Transcriber’s Notes
Obvious typographical errors have been silently corrected. Variations
in hyphenation have been standardised but all other spelling and
punctuation remains unchanged.
In footnote 8 the star Benelnash is usually called Benetnash. This may
be an alternative spelling so is unchanged.
In Chapter XIV it is possible that “change” should read “chain” in 32.
thou didst strike him; to a pillar thou didst change him,
Italics are represented thus _italic_.
THE CHALDEAN ACCOUNT OF GENESIS.
[Illustration: Izdubar (Nimrod) in conflict with a lion]
THE
CHALDEAN ACCOUNT OF GENESIS
CONTAINING
THE DESCRIPTION OF THE CREATION, THE DELUGE, THE
TOWER OF BABEL, THE DESTRUCTION OF SODOM,
THE TIMES OF THE PATRIARCHS,
AND NIMROD;
BABYLONIAN FABLES, AND LEGENDS OF THE GODS;
FROM THE CUNEIFORM INSCRIPTIONS.
BY GEORGE SMITH,
FORMERLY OF THE DEPARTMENT OF ORIENTAL ANTIQUITIES, BRITISH MUSEUM,
AUTHOR OF “HISTORY OF ASSURBANIPAL,” “ASSYRIAN
DISCOVERIES,” ETC. ETC.
A NEW EDITION, THOROUGHLY REVISED AND CORRECTED (WITH ADDITIONS),
BY A. H. SAYCE,
DEPUTY-PROFESSOR OF COMPARATIVE PHILOLOGY IN THE
UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD.
_WITH ILLUSTRATIONS._
NEW YORK:
CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS
743 AND 745 BROADWAY.
PREFACE BY THE EDITOR.
It is now five years since the present volume was first laid before
the public by Mr. George Smith, just before setting out on his last
ill-fated expedition to the East. It naturally awakened extreme
interest and curiosity. The earlier chapters of Genesis no longer
stood alone. Parallel accounts had been discovered by the author
among the clay records of ancient Babylonia, which far exceeded in
antiquity the venerable histories of the Bible. All those who had a
theory to support, or a tradition to overthrow, turned eagerly to the
newly-discovered documents, which possessed an equal interest for the
students of history, of religion, and of language.
The five years that have elapsed since the publication of “The Chaldean
Account of Genesis” have been five years of active work and progress
among Assyrian scholars. The impulse given to Assyrian research by Mr.
Smith has survived his death; numberless new tablets and fragments of
tablets have been brought to Europe from Assyria and Babylonia; fresh
students of the inscriptions have risen up in this country and on
the continent, more especially in Germany; and the scientific spirit
which has been introduced into the study of the Assyrian language has
immeasurably increased our knowledge of it. Thanks to the labours
of men like Oppert, Lenormant and Guyard in France, or of Schrader,
Delitzsch, Haupt and Hommel in Germany, texts which were obscure and
doubtful at the time of Mr. Smith’s death have now become almost as
clear as a page of the more difficult portions of the Old Testament.
The Assyrian student, moreover, has an advantage which the Hebrew
student has not; he possesses dictionaries and vocabularies compiled by
the Assyro-Babylonians themselves, and these frequently throw light on
a word which otherwise would be a “hapax legomenon.”
The more backward condition of our knowledge of Assyrian, however,
was not the only difficulty against which Mr. Smith had to contend.
He was pressed for time when writing the present volume, which had to
be finished before his departure for the East. The class of texts,
also, which he had brought to light was a new class hitherto unknown,
or almost unknown, to the Assyrian decipherer. He had to break fresh
ground in dealing with them. Their style differed considerably from
that of the texts previously studied; they had a vocabulary of their
own, allusions of their own, and even, it may be added, a grammar
of their own. If the texts had been complete the difficulty perhaps
would not have been so great; but it was enormously increased by
their mutilated condition. The skill and success with which Mr. Smith
struggled against all these difficulties show more plainly than ever
what a loss Assyrian research has sustained in him.
Nevertheless, even the genius of Mr. Smith could not do more than
give a general idea of the contents of the fragments, and not always
even this. A comparison of the translations contained in the present
edition with those contained in the preceding ones will show to what an
extent the details of translation have had to be modified and changed,
sometimes with important consequences. Thus the corrected translation
of the fragments relating to the Tower of Babel will remove the doubts
raised by Mr. Smith’s translation as to his correctness in associating
them with that event; thus, too, the corrected rendering of a passage
in the Izdubar Epic will show that the practice of erecting a Bethel or
sacred stone was familiar to the early Babylonians. In some instances
Mr. Smith has misconceived the true character of a whole text. What he
believed to be a record of the Fall, for instance, is really, as M.
Oppert first pointed out, a hymn to the Creator.
On the other hand, the fresh materials that have been acquired by the
British Museum during the last five years, or a closer examination
of the treasures it already possessed, have enabled us to add to the
number of cuneiform texts which illustrate the earlier portions of
Genesis. Mr. Rassam, for example, has brought home a fragment of the
Deluge tablet, which not only helps us to fill up some of the _lacunæ_
in the text, but is also important in another way. It is written, not
in Assyrian, but in Babylonian cuneiform characters, and comes, not
from an Assyrian, but from a Babylonian library. But it agrees exactly
with the corresponding parts of the Assyrian editions of the story, and
thus furnishes us with a proof of the trustworthiness of the Assyrian
copies of the old Babylonian texts. The text, again, which relates to
the destruction of a country by a rain of fire, though long contained
in the British Museum Collection, was first noticed by myself as being
apparently the Babylonian version of the biblical account of the
destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.
Numerous alterations and insertions have had to be made in the text
which accompanies the translations. The latter necessarily occupied the
main part of Mr. Smith’s attention; he had neither time nor inclination
to enter very elaborately into the questions raised by them, or the
illustrations they might receive from elsewhere. In fact, any adequate
treatment of the great Izdubar Epic, for instance, demanded a special
acquaintance with the method and results of Comparative Philology, as
well as a more intimate knowledge of its history and character than was
possible at the time when Mr. Smith wrote.
A large proportion of the cuneiform texts from which the translations
contained in the present volume are made has not yet been published.
I have, however, gone carefully over them all with the exception of
a small portion of the Izdubar Epic, and endeavoured to bring the
translations up to the level of our present knowledge of the Assyrian
language. I am indebted to the ready kindness and accurate eye of
Mr. Pinches for copies of almost all the unpublished portions of the
Izdubar legends. In these he has corrected several faulty readings,
more especially that of the name of the pilot of Xisuthrus, which ought
to be Nes-Hea, “the lion of Hea.” Mr. Pinches assures me that the
name of the deity composing the second part of the name is invariably
written with the numeral 40, the symbol of the god Hea, except once
when the scribe has miswritten 50, the symbol of Bel, and he has
pointed out to me a passage in a bilingual tablet where the name is
explained in Assyrian by Nes-Hea. Unfortunately, the texts given in
pp. 103-124 cannot be found, and here therefore I have been obliged to
leave Mr. Smith’s translations unaltered.
The reader, however, must remember that no translations of these
mutilated tablets can be more than approximately correct. Even if the
meaning of all the words were well known, and they were divided from
one another (which is not the case), the broken condition of so many
of the inscriptions would make a good deal of the translation more or
less conjectural. This must be doubly the case where the signification
of the words is either unknown or only half known. I have always
endeavoured to indicate a doubtful word or passage by a query; but
there must be instances in which the meaning that I believe ought
to be assigned to particular words will be corrected by the further
progress of discovery. This is even more true of what may be termed
the commentary accompanying the translations. Surprises are constantly
in store for the Assyrian decipherer, and a tiny fragment may suddenly
throw a new light on a question he had supposed to be settled. In
fact, in Assyriology, as in all other branches of science, there is
no finality; we cannot be more than approximately exact at any given
time, and every month enables us to introduce fresh corrections and
improvements into our work.
A fresh illustration of the fact has been afforded even while the
present volume has been passing through the press. Mr. Pinches has come
across two fragments (one marked S 669, the other unnumbered) which
belong to two separate copies or editions of a very interesting work.
This is nothing less than a list of the ancient epics and legends of
Chaldea, along with the names of their reputed authors, many of whom,
however, are probably as mythical as the famous Rishis of India. The
list shows how numerous these early poems were, and how few of them,
comparatively, we possess at present. Both fragments belong to the
same part of the list, and we are therefore ignorant of many of the
ancient compositions it must originally have contained. Some of the
works mentioned receive their names from the heroes celebrated in
them, others are named from their opening lines. A distinction is drawn
between those that belonged to the Accadian period, and were written
by Accadian poets in the Accadian language, and those that were of
Semitic Babylonian origin. The interest of the list is enhanced by the
great antiquity of the poems it records, none of them being later than
about 2000 B.C. Here is a translation of the text as restored from a
comparison of the two fragments according to the copies I have made of
them:—
OBVERSE.
1. _Ca_ ....
2. This is the work (_literally_ from the mouth) of .
—–———–———–———–———–———–———–———–———–———–———–—
3. “_a khus ba a ri_ ....
4. the god .... _tsu bu nu_” .... [Accadian.]
5. This is the work of Nupatuv ....
—–———–———–———–———–———–———–———–———–———–———–—
6. “The mighty lady, the winged one, Nigirra,” or “Bel” ....
7. “He restored Til-enni,” or “Life.”
8. “May Merodach the great lord firmly defend.” [Semitic.]
9. This is the work of Basa-Gula, the scribe ...
—–———–———–———–———–———–———–———–———–———–———–—
10. “The king of the sphere in their front,” or “the lord” .... [Acc.]
11. This is the work of En-me-duga ....
—–———–———–———–———–———–———–———–———–———–———–—
12. .... “head, thy lustre” .... [Acc.]
13. This is the work of Elum ....
—–———–———–———–———–———–———–———–———–———–———–—
14. .... _ci bat_ ....
REVERSE.
1. ....
2. (This is the work of ....) ragas, the scribe, the man (of a
non-existent tablet).
—–———–———–———–———–———–———–———–———–———–———–—
3. ..... “the gods” [Acc.]. This is the work of ....
—–———–———–———–———–———–———–———–———–———–———–—
4. .... “the bull of Bit-Esir (the firmament),” or “The great fortress
of the royal crown” .... [Acc.]
5. This is the work of Cus-dib the son of....
—–———–———–———–———–———–———–———–———–———–———–—
6. .... _nun-na_ [Acc.]. This is the work of Elum-ban-cudur, the
son of Khumetis, the scribe, the man of (a non-existent) tablet.
—–———–———–———–———–———–———–———–———–———–———–—
7. .... “the _paggalti_ which over heaven are placed” [Sem.].
8. (This) is the work of Gimil-Gula, the son of Il-khigal
the scribe, the man of a non-existent tablet.
—–———–———–———–———–———–———–———–———–———–———–—
9. “The day of calling, the long day at the dawning of light” (?)
[Acc.]. This is the work of Ekur (Esiru), the son of Nunna-tur.
—–———–———–———–———–———–———–———–———–———–———–—
10. The hero Izdubar. This is the work of Sin-lici-unnini the scribe
....
—–———–———–———–———–———–———–———–———–———–———–—
11. The hero Etana. This is the work of Nis-Sin the scribe ....
—–———–———–———–———–———–———–———–———–———–———–—
12. The hero the Fox. This is the work of Kak-Merodach the
son of Eri-Turnunna, the man of a non-existent tablet.
—–———–———–———–———–———–———–———–———–———–———–—
13. (The hero) ’Sidu. This is the work of ’Sidu-labiri
the prince, the man of a non-existent tablet.
—–———–———–———–———–———–———–———–———–———–———–—
14. .... _a tu gab_ [Acc.]. This is the work of Lig-Dimir
the scribe, the man (of a non-existent tablet).
—–———–———–———–———–———–———–———–———–———–———–—
What is meant by the phrase “the man of a non-existent tablet,” I do
not know. Possibly it signifies that the autograph of the author no
longer existed at the time the list was drawn up. “The Bull of the
firmament” was a legend which was probably connected with the second
month of the year, originally, it would seem, the first, which like the
zodiacal sign after which it was named, was called the month of “the
directing bull.”
Future excavations will doubtless bring to light some of the poems
mentioned in the list and not previously known. I have myself lately
come across two fragments (S 802 and S 316) which belong to legends
hitherto unknown, but they are too short to be worth translating.
What curious revelations, however, we may yet expect from the
cuneiform records may be judged from a small and well preserved
tablet recently brought to England, which contains a catalogue of the
gardens belonging to Merodach-Baladan, the contemporary of Hezekiah,
and grouped according to the districts in which they were situated.
Merodach-Baladan must have been fond of horticulture, since the
catalogue contains the names of no less than sixty-seven seed-gardens,
besides six other pleasure-grounds. Many of them were named from the
localities in whose neighbourhood they were, but others bore such
significant titles as “the forest of reeds,” “the small enclosure,” or
“the garden of the waters of the city.” As the tablet was copied by a
scribe named Merodach-sum-iddin, probably in the time of Nebuchadnezzar
or his successors, it is evident that some of the contents of the
library of Babylon escaped the destruction brought upon that city by
Sennacherib in B.C. 692.
I may add that since the greater part of this edition has been in
type, I have found myself able to explain the name of the hero which
in default of the true transcription has been provisionally read
Izdubar. The name is composed of three ideographs, the first of
which is the determinative prefix of wood, while the two latter are
rendered _saptu saplitu_, “the lower lip,” in Semitic Assyrian. Now M.
Lenormant has shown that Izdubar was originally the Accadian Fire-god,
and Mr. Boscawen has pointed out that the fire-stick was once used in
Babylonia; it is therefore evident that the three ideographs composing
the name represent the lower piece of wood, with a lip or groove in
it, which formed the most important part of the primitive fire-machine.
I believe the Accadian pronunciation of the name will turn out to be
Kibirra.
A. H. SAYCE.
_May 21st, 1880._
CONTENTS.
PREFACE page vi
CHAPTER I.—THE DISCOVERY OF THE GENESIS
LEGENDS.
Cosmogony of Berosus.—Discovery of Cuneiform Inscriptions.—Historical
Texts.—Babylonian origin of Assyrian literature.—Mythological
tablets.—Discovery of Deluge texts.—Mutilated condition
of tablets.—Lecture on Deluge tablets.—“Daily Telegraph”
offer.—Expedition to Assyria.—Fragments of Creation tablets.—Solar
Myth.—Second journey to Assyria.—Tower of Babel.—Clay records.—List of
texts.—Legend of Oannes.—List of early legends and their authors
page 1
CHAPTER II.—BABYLONIAN AND ASSYRIAN LITERATURE.
Babylonian literature.—Kouyunjik library.—Fragmentary
condition.—Arrangement of tablets.—Subjects.—Dates.—Babylonian
source of literature.—Literary period.—Babylonian
Chronology.—Accad.—Sumir.—Extinction of the Accadian
language.—Izdubar legends.—Creation.—Syllabaries and bilingual
tablets.—Assyrian copies.—Difficulties as to date.—Library of
Senkereh.—Assyrian empire.—City of Assur.—Library at Calah.—Sargon of
Assyria.—Sennacherib.—Removal of library to Nineveh.—Assur-bani-pal or
Sardanapalus.—His additions to library.—Description of contents.—Later
Babylonian libraries 13
CHAPTER III.—CHALDEAN LEGENDS TRANSMITTED THROUGH
BEROSUS AND OTHER ANCIENT AUTHORS.
Berosus and his copyists.—Cory’s
translation.—Alexander Polyhistor.—Babylonia.—Oannes,
his teaching.—Creation.—Belus.—Chaldean
kings.—Xisuthrus.—Deluge.—The Ark.—Return to
Babylon.—Apollodorus.—Pantibiblon.—Larancha.—Abydenus.—Alorus,
first king.—Ten kings.—Sisithrus.—Deluge.—Armenia.—Tower of
Babel.—Kronos and Titan.—Dispersion from Hestiæus.—Babylonian
colonies.—Tower of Babel.—The Sibyl.—Titan and
Prometheus.—Damascius.—Tauthe.—Moymis.—Kissare and Assorus.—Triad.—Bel
31
CHAPTER IV.—BABYLONIAN MYTHOLOGY.
Greek accounts.—Mythology local in
origin.—Antiquity.—Conquests.—Colonies.—Three great gods.—Twelve
great gods.—Angels.—Spirits.—Anu.—Anatu.—Rimmon.—Istar.—Equivalent
to Venus.—Hea.—Oannes.—Merodach.—Bel or Zeus.—Zirat-banit, Succoth
Benoth.—Bel.—Sin the moon god.—Ninip.—Samas.—Nergal.—Annuit.—Table
of gods 45
CHAPTER V.—BABYLONIAN LEGEND OF THE CREATION.
Mutilated condition of tablets.—List of subjects.—Description
of chaos.—Tiamat.—Generation of gods.—Damascius.—Comparison
with Genesis.—Three great gods.—Doubtful fragments.—Fifth
tablet.—Stars.—Moon.—Sun.—Abyss or chaos.—Creation of moon.—Creation
of animals.—Monotheism.—Hymn to Merodach.—The black-headed race
or Adamites.—Garden of Eden.—The flaming sword.—The fall.—The
Sabbath.—Sacred tree.—Hymn to
the Creator 56
CHAPTER VI.—OTHER BABYLONIAN ACCOUNTS OF THE CREATION.
Cuneiform accounts originally traditions.—Variations.—Account
of Berosus.—Tablet from Cutha.—Translation.—Composite
animals.—Eagle-headed men.—Seven brothers.—Destruction of men.—Seven
wicked spirits.—Mythical explanations of lunar eclipses.—Hymn to the
God of Fire.—War in heaven.—Tiamat.—Merodach the great dragon.
—Parallel Biblical account 91
CHAPTER VII.—THE SIN OF THE GOD ZU.
God Zu.—Obscurity of legend.—Translation.—Sin of Zu.—Anger of the
gods.—Speeches of Anu to Rimmon.—Rimmon’s answer.—Speech of Anu
to Nebo.—Answer of Nebo.—Lugal-turda. —Changes to a bird.—The Zu
bird.—Bird of prey.—Lugal-turda lord of Amarda.—Prometheus 115
CHAPTER VIII.—THE EXPLOITS OF DIBBARA.
Dibbara.—God of Pestilence.—Itak.—The Plague.—Seven warrior
gods.—Destruction of people.—Anu.—Goddess of Karrak.—Speech of
Bel.—Sin and destruction of Babylonians.—Samas.—Sin and destruction of
Erech.—Istar.—The great god and Duran.—Cutha.—Internal wars.—Itak goes
to Syria.—Power and glory of Dibbara.—Song of Dibbara.—Blessings on
his worship.—God Ner.—Prayer to arrest the Plague.—Antiquity of the
legend.—Itak 125
CHAPTER IX.—BABYLONIAN FABLES.
Fables.—Common in the East.—Description.—Power of speech in
animals.—Story of the eagle.—Serpent.—Samas.—The eagle caught.—Eats
the serpent.—Anger of birds.—Etana.—Seven gods.—Third tablet.—Speech
of eagle.—Story of the fox.—His cunning.—Judgment of Samas.—His
show of sorrow.—His punishment.—Speech of fox.—Fable of the
horse and ox.—They consort together.—Speech of the ox.—His good
fortune.—Contrast with the horse.—Hunting the ox.—Speech of the
horse.—Offers to recount story.—Story of Istar.—Further tablets 140
CHAPTER X.—FRAGMENTS OF MISCELLANEOUS TEXTS.
Atarpi.—Punishment of world.—Riddle of wise man.—Nature and
universal presence of air.—Sinuri.—Divining by fracture of reed.—The
foundling.—Tower of Babel.—Obscurity of legend.—Not noticed by
Berosus.—Fragmentary tablet.—Destruction of Tower.—Dispersion.—Site of
the Tower.—Meaning of Babel.—Chedor-laomer.—The destruction of Sodom
and Gomorrah 155
CHAPTER XI.—THE IZDUBAR LEGENDS.
Izdubar.—Meaning of the name.—A solar hero.—Prototype of
Herakles.—Age of Legends.—Babylonian cylinders.—Notices
of Izdubar.—Surippak.—Ark City.—Twelve tablets.—Extent of
Legends.—Description.—Introduction.—Meeting of Hea-bani
and Izdubar.—Destruction of tyrant Khumbaba.—Adventures of
Istar.—Illness and wanderings of Izdubar.—Description
of Deluge and conclusion.—First Tablet.—Kingdom of
Nimrod.—Traditions.—Identifications.—Translation.—Elamite
Conquest.—Dates 175
CHAPTER XII.—MEETING OF HEA-BANI AND IZDUBAR.
Dream of Izdubar.—Hea-bani.—His wisdom.—His solitary life.—Izdubar’s
petition.—Zaidu.—Kharimtu and Samkhat.—Tempt Hea-bani.—Might and fame
of Izdubar.—Speech of Hea-bani.—His journey to Erech.—The midannu or
tiger.—Festival at Erech.—Dream of Izdubar.—Friendship with Hea-bani
201
CHAPTER XIII.—DESTRUCTION OF THE TYRANT KHUMBABA.
Mythical geography.—Forest region.—Khumbaba.—Conversation.—Petition
to Samas.—Journey to forest.—Dwelling of Khumbaba.—Entrance to
forest.—Meeting with Khumbaba.—Death of Khumbaba.—Izdubar king 216
CHAPTER XIV.—THE ADVENTURES OF ISTAR.
Triumph of Izdubar.—Istar’s love.—Her offer of marriage.—Her
promises.—Izdubar’s answer.—Tammuz.—Amours of Istar.—His
refusal.—Istar’s anger.—Ascends to Heaven.—The bull.—Slain by
Izdubar.—Istar’s curse.—Izdubar’s triumph.—The feast.—Istar’s
despair.—Her descent to Hades.—Description.—The seven gates.—The
curses.—Atsu-sunamir the Sphinx.—Release of Istar.—The dog of the
dawn.—Lament for Tammuz 226
CHAPTER XV.—ILLNESS AND WANDERINGS OF IZDUBAR.
Hea-bani and the trees.—Illness of Izdubar.—Death of Hea-bani.—Journey
of Izdubar.—His dream.—Scorpion men.—The Desert of Mas.—Siduri and
Sabitu.—Nes-Hea the pilot.—Water of death.—Mua.—The
conversation.—Xisuthrus 252
CHAPTER XVI.—THE STORY OF THE FLOOD AND CONCLUSION.
Eleventh tablet.—The gods.—Sin of the world.—Command to build
the ark.—Its contents.—The building.—The Flood.—Destruction
of people.—Fear of the gods.—End of Deluge.—Nizir.—Resting of
Ark.—The birds.—The descent from the ark.—The sacrifice, covenant
and rainbow.—Speeches of gods.—Translation of Adrakhasis.—Cure
of Izdubar.—His return.—Lament over Hea-bani.—Resurrection of
Hea-bani.—Burial of warrior.—Age and composition of the Deluge
tablet.—Comparison with Genesis.—Syrian nation.—Connection of
legends.—Points of contact.—Duration of deluge.—Mount of descent.—Ten
generations.—Early cities 278
CHAPTER XVII.—CONCLUSION.
Notices of Genesis.—Correspondence of names.—Abram.—Ur
of Chaldees.—Ishmael.—Sargon of Agané.—His birth.—Concealed
in ark.—Creation.—Garden of Eden.—Oannes.—Berosus.—Izdubar
legends.—Babylonian seals.—Egyptian names.—Assyrian sculptures 315
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
Frontispiece, Photograph. Izdubar (Nimrod) in conflict with a lion,
from an early Babylonian cylinder.
2. Reverse of inscribed terra cotta tablet, containing the account of
the Deluge, showing the various fragments of which it is composed, 9.
3. Oannes and other Babylonian mythological figures, from cylinder, 33.
4. Composite animals, from cylinder, 35.
5. Fight between Merodach (Bel) and the dragon, to face p. 62.
6. Sacred tree or grove, with attendant cherubim, from Assyrian
cylinder, 85.
7. Sacred tree, seated figure on each side and serpent in background,
from an early Babylonian cylinder, 88.
8. Merodach attacking the serpent, on an Assyrian cylinder, in the
possession of Dr. S. Wells Williams, Newhaven, 90.
9. Sacred tree, attendant figures and eagle-headed men, from the seal
of a Syrian chief, ninth century B.C., 97.
10. Merodach delivering the moon-god from the evil spirits; from a
Babylonian cylinder; 101.
11. Bel encountering the dragon, from Babylonian cylinder, 109.
12. Merodach or Bel armed for the conflict with the dragon, from
Assyrian cylinder, 112.
13. Fight between Bel and the dragon, from Babylonian cylinder, 114.
14. Eagle-headed men, from Nimroud sculpture, to face p. 102.
15, 16 and 17. Men engaged in building, from Babylonian cylinders, 162.
18. View of Birs Nimrud, the supposed site of the Tower of Babel, 167.
19. View of the Babil mound at Babylon, the site of the temple of Bel,
168.
20. Tower in stages, from an Assyrian bas-relief, 169.
21. Izdubar strangling a lion, from Khorsabad sculpture, to face p.
175.
22. Migration of Eastern tribe, from early Babylonian cylinder, 197.
23. Bowareyeh Mound at Warka (Erech), site of the temple of Istar, 248.
24. Izdubar and Hea-bani in conflict with the lion and bull, 249.
25. Izdubar among the trees of the Gods (?), from a Babylonian
cylinder found in Cyprus by Gen. di Cesnola, 263.
26. Izdubar, composite figures, and Ur-Hea in the boat, from an early
Babylonian cylinder, 270.
27. Composite figures (scorpion men), from an Assyrian cylinder, 276.
28. Xisuthrus, or Noah, and Izdubar, from an early Babylonian
cylinder, 300.
29. Mugheir, the site of Ur of the Chaldees, 317.
30. Oannes, from Nimroud sculpture, to face p. 325.
CHAPTER I.
THE DISCOVERY OF THE GENESIS LEGENDS.
Cosmogony of Berosus.—Discovery of Cuneiform Inscriptions.—Historical
texts.—Babylonian origin of Assyrian literature.—Mythological
tablets.—Discovery of Deluge texts.—Mutilated condition of
tablets.—Lecture on Deluge tablets.—“Daily Telegraph” offer.—Expedition
to Assyria.—Fragments of Creation tablets.—Solar Myth.—Second journey
to Assyria.—Tower of Babel.—Clay records.—List of texts.—Legend of
Oannes.—List of early legends and their authors.
It has long been known from the fragments of the Chaldean historian,
Berosus, preserved in the works of various later writers, that the
Babylonians were acquainted with traditions referring to the Creation,
the period before the Flood, the Deluge, and other matters of which we
read in the book of Genesis.
Berosus, however, who recorded these events, is stated by Eusebius
and Tatian to have been a contemporary of Alexander the Great, and
to have lived into the reign of Antiochus Soter. His date lies,
therefore, between B.C. 330 and 260. As this was three hundred years
after the captivity of the Jews in Babylon, the great antiquity of
these traditions could not be proved with certainty, much less their
independence of the accounts which we have in Genesis.
On the discovery and decipherment of the cuneiform inscriptions,
Oriental scholars hoped that copies of the Babylonian histories
and traditions would one day be found, and that earlier and more
satisfactory evidence as to these primitive histories than had
previously been accessible, would thus be gained.
In the mound of Kouyunjik, opposite the town of Mosul, Mr. Layard
discovered part of the Royal Assyrian library, and further collections,
also forming part of this library, have been subsequently found by Mr.
H. Rassam, Mr. Loftus, and Mr. George Smith. Sir Henry Rawlinson, who
made the preliminary examination of Mr. Layard’s treasures, and was
the first to recognize their value, estimated the number of fragments
brought from this Library at over twenty thousand.
The attention of decipherers was in the first instance drawn to the
later historical inscriptions, particularly to those of the Assyrian
kings contemporary with the Hebrew monarchy; and in this department
of research a very large number of texts of great importance rewarded
the toil of Assyrian scholars. Inscriptions of Tiglath Pileser,
Shalmaneser, Sargon, Sennacherib, Esarhaddon, Nebuchadnezzar,
Nabonidus, and numerous other ancient sovereigns, bearing directly
on the Bible, and throwing new light upon parts of ancient history
previously obscure, for a long time occupied almost exclusively the
attention of students, and overshadowed any work in other divisions of
Assyrian literature.
Although it was known that Assyria borrowed its civilization and
written characters from Babylonia, yet, as the Assyrian nation was
throughout the greater part of its independent existence hostile to the
southern and older kingdom, it could not be guessed beforehand that the
peculiar national traditions of Babylonia would have been transported
to Assyria.
Under these circumstances, for some years after the cuneiform
inscriptions were first deciphered, nothing was looked for or
discovered bearing upon the events described in Genesis; but, as
new texts were brought into notice, it became evident that the
Assyrians borrowed their literature largely from Babylonian sources,
and it appeared likely that search among the fragments of Assyrian
inscriptions would yield traces at least of some of these ancient
Babylonian legends.
Attention was early drawn to this fact by Sir Henry Rawlinson, who
pointed out several coincidences between the geography of Babylonia and
the account of Eden in Genesis, and suggested the great probability
that the accounts in Genesis had a Babylonian origin.
While preparing the fourth volume of Cuneiform Inscriptions for the
trustees of the British Museum, Mr. George Smith noticed references to
the Creation in a tablet numbered K 63 in the Museum collection, as
well as allusions in other tablets to similar legends; he therefore
searched through a series of tablets he had previously classed as
“Mythological,” in order to find, if possible, some of these legends.
This series of mythological tablets was one of six into which he had
divided the Museum collection of cuneiform inscriptions for convenience
of working. By placing all the tablets and fragments of the same class
together, he had been able to complete several texts, to find easily
any subject required, and to get, whenever it was needed, a general
idea of the contents of the collection.
The mythological division contained all the tablets which related
to Assyrian mythology, and all the legends in which the gods took a
leading part, together with prayers and similar subjects.
A steady search among these fragments soon brought to light half of a
curious tablet which had evidently contained originally six columns of
text; two of these (the third and fourth) were still nearly perfect;
two others (the second and fifth) were imperfect, about half being
lost, while the remaining columns (the first and sixth) were entirely
gone. A statement in the third column that “the ship” had rested on
the mountain of Nizir, followed by an account of the sending forth
of a dove, and its finding no resting-place and returning, convinced
Mr. Smith that he had discovered a portion at least of the Chaldean
account of the Deluge. He then proceeded to read through the document,
and found it was in the form of a speech from the hero of the Deluge
to a person whose name might be transcribed as Izdubar. The same name
had already been read on the fragment of another tablet numbered K
231, which turned out to belong to the same series of tablets as the
newly-found account of the Deluge. Mr. Smith was thus encouraged to
make a search for other portions of the series.
The search was a long and heavy work, for there were thousands of
fragments to be examined, and these were so small, and contained so
little of the text, that it was extremely difficult to ascertain their
meaning. The search, however, proved successful. A fragment of another
copy of the Deluge was found containing a second account of the sending
forth of the birds. Several other portions of the same tablet were
gradually collected and fitted one after another into their places
until the greater part of the second column was filled up. Portions
of a third copy were next discovered, which, when joined together,
completed a considerable part of the first and sixth columns. Mr.
Smith now translated the text he had so laboriously pieced together,
and published his discovery to the world at a meeting of the Society
of Biblical Archæology, December 3rd, 1872. By this time he had made
out that the series of Izdubar legends, as we may term them, contained
twelve tablets or books. Of this series the tablet describing the
Deluge was the eleventh and K 231 the sixth.
The interest excited by Mr. Smith’s discovery was naturally very
great. Immediately after the meeting of the Society of Biblical
Archæology, Mr. E. Arnold, in the name of the proprietors of the
“Daily Telegraph,” asked the fortunate discoverer to reopen, at their
cost, the excavations in Assyria in the hope of finding the missing
portions of the story of the Deluge. The trustees of the British
Museum granted Mr. Smith leave of absence for the purpose, and he
accordingly started for the ruins of Nineveh, and there engaged in
researches, the history of which is related in his work entitled
“Assyrian Discoveries.” Hardly had he begun his excavations on the site
of the palace of Assur-bani-pal at Kouyunjik, when he came across a new
fragment of the Chaldean account of the Deluge belonging to the first
column of the tablet, containing the command to build and fill the
ark, and nearly filling up the most considerable blank in the story.
Some other fragments, found afterwards, still further completed this
tablet, which was already the most perfect one in the Izdubar series.
The trench in which the fragment in question was discovered must
have passed very near the part of the Library in which the Assyrians
kept a series of inscriptions relating to the early history of the
world. The same trench soon afterwards yielded a fragment of the sixth
tablet, describing the destruction of the bull of Istar by Izdubar and
Hea-bani, an incident often depicted on early Babylonian gems. The next
discovery was a fragment which referred to the creation of the world;
it formed the upper corner of a tablet, and gave a fragmentary account
of the creation of animals. Two other portions of this legend were
found further on in the trench, one of which contained a mutilated
account of the war between the gods and evil spirits.
In the following year Mr. Smith was again in Assyria, in charge of
an expedition sent out by the trustees of the British Museum, and
succeeded in bringing home fresh fragments relating to the early
traditions and legends of Babylonia. Among these is the fragment which
seems to describe the building of the Tower of Babel. Then followed
the disastrous expedition of 1875-6, in the course of which Mr. Smith
fell a victim to over-fatigue and his zeal for Assyrian research. The
subsequent explorations of Mr. Hormuzd Rassam, though rich in other
results, have added very little to our knowledge of the old Babylonian
legends; and it seems probable that the missing portions of the tablets
which contained them have irretrievably perished. We must wait for
further light upon the subject until the cities and libraries of
Babylonia have been excavated. After all, the early Babylonian legends,
of which copies were made for the Assyrian Library at Kouyunjik, were
but a selected few; the Assyrians took little interest in that part of
Babylonian literature which had no connection with their own history or
beliefs, and we have reason to congratulate ourselves that among the
traditions they borrowed from their older and more civilized neighbours
were so many which bear upon the earlier chapters of Genesis.
The fragmentary condition of the legends we possess, however, is much
to be lamented. The chief difficulties with which the Assyrian scholar
has to contend, when dealing with them, are due to the mutilated state
of the tablets. If the inscriptions were perfect, their translation
would be a comparatively easy matter. As it is, so skilled a decipherer
as Mr. Smith himself was deceived by the defective character of the
text into imagining that a hymn addressed to the Creator was the
Babylonian version of the Fall of Man.
The fragmentary and scattered character of these legends is explained
by the nature of the material of which the tablets are composed, and
the changes undergone by them since they were written. They consist of
fine clay and were inscribed with cuneiform characters while in a soft
state; they were then baked in a furnace until hard, and afterwards
transferred to the library. The library seems to have been in an upper
storey of the palace, and after the destruction of Nineveh, the fall
of the building in which it was placed naturally caused the tablets
contained in it to be broken to pieces. Many of them were cracked and
scorched by the heat of the burning ruins. Subsequently the ruins
were turned over in search of treasure, and the tablets still further
broken; while, to complete their destruction, the rain, soaking
through the ground every spring, saturates them with water containing
chemicals, and these chemicals form crystals in every available crack.
The growth of the crystals further splits the tablets, some of them
being literally shivered to pieces.
[Illustration:
REVERSE OF INSCRIBED TERRA COTTA TABLET CONTAINING THE ACCOUNT OF THE
DELUGE, SHOWING THE VARIOUS FRAGMENTS OF WHICH IT WAS COMPOSED AT THE
TIME OF MR. SMITH’S TRANSLATION.]
Some idea of the mutilated condition of the Assyrian tablets, and of
the work required by the restoration of a single text, will be gained
from the engraving above, which exhibits the appearance of one of the
Deluge tablets at the time Mr. Smith published his translation of it.
In this tablet there are no less than sixteen fragments.
The clay records of the Assyrians are by these means so broken up,
that a single text is in some cases divided into over one hundred
fragments; and it is only by collecting and joining these together that
the old texts can be restored. Many of the fragmentary tablets which
have been more than twenty years in the British Museum have been added
to considerably by the fragments recently brought to England by Mr.
Smith and Mr. Rassam; and yet there probably remain from ten to twenty
thousand fragments still buried in the ruins, without the recovery of
which it is impossible to complete these valuable Assyrian inscriptions.
It is, nevertheless, out of these imperfect materials that we have
at present to piece together our knowledge of the early legends of
Babylonia and Assyria. Most, if not all, of them, are, it must be
remembered, of Chaldean or Babylonian origin, the Assyrians having
either slavishly copied Babylonian originals or simply put into a new
form the story they had borrowed from their southern neighbours. Such
as they are, however, they are presented to the reader as faithfully
translated as our existing knowledge of the Assyrian language allows;
it is for him to draw his inferences and make his comparisons. The
greater number of them, as we shall see, mount back to a date earlier
than the second millennium before the Christian era, and even where the
actual text belongs to a later period, the legend which it embodies
claims a similar antiquity. We may classify them in the following
order:—
1. An account of the Creation of the world in six days, parallel to
that in the first chapter of Genesis, and probably in its present form
not older than the 7th century B.C.
2. A second account of the Creation, derived from the Library of
Cuthah, and belonging to the oldest period of Babylonian literature.
3. A history of the conflict between Merodach, the champion of the
gods, and Tiamat, “the Deep,” the representative of chaos and evil.
To this we may add the bilingual legend of the seven evil spirits and
their fight against the moon.
4. The story of the descent of the goddess Istar or Venus into Hades,
and her return.
5. The legend of the sin of the god Zu, punished by Bel, the father of
the gods.
6. A collection of five tablets giving the exploits of Dibbara the god
of the pestilence.
7. The story of the wise man who put forth a riddle to the gods.
8. The legend of the good man Atarpi, and the wickedness of the world.
9. The legend of the tower of Babel, and dispersion.
10. The story of the Eagle and Etana.
11. The story of the ox and the horse.
12. The story of the fox.
13. The legend of Sinuri.
14. The Izdubar legends: twelve tablets, with the history of Izdubar,
and an account of the flood.
15. The story of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. Besides these
there are fragments of other legends, which show that there was a
considerable collection of such primitive stories still quite unknown
to us. In fact we have little chance of becoming acquainted with them
until the libraries of Babylonia are excavated. Thus for example we
learn from Berosus that the Babylonians ascribed their civilization to
certain wonderful creatures who ascended out of the Persian Gulf, and
more especially to a being called Oannes. But of all this the library
of Nineveh tells us nothing, although an Accadian Reading-book compiled
for Assyrian students contains an excerpt which seems to be taken from
the legend of Oannes. It is as follows:—
1. To the waters their god
2. had returned.
3. To the glistening house
4. he descended (as) an icicle.
5. (On) a seat of snow
6. he grew not old in wisdom.
7. The wise people
8. with his wisdom he filled.
Two fragments, belonging to two editions of the same text, have just
been found, containing a list of the numerous legends and epics current
among the ancient Babylonians, along with the names of their authors.
Among them are found several of which translations are given further
on in this volume; but there are also several of which we hear for the
first time. The great Izdubar Epic, it may be noted, is ascribed to
a certain Sin-lici-unnini (“O Moon-god, receive my cry!”). A fuller
account of the fragments and their contents will be found in the
Introduction.