-32.
The two narratives do not precisely agree as to the duration of the
storm, for while in the Sumerian account the storm lasts seven days and
seven nights, in the Semitic-Babylonian Version it lasts only six days
and nights, ceasing at dawn on the seventh day. The difference, however,
is immaterial when we compare these estimates with those of the Hebrew
Versions, the older of which speaks of forty days' rain, while the later
version represents the Flood as rising for no less than a hundred and
fifty days.
The close parallel between the Sumerian and Babylonian Versions is not,
however, confined to subject-matter, but here, even extends to some
of the words and phrases employed. It has already been noted that
the Sumerian term employed for "flood" or "deluge" is the attested
equivalent of the Semitic word; and it may now be added that the word
which may be rendered "great boat" or "great ship" in the Sumerian text
is the same word, though partly expressed by variant characters, which
occurs in the early Semitic fragment of the Deluge story from Nippur.(1)
In the Gilgamesh Epic, on the other hand, the ordinary ideogram for
"vessel" or "ship"(2) is employed, though the great size of the vessel
is there indicated, as in Berossus and the later Hebrew Version, by
detailed measurements. Moreover, the Sumerian and Semitic verbs,
which are employed in the parallel passages quoted above for the
"overwhelming" of the land, are given as synonyms in a late syllabary,
while in another explanatory text the Sumerian verb is explained as
applying to the destructive action of a flood.(3) Such close linguistic
parallels are instructive as furnishing additional proof, if it were
needed, of the dependence of the Semitic-Babylonian and Assyrian
Versions upon Sumerian originals.
(1) The Sumerian word is _(gish)ma-gur-gur_, corresponding
to the term written in the early Semitic fragment, l. 8, as
_(isu)ma-gur-gur_, which is probably to be read under its
Semitized form _magurgurru_. In l. 6 of that fragment the
vessel is referred to under the synonymous expression
_(isu)elippu ra-be-tu_, "a great ship".
(2) i.e. (GISH)MA, the first element in the Sumerian word,
read in Semitic Babylonian as _elippu_, "ship"; when
employed in the early Semitic fragment it is qualified by
the adj. _ra-be-tu_, "great". There is no justification for
assuming, with Prof. Hilbrecht, that a measurement of the
vessel was given in l. 7 of the early Semitic fragment.
(3) The Sumerian verb _ur_, which is employed in l. 2 of the
Fifth Column in the expression _ba-an-da-ab-ur-ur_,
translated as "raged", occurs again in l. 4 in the phrase
_kalam-ma ba-ur-ra_, "had overwhelmed the land". That we are
justified in regarding the latter phrase as the original of
the Semitic _i-sap-pan mâta_ (Gilg. Epic, XI, l. 129) is
proved by the equation Sum. _ur-ur_ = Sem. _sa-pa-nu_
(Rawlinson, _W.A.I._, Vol. V, pl. 42, l. 54 c) and by the
explanation Sum. _ur-ur_ = Sem. _a-ba-tu a a-bu-bi_, i.e.
"_ur-ur_ = to smite, of a flood" (_Cun. Texts_, Pt. XII, pl.
50, Obv., l. 23); cf. Poebel, _Hist. Texts_, p. 54, n. 1.
It may be worth while to pause for a moment in our study of the text, in
order to inquire what kind of boat it was in which Ziusudu escaped the
Flood. It is only called "a great boat" or "a great ship" in the
text, and this term, as we have noted, was taken over, semitized, and
literally translated in an early Semitic-Babylonian Version. But the
Gilgamesh Epic, representing the later Semitic-Babylonian Version,
supplies fuller details, which have not, however, been satisfactorily
explained. Either the obvious meaning of the description and figures
there given has been ignored, or the measurements have been applied to
a central structure placed upon a hull, much on the lines of a
modern "house-boat" or the conventional Noah's ark.(1) For the latter
interpretation the text itself affords no justification. The statement
is definitely made that the length and breadth of the vessel itself are
to be the same;(2) and a later passage gives ten _gar_ for the height of
its sides and ten _gar_ for the breadth of its deck.(3) This description
has been taken to imply a square box-like structure, which, in order to
be seaworthy, must be placed on a conjectured hull.
(1) Cf., e.g., Jastrow, _Hebr. and Bab. Trad._, p. 329.
(2) Gilg. Epic, XI, ll. 28-30.
(3) L. 58 f. The _gar_ contained twelve cubits, so that the
vessel would have measured 120 cubits each way; taking the
Babylonian cubit, on the basis of Gudea's scale, at 495 mm.
(cf. Thureau-Dangin, _Journal Asiatique_, Dix. Sér., t.
XIII, 1909, pp. 79 ff., 97), this would give a length,
breadth, and height of nearly 195 ft.
I do not think it has been noted in this connexion that a vessel,
approximately with the relative proportions of that described in the
Gilgamesh Epic, is in constant use to-day on the lower Tigris and
Euphrates. A _kuffah_,(1) the familiar pitched coracle of Baghdad, would
provide an admirable model for the gigantic vessel in which Ut-napishtim
rode out the Deluge. "Without either stem or stern, quite round like a
shield"--so Herodotus described the _kuffah_ of his day;2() so, too, is
it represented on Assyrian slabs from Nineveh, where we see it employed
for the transport of heavy building material;(3) its form and structure
indeed suggest a prehistoric origin. The _kuffah_ is one of those
examples of perfect adjustment to conditions of use which cannot be
improved. Any one who has travelled in one of these craft will agree
that their storage capacity is immense, for their circular form and
steeply curved side allow every inch of space to be utilized. It is
almost impossible to upset them, and their only disadvantage is lack
of speed. For their guidance all that is required is a steersman with a
paddle, as indicated in the Epic. It is true that the larger kuffah of
to-day tends to increase in diameter as compared to height, but
that detail might well be ignored in picturing the monster vessel
of Ut-napishtim. Its seven horizontal stages and their nine lateral
divisions would have been structurally sound in supporting the vessel's
sides; and the selection of the latter uneven number, though prompted
doubtless by its sacred character, is only suitable to a circular craft
in which the interior walls would radiate from the centre. The use of
pitch and bitumen for smearing the vessel inside and out, though unusual
even in Mesopotamian shipbuilding, is precisely the method employed in
the _kuffah's_ construction.
(1) Arab. _kuffah_, pl. _kufaf_; in addition to its common
use for the Baghdad coracle, the word is also employed for a
large basket.
(2) Herodotus, I, 194.
(3) The _kuffah_ is formed of wicker-work coated with
bitumen. Some of those represented on the Nineveh sculptures
appear to be covered with skins; and Herodotus (I, 94)
states that "the boats which come down the river to Babylon
are circular and made of skins." But his further description
shows that he is here referred to the _kelek_ or skin-raft,
with which he has combined a description of the _kuffah_.
The late Sir Henry Rawlinson has never seen or heard of a
skin-covered _kuffah_ on either the Tigris or Euphrates, and
there can be little doubt that bitumen was employed for
their construction in antiquity, as it is to-day. These
craft are often large enough to carry five or six horses and
a dozen men.
We have no detailed description of Ziusudu's "great boat", beyond the
fact that it was covered in and had an opening, or light-hole, which
could be closed. But the form of Ut-napishtim's vessel was no doubt
traditional, and we may picture that of Ziusudu as also of the _kuffah_
type, though smaller and without its successor's elaborate internal
structure. The gradual development of the huge coracle into a ship would
have been encouraged by the Semitic use of the term "ship" to describe
it; and the attempt to retain something of its original proportions
resulted in producing the unwieldy ark of later tradition.(1)
(1) The description of the ark is not preserved from the
earlier Hebrew Version (J), but the latter Hebrew Version
(P), while increasing the length of the vessel, has
considerably reduced its height and breadth. Its
measurements are there given (Gen. vi. 15) as 300 cubits in
length, 50 cubits in breadth, and 30 cubits in height;
taking the ordinary Hebrew cubit at about 18 in., this would
give a length of about 450 ft., a breadth of about 75 ft.,
and a height of about 45 ft. The interior stories are
necessarily reduced to three. The vessel in Berossus
measures five stadia by two, and thus had a length of over
three thousand feet and a breadth of more than twelve
hundred.
We will now return to the text and resume the comparison we were making
between it and the Gilgamesh Epic. In the latter no direct reference
is made to the appearance of the Sun-god after the storm, nor is
Ut-napishtim represented as praying to him. But the sequence of events
in the Sumerian Version is very natural, and on that account alone,
apart from other reasons, it may be held to represent the original
form of the story. For the Sun-god would naturally reappear after the
darkness of the storm had passed, and it would be equally natural that
Ziusudu should address himself to the great light-god. Moreover, the
Gilgamesh Epic still retains traces of the Sumerian Version, as will be
seen from a comparison of their narratives,(1) the Semitic Version being
quoted from the point where the hurricane ceased and the sea became
still.
(1) Col. V, ll. 7-11 are here compared with Gilg. Epic, XI,
ll. 133-9.