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Vol. IV.
BABYLONIAN RELIGION AND
MYTHOLOGY
PUBLISHERS' NOTE.
In the year 1894 Dr. Wallis Budge prepared for Messrs. Kegan Paul, Trench, Triibner & Co., Ltd., an elementary work on the " Egyptian language, entitled First Steps in Egyptian," and two years later the
companion volume,
"An
Egyptian Reading Book," with
it, and a full vocabulary. success of these works proved that they had helped to satisfy
transliterations of all the texts printed in
The
a want long similar
felt by students of the Egyptian language, and as a want existed among students of the languages written in
W.
King, of the British Museum,
lines as the
two books mentioned above,
the cuneiform character, Mr. L.
prepared, on the
same
an elementary work on the Assyrian and Babylonian languages These ("First Steps in Assyrian"), which appeared in 1898. works, however, dealt mainl}'- with the philological branch of Egyptology and Assyriology, and it was impossible in the space allowed to explain much that needed explanation in the other branches of these subjects
—that
archaeology, history, religion, etc.,
Babylonians.
is
to say, matters relating to the
of the Egyptians, Assyrians, and
In answer to the numerous requests which have
been made, a series of short, popular handbooks, on tlie most important branches of Egyptology and Assyriology has been prepared, and
it is hoped that these will serve as introductions to the works on these subjects. The present is the fourth volume of the series, and the succeeding volumes will be published at short
larger
intervals,
and at moderate
prices.
Boolie on Sg^pt ant> Cbalb^a
BABYLONIAN RELIGION AND
MYTHOLOGY FY
L.
W. KING,
M.A.,
RS.A.
ASSISTANT IN THE DEi'ARTMENT OF EGYPTIAN AND ASSYRIAN ANTIQUITIES, BRITISH MUSEUM
WITH TWELVE ILLUSTRATIONS
SECOND IMPRESSION
LONDON KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH, TRUBNER &
CO.,
PATERNOSTER HOUSE, CHARING CROSS ROAD 1903
Lt?
PRINTED BY
WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED,
LONDON AND BECCLES.
BL C?'
^u
IThe rights of translation and q/ reproduction are
reserved."}
PREFACE. The in
a
object of the present
liandy form
work
is to offer to
the reader
an account of the principal
facts
concerning Babylonian religion and mythology.
account
based upon
is
tlie
This
cuneiform inscriptions which
have been excavated in Mesopotamia during the years,
fifty-five
and,
as
as far
possible, the
last
Semitic
and Euphrates have reveal their religious beliefs and super-
peoples of the valley of the Tigris
been made to stitions
so
much
by means
of
own
their
writings.
Although
has been done in recent years to explain their
religious literature,
no
finality in the
matter must be
expected for some time to come, certainly not as long
any important religious text remains unpublished. The fragmentary nature of the available material alone
as
is
a great obstacle to the construction of any consecutive
narrative,
and
to the correct
grouping of
facts,
while
the renderings of rare Sumerian words and complex
ideograms
in
some
cases
offer
almost
insuperable
PREFACE.
VI
Moreover, the variations in the translations
difficulties.
made by English and German difficulty of the subject,
scholars proclaim the
and no systematic and
final
description of the religion of Babylonia and Assyria
In the preparation of this little book the works of the most trustworthy writers on the is at
present possible.
subject have been diligently consulted, and the translations of cuneiform texts given in the following pages
have been
sjDCcially
prepared for the purpose.
Every
endeavour has also been made to incorporate the results obtained from recently discovered texts, to which in
all
important cases references are given.
From
the facts
here
printed
Babylonians and Assyrians
it
is
believed
clear that the
in
a series
of
nature gods, and that they had no conception of the
The supreme and almighty God. worship of their gods was tinctured with magic, and many of their prayers and formulae which they recited existence
of one
during the performance of their religious ceremonies
can be regarded as incantations. of the
little
Although
else little
than
by
spells, little
charms, and
a higher idea
majesty of certain gods was developed, and
although the Babylonian's conception of a man's duty
towards them and towards his neighbour eventually
became
of a comparatively high moral character, he
never succeeded in freeing himself from a belief in the
PREFACE.
Vll
He
power of magic, sorcery and witchcraft.
attached
great importance to the performance of burial
cere-
monies, imagining that his arrival in the next world
depended absolutely upon them; but the
life
which
he believed the soul would lead after death in the
underworld seems to have been of a peculiarly joyless character.
Owing
to
want
of space
no attempt has been made
to discuss from a comparative point of view the legends
cosmogony and the deluge written in cuneiform, and only the most obvious parallels between parts of the
of
them and
drawn.
It
haustively, as
that
certain
chapters of Genesis have been
was unnecessary
now
it is
the writers
generally admitted by scholars
of the
Pentateuch drew upon the
traditions of Babylonia for a
made
to treat the subject ex-
number
of the statements
in the early chapters of Genesis.
I take
edness
to
Zimmern,
this opportunity of
expressing
my
indebt-
works of Delitzsch, Jensen, Gunkel, Jeremias, Jastrow, and others, and of
the
thanking Dr. Wallis Budge for his great help in the preparation of the work, L. London, October 7th, 1809.
W. KING.
CONTENTS. CHAPTER I.
PAOB
The Gods of Babylon
,..
II.
Heavex, Earth, and Hell
III.
The Legends of Creation
IV.
The Story
V. VI.
...
The Duty of Man to
his
...
God and
i
27 ...
53 121
,„
...
...
...
...
...
of the Deluge
Tales of Gods and Heroes
...
...
14G
to ius Neighbour
200
...
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. PAGE
CHAPTER I.
The Moo^-God
The Sun-God II.
...
...
...
...
...
The Eastern Door of Heaven
The Gods
of the
Underworld
IV.
A
Scene beside a Sacred Tree
V.
Gilgamesh and Ea-bani
...
...
...
...
The Goddess Ishtar The South-West Wind VI.
A
Babylonian Demon
...
...
...
...
...
170 182
...
...
...
131
162
...
...
...
...
113
...
...
...
^^75, 102
...
Crossing the Waters of Death
32 39
...
...
The Fight between Maeduk and Tiamat
ShiiÂť
...
...
15 19
...
III.
Babylonian
...
...
189
203
BABYLONIAN RELIGION AND MYTHOLOGY. CHAPTER
I.
THE GODS OF BABYLON. It was at one time the fashion with
many
scholars to
regard the civilization of the Babylonians as of a purely and more than one writer on the Semitic origin ;
religion of that country has
moulded
his
work on the
fundamental thesis that the Semitic Babylonians and they alone were the originators of the complicated system of religious practise and belief which we know existed from a very early period upon the banks of the Eecent excavations in Babylonia, however, fact with absolute certainty that
Euphrates.
—
have proved one before
the
Semites
Semitic race
occupied
tended herds of
advanced
ever
cattle,
reached Babylonia a non-
the
country, tilled
built
cities,
dug
the land,
canals,
to a state of considerable civilization.
BAB. EEL.
B
and
But
THE ANCIENT SUMERIANS.
2
there are indications that even this race, the Siimerians
as they are called, were not the land.
first
^
possessors of the
It is x^robable that they themselves
were
settlers
like the Semites of a later time, and that they reached
the fertile valley of the rivers from some mountainous home in the northern half of Central Asia. Who
occupied the country before the Sumerians came we cannot say, for of the aboriginal inhabitants of the land
we know
nothing.
whom we have
of
The
first
definite
inhabitants of Babylonia
knowledge are the Sumerians
;
and during recent years our knowledge of them has In any treatment of the been vastly increased. religious
beliefs
of
Semitic
the
the
Babylonians,
existence of the Sumerians cannot be ignored, for they
profoundly influenced the faith of the Semitic invaders before whose onslaught their empire beliefs of
fell.
The
religious
cannot be rightly under-
the Babylonians
stood unless at the outset this foreign influence
is
duly
recognized.
To what date we
are to assign
the
besfinninoj
of
Sumerian influence in Babylonia it is quite impossible to say, though such a date as six or seven thousand years before Christ is not an extravagant estimate for the foun-
dation of the earliest religious centres
The
decline of the political
^
in the country.
power of the Sumerians, on
The Sumerians take their name from "Sliumeru," an name for Southern Babylonia. ^
"
Eg., Nippur, Ur, Shirpurla,
etc.
ancient
INFLUENCE OF SUMERIAN BELIEFS. the other hand,
3
be assigned approximately to the between B.C. 2500 and B.C. 2300. At
may
period which lies
the latter date Babylon had been raised to a position of pre-eminence
among
the cities of the land, and the
Semitic population in the country had gained a complete ascendancy over their ancient rivals, whom they gradually absorbed
;
from
this
time onwards the city of
Babylon maintained her position and never ceased to be the capital of the country to which in later times she gave her name.
But
in spite of the early date to
which we must put back the beginnings of Babylonian civilization, it is
much
only
later period that
among the remains of a very we find adequate materials for
the study of the Babylonian religion.
It is true that
during the long course of the history of that country
and
of
Assyria
we
get
occasional
glimpses
of
the
religious beliefs and legends, which were current at different periods, from the historical and votive inscrip-
and governors. But it is only at quite that is to say a few years before the fall of
tions of kings
a late date,
Nineveh, that we gain a comparatively of Babylonian mythology and belief.
The great
known
to
full
knowledge
works of the Babylonians are us from';^docTiments which do not date from religious
than the seventh century B.C. In the palaces that were unearthed at Kuyunjik, the site of Nineveh, there were found, scattered throusjh the
an
earlier period
mounds
of earth, thousands of clay tablets written in
THE SCRIBES OF ASSYRIA.
4
the Assyrian character, and in
phons bearing the
many cases with coloname of Ashur-bani-pal and the state-
ment that he had caused them library. B.C.
to be included in his
This monarch reigned from
B.C.
669 to about
625, and, though one of the last kings to occupy
the Assyrian throne, he
made strenuous
efforts to pre-
serve the ancient literature of Babylonia and Assyria.
His scribes visited specially the ancient cities and temples in the south, and made copies of literary compositions of all classes
which they found
and arranged in
These
there.
his palace at
Nineveh, from them that the greater part of our knowledge of Babylonian mythology and religion is derived. Though the tablets date from the seventh century
they collected
and
it is
only,
had
possible that the texts inscribed
it is
upon them
their origin in a very remote period, and a detailed
study of them proves that such was the case. If, for instance, two or more copies of a text are found to differ greatly in detail from one another, we naturally assume that a considerable period has elapsed for such variations to have crept into the text. of perfect condition
many
the scribes
made
they added
to the texts,
they compiled the literature clusive
have
left
that
Besides
this,
the im-
of the originals from
which
and colophons and commentaries
their copies, the notes
and the
lists
to explain them, prove the antiquity of
they studied. the
religious
us was not of their
Such evidence literature
own
the
is
con-
Assyrians
production, but was
THEIR COPIES OF EARLY TEXTS. inheritance from
their
an
earlier
time.
5
While the
Babylonians in their religious beliefs were profoundly influenced
the
Sumerians, they in their turn exercised an even greater influence on the Assyrians.
The
by
latter people, at first
but a handful of colonists
from Babylonia, took with them the
faith of their
mother country, and, though they subsequently gained their independence, and after many centuries of conflict held the elder branch of their race in subjection, their system of religion, with but few changes and modifica-
was
Hence their Babylonian to the core. works and writings may be used as material religious tions,
for the study of the
Babylonian religion. examine these Assyrian tablets, and gain from them a knowledge of the gods
When we attempt
to
of Babylon,
we
they present us with a truly
find
number of deities. The Babylonians and were a conservative people, and the priestly Assyrians class, to whose labours we are indebted for our know-
bewildering
ledge
of
the Babylonian religion, faithfully collected
and chronicled
all
local
traditions
an*d
beliefs,
no
matter whence they came. Their religion was still a living thing, and they had not lost belief in the existence or the power of the gods, but they studied their national traditions to
they
some extent from
their literary side
;
and
and arrange into some system sometimes conflicting? traditions
sought to classify
the numerous
and
which had arisen and obtained currency
at different
LISTS OF
6
THE GODS.
The periods in quite different parts of the country. Ashiirfrom recovered has been larn-est tablet that a list bani-pal's library, for instance, is inscribed with names of the gods and their titles. The tablet
of the
when complete must have measured some 11 x 16 inches
;
was inscribed on each
it
minute
of
one hundred and
name
giving the
out of
every
writing,
fifty
side with six
column
lines,
columns
containing
and nearly every line This is only one
of a separate deity.^
tablets inscribed with lists of the
many
over
names
of these documents gods, and the existence serves to show that in the literature of the period we of the
must expect
to find the
advanced state of
Were we it
catalogues
its
Babylonian religion in a fully
development.
dependent on such lists and would be hard to gather a very consistent entirely
notion of what the Babylonian but fortunately this is not the case. Numbers of hymns and prayers have been recovered, or very intelligible
gods were like
which, by the
;
titles
and
attributes therein ascribed to
the gods, enable us to trace their relationships to one
another and their respective rank and power. Stories of and legends the gods have also been preserved, and
from these
it is
possible to construct a fairly complete
sketch of Babylonian mythology. Moreover, the names of the gods frequently figure in the historical inscriptions ^
The
Case
I.,
tablet is exhibited in the British
No.
4.
^Museum, Nineveli Gallery,
OTHER SOURCES OF INFORMATION. of Babylonian and Assyrian
kings, not only of this
late period, but also in those of rulers
the throne during history.
The
many
7
who occupied
earlier periods of the country's
victories gained over
enemies were ascribed
by each ruler to the help vouchsafed him by his own gods, and from the names of those he mentions we
what gods were held in special reverence during The kings of Babylon, too, were great reign.
learn his
builders and delighted to construct to restore the
From
the
new temples and
old ones which had fallen into decay.
records
of their
building operations, and
from the votive tablets deposited in the temples, we gain
much
deities in
information regarding the worship of the
whose honour they were made.
Another
source of information, especially for the early Sumerian period, are the lists of temple revenues
and accounts
;
while the very names of private persons preserved in business documents of various dates, containing as so
many
them do the names
of
roughly the
of gods, serve to indicate
changes which the principal gods ex-
It is of course perienced in the popular estimation. to be regretted that we do not possess copies of the
great religious and
mythological works of the Baby-
lonians during the earlier periods of their history, from
which
it
would be possible
to trace
with absolute cer-
tainty the course of their religious development.
numerous
The
indirect sources of information referred to,
however, enable us to control and classify the religious
DESCRIPTION OF THE GODS.
8
literature of the later Assyrian
these
By
from
means
native
it
is
sources
and Babylonian empires. to gain a
knowledge Babylonian mythology and
possible of
and to supplement the scanty references to the religion of the country which are found in the Old belief,
Testament and in the works of the
classical writers.
The gods of the Babylonians, in the forms under which they were worshipped during the later historical were conceived as beings with very
periods,
and
characteristic
while as
endowed
were not
personalities.
superhuman
wielding
with
visible,
definite
All the great gods,
powers, were regarded
human
forms, and, though they except in dreams and visions, to their
was thought to possess a definite have a body and features peculiar Not only were they like unto men in
worshippers, each
character to
and
himself.
to
body, but in thought and feeling they were also very human. Like men they were born into the world,
and
like
men
they loved and fought, and even died. in fact, had a very material concep-
The Babylonians,
They had no belief in a and abstract a different mould and of supreme deity nature to themselves and though they ascribed ail and to power might many of the greater gods they tion of the higher powers.
;
worshipped, they pictured these beings as swayed by human passions, and as acting in dependence on each other.
About
their gods they
composed strange tales and legends, in which we read how some of them
THEIR NATURE AND ORIGIN.
how
performed acts of bravery and valour,
9 others dis-
played cunning and treachery, and how others again It is true that, unlike men, exhibited fear and greed.
power was unlimited, they wielded magical weapons, and uttered spells and words of power; but
their
for
that they were fashioned
all
the separation
was not
human mould;
in
between the Babylonian and his god
in nature but in degree.
In followincj the doimrs of the gods and in notin^j the attributes ascribed to them, w^e are naturally confronted
by the problem as
to
what suggested
to the
Babylonian
his precise differentiation in their characters.
Was
it
merely fancy or arbitrary invention on his part ? We need not appeal to the comparative study of religion to
answer the question in the negative,
for the characters
of the gods themselves l^etray their origin. They are personifications of natural forces in other words, the ;
gods and
many
of the stories told concerning
them
are
the best explanation the Babylonian could give, after many centuries of observation, of the forces and changes
he saw
at
He
work around him in the natural world.
saw the sun pass daily overhead, he observed the phases of the moon and the motions of the stars he ;
wind and feared the tempest but he had no notion that these things were the result of natural
felt
the
laws.
;
In company with other primitive peoples he
explained them as the work of beings very like himself. thought of nature as animated throughout by
He
THE GREATER GODS.
lO
numberless beings, some hostile and some favourable mankind, in accordance with the treatment he had
to
From the greater powers and deduced the existence of the greater
experienced from them. forces in nature he
and in many of the legends and myths he told concerning them we may see his naive explanation of
gods,
the working of the universe.
He
did not speak in
allegory or symbol, but believed his stories literally, and moulded his life in accordance with their teachinfr.
Babylonian religion, therefore, in its general aspect N^ may be regarded as a worship of nature, and the gods themselves may be classified as the personifications of various
natural powers.
meet with a
difficulty
But here
at the outset
we
which has not yet been quite
During its early history the a was not corporate whole under one adminiscountry satisfactorily explained.
but the great cities, with the land immediately adjacent to them, formed a number of independent tration,
states.
It
was only
after
many
centuries of separate
existence, or of temporary coalition, that a
fusion
was
brought
Back
kingdoms. existence of
about
in this
many
of the
permanent between these separate
dim past we can great
Babylonian gods of
later times, and, as in later times, so still
early period,
we
find their worship
-J
trace the
more
at this
was not equally
prevalent throughout the country, but the cult of each deity was specialized and centred in sejoarate cities. Enlil; the
god of the earth,
for instance,
was worshipped
THEIR LOCAL DISTRIBUTION.
H
in the earliest period at ISTippur; Ea, the
god of the
deep, at
Eridu
Ur
Nannar, the Moon-god, at
;
the Sun-god, at Larsa, and so on.
Now
;
Utu,
taken in the
aggregate, the worship of all these deities presents a
consistent
picture
different parts,
and
of
the
worship of nature in its such a picture
for the later periods
no doubt accurately corresponds acter
of
the
national
to the general char-
But
religion.
in
the
earliest
period the great cities of the land were not parts of a and it is not quite clear how this local single kingdom ;
distribution of the great natural gods
a
among
number
of originally independent cities can be explained.
In seeking a solution of to realize the fact
that
this
problem
it is
necessary the religious system of the
Babylonians was the product of a long gradual development.
period
The consistent scheme
of
of nature
worship practised by the later Babylonians was not received by them in a complete and finished form from
and predecessors in the land. At this remote period we may assume that its state was a very simple and a very primitive one. The
their remote ancestors
horizon of these early peoples embraced
than the walls of the
each city was content to
honour of
its
local god;
bound up with that
amalgamation
more
the fortune of the god was
of the city,
and the downfall of the
god followed close on the ruin of the gradual
little
which they dwelt, and worship and do battle for the
cities in
of
these
city.
separate
With cities
the
into
GROWTH OF THE
12
CITY-GOD.
an adjustment between the local gods was necessary. In any such coalition the god of the predominant city would naturally take precedence over larger states,
those of the conquered, or dependent cities with which
he became associated.
way
It is conceivable that in this
the relationships between some of the gods of the
Even
Babylonians arose.
so, it is difficult to
trace the
city-god became associated with one of the great powers of nature, and to decide whether his aspect as a god of a special department
process by which a
\/
the universe
of
the
was or
beginning,
local
inherent
was
due
in to
nature
his
some
from
subsequent
Such questions present a number of development. attractive problems, many of which will doubtless be solved as more material relating to the earliest period of Babylonian
history
whatever way we
may
is
published.
explain
it,
different cities of Babylonia of
natural gods
is
Meanwhile, in
the local worship in
many
of the greater
one of the most striking characteristics
of the Babylonian system.
In giving a sketch of the principal gods of Babylonia it
will be expedient to confine ourselves in the
to the periods of rise of the city of
main
Babylonian history subsequent to the Babylon to power, which was followed
by the consolidation
of the separate portions of the
country into a single state.
It
would of course be
possible push our enquiry back into the earliest period v/hen the Sumerian was in possession of the to
SUMERIAN AND SEMITIC country and
in
still
their
its
names
Niffer,
influence
infancy,
as found
Mukayyar and
the later explanatory in
of
the
1
Semite was
3
still
Although the study of the Sumerian deities
unfelt. is
tlie
DEITIES.
some measure
it
in
would be possible
to give
the early inscriptions from
Tell Loh, and, with the help of lists
of the Assyrians, to trace
their adoption
of their names, attributes,
etc.,
and the modification
by the Babylonians.^
But to follow such a plan within the limits of the present volume would result in little more than a catalogue of names and equations, still
matters of conjecture.
of
many
It will be better therefore
to treat only of those great Semitic deities
so prominently in Babylonian mythology, to their
which are
Sumerian prototypes only in
who
and
figure
to refer
so far as they
illustrate their later characters.
Even during the Semitic period
the
Babylonian
company of the gods underwent considerable changes. The assimilation of the Sumerian deities was not a sudden process, and the meeting of the two systems did not produce uniform results throughout the country. Moreover, in the later as in the earlier periods, every city had its own local god, to whose service the whole
was devoted, and around whose temple local tions and local myths gathered and flourished. city
tradi-
The which one such local tradition attained any prominence in the Babylonian system was in proportion to the ^ See the names and attributes of the various deities collected by Ja&trow in his Religion of Babylonia and Assyria, pp. 51 IF.
ANU, BEL, AND EA.
14
and influence of the
political position it
arose.
city in
which
It is not a matter of surprise, therefore, that
we come
across varying traditions with regard to the and But positions relationships of some of the gods. with the gradual unification of the country many
such variant traditions were harmonized and explained by the priesthood. It is thus possible, while making full
allowance for the influence of local beliefs and of
political changes, to give a brief sketch of the
company
Babylonian gods which will harmonize with their position and character in the great religious and of the
mythological and legendary works of the nation. At the head of the company of the gods may be
Anu, Bel and Ea, whose spheres of influence together embraced the entire uniAnu was the god of heaven, Bel the god of verse. set the great triad of deities
Ea the god of At a very early
the earth and of mankind, and
the abyss
of water beneath the earth.
period in
Sumerian history we find these three deities mentioned in close connection with each other under their
Enki
Anna (Anu), Enlil Lugalzaggisi, who caused the
names
Sumerian (Ea).
to be written in
of
which
their
names
occur,
(Bel),
inscription
was one of
the earliest Sumerian rulers of whose reign evidence, and
we can
and
we have
thus trace back the existence
of this great triad of gods to the very beginning of history.
During the
later
periods the connection of
these deities with each other, as the three great gods
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SHAM ASH, AND R AMMAN.
SIN,
of the universe, remained of the
triad
had
his
Each member
unshaken.
own
1/
centre of worship.
Thus
Anu, though he had temples in other parts of the country, was paid peculiar reverence in Uruk, the Babylonian name of the city of Erech, which is mentioned as one of the oldest cities of Babylonia in the
The god
table of nations in Genesis.^
already stated, was the
Sumerian deity
by the Semites with whose worship in E-kur,
we have evidence
was the oldest
member
local
in the archaic inscrip-
tions that have yet been recovered.
the third
been
identified Eulil,
his temple in the city of Nippur,
cult of which
Bel, as has
The worship
of
of the triad, Ea, originated in Eridu,
the southernmost of the great cities of Babylonia, the site
of which,
now marked by
Shahren, stands
miles
fifty
the
mound
of
Abu
from the mouth of the
Shatt el-Arab, but which in
the earliest
period of
Babylonian history, before the formation of the present delta,
must have stood on the shore of the Persian
After
these
three
deities
with
their
Gulf.
world-wide
dominion may be set a second triad, consisting of the two great gods of light. Six and Shamash, and the god of the atmosphere, Eamman. Sin, the Moon-god, identified also with ISTannar, had two centres of wortemple E-gish-shir-gal in Ur, and the temple E-khul-khul in Kharran, of which the former was the
ship, the
more
ancient.
In Ur the worship of the Moon-god '
BAB. EEL.
Genesis
x. 10.
G
1
POSITION OF THE SUN-GOD.
8
was celebrated from remote antiquity, and in influence his cult appears to have eclipsed that
and splendour
of Shamash, the Sun-god,
whose worship was centred
in the cities of Sippar
and Larsa, in two great temples
each of which bore the
name
house."
According
to
one
of E-babbara, " the bright tradition
Shamash was
regarded* as the son of the Moon-god, and this subordi-
Moon
nation of Sun-worship to the cult of the
is
an
interesting peculiarity of early Babylonian religion. At a later period, when the system of mythology was more fully developed, the
Sun-god attained a position of greater prominence. He was then regarded as the judge of heaven and earth, and in the legends it was his
was made in cases of wrong The god Eamman, while particularly injustice. with thunder and lightning, was in general associated decision to which appeal
and
the god of the atmosphere and controlled the clouds,
the mist and
He was
the rain.
reverence by the Assyrian kings
held
who loved
in
especial
to
compare
the advance of their forces in battle to the onslaught of the Storm-god.
The most prominent deity in the company of the Babylonian gods was Marduk, who, as the local god of Babylon, naturally claimed the highest respect from
the
men
of his
own
city.
was a result of the
The extension
rise of
Babylon
of his influence
to the position of
the capital city in a united empire, and fact
we may
trace
his
identification
it is
to this
with the
old
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MARDUK AND
NABU.
21
Babylonian deity Bel, whose worship had flourished many centuries at iSTippur, and the prominent part which he plays in Babylonian legend and for so
mythology. From the days of Khammurabi onward Marduk never lost this position of supremacy among Traces of his original subordinate the other gods. character at the time when Babylon was still unknown
be seen in the fact that he was never regarded as the oldest of the gods, nor as endowed from the
may
beginning with his later attributes as having
won
his
;
he was conceived
power and supremacy by
his
own
valour and by the services he rendered both to gods and to
mankind.
may
In intimate association with Marduk
be mentioned
which
is
ISTabu, the
god of Borsippa, a
marked to-day by the mound
city
of Birs ISTimriid,^
and which, built a little to the south-west of Babylon on the opposite bank of the Euphrates, was in its later period
little
this fact
more than
we may
a suburb of the capital.
To
trace the close connection of Nabii
with Marduk, whose son and minister he was supposed to have been. E-zida, his temple in Borsippa, was closely associated with E-sagil, ^Marduk's great shrine
in Babylon,
and these two sanctuaries were the most
famous in the country. Another prominent deity was Xergal, whose temple, E-shidlam, in the city of Kutu, or Cuthah, was one
A
* place situated about two hours' ride from the modern city of Hilhih.
NERGAL, NINIB, AND NUSKU.
22 of
and
oldest
tlie
larc^est
sanctuaries
Babylonia."^ In general character ISTergal
of battle, and, no doubt from of pestilence also
;
in
still
Northern
in
was the god
destructive
its
nature,
another capacity he was
The connection
regarded as the god of the dead.^
of
with the city of Cuthah was never severed
jSTergal
throughout the long period of Babylonian history. Dungi, one of the earliest kings of the city of Ur, records the building or restoration of his shrine in that city,
and more than two tliousand years
whom
the Babylonians
we
read of certain
later,
among
Sargon sent to colonize Samaria,
men
of Cuth, or Cuthah,
who made
an image of Nergal,^ to whom they trusted to preserve them from the lions that roamed through the devastated land.
with
A god iSTergal
conjectural,
who was is
and
in later times closely associated
NiNiB.
The reading of
his
name
is
his original character is also a matter
of some uncertainty, but under the Assyrian kings his personality
was more
clearly indicated.
By them he
was regarded as a god of battle and the chase, and was to ^NTergal and Ninib that they ascribed the gift their
mighty weapons.
also be mentioned
among
The
Fire-god,
it
of
NusKU, may
the more important deities,
view of the prominent position he occupies in the magical works of the Babylonians.
in
The Babylonian goddesses, with one exception, are not very imposing figures, nor are their characters ^
See below,
p. 37.
^
2
Kiugs
xvii. 30.
BABYLONIAN GODDESSES.
23
very sharply defined or differentiated. Their position corresponded to some extent with the inferior position of
women
It has already
in Babylonia.
that the Babylonian
been remarked
conceived his gods to be very feelings, and it was but
luiman in their form and
natural that his picture of their wives should have been
drawn
same model.
Their principal functions in fact were to receive the favours of their lords and to
after the
become the mothers of a younger generation of gods.
In several instances we
may
trace their
position of
dependence in the very names by which they were known. Thus Anatu, the wife of Anu, and Belit, the wife
of
Bel, in
name
as
well as nature are merely
female counterparts of the male deities with
whom
they are associated. Damkixa, the wife of Ea, was a slightly more important personage to judge from the numerous hymns addressed to her in the later period, a fact that
may
perhaps be explained as arising from
her position as the mother of Marduk.
Marduk's
wife,
however, was of
Tsaepanitum,
account away may be said of
little
her partner, and the same Tashmetu the wife of Nabu, Ningal the wife of the
from
Moon-god, Ai the wife of the Sun-god, Shala the wife Eamman, GuLA the wife of Ninib, and Laz the wife
of
of Xergal.
but
In
fact,
the goddesses of Babylonia exercised
independent power, and, both in the ritual of Yv'orship and in the myths and stories told about the little
gods, they play a very unimportant
and subordinate
part.
THE GODDESS ISHTAR.
24
one very striking exception to this general namely the goddess Ishtar. This deity in her
There rule,
is
own person influence
appears to have absorbed the power and were, at times, ascribed to other
which
was
Slie
goddesses.
with
identified
Sumerian
the
goddess Ninni, and in the Assyrian inscriptions she becomes the wife of the national god Ashur she was ;
also referred to as
"
" Belit,"
the Lady," and in this
i.e.,
character she assumed the titles and prerogatives of the
wife of Bel.
employed
In course of time the name
as a generic
moreover, she was
term
for goddess.
known by two
which represented two quite characters.
Under the
title
"
Ishtar
was
In Babylonia
different local
distinct
"
and
names,
separate
Anunitu she was wor-
shipped as the goddess of battle at Agade and also at the city called Sippar of Anunitu and under this aspect she ;
was regarded
as the daughter of Sin the
At
of Ningal his wife.
Moon-god and
the great temple of E-ana at
Freeh, on the other hand, she was worsliipped as the goddess of love and identified with Nana and in this ;
character she was regarded as the daughter of
and Anatu.
It
was
goddess of love that she
with
Dumuzi
early youth,
or
and
Anu
in her gentler character as the
became connected in legend
Tammuz, her for the sake of
lover
who
died
in
whose recovery she She was served
descended to the realm of the dead.
Erech by numerous priestesses attached to her worship, and the rites practised at her shrine, a later at
THE GODS IN HEAVEN. form
which
of
described
is
25
were
by Herodotus/
performed in her honour as the goddess of love.
By
the Assyrians she was chiefly revered as the goddess of battle at
she had two famous shrines in Assyria, one
;
Nineveh and one
at Arbela,
and
at both she
was
worshipped in her warlike character.
Such are the
characteristics of the principal gods of
the Babylonians during the greater part of their history, and the sketch here given, though drawn from the religious
and
historical literature, is not inconsistent
them
the attributes assigned to
in the astrological
The
astronomical inscriptions.
identification
with
and
of the
planets with some of the greater gods was probably neither a very early nor primitive development, but
one which took place after the Babylonian company of the gods had been definitely formed. "When tlie worship of a host of local gods
had given place to an organized and when the growth of
system of nature worship, legend and
myth
necessitated a belief in the constant
intercourse of the gods with one another,
it
was not
unnatural for the Babylonians to assume that the gods dwelt together in some special place, tliat is to say in heaven.
From
the
earliest times the
sun and moon
were regarded as the symbols of the gods Shamash and Sin respectively, and the movements of the two great
them.
luminaries
At a
were
believed to
later period the '
Book
I.,
be directed
movements
cliap. 19a.
by
of the j)lanets
26
SPIRITS
AND DEMONS.
were also thought to be directed by gods whose symbols they were, and it is probable that in this way tiie identification of
Venus,
and
of
of the
Jupiter, of Ishtar with
Marduk with
of Ninib with Saturn,
of Nergal
with Mars
Nabu with Mercury took place.^ The members to great triad of deities, who have been referred company of the gods, were process Bel and Ea were trans-
as standing at the head of the
not omitted from this
;
Ann, and the three henceforth divided the heavens between them. In the above sketch we have only enumerated the ferred to
heaven and placed
ildni Tcihidi, or
must not be
side
"
"
great gods
by
side with
of the Babylonians,
host of lesser gods as well as countless
and
it
them stood a
forgotten that subordinate to
demons and spirits
possessing various powers and influences. spirits the two classes most frequently
Of these lesser
met with
in the
religious inscriptions are the Anunnaki and the Igigi, " " " the Spirits of the Earth and the Spirits of Heaven,"
Each class is generally mentioned in connection with the other, and they are described as In the magical carrying out the will of the great gods. respectively.
literature the
which were
number
hostile to
of
demons and ghosts and
mankind
is
spirits
very numerous, and to
it was necessary to invoke the assistance of magic and to employ powerful spells; by
escape their evil influence
means the help and protection
these
misfht be obtained to deliver a
of the great gods
man from
their baneful
acts. '
See Jensen, Die Koamologie der Eahylonier, pp. 134
ff.
(
27
)
CHAPTER
II.
HEAVEN, EAETH, AND HELL.
The conceptiou formed by to the shape
the Babylonians with regard
and nature of the earth on which they
lived,
and the ideas they held respecting the structure of the heavens, and the expectation which they entertained of one day dwelling in some region beyond the grave, can only be gathered from various stray references and allusions scattered throughout the remains of their literature.
We
from the pen
possess no treatise on these subjects
of
a Babylonian priest,
and we have
and piece together the beliefs to trace of the Babylonians on all these questions from pasThat sages in their historical and religious writings. for ourselves
the
ancient
Babylonians concerned themselves with
such problems there although they have
ample evidence to show, and, left behind them no detailed
is
description of the universe, it of the texts to obtain
study of
the
many
world
as
is
and
by a
careful
a fairly complete idea
they pictured
of the legends
possible
it.
To understand
stories told concerning the
Babylonian gods and heroes
it is
necessary to consider
SHAPE OF THE EARTH.
28 heaven,
and hell from their standpoint
eartli,
;
it
will
be well, therefore, to trace their views concerning these regions before passing to the
myths and legends that are
translated or referred to in the following chapters.
With regard to the formation and shape of we find a very interesting passage in a legend cerning the old Babylonian hero Etana. a friend of Etana, to carry offer,
him up
and on one occasion
Tlie
the earth told con-
Eagle was
this bird offered
Etana accepted the Eagle's
to heaven.
and, clinging with his hands to
tlie
Eagle's pinions,
he was carried up from the earth. As they rose together into the higher regions, the Eagle told Etana to look at the earth which grew smaller and smaller as
they ascended three times at different points of his him to look down, and each time the Eagle flight, he told ;
spoke he compared the earth to some fresh object. " After an interval of two hours the Eagle said, Look, " "
my
friend, at the
the sea, at
appearance of the earth. the
its side is
House
of
Behold,
Wisdom.^ Look how
"
the earth resembles a mountain, the sea has turned into
"
[a pool of] water."
After carrying Etana up for two
more hours the Eagle ''
"
said,
The
appearance of the earth.
Look, sea
is
my
friend, at the
a girdle
" earth." After ascending for a further space of
the Eagle *'
"
exclaimed,
gardener's channel *
I.e.,
" ;
two hours
The sea has changed
and
into
a
at a still higher point of their
the dwell in g-place of Ea, the Lord of
the deep.
round the
Wisdom, who dwelt
in,
POSITION OF THE SEA. flight the earth
From
had shrunk
these passages
we
29
to the size of a flower-bed.
see
that
the ^vriter of the
legend imagined the earth to be like a mountain around
which flowed the
At the
sea.
and the Eagle were
stopping place Etana
first
so high that the sea looked like a
pool of water, in the middle of which the earth rose.
Later the sea had become so small that girdle little
it
looked like a
earth, and at length it appeared very than a "gardener's water-channel" made larger
round the
for irrigation purposes.
The
belief that the earth
was hemispherical
resembling a mountain with gently sloping
common among passages.
the Babylonians as
that
the
earth
was
The boat used on the
"
other
the Baby-
like a
Tigris
was
sides,
we know from
According to Diodorus Siculus,
lonians said " hollow." ^
in shape,
boat and
and Euphrates,
and representations of which frequently occur on the monuments, had no keel and was circular in shape. ^
Such a boat turned upside down would give a very accurate picture of the Babylonian notion of the shape of the earth, the base of
which the sea encircled
as a
A Greek historian,
born in Sicily, who lived in the first century before Christ, and wrote a history of the world in forty books. 2 Bk. IL, eh. 31, ed. Vogel, vof. i., p. 222. 2 The boats used by the Babylonians and Assyrians are also described by Herodotus (Bk. I., chap. 104), who says that they were circular like a shield, their ribs being formed by willow branches and covered externally with skins, while no distinction was made betweeji ^
the head and the stern. At the present day similar vessels built of branches and skins, over which bitumen is smeared, are used at
Baghdad.
(See Layard, Nineveh and
its
Itemains, vol.
ii.
p. 381.)
THE DOME OF HEAVEN.
30
To a dweller on the plains of
a man.
girdle encircles
Mesopotamia the earth might well seem to be a mountain the centre of which was formed by the high mountain ransjes of
Kurdistan
while the Persian Gulf and the
;
Indian Ocean which were on the south-east of Baby-
and the Eed Sea and the Mediterranean lying to the south-west and west respectively, doubtless led to
lonia,
the belief that the ocean surrounded the w^orld.
At some
distance above the earth was stretched out
the heaven, a solid
dome
or covering in the form of
a hollow hemisphere, very
much
like the
earth in
Both earth and heaven rested upon a great
shape.
body of water called ApsiJ,
how
quite certain ported, that
the solid
to say,
is
it
is
i.e.,
the Deep.
dome
It is not
was supwhether it was
of heaven
not clear
supported by the earth, or was held up, independently of the earth, by the waters. According to one view the edge of the earth was turned up and formed around it a solid wall like a steep range of hills upon which the dome of heaven rested; and in the hollow be-
tween the mountain of the earth and of hills
the sea
stream.
This
this outer wall
collected in the form of a
conception coincides with
narrow
some of the
but against it may phrases in the legend of Etana, be urged the fact that the sea is frequently identified
with Apsu or the primeval Deep upon which the earth rested.
dome
But
if
the edges of the earth supported the
of heaven, all
communication between the sea
THE HEAVENLY and Apsu would be cut fore that the
BODIES.
It is
off.
more
3
1
proloable there-
earth did not support the heaven, and
that the foundations of the heavens, like those of the
In the ^beginning, before the creation of the world, nothing existed except the water earth, rested
on Apsu.
wherein dwelt monsters.
Accordino- to a version of
the creation story, hovrever, the god Bel or Marduk formed the heavens and the earth out of the body of a great female monster that dwelt in the Deep which Splitting her body into two halves, he half the dome of heaven, and from from one fashioned
he had
slain.
the other the earth.^
Above the dome
of heaven
was another mass of
water, a heavenly ocean, which the solid dome of heaven supported and kept in its place, so that it micrht not break through and flood the earth. On the
under side of the dome the
stars
had
their courses
and the Moon-god his path. In the dome, moreover, were two gates, one in the east and the other in the west, for the use of Shamash, the Sun-god,
who every
day journeyed from one to the other across the world. Coming from behind the dome of heaven, he passed through the eastern gate, and, stepping out upon the
Mountain of the Sunrise he began he came
upon
it,
at the
edge of the world,
his journey across the sky. to the
Mountain
In the evening
of the Sunset, and, stepping
he passed through the western gate of heaven *
See below,
p. 55.
THE PATH OF THE SUN-GOD.
32
and disappeared from the sight of men. ,
'
to one tradition he
made
According
his daily journey across the
sky in a chariot, which was drawn by two fiery horses. In representations on cylinder-seals, however, he is In the generally shown making his journey on foot.
accompanying
illustration
Shamash
is
seen appearing
.-f
r "3^^
n
'-^s:^
Sliamasb, the Sun-f;od, coming forth through the eastern door of heaven. a cylinder-seal ia the British Museum, No. 89,110.)
(From
above the horizon of the world, as he enters the sky through the eastern gate of heaven.
In the following hymn, addressed to the Rising Sun, is made to Shamash entering the world
a reference
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
through the eastern gate of heaven " Shamash, on the foundation of heaven thou hast :
flamed forth. "
Thou hast unbarred the
"
Thou hast opened the
" "
bright heavens,
portals of the sky.
Shamash, thou hast raised thy head over the land. Shamash, thou hast covered the lands with the brightness of heaven."
THE GATES OF HEAVEN.
35
Another hymn, addressed to the Setting Sun, contains a reference to the return of interior of
"
heaven
:
Shamash
into the
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
Shamash, when thou enterest into the midst of heaven,
**
The gate-bolt
of the bright heavens shall give thee
greeting, "
The doors
*''The
of heaven shall bless thee.
righteousness
of thy
beloved servant
shall
direct thee.
sovereignty shall be
"Thy
glorious
in E-babbara,
the seat of thy power, "
And
"
And
"
A feast for thy
Ai, thy beloved wife, shall
come joyfully
into
thy presence, she shall give rest unto thy heart.
godhead shall be spread
for thee.
"0
valiant hero, Shamash, [mankind] shall glorify
"
lord of E-babbara, the course of thy path shall
thee.
be straight. "
Go
forward on the road which
is
a sure foundation
for thee.
"
Shamash, thou
art the judge of the world,
thou
directest the decisions thereof.*'
Each evening when Shamash entered the innermost part of heaven he was met by Ai, his wife, and he feasted
and rested from his exertions in the abode of
the gods. BAB. EEL.
For,
beyond the sky which was
visible to
D
THE INNERMOST PART OF HEAVEN.
34
men, and beyond the heavenly ocean which the dome of the sky supported, was a mysterious realm of transcendental splendour and beauty, the Kirib Shame, "
Innermost part of Heaven," where the great gods As a general at times dwelt apart from mankind. or
number
rule the greater
each in his
own
to be intent
city
of the gods dwelt
and
shrine,
upon the welfare
at
any moment they could,
to
heaven.
dwell
of his worshippers
ancient
but
;
they so desired, go up
if
Thus, the goddess
the
in
upon earth, and each was believed
Ishtar was
city of Erech, but
wont
when
to
she
thought that an insult had been offered to her divinity by the hero Gilgamesh she at once ascended into
heaven and demanded vengeance from her father and mother, that is to say, Anu the god of heaven, and
Anatu
Again, the deluge sent by Bel upon
his wife.*
besides destroying mankind,
the earth,
overwhelmed
the shrines and temples of the gods who dwelt in the land, and they were driven forth and fled in fear to
heaven,
the realm
of Anu.^
It
was, however, only
upon
rare occasions that the gods left the earth,
it
in accordance
is
chamber of the
and
with this rule that the council -
gods,
where
fate
and destiny were
The decreed, was not in heaven but upon the earth. and here was chamber name of this Upshukkinaku, the gods gathered together when they were summoned This chamber was supposed to to a general council. Âť
See
p. 161.
*
See
p. 134.
THE HOUSE OF THE DEAD. be situated in the
east, in
the Mountain of the Sunrise,
not far from the edge of the world where by the waters of the great Deep. It has already
35
was bounded
it
been stated that the earth was thought
by the Babylonians to be in the form of a great hemisphere,
and we must now add that they believed
hollow interior to be
upon which not,
it
however,
filled
The layer of earth was
also rested.
regarded
its
with the waters of the Deep as
a
thin
crust.
On
the
contrary, though hollow, the crust of solid ground was throught to be of great thickness. Within this crust, "
mountain of the world," deep down below the surface of the ground, was a great cavern
wdiich formed the
Akallu, and here was the abode of the dead. In this region was the great House of the Dead
called
these were which was surrounded by seven walls and and watched so so strongly built, carefully guarded no one who that had the of once underworld, by beings ;
entered therein could ever hope to return again to earth indeed another name for Arallu, or the under;
world, was
House
mat
of the
la tari,
"
The land
of no return."
Dead was dark and gloomy, and
The in
it
the dead dragged out a weary and miserable existence. They never beheld the light of the sun, but sat in
unchanging
gloom.
In
appearance they resembled-
were clothed in garments of feathers; their only food w^as dust and mud, and over everything The Babylonians had no thick dust was scattered. birds, for they
THE JOYLESS EXISTENCE OF THE DEAD.
S6
beyond the grave, and they did not conceive a paradise in which the deceased would
hope of a joyous
life
he lived upon earth. They between the just and the unjust, made no and the good and the bad, but believed that all would share a common fate and would be reduced to the
live a life similar to that
distinction
same
The Babylonians shared
level after death.
this
conception of the joyless condition of the dead with the Hebrews,
by
whom
Sheol, or Hell,
was thought to
be a place where the dead led an existence deprived
In Isaiah the dead, including " and " the kings of the the chief ones of the earth
of all the joys of "
life.
"nations," are pictured as trooping forth to meet the
king of Babylon
when he
joins their
company; and
" Art thou also become they answer and say imto him " weak as we ? Art thou become like unto us ? Tliy :
''
" "
pomp viols
:
is
brought
the
worm ^
down is
and the noise of thy spread under thee and worms to hell
Ezekiel
also emphasizes the same of the living and the the condition between contrast
cover
dead.
thee."
Those that have caused terror in the land of
the living,
when they
are slain lie
"shame with those that go Psalmist x-rays to Jehovah " "
death there
is
still,
down for
shall Qfive thee thanks
?
Isaiali xiv. 10
f.
^
bear their
deliverance, :
The for in
in Sheol
who
^
The goddess who presided over '
"
to the pit."^ "
no remembrance of thee "
and
Ezekiel xxxii. 17
this joyless ff.
'
Psalm
realm vi. 5.
THE GODS OF THE DEAD. was named Allatu,
of the dead
37
Ereshkigal, and
or
Nergal
she was associated in her rule with the god
The name
in his character as the god of the dead.
was the goddess Laz, but legend wav into the Lower World
of the wife of ]^ergal tells
how
Nersjal forced his
with the purpose of
slaying Allatu,
and
how
the
goddess by her entreaties prevailed on him to spare Henceforth ISTergal and Allatu her life and marry her.
The
ruled together over the realm of the dead.
minister of Allatu was ISTamtar, the lence and disease,
who
her orders
execution.
written
into
down by
chief
of pesti-
acted as her messenger and put Allatu's
decrees
a goddess called Belit-tseri,
of the Desert,"
"Lady
demon
who
possibly took her
were "
the
name
from the wild and barren desert that shut in Babylonia on the west and the chief porter who guarded its ;
entrance was a god of
''Spirit
the
the orders of
named Xedu.
Earth,"
ISTergal
also
frequently
and Allatu.
chief deities Allatu exercised
of demons, who,
The Anunnaki, acted
In addition to these
control over a
like ISTamtar, spread plague
among mankind, and
or
under
number
and disease
so brought fresh subjects to the
realm of their mistress.
The form and appearance of
certain of the gods
of the underworld
number
of engraved bronze plates
down tended
to to
us
;
these, it has
may
and
be gathered from a
demons
which have come
been suggested, were
be placed as votive tablets
in-
in the graves
A BABYLONIAN GRAVE-TABLET.
38
The accompanyhig
of the dead.
illustration has
been
known specimen of this class of was which purchased in Syria some twenty object had it evidently been brought there from years ago taken from the finest
;
some ancient Babylonian
On
city.
the
back of this
tablet is cut in relief the figure of a mythical
beast with a lion's head
and
raises its
top of which of the
tablet,
head above the edge of the grasps with
which
is
its fore- paws.
winged
hind legs
its
plate,
On
the
the front
here reproduced, a funereal
The beast looking over the top represented. the tablet is identified by some with the god Nergal,
scene of
it
stands on
it
;
is
who was
believed to
preside over the funeral
which are being performed It will be
means
lines
into
is
divided by
The first number of the
four registers.
emblems
contains the
register
for the deceased.
observed that the scene
of thick
rites
of a
Here we have a group of seven small circles or stars, and a crescent, and a winged solar disk, and a
gods.
an eight-rayed horned head-dress, and other
circle containing
suggested that these cance,^
and
represent a
if
this
star,
and a
objects.
emblems had
grouping
has been
astrological signifi-
be the case they
particular
cylindrical,
It
of the
may
perhaps
stars
of the
heavens and so indicate the date of the death of the
man
for
whose
benefit
the tablet
was made.
occurrence of such emblems, however, '
See Clermont-Gaunean, Eev. ArcleoL, Nouv.
is
The
frequent, both
Ser., vol, 37, p. 343.
.
Bronze plate on which are dppicted the^ods of the d'^ad in attcnilance upon a defeased (_Froni /."et'iteperson and certain demons and dwellers in tLe underworld. Archeolcgique, youv, Sh\, \'ol. o7.)
A FUNEREAL SCENE.
4I
on royal monuments {e.g., the stele of Asliur-natsir-pal, and the stele of Shalmaneser II., and the rock inscription at Bavian), and on inscribed cylinder seals
on
these
two
classes
of
the
objects
;
emblems
and do
It not appear to have any astrological significance. therefore seems more correct to explain their position
by assuming that they are amulets to secure for the dead man
at the head of the tablet
placed there as
emblems they were. into which the rest of the
the favour of the deities whose
The next three divided
registers
been
have
supposed to represent It is different stages in the upper and lower world.
scene
is
preferable, however, to suppose that the three groups
of figures in the three registers are parts of one scene,
though they are placed, as is frequently the case in archaic sculptures, one above the other. The whole scene
represents
the
deceased
lying
on his
bier,
attended by demons and beings from the underworld.
In
the
second
register
we have
creatures with the bodies of beasts.
They
all
are
clothed
seven
men and in
mythical
the heads of
long tunics which
feet, and they all face towards the right, and the right hand of each is raised. Each being has the head of a different beast. Beginning on the right it will be seen that the first one has the head of a
reach to the
serpent, the second that of a bird, the third that of a horse, the fourth that of a ram, the fifth that of a bear,
the sixth that of a hound, and the seventh that of a
GUARDIANS OF THE DEAD.
42
Certain other gods or demons occur in the third
lion.
The
register.
one on the
first
right,
of a bearded man, has his right
manner
hand
who
is
in the form
same
raised in the
as the seven beings in the second register,
and
next to him stand two lion-headed creatures, clasping hands. All these gods or demons appear to belong to the region of the dead, and they seem to be guarding the bier of the deceased, who is lying upon it with
hands clasped and raised above him. deceased in his grave-clothes;
On
at his
the left
the
is
head and
feet
stand two attendants, with their right hands raised, and
they appear to be performing some mystic ceremony over the corpse. The dress of these attendants isremarkable, for they wear garments made in the form of a fish. Behind the attendant at the head of the bier is
a stand for burning^ incense,
The most
interesting figures
r^"''^"
^
on the plate are those two of the
in the fourth register, for they represent chief deities of the underworld.
the centre
is
The female
fisrure
in
the goddess Allatu, the queen of the dead.
She has the head of a lioness and the body of a woman ; hand she grasps a serpent, and a lion hangs
in each
from each
and
is
sailing
over the
adjoin Apsu, the
the earth. ISTamtar, the
and
is
She kneels upon a horse in a boat " Waters of Death," which
breast.
primeval
ocean that
rolls
beneath
The hideous, winged demon behind her
demon
of the plague,
who
ever ready to do her bidding.
is
waits upon her
It is not certain
OTHER GRAVE-TABLETS. what the
objects
that
probable
in
front are
they
of Allatu
intended
43 but
are,
to
is
it
the
represent
which were placed in the grave with the The purpose of the tablet seems to have deceased. offerings
been to secure the safe passage of the dead Arallu, or the underworld.
A
somewhat similar bronze
preserved,
in
is
the
Constantinople, and
into
but less well
tablet,
Imperial Ottoman Museum is
said
at
have been found at
to
On
Surghiil in Southern Babylonia.^
the back of this
beneath the feet of the monster
tablet,
man
who
looks over
the top, a space of four lines has been left blank to receive
an
inscription
name and
the
of
titles
would
which
either
the deceased, or
record
contain
an
incantation which was to be recited for his benefit.
On
the back of a similar, though somewhat smaller
tablet that
was evidently intended
to be
used
for the
same purpose (although it only represented the goddess Allatu, while the bier and the Plague-demon Namtar and the other gods or demons found on the larger tablets were wanting), a longer inscription was found. This tablet
was published by Lajard, but the text
copied that
it
is
so badly
cannot be read with certainty.^
A still
smaller tablet of the same character the British â&#x20AC;˘
is
preserved in
Museum.^
See the plate published by Scheil, Becueil de Travaux, Vol. XX.,
p. 55. -
Âť
See Lajard, Recherches No. 86,262.
siir le culte
.
.
,
de Venus,
pi.
XVII., No.
1.
THE IMPORTANCE OF DUE BURIAL.
44
Perhaps in no matter do the Babylonians afford a striking contrast to the Egyptians than in the
more
In the moist, alluvial
treatment of the dead.
Mesopotamia the dead body
and
fell
soil of
quickly into decay,
in the absence of ranges of hills such as those
which run on each side of the Nile Valley, the making of rock-hewn tombs in which the bodies of the dead
might be preserved was impossible. probably, that
we may
It is to this fact,
trace the ideas of the
gloomy
existence which the Babylonians believed they would It must not lead when they passed beyond the grave.
be imagined, however, that the Babylonians attached no
importance to the rites of burial. On the contrary, the greatest misfortune that could befall a man was to be o deprived of burial, for, in this case, it was thought that his shade could not reach Arallu, and that it would
have to wander disconsolately about the earth, where, driven by the pangs of hunger, it would be obliged to eat
and drink any
find in the street.
offal
It
or leavings
was in order
which
it
to ensure
might such a
on his conquest of Susa, caused the graves of the kings who had been dead and buried many years to be disturbed and their
fate to his foes that Ashur-bani-pal,
bones to be dragged to Assyria; and the same object prompted the mutilation of corpses on the battlefield
and the casting forth of the dead bodies by birds and beasts of prey.
to
be devoured
To leave a body unburied, however, was not un-
WANDERING SHADES. attended witli danger to the living, for the dead man, during
its
45 tlie
shade of
wanderings over the earth,
any person it met and cause him The wandering shade of a man was grievous sickness. " called ekimmu," i.e., spectre, and the sorcerer and the bewitch
might
witch claimed to possess the power of casting a spell whereby an "ekimmu" might be made to harass a
On
man.
times settle on a that
its
ekimmu " would someown accord, in the hope
the other hand an
man
of its
victim would give
himself from
Museum an
its
''
clutches.
it
burial in order to free
We
have in the British
interesting incantation wliich was intended "
" by a man on whom an ekimmu had fastened itself,-^ and from this we learn that a man, who
to be recited
had
pain, saying "
"
Ea,
And
"0 "
"
might cry aloud in his
fallen sick in consequence, :
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
Shamash,
Marduk, deliver me,
through your mercy
let
me have
relief.
Shamash, a horrible spectre for many days fastened itself on my back, and will not loose
Hath
its hold upon me. The whole day long he persecuteth me, and in the
night season he striketh terror into me. "
He
sendeth forth pollution, he maketh the hair of my head to stand up,
"He
taketh the power from
mine eyes *
my
body, he
maketh
to start out,
See King, Balnfonian Magic and Sorcery,
p.
119
f.
LAYING A TROUBLED
46 "
"
He He
SPIRIT.
my back, he poisoiieth my plagueth my whole body."
plagueth
The
man
sick
in his despair prays to
flesh,
Shamash
be delivered from the ekimmu, whoever he saying "
:
may
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
Whether
it
be the spectre of one of
my own
to be,
family
and kindred, "
Or the
"
Or whether
spectre of one
who was murdered,
be the spectre of any other haunteth me." it
man
that
In order to ensure the departure of the spectre to the underworld he next
which will cause the depart, and says "
A garment
"
And And
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
spirit
to clothe him,
of the unburied
and shoes
offerings
man
to
for his feet,
a girdle for his loins, and a skin of water for
him *'
:
makes the necessary
to drink, ^
as food for his journey have I given him. Let him depart into the West, " To ISTedu, the chief Porter of the Underworld, I
...
"
consign him. JSTedu, the chief Porter
"Let
of the Underworld,
guard him securely, *'
And may
bolt
and bar stand firm (over him)."
It is clear, therefore, that in their
own
interest, as
well as in that of the deceased, a man's friends and relations took good care that he *
was buried with
I cannot tiansl.ite the signs in the text here.
all
MOURNING FOR THE DEAD.
47
respect, and ensured his safe journey to the lower world by placing in the grave offerings of meat and drink to sustain him by the way such offerings were
due
;
intended to alleviate his unhappy lot perhaps after his arrival in the gloomy abode of the underworld. also
have come down to us with regard to the ceremonies that were performed at the grave,
Not many but
details
we know
filled
that after a man's death his house
with mourners, both male and female, hired
family
in
whom
order that they might give
was his
public
expression to the grief occasioned by his death. the Assyrian letter-tablets in the British is
one
and
^
which
refers to the death of the rei^jning kinsf
to the ref^ulations for mourninoj that
observed at the court. *'is
Among Museum there
dead, and
"weep."
"
The
were to be
king,'* the letter says,
the inhabitants of the city of
The writer
of the
letter
Ashur
then goes on to
describe the departure of the governor of the city with from the palace, the offering up of a sacrifice,
his wife
and the wearing of mourning raiment by the whole court and it finally states that arrangements had been made with a director of music to come with his female ;
musicians and sing dirges in the presence of the court. The mourning on the death of a private citizen would of course be carried out on a
more modest
After the mourning for the
performed, his body, ^
British
dead
duly prepared Museum, No. 81-2-4,
scale.
man had been for 65.
burial,
was
BURIAL RITES.
48
carried forth to the grave.
That the burial of the dead
with accompanying rites and offerings was practised in Babylomia from a remote period is proved by a
was
representation on a stele which
set
up
to record
the victories of Eannadu, an ancient king of the city
who
of Shirpurla, B.C.
On
4000.
reigned in
all
a portion of this stele
probability before is
of the burial of those of his warriors
The dead
in battle.
feet alternately,
been raised
;
a representation
who had
fallen
are laid in rows, with head to
and above them a mound of earth has
their
comrades are represented bearing
baskets containing more earth for the mound, or per-
haps funeral offerings for the dead.^ of later
On
the
monuments
Babylonian and Assyrian kings we do not
any representation
of burial ceremonies, but in a broken
inscription of one of the later Assyrian kings,
name has
find
unfortunately not been preserved,
whose
we have
a brief but very interesting account of the ceremonies which he performed at his father's burial.^ He says
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
"
" " " **
*'
"
Within the grave, The secret place, In kingly
oil,
I gently laid him.
The grave-stone Marketh his resting-place.
With mighty bronze De
*
See
2
British
Sarzec, Deeouvertes en Chald^e, pi. 3. see Meissner, Vienna Oriental Journal,
Museum, K. 7856
Vol, XII., pp. eo
ff.
;
THE INTERMENT OF A *'
"
it
with an incantation.
Vessels of gold and silver,
Such as (my
father) loved,
"All the furniture that "
49
I sealed its entrance,
"I protected **
KING.
The due right
befitteth the grave,
of his sovereignty,
I displayed before the Sun-god,
And beside the father who begat me, " I set them in the grave.
tl
*'
Gifts unto the princes, " Unto the Spirits of the Earth,^ " And unto the gods who inhabit the grave, " I then presented." this we learn that the king placed vessels of silver in the grave as dedicatory offerings, and gold and after sealing up the entrance to the grave he pronounced a powerful spell to prevent the violation of the tomb by robbers he also presented offerings to
From
;
propitiate the
demons and dwellers
in the underworld.
Another interesting point about this record is the dead body is said to have been set " in
fact that the
"
kingly
oil," for
the
of preserving the to
have been used
was
oil
clearly used with the idea
body from decay. for
the purpose of preserving the
dead, for Ashur-bani-pal tells
shumati
had
attendant to
caused prevent *
BAB. EEL.
Salt also seems
himself
how, when ISTabu-belto
be
slain
by
his
himself falling alive into the The Anunnati.
E
PRESERVATION OF THE DEAD BODY.
50
hands of Ashur-bani-pal, Ummanaldas had the body placed in salt and conveyed to Assyria into the Besides salt and
presence of the king.^
oil,
honey
seems also to have been used by the Babylonians for Herodotus says that the Babypreserving the dead. lonians buried
in honey,^
and that honey possesses
great powers of preserving the dead fact that the it
Moreover,
Egyptians also used recorded
is
is
it for
proved by the this purpose.^
that Alexander the
Great
when on his death-bed commanded that he should be buried in honey, and obeyed.^
it
seems that his orders were
Tradition also says that one Marcellus having
prepared the body of Saint Peter for burial by means of large quantities of myrrh, spices, etc., laid it in a "
long chest
There
is
"
filled
with honey.^
ample evidence, therefore, to
show that the
Babylonians cared for their dead and took pains about burial, and it is the more surprising on that
their
account, that during the numerous excavations which
have been carried out in Mesopotamia, comparatively few graves have been discovered. Of the graves that have been found, some are built of bricks and are in the form of small vaulted chambers, while others have a
flat or
domed
roof supported
by a brick substructure
;
Cuneiform Inscriptions of Western Asia, Vol. V., pi. vii., 11. 38 fF. ^ gee Budge, The Mummy, p. 183. Bk. I., chap. 198. * See Budge, The Life and Exploits of Alexander the Great, Vol. II., P 349 f. ^ See Brit. Mus. MS. Oriental GTS, fol. 17a, col. 1. *
2
BABYLONIAN GRAVES.
5
in addition to these graves a iew clay sarcophagi
With
burial jars have been found.
the graves are usually found a small
1
and
the skeletons in
number of vases
and perhaps some simple objects of the toilet but from the fact that no inscriptions have been found ;
either over these graves or
found therein,
it
is
upon any of the to
difficult
extremely
objects
assign
to
them even an approximate date in fact, some have unhesitatingly assigned them to a period which is much later than that of the ancient Babylonian and Assyrian To account for this dearth of graves the empires. ;
suggestion has been
made
that the Babylonians burnt
their dead, but not a single passage has been found
in the cuneiform inscriptions in support of this view. It is true that in the winter of
1886 and in the spring
of the following year the Eoyal Prussian
Museum
sent
out an expedition to Babylonia, which, after excavating the mounds of Surgjhul and El-Hibbah, thought thev
had obtained conclusive evidence that the Babylonians burnt their dead.'^ But it has since been pointed out that the tombs they to
the
excavated belong to a period
fall
subsequent while the half-burned
human remains they
of
the
Babylonian Empire,
appearance
discovered
the
of
seemed
to
charred suggest
that the bodies were not cremated but were accidentally
destroyed by
number ^
of
fire.
graves
See Koldewey,
However that
the comparatively small
have
been found
Zeitsclirift filr Assyriologie,
Bd.
II.,
may
pp. 403
ff.
be
CARE FOR THE DEAD.
52
accounted
for,
we may
confidently believe
and Assyrians were
Babylonians
in
the
that
habit
tlie
of
burying, and not burning, their dead throughout the whole course of their history. We are right also in
saying that they imagined that burial, and offerings made at the tomb, would ameliorate the lot of the departed, and
performing dead.
that
all rites
they were usually scrupulous in which could possibly benefit the
(
53
CHAPTEK
)
III.
THE LEGENDS OF CREATION.
The
nations of the ancient world
who have
left
behind
any remains or traces of their literature possessed theories as to the manner in which the world came into being.
Such
theories, or
cosmogonies as they are
termed, are generally told in the form of myths or stories,
and, although
we only know them
in their later
and fully developed forms, their origin may be assumed to go back to a considerable antiquity. If we may judge from the studies and observations that have been
made
of undeveloped races at the present day,
be concluded that primitive
maker
man was
it
may
essentially a
Believing as he did that every object and force in nature possessed a personality and will of myths.
own, he would explain the changes he saw taking place in the world around him by means of In these he would ascribe to the legends and stories. like his
mysterious beings, which seemed to him to animate the natural world, motives similar to those which
would control
his
own
actions.
At
a
more mature
LEGENDS OF CREATION.
54
stage in his development he began to perceive a con-
nection or dependence between the various powers of nature, such as the alternation of day
movements
and night, the
and the regular recurrence these would tend to suggest that some
of the stars,
of the seasons
;
plan or system had been followed in the creation of the world, and in
seeking for the reason of things of myth, he would in process lines familiar the along of time develop a cosmogony or story of creation.
We
have evidence that at least two such
stories
were
current in Babylonia and Assyria in the later periods of their history.
The story
of the creation of
the world as told
Babylon about the year B.C. 300 we know in outline from the extracts that have come down from the history of Berosus, a Chaldean
priest,
in
brief
to us
who
ministered in the temple of Bel at Babylon at the end
and the beginning of the third century
of the fourth
Berosus wrote a history of Babylonia,
before Christ.
beginning with the creation of the world and extending
down to his own time, and although his work, which he translated into Greek, has been lost, extracts from it
have been preserved in the books of
His account
of the creation,
later writers.
for instance,
was repro-
duced by Alexander Polyhistor, from whom Eusebius quotes in the first book of his Chronicon} From this
we
learn that the Babylonians pictured to themselves *
Chron.
I.,
ed.
Schoene,
col.
14
ff.
THE VERSION OF EEROSUS.
55
a time when the world
had no existence, a time before things came into being, when darkness and The water, however, did not water alone existed.
remain uninhabited
for long, for monsters ar ose in_ity
men
with wings, and creatures with four wings i.e., and two human heads, and beings with two heads, one
male and one female.
Some
of men, but had the feet
and horns
creatures
had the
of goats
;
bodies-
some had
the legs of horses, and others, like hippocentaurs, had the bodies and legs of horses but the upper parts of Others, again, were in the form of bulls with
a man.
the heads of men, or dogs with four bodies ending in the tail of a
or
fish,
men and
horses with
tlie
heads of
dogs, and some had the head and body of a horse but
In the water also creeping things, and serpents, and many other monsters of strange and Over these monsters a woman varied shapes existed. the
tail of
reigned
a
fish.
called
Omoroka
(or
in
Omorka),
Chaldee
A change was brought about by the death of the woman Omorka, who was slain by a god named Bel..- Bel cleft her in twain, and from one half he made Thamte,^ or in Greek Thalassa, ''the Sea."
in this world of chaos
the earth, and from the other he
ruled.
made
;
also the
had_cieated the earth, he perceived that The
the heavens
monsters of the deep over whom she The account then goes on to say that after Bel
and he slew
it
was barren
Thalatth, which is probably a corruption of " See Robertson tdmtu the Babylonian for sea. ocean." Bd. VI., Smith, Zeitschrift fUr Assyriologie^ p. 339. *
Thamte,
text reads
i.e.,
DISCOVERY OF THE CREATION TABLETS.
56
and had no inhabitants his
own
to cut off his head and \vhich
flowed from
â&#x20AC;˘directed
he therefore decided to use
;
He
blood for creation.
him
mix the
bade one of the gods earth with the blood
him, and from the mixture he
to fashion jiien
and animals.
Although
deprived of his head Bel did not die, for he is said to have also created the stars, the sun and moon, and the five planets, after his
head was cut
Such
off.
the
is
account of the Babylonian cosmogony as narrated by But as the Berosus, which Eusebius has preserved. latter writer quoted the story at
second hand,
it
is
more than probable that he accidentally misrepresented misunderstood certain portions of
â&#x20AC;˘or
Fortunately we have not
to
it.
depend on Eusebius
alone for our knowledge of the Babylonian stories of creation, for we now possess far fuller accounts on
Assyrian and Babylonian tablets which have been published within the last twenty-five years. The credit of having
made known
to the
world the Babylonian
Creation tablets belongs to the late Mr. George Smith who, in 1875, published a story very like that told by Berosus,
inscribed
upon
fragments of tablets that
some
of
the
tablets
had been brought
to
and
England
Ashur-bani-pal's library at Nineveh The publication of the text and several years before. translations of the Creation tablets by Mr. Smith^ threw
from the
'
site of
See Trans. Soc. Bibl. Arch., Vol. IV. (1876) p. 363 Genesis, London, 1876.
and The Chaldean Account of
f.
(six plates),
THEIR NUMBER AND CONTENTS. great light
57
upon the Babylonian cosmogony, and evoked
considerable interest in the subject.
From
the date of their
first
publication the tablets
have been closely studied, and from time to time fresh fragments of the legend have been identified in the British
Museum. of
Icnowleclge
During
the
increased, so that
Assyrian
more
a
period, moreover, the
this
language
has
greatly
accurate rendering of the
texts can now be given than was possible at the time of their discovery.^ From these inscriptions we gather
that at about the middle of the seventh century before Christ the Babylonian story of the creation was pre-
served at Nineveh, the capital of Assyria, in the form of a great poem, divided into a number of parts or sections, each of which was inscribed upon a separate tablet.
The
were distinguished by numbers,
tablets
"
When
in the height," from the opening words of the
First
and the whole
Tablet.
was named Enuma elish,
series
The poem
is
incomplete in passages, and the
very imperfect. We know that the series when complete contained at least six tablets, but it is
end
is
impossible
to
say
definitely
contained.
how many
In spite of
tablets
it
the
fragmentary poem, however, the thread of the narrative can generally be followed. originally
condition
of
many
parts of the
For the principal works dealing with the Creation tablets which have been published within recent years, see Jensen, Die Kosmologle der BahyJonier, pp. 2'i3 ÂŁf., Gunkel and Zimmern, Sclopfung und Chaos, pp. 401 ff., and Delitzsch, Das hahylonische WeltsoJiopfungsspos, ^
pp. 7
ff.
\
SUMMARY OF THE BABYLONIAN LEGEND.
58
This version of the Babylonian cosmogony is practically identical with that given by Berosus about three hundred and fifty years later.
According to the
version on the Assyrian tablets, chaos in the beginning, before the world was created, consisted of a watery mass.
Two the
primeval beings personified chaos, namely Apsu, "
Deep," and Tiamat, the universal mother,
corresponds to the
woman named Omorka,
who
or Thamte,
by Berosus. Beside Apsu and Tiamat no other being In existed, and they mingled their waters in confusion. the course of time the gods were created the first were Lakhmu and Lakhamu, Anshar and Kishar came next^ ;
after
many
ages,
and
great gods were born.
after a further period the other
But Tiamat, the monster
of the
Deep, who had taken
the form of a huge serpent, and revolted her consort, against the gods, and created Apsu,
a brood of monsters to destroy them.
Anshar, the
leader of the gods, having entrusted in vain the god
Anu, and
after
him the god Ea, with
the task of resist-
ing Tiamat, prevailed on Marduk, the son of Ea, to be the champion of the gods and to do battle with the monster.
The gods were summoned by Anshar
council that they might
confer supreme power
to a
upon
Marduk and arm him for the fight. After completing his preparations Marduk went out to meet Tiamat and her host and succeeded in slaying her and in taking He then split Tiamat's body in her helpers captive. half and from one half he formed the heaven, fixing.
ITS
RESEMBLANCE TO GENESIS.
59
firmament to divide the upper from the lower and waters, pLacing bars and sentinels that the waters
it
as a
Marduk then
should not break throuoh.
created the
heavenly bodies that they might regulate the seasons,
and he appointed the moon to rule the night. The poem at this point becomes mutilated, but there is evidence to show that
Marduk then
created the earth,
and the green herb, and cattle, and the beasts of the field, and creeping things, and man, in the order here given.
From
the above
of creation
it
of the
creation
Genesis
;
it
it
presents
as preserved in the is
some very
resemblance to the narrative
remarkable points of
and
of the Babylonian story
summary
will be seen that
first
chapter of
chiefly to this fact that the wide-
spread interest in the legend
due.
is
The bare outline
given by Berosus does not suggest a very close parallel to the Biblical account, but from the more detailed narrative as given on the
tablets
we
see that
many
features of the story of creation narrated in Genesis are also characteristic of the
Babylonian cosmogony. Thus
each account the existence of a watery The chaos preceded the creation of the present world.
according to
Hebrew word
telioni
translated
"
the deep
"
in Genesis,^
"
corresponds exactly with the Babylonian Tiamat," the monster of the deep who personified chaos and confusion.
The creation
of light recorded in Genesis is
the equivaleixt of the statement on the Creation tablets Âť
Gen.
i.
2.
6o
THE BIBLICAL AND BABYLONIAN ACCOUNTS.
that Tiamat was vanquished by Marduk, for he overcame the monster in his character as a solar god. Then there follows in each narrative the description of the creation of a firmament, or
dome
solid
of heaven^ to keep
the u;pperjwaters_in pl^i^e in each account the narrative of the creation of the heavenly bodies follows ;
that
of the
firmament,
and in each
also
they are
been suggested that the seven days of creation in Genesis correspond
appointed to regulate the seasons. to seven
definite acts of
It has
creation in
the Babylonian
but a careful study of the Babylonian poem has shown that such an arrangement was not contemplated by the Babylonian scribes, nor is there any
account
;
evidence to show that the creation was deliberately classified in a series of seven acts. slight perusal of
A
however, sufficient to prove that the two accounts present in many ways a very striking resemthe legend
is,
blance to each other
;
but in some respects the contrast
When we examine the they present aims and ideas which underlie and permeate the two is
no
less striking.
narratives, all resemblance
monotheism
between them
ceases.
The
of Genesis finds no echo in the Babylonian
poem, and in the
latter
no single and pre-existing deity
created the universe from chaos by his word, but the
gods themselves emerged from chaos, and it was only after one of their number had fought with and slain the mother of them all that the creation of the world took place.
\
/
THE CREATION OF THE GODS. Before
6l
we
proceed to consider the problem of the relationship of these two stories of the creation it will be well to give a translation of those portions of the Babylonian legends that have been preserved, and to trace their age
and history so
far as
they can be ascertained.
The beginning of the First Tablet contains a description of chaos and of the birth of the oldest gods it reads
:
;
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
"
When in the height heaven was not named, And the earth beneath did not yet bear a name " And Apsii the primeval, who begat them, " And chaos, Tiamat, the mother of them both "
^ ;
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
"
Their waters were mingled together, and
"
No field was formed, no marsh was to be seen "When of the gods none had been called
;
into
being,
"And
none bore a name, and no destinies [were
ordained]
;
"
Then were created the gods, [all of them], " Lakhmu and Lakhamii were called into beins:.
.
,
"Asjes increased " " " "
Anshar and Kishar were created Long were the days Ann, the father Anshar and Anil
The '
last line
"
but one evidently refers to the creation
According to Semitic ideas tliename of a thing was regarded as it8 hence to bear a name was equivalent to being in existence.
essence
;
REPETITIONS IN THE TEXT.
62 of the god
where
this
Aim
;
and from a passage in Damascius,
Babylonian theogony is reproduced/ we may and Ea were created along with
infer that the Gjods Bel
him.
It is probable that the creation of the other great
gods was then described. place to order,
Chaos was, in fact, giving but the gods were not for long allowed
remain in peace, for Tiamat, their mother, conceived a hatred for them, and with Apsu, their father, plotted to
their destruction.
The
First Tablet ends with a descrip-
tion of the brood of monsters
which Tiamat spawned
to
aid her in her fight with the gods.
Of the Second Tablet very
little
has been preserved,
but, as in the case of the First Tablet, sufficient frag-
ments of the text remain of the
story.
to indicate the general course
The piecing together of the
narrative,
however, would be well nigh impossible were for a strange characteristic of
this
practice
monsters, and
would be
the
description
Tiamat's
But
for
brood
of
Kingu
as their captain
it
remains on the frag-
The
description, however,
hardly any of
ments of the First Tablet. is
of
of her selection of
lost, for
not
Babylonian poetry, that
to say, the practice of frequent repetition.
is
it
repeated in the form of a message to the god Anshar
beginning of the Second Tablet; it is also repeated on the Third Tablet, once by Anshar to his the
at
Gaga, and again by Gaga when delivering Anshar's message to Lakhmu and Lakhamu. Had we minister
*
Quaestiones de primis principiis, chap. 125 (ed. Kopp, p. 384).
anshar's instructions to gaga.
6^
the complete text of the First and Second Tablets of
poem such
the
repetition
might be wearisome, but in
their present imperfect condition its advantages for the
restoration of the text are obvious.
On
hearing the news of Tiamat's preparations for battle the god Anshar was troubled, and he sent his
son
Anu
and to try to appease her but when he saw her he to her,
to speak with her
Anu went
anger.
The god Ea was next sent by fear. met with no better success. Anshar but he Anshar,
turned back in
then invited the god Marduk to do battle with Tiamat, and he consented on condition that the gods would
meet together and solemnly declare him their champion. The Second Tablet ends with Marduk's speech to Anshar, and the Third Tablet opens with Anshar's instructions to his minister of the
direct
to
a council
to carry tidings of
Lakhmu and Lakhamu, and to summon the gods who were to appoint
revolt
them
Marduk
summon
to
Gaga was ordered
gods.
Tiamat's
Gaga
to
The Third Tablet begins mouth, and
as their champion.
Anshar opened
his
[To Gaga] his minister spake the word [Go Gaga, thou minister] that rejoicest
:
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
:
'
[To
Lakhmu and La]khamu
let the gods, all of '
[Make ready sit,
my
spirit,
I will send thee.
for a feast], at a
them,
banquet
let
them
THE REVOLT OF TIAMAT.
64 "
[Let "
them
eat bread], let
[That for
Marduk],
decree the "
[avenger],
they
may
fate.
[Go Ga]ga, stand before them,
"[And
all that I] tell thee,
say) "
them mix wine,
their
*
repeat unto them, (and
:
Anshar your son has sent me,
"The purpose
of his heart he has
made known
to
me. <c
He
says that Tiamat our mother has conceived a
hatred for us, tl
With
all
her force she rages, full of wrath.
"
All the gods have turned to her
"
With
"
those,
whom you
;
created, they go at her side.
banded together, and they advance
at the side of
Tiamat
They
are
They
are furious, they devise mischief without rest-
;
**
ing night and day. "
for battle, fuming and raging have "They joined their forces and are making war. " Ummu-Khubur,^ who formed all things,
They prepare
;
"
Has made
"
spawned monster-serpents, Sharp of tooth, and cruel of fang
"With
in addition
weapons
invincible, she has
;
poison instead of blood she has filled their
bodies.
"
Eierce monster-vipers she has clothed with terror, *
Auother name of Tiamat.
HER BROOD OF MONSTERS.
6$
"With
splendour she has decked them, and she has caused them to [mount ?] on high.
"
Whoever beholds them
"
Their bodies rear up and none can withstand their
is
overcome by dread.
attack. i(
up the viper, and the dragon, and the (monster) Lakhamu,
She has
And
set
the hurricane, and the raging hound, and the
scorpion-man, ((
And mighty tempests, and the fish-man, and the ram
<l
They bear merciless weapons, without
;
fear of the
â&#x20AC;˘
fight.
"
Her commands
none can
are mighty,
them
resist
;
"After this fashion, huge of stature, she has made eleven (monsters). the gods who are her sons, inasmuch as he gave her support, " She has exalted Kingu in their midst she has
"Among
;
raised "
To march
him
to power.
before the forces, to lead the host,
"
To give the battle-signal, to advance to the " To direct the battle, to control the fight, "
To him has she entrusted has
"
"
made him
sit,
;
attack,
in costly raiment she
(saying)
:
have uttered thy spell, in the assembly of the gods I have raised thee to power, The dominion over all the gods have I entrusted '
I
to thee.
BAB. EEL.
F
KINGU AND THE REBEL HOST.
66 "
Be
tbou
tliou exalted,
my
"
chosen spouse, over all [the world]/ Tablets of Destiny,^ on
Let them magnify thy name " Then did she give him the
his breast she laid them, (saying)
"
'
Thy command
shall not
be without
:
avail,
and the
word of thy mouth shall be established.' ''Now Kingu, (thus) exalted, having received the "
power of Ann, Decreed the fate for the gods, her sons Let the opening of your mouth quench the Fire:
"
'
god
;
"Whoso
prides himself on valour, let '
far
display
might Anshar has described the revolt of Tiamat
(his)
So
him
"
!
and the creation of the monsters who were her in the
fight,
to
help
and her selection of Kingu as the
captain of her host
;
all these
things are described in
He
the First Tablet in exactly the same language.
next mentions the measures he has taken on hearing of Tiamat's treachery in the following words " "
"
:
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
Anu, but he was unable to go' against her ISTudimmud ^ was afraid and turned back. I sent
Marduk has son
set out, the director of the gods,
;
your
;
The possession of the "Tablets of Destiny" carried with it supremacy among the gods; with a view of obtaining this supremacy the god Zu stole them from Bel, but Shamash the Sun-god compelled '
him 2
to restore
A
title of
them.
See pp. 193
the god Ea.
f.
MARDUK, THE CHAMPION OF THE GODS. "To
set out against
6*J
Tiamat his heart has prompted
(him). "
"
He ^
opened his mouth and spake unto
If
me
:
your avenger, Conquer Tiamat and give you life, "Appoint an assembly, make my fate pre-eminent and proclaim it. I,
'â&#x20AC;˘'
"In Upshukkinnaku ^
seat
yourselves joyfully to-
gether.
"AVith
"Whatsoever "
'
my mouth
I do,
The word of
made
you will I decree fate. shall remain unaltered,
like
my
lips shall
never be changed nor
of no avail.'
"Hasten therefore and swiftly decree fate which you bestow,
for
him the
"That he may go and fight your strong enemy The narrative continues
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
:
"
Gaga went, he took
"Humbly
before
his
" !
way and
Lakhmu and Lakhamu,
the gods,
his fathers,
"He made
and he kissed the ground
obeisance,
at
their feet.
"
He humbled
himself
;
then he stood up and spake
unto them."
Gaga then to
repeats the message which
given with the speech of *
The Banie
Anshar has
corresponds word for word Anshar quoted above, it may here
him, but, as
it
of the place
uhere the gods met together.
THE ASSEMBLY OF THE GODS.
68
The narrative describes the
be omitted.
Gaga's message in the following words
:
of
effect
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
"
Lakhmu and Lakhamu
"
All of the Igigi wailed bitterly, (saying) What has been changed that they should conceive
heard and [were afraid], :
'"
'
[this hatred]
" " " "
We
?
do not understand the deed of Tiamat
Then did they collect and go, The great gods, all of them, who decree They entered chamber]
in
before
' !
fate.
filled
Anshar, they
[the
;
"
They pressed on one another, in the assembly "They made ready for the feast, at the banquet .
they sat
.
.
;
"
They ate bread, they mixed sesame-wine. " The sweet drink, the mead, confused their
"They became drunk with drinking, were filled (with meat and drink). "
Tlieir
limbs were wholly relaxed, and their
was exalted
"Then
[senses],
their
for
bodies
spirit
;
Marduk,
their avenger, did they decree
the fate."
At
this
point
the
Third
Tablet
the
of
series
ends.
The Fourth Tablet opens with ceremony "
"
of decreeing fate for
a description of the
Marduk
thus
:
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
They prepared for him a lordly chamber, Before his fathers as counsellor he took his place."
THEIR ADDRESS TO MARDUK.
When Marduk had him " *'
Thou
Thy
" "
taken his
in the following words art chiefest
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
seat, the
gods addressed
the great gods,
among
fate is unequalled,
Marduk, thou
:
69
thy word
art chiefest
is
among
Ann
^ !
thŠ great gods,
thy word is Anu "Henceforth not without avail shall be thy com-
Thy
fate is unequalled,
!
mand, "
In thy power shall it be to exalt and to abase. "Established shall be the word of thy mouth, sistible shall
"None
be thy the
among
command
gods
shall
irre-
;
thy
transgress
boundary.
"Abundance, the "
desire of the shrines of the gods,
Shall be established in thy sanctuary, even though
they lack (offerings).
"0 " "
Marduk, thou
art our avencrer
!
We
give thee sovereignty over the whole world.
Sit
thou down
in
majesty,
be exalted
in
thy
command. shall never lose its power,
"Thy weapon crush thy "
it
shall
foe.
lord, spare the life of
him
that putteth his trust
in thee, "
But
as for the "
his life "
*
I.e.,
god who led the
Thy word has "
*
Literally,
rebellion,^
pour out
I
the same power as that of Anu."
began the
evil."
MARDUK
70
But before Marduk
TESTS HIS POWER. set out to
do battle with Tiamat,
gods wished him
to put to the test the power the which they had conferred upon him, and with this object in view they brought a garment into their midst, and then addressed their avenger, saying :
"
'
May
thy
be supreme
lord,
fate,
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
among the
gods,
"
To destroy and to create speak thou the word, and (thy command) shall be fulfilled. ;
" "
Command now and let And speak the word '
reappear
the garment vanish
again and
let
;
the garment
"
I
words of the gods Marduk Spake with his mouth, and the garment vanished "Again he commanded it, and the garment re-
In obedience
to the
*'
;
appeared. "
When
the gods, his fathers, beheld (the fulfilment
of) his word, ((
They
rejoiced, '
saying), ((
and they did homage (unto him,
Marduk
'
is
king
!
They bestowed upon him the throne, and the ring,
sceptre,
and the
They gave him an invincible weapon, wherewith to overwhelm the foe. ti
'
'
Go,' (they said),
and cut
off the life of
Tiamat,
i(
And
((
(Thus) did the gods, his fathers, decree for the lord
let the
his fate
;
wind carry her blood
into secret places.*
HE PREPARES FOR BATTLE. "
They caused him and success.
"He made
71
to set out on a path of prosperity
ready the bow, he girded his weapon
upon him, "
He " He
slung a spear upon him and fastened it, hand he grasped .
raised the club, in his right
"
The bow and the quiver he hung
"
He
"
With burning flame he
.
.
(it),
at his side.
set the lightning in front of him,
"He made
a net
to
filled his
enclose
body.
the inward
parts
of
Tiamat, "
The four winds he escape
her micjht
set so that nothino- of
;
"The South wind, and
North wind, and the East wind, and the West wind " He brought near to the net which his father Anu the
had given him. ÂŤ
He
<(
The
created the evil wind, and the storm, and the
hurricane, four-fold wind,
the whirlwind,
equal
"He
sent
;
forth
seven in "
and the seven- fold wind, and wind which was without
the
the winds which he had
created,
all,
To destroy the inward parts
of
Tiamat
;
and they
followed after him.
"Then
the lord raised the thunderbolt, his mighty
weapon,
THE MEETING OF MARDUK AND TIAMAT.
72 "
He mounted
"
He
the chariot, an object unequalled for
terror,
"
harnessed four horses and yoked them to
[All of them] ferocious, swift of pace
''
"
and high
and
;
[They gnashed with] their flecked with foam,
They had been
it,
of courage,
teeth, their bodies
were
[trained to gallop], they had been
taught to trample underfoot." Thus, standing in his chariot, and followed by the seven winds he had created, did Marduk set out for the all
His advance against Tiamat in the sight of the gods is described in the following words fight.
:
" ''
Then the lord drew
He
"As (Marduk)
Tiamat he gazed,
nigh, on
beheld the scorn
(?)
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
of Kingu, her spouse.
was troubled in
gazed, (Kingu)
his
gait,
"
His will was destroyed and
"
And
"
Beheld their leader's
his
movements
who marched by
the gods, his helpers,
[distress],
ceased. his side,
and their sight was
troubled."
But Tiamat taunted
stood
Marduk and
safety behind him
;
firm,
wdth
the gods
to
these
by reproaching her with her for battle in these
unbent
neck,
and
who were gathered in Marduk replied
taunts
treachery,
words
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
and he bade her
prepare " Let thy hosts be equipped, and let thy weapons be '
set in order
!
:
THE DEATH OF TIAMAT. " *'
" ^'
"
"
Stand
!
When
73
and thou, let us join battle Tiamat heard these words, I
She was like one possessed, she She uttered loud, angry cries.
lost
' !
her senses,
She trembled and shook to her very foundations. She recited an incantation, she pronounced her spell,
"And
cried
out for their
"Then advanced Tiamat and Marduk,
the counsellor
the gods of the
battle
weapons. of the gods "
To the
fight
;
they came on, to the battle they drew
nigh. " "
The lord spread out his net to catch her, The evil wind that was behind (him) he let
loose in
her face. "
As Tiamat opened her mouth
"
He
"
The
"
And
to its full extent,
drove in the evil wind, while as yet she had not shut her terrible
lips.
winds
filled
her belly,
her courage was taken from her, and her
mouth
she opened wide. "
He seized the spear and broke through her belly, He severed her inward parts, he pierced her heart. " He overcame her and cut off her life " He cast down her body and stood upon it. " When he had slain Tiamat, the leader, "
;
"
Her might was broken, her
force
was
scattered,
CAPTURE OF THE REBEL HOST.
74 "
And
the gods, her helpers,
who marched by her
side, *'
Trembled, and were afraid, and turned back.
"
They took to flight to save their lives " In an enclosure they were caught, they were not ;
able to escape. " ((
({
He
took them captive, he broke their weapons In the net they were caught and in the snare they sat down. ;
[The whole] world they
filled
with
cries of grief.
"They received punishment from him, they were held in bondas^e.
on the eleven creatures
whom
with the power of striking
terror,
"And "
The troop
"
He
"
of devils
brought
Them and
which marched
affliction,
she had
filled
at her bidding
(?),
[he destroyed] their power
their opposition he trampled
;
under his
feet. ((
Moreover Kingu, who had been made leader [over all of]
t{
He
them,
conquered and like unto the god counted him.
...
he
"He
took from Kingu the Tablets of Destiny that were not [rightly] his, " He sealed them with a seal and on his own breast.
he laid them. "
Now
after the valiant
Marduk had conquered and
destroyed his enemies.
o cS
oo on
O
a
m 3
0}
o
o •4-3
a o
a a
cS
<u
.a
THE CREATION OF HEAVEN. "
And had made reed
jy
the arrogant foe even like a broken
(?),
"
He
"
And
"
Over the gods that were captive he strengthened
"
To Tiamat,
"
And
"
With
fully established
Anshar's triumph over the
enemy, attained the purpose of
Nudimmud.
his durance.
" "
whom
he had conquered, he returned, the lord stood upon Tiamat's hinder parts ;
his merciless club
he smashed her skull
He cut the channels of her blood, He made the North wind bear it away
;
into secret
places.
"His
fathers beheld, they rejoiced and were glad; Presents and gifts they brought unto him. " Then the lord rested, and ejazed on her dead bodv.
"
"He
divided the flesh of the body, having devised a
cunning plan. "
He
"
One
split
her up like a
flat fish
into
two halves.
half of her he set in place as a covering for
the heavens. "
He fixed a bolt, he stationed watchmen, " And bade them not to let her waters come forth. " He passed through the heavens, he surveyed the regions (thereof),
"Over against the Deep he Nudimmud. "
And
set
the
dwelling
the lord measured the structure of the Deep,
of
THE MEANING OF E-SHARA.
7S " " "
And he
founded E-shara, a mansion like unto
The mansion E-shara, which he created He caused Anu, Bel and Ea in their
it.
as heaven, districts to
inhabit."
With
these words the Fourth Tablet of the series
ends.
Marduk having conquered Tiamat, thus began the creation. From one half of the monster's body
work of
he fashioned heaven in the form of a
which he
also furnished
with bolts and watchmen to
keep the waters which were above
The dwelling
solid covering,
it
in their place.
of JSTudimmud he fixed in the deep,
i.e.,
the abyss of waters beneath the earth, and he also
founded E-shara.
and according
to
Some think that E-shara is the earth ^ this view Marduk may be regarded as ;
having now created and set in place, the heavens, and the earth, and the waters which were beneath the earth. Others, however, consider E-shara to be a
heaven, or for a part of
it,
the Fourth Tablet of the
and the
poem
two
for
lines of
certainly favour this
The most natural meaning that Marduk made the mansion view.
last
name
of the passage is
of
E-shara to be
heaven, which he then divided between the three gods Anu, Bel and Ea. Moreover we know from other sources that these three gods, in addition to ruling the heaven,
and the
earth,
astrolooical o ^
and the abyss respectively, in their divided the heaven between
characters
See Jensen, Die Eosmologie der Balylomtr, pp. 195
11'.
CREATION OF THE HEAVENLY BODIES. them
^
and the position of certain
;
astrological tablets
dominions of these
to the various
According to the former
deities.
view this passage in the
noted in
stars is
by apportioning them
79
poem means
that
Marduk
created E-shara (the earth) "like a heavenly vault/'
^
form of a hollow hemisphere like the firmament overhead but to obtain this sense the ordinary in the
i.e.,
;
of the words has to be strained considerably.
meaning
In the Fifth Tablet of the series Marduk continued
work
the
of creation.
He had
already portioned out
the heavens and the abyss, and he
part
its
separate
function,
now
assigned to each
and laid down laws
The
the reojulation of the whole.
for
tablet describes the
creation of the heavenly bodies and the regulation of
the seasons, but unfortunately only the beginning part
The
has been preserved. "
He made
"The
:
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
the stations for the great gods,
stars,
he fixed
"He
text reads
their images, (and)
constellations
;
ordained divided
the
the
and
year
into
sections
he
it.
"
For the twelve months he fixed three
"
From
the day
when
stars.
the year comes forth
^
until
(its) close,
"He
founded the station of Nibir^ their
'
^
determine
to
bounds ;
See above, p. 26. See Jensen, op. cit,
p. 289.
'
I.e.,
begins.
* I.e.,
Jupiter.
THE MOON TO RULE THE NIGHT.
So "
That none might err or go astray, set the stations of Bel and Ea along with him. opened great gates on both sides (of the firma-
"
He " He
ment), "
He made
strong the bolt on the left and on the
right,
" In the midst thereof he fixed the zenith. "
The Moon-god he caused
to shine forth, the night
he entrusted to him.
He
*'
appointed him, a being of the night, to determine the days.
"Every month without ceasing with the crown he covered "
'
(?)
him, (saying)
:
At
the beginning of the month, at the shining of the , .
"Thou
shalt
.
.
command
the horns to determine six
days, "
"
And on
the seventh day to [divide] the crown.' Here the text becomes too broken to make a con-
nected translation, though from what remains
it
may
be gathered that Marduk continued to address the Moon -god, and to define his position with regard to
Shamash, the Sun-god, at the course.
What
text contained
may
points of his
the actually missing portion of
we cannot say with
conjecture that
it
certainty, but
the
we
described further acts of creation.
That there was a Sixth Tablet line at the
different
is proved by the catchend of the Fifth Tablet, and the text of this
CREATION OF BEASTS OF THE FIELD. also
must have
referred to the
same
no evidence to show how in the Creation Series,
number was
that the
cannot
these
as
There
subject.
1
is-
were comprised many althoudi some have thouo-ht tablets
greater than six.
have been found which
tablets
and
8
be
Fragments of
refer to acts of creation,
fitted
into
tablets already described, it has been
in
places
the
suggested they
formed parts of the tablets which seem to be missing. One such fragment is of especial interest, for it contains "
"
the
a reference to field,
the cattle of the
things of the field."
ment belonged
"
the creation of the
It is
field,
beasts of
and the creeping
improbable that the frag-
to the Creation Series,
inasmuch
as the
gods as a body, and not Marduk alone, are credited by with the creation of the world, and besides this the
it
god Ea, Marduk's father,
mentioned
is
prominent part in the work.
taking a
as
The fragment
in fact
reproduces a variant form of the creation legend, but description of the creation of the beasts may well be
its
cited in favour of the of the
poem contained
which
contains
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
beMS " When :
"
Had " Had "
The
all
the
view that some missing portion
The fragment
a similar episode.
opening
the gods had
made
created the heavens,
lines
of
the
tablet
[the world],
had formed [the
brought living creatures into being
.
earth], .
.
,
cattle of the field, the [beasts] of the field,
the creeping things [of the field], BAB. KEL.
.
.
."
G
and
CREATION OF MANKIND.
82
The
of the fragment
rest
too broken to admit
is
of a trustworthy restoration of the text, though the reference to Nin-igi-azag,
a
title
" i.e.,
the lord of clear vision,"
of the god Ea, seems to connect
him with some
further act of creation.
There are also some grounds for believing that in addition to the creation of animals some portion of the
poem
A hymn
described the creation of mankind.
has been found inscribed upon a tablet which contains
number
a
of remarkable
of the god Marduk, and, as
addresses
many
of
them
in
honour
refer to his
has been thought that the comformed the concluding tablet of the series.-^ position After addressing him as one who shewed mercy to
acts of creation,
it
the gods he had taken captive, and
who removed
the
yoke from the neck of the gods his enemies,^ the hymn refers to his having created men and declares that his
word
shall be established
''
in the
"
whom
mouth
evidence
of the black-headed ones
may
the creation of are missing
;
and
it
is
Museum, K.
8522.
place in the tablets that
probable
we have
which Marduk was believed British
(i.e., mankind) In view of this
be concluded that the description of
mankind had a
fragment of a tablet^
*
shall not be forgotten
hands have created."
his it
and
that
upon another
a copy of the instructions to
have given
to
See G. Smith, Trans. Soe. Bihl. Arch.,
Vol. IV., p. 363, and plates 3 and 4. The allusion here is to the Fourth Tablet; see above, p. 74. 3 British Museum, K. 33G4. "^
man
THE DUTIES OF MAN. after
his creation.
The followiDg
83
extracts from this
fragment reveal a very lofty conception of man's duties
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
towards his god and towards his neighbour " Towards thy god shalt thou be pure of heart, :
"
For that
is the glory of the godhead and Prayer supplication and bowing low
"
;
to
the
earth, "
in
Early
him
A "
"
little
The
.
the .
shalt
morning
thou
offer
unto
."
further on
Marduk
continues
:
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
fear of god begets mercy,
Offerings increase
life,
"
And prayer absolves from sin. "He that fears the gods shall
not cry aloud [in
grief],
**He that fears the Anunnaki^ shall have a long [life]. *'
Against friend and neighbour thou shalt not speak [evil].
"
Speak not of things that are hidden, [practice]
"
When
mercy. thou makest a promise (to give), give and [hold] not [back]."
In the
hymn
w^hich has
been referred to in the
previous paragraph as having not improbably formed
the concluding tablet of the
series,
the other gods are
represented as addressing Marduk, their deliverer, by *
J.t.,
the Spirits cf
tl.e
Eaith.
LAST TABLET OF THE POEM.
84
name and
every conceivable
him
called *'
pure "
title of honour. They the gods," " the god of
"
the
"
the bringer of purification," " the god of
life,"
of all
life
"
the favouring breeze,"
the lord of hearing and mercy,"
"
the creator of abundance and mercy,
"
plenteousness, and increases all that
is also
said that
when
who
is
establishes "
small
;
and
it
the gods themselves were in sore
distress they felt his favouring breeze.
The
text con-
tinues in the above strain, referring to his his opponents, his conquest of
creation, titles
and Bel and Ea are made
on the story, the father prince or ruler
to
bestow their own
Finally the wise are bidden to ponder
upon him.
is to
teach
is to listen to its
Marduk
ode to
mercy towards and his acts of Tiamat,
it
to his son,
recitah
and the
With such an
as the god of creation the great
might fitly conclude. In addition to the great poem, there
is
poem
reason to
believe that several different accounts of the creation
were
Babylonian literature. One such preserved on a broken tablet from Ashur-
current
account
is
bani-pal's
in
library,
which
contains
a
very different
description of the great battle with the dragon to that
siven in the Fourth Tablet of the Creation Series.
In
this version the fight does not precede the creation of
man men and
the world but takes place after
has been created
and
gods are equally
cities
terrified
built.
In
fact,
at the dragon's appearance,
liver the lands
and
it
is to
de-
from the monster that one of the gods
ANOTHER DESCRIPTION OF TIAMAT. goes out and slays
the advent of Tiamat, "
The
:
The text begins with which came upon creation
him.
description of the terror
monster, and says
85
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
cities sighed,
who
has, however,
men
[groaned aloud],
become
a at
male
a
''Men uttered lamentation, [they wailed grievously]. " For their lamentation there was none [to help], ''
For their grief there was none to take [them by the
*'
Who
hand]. "
was the [great] dragon ? ^ was the [great] dragon
Tiamat
!
"
Bel in heaven has formed [his image]. "Fifty kashu'^ is his length, one Jcashu
[is
his
breadth], "
Half a rod
(?) is
The next few
his
mouth, one rod
(?) [his
.
.
.]."
lines continue the description of the
dragon, and give the measurements of other parts of " " and " sixty-five rods," his body as being sixty rods
and narrate how he wallowed his
in the water
and lashed
All the gods in heaven were afraid.
tail. They bowed down and grasped the robe of the Moon-god Sin, and they cried out asking who would go out and slay the monster, and deliver the broad earth, and so make
They then appealed to the god Sukh' undertake the task, but he made excuses. Who
himself king. to
1
^
i.e.,
Here called Tdmtu, " Ibe Sea." The kaihii is a space that can be covered about six or seven miles.
iu
two houi s' travellin
THE dragon's blood.
86
eventually consented to do battle with the dragon broken, but
do not know, for the text
is
that in this version also
Marduk was in which we
end of the composition,
it is
probable
the god,
find
him
:
;
Set the seal of thy
before thy face
life
battle,
in encourage-
ment, has fortunately been preserved it reads "'Stir up cloud, storm [and tempest], "
The
the hero.
whoever he may have been, setting out to do while one of the other gods cries to
we
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
^ .
.
.
,
'
And slay the dragon " He stirred up cloud, and storm [and tempest], " He set the seal of his life before his face " And he slew the dragon. ''
!
.
"
For three years and three months, day and
.
.
,
[night],
"
The blood of the dragon flowed ..." The details as to the size of the dracjon and the
amount
of his blood are of considerable interest.
the Creation Series the North carried
the blood
prominence
away
into
wind secret
places,
given to the dragon's blood in
and the
both versions
lends colour to a suggestion that has been
regard to
In
said to have
is
made with
one of the details in the account of creation
given by Berosus. In that version Bel is said to have formed animals and men from earth mixed with his
own
blood after one of the gods had, at his command, cut off his head. The account would afford a
much
closer parallel to the legend as *
I.e.y
we
as a protection against the monster.
find it
on
OTHER VERSIONS OF THE CREATION STORY. the tablets
if
we might assume
that
it
was not his
own blood, but that of Tiamat, which Bel used It
purpose.
is
that
possible
either
8/
for the
Polyhistor
or
Eusebius, or both, misunderstood the original story.
We
have described the great story of the creation durinsj the seventh
which was current in Assyria
century before Christ, as far as
its
contents can
to
us.
The
numerous
scribed with the
ruins
the
of
tablets
be
come down
ascertained from the fragments that have
and duplicates
in-
legend, which have been found in
Ashur-bani-pal's
important position
it
held
indicate
the
the religious
and
library,
among
and we are right mythological works of the period in assuming^ that this version of the creation was the ;
one most widely accepted during the reigns of the Assyrian kings. But, although the poem in the form in which we now have it represents the belief most generally held by the Babylonians and
later
Assyrians at this comparatively late period with regard to the manner in which the world came into being, it
can only have attained
this
position
gradually.
comprises fragments of other myths and legends which give different accounts of the way in which creation took place, and, as one
Babylonian
of
these
literature, in fact,
of
is
of the light
it
considerable
importance,
by reason
throws upon the age and history of it will be convenient to
such legends in Babylonia, describe
it
before considering
what connection there
THE SUMERIAN STORY OF CREATION.
SS
may have been between
the Babylonian
poem and the
story of creation in the first chapter of Genesis.
After
the
Creation
great
Series
the longest, and
indeed the only other distinct version of the story of the creation in Babylonian literature now known is found upon one side of a broken incantation-tablet,^
which was inscribed in the Neo-Babylonian period not It was found at Abu-habbah, the earlier than 600 B.C. site of
the ancient city of Sippar in Northern Baby-
lonia, in 1882.
The
inscription
of great interest, for
is
it is
written
in the ancient Sumerian language, and to each line
is
in Semitic Babylonian. Tlie account of the creation here given offers few parallels to the great Creation Series which has been described
attached a translation
above.
It is true that the
godMarduk
the creation of the world, but there
is
is
credited with
no mention of
the battle which the god successfully waged against the
powers of chaos before the earth came into being. In fact the god proceeds to the work of creation without
any previous struggle and entirely of his own free will. The tablet opens with a description of chaos at a period
when
the ancient cities and temples of the land had no
existence,
when no towns had been created â&#x20AC;&#x201D; in
nor any In lands were sea. built,
short, all vegetation the account of the creation that follows
it is
possible
that the order in which the various acts are described >
British
Museum, No. 82-5-22,
1048.
DESCRIPTION OF CHAOS. is
89
not intended to be chronological, but is dictated by Otherwise we must assume
the structure of the poem.
that the cities of Eridu and Babylon and the temple E-sa2[il
were the
thinc^s
first
created,
and that
their
creation preceded not only the construction of the cities
of Nippur and Erech and their temples, but even the creation of mankind, and the beasts of the field, and vegetation,
and the
Marduk's act
rivers oi Babylonia.
of laying a reed, or bank of reeds, upon the waters and creating dust which he poured out round about it would
appear
to
be merely a device for forming dry land in
the expanse of waters, and his object
a
dam
or
embankment
in
laying in
at the edge of the waters
was
â&#x20AC;˘evidently to keep the sea from flooding the land he had .so
formed.
The
text reads as follows
"The holy temple,
:
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
the temple of the gods, in the
holy place had not yet been made
;
"
No reed had sprung up, no tree had been created. " No brick had been laid, no building had been set up " No house had been erected, no city had been built No city had been made, no dwelling-place had been
;
;
*'
prepared.
^'Nippur had not been made, E-kur had not been built
;
^'
Erech had not been created, E-ana had not been
*'
The Deep had not been
built
built
;
:
created,
Eridu had not been
THE FORMATION OF DRY LAND.
90 "
Of the pure temple, the temple habitation had not been made.
"
All lands were sea.
"
At length there was a movement in the Then was Eridu made, and E-sagil was
"
of the gods, the
sea,
built,
"E-sagil, where in the midst of the Dee^D the god
Lugal-dul-azaga dwells. "
The
city of
Babylon was
built,
and E-sagil was
finished. -
"
The
the
gods,
Anunnaki, were
created
at
one
time; "
The holy
city,
the dwelling of their hearts' desire,
they proclaimed supreme. " "
"
Marduk
upon the face of the waters, He formed dust and poured it out upon the reed. laid a reed
That he might cause the gods
to dwell in the habi-
tation of their hearts' desire, "
He
"
The goddess Aruru together with him created the
**
He
*'
He
formed mankind.
seed of mankind.
formed the beasts of the the
field
and the
cattle of
field.
created the Tigris, and the Euphrates, and he set
them
in their place,
"
Their names he declared to be good.
"
The
ushsJm--pld.TLt,
the diUit-^ldin.t of the marsh, the
reed and the forest he created, "
The
lands,
and the marshes, and the swamps
;
THE CREATION OF MEN AND "
CITIES.
91
The wild cow and
lier young, that is the wild ox the ewe and her young, that is the lamb of the
;
fold; " *'
"
Plantations and forests
The
;
he-goat, and the mountain-goat, and the
The lord Marduk
laid in a
dam by
.
.
.
the side of the
sea,
"
.as
"
he brought into existence. trees he created,
" "
[Bricks] he
made
" ''
before he had not made,
in their place.
brickwork he made
;
[Houses he made], cities he built [Cities he made], dwelling-places he prepared. [Nippur he made], E-kur he built ;
" "
;
"
[Erech he made], E-ana he built." The rest of the legend is broken off, and the reverse of the tablet does not
contain a continuation of the
legend, but a prayer, or incantation, which recited for the purification of the
Borsippa.
to be
temple E-zida in
The connection between the legend and the
not obvious, but the fact that the legend found upon an incantation tablet does not detract
incantation is
was
from
its
is
value,
and does not indicate a In
late date for its
fact, as will presently be pointed out,
composition. there are grounds for believing that the legend
back to a time when Sumerian was language, and
when
it
still
a
may
go
living
was not merely a dead tongue
THE "CUTIIiEAN LEGEND OF CREATION.
92
employed in
religious ritual
and known only
)t
to the
scribes.
In
this
tablets, "
connection mention must be
which
are
frequently
said
to
made
of
two
contain
the
Cuthsean legend of Creation/' and have been thought
to describe a local account of the creation
current in the ancient city of Cuthah.
which was
It has
been
asserted that this legend gives an account of the creation
of the world
by
ISTergal,
the god of Cuthah, after he had
conquered the brood of monsters which Tiamat had brought forth. Eecently, however, it has been pointed out
^
that the tablets are not concerned with the creation,
but with the fortunes of an early Babylonian king. the reign of this king,
whose name
is
In
unknown, the land
was invaded by a strange race of monsters who were descended from the gods, and for three years the king waged war against this foe unsuccessfully, but at length
he defeated them.
In
fact,
whatever to do with the
the tablets have nothing
creation or with the
light
between Tiamat and the gods but, as the two tablets which contain this story have been regarded as frag;
ments of a legend of the
creation, it will perhaps be
The words of the well to give a translation of them. text are put in the mouth of the king himself, who throughout speaks in the first person the beginnings of both the tablets are missing, but where the text ;
^
317
See Zimmern, Zeitschrift fur Assyriologie, Bd. XII. (1898), pp. ff.
INVASION OF THE LAND BY MONSTERS.
93
becomes continuous we find a description of the strange monsters, which had invaded the land, in the following wordc
"A
:
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
who drink
people
turbid water, and
who drink
not pure water, "
Whose
sense
is
perverted, have taken (men) captive,
have triumphed over
tliem,
and have committed
slaughter. *'
On
a tablet nought ^
" *'
went not
I
is
written, nought
is left
(to
In mine own person
write).
forth, I did
not give them battle.
A people who men
have the bodies of birds of the hollow, who have the faces of ravens,
"
Did the great gods
"
In the ground the gods created a dwelling for them, Tiamat gave them suck,
"
create.
*'
The lady
*'
In the midst of the mountain (of the world), they .
of the gods brought
became
strong, they
waxed
them
into the world.
great,
they multiplied
exceedingly. " â&#x20AC;˘''
"
Seven kings, brethren, fair and comely, 360,000 in number were their warriors, Banini, their father,
was king
;
their mother, Melili,
queen.
"Their
eldest
brother,
their
leader,
was
named
Memangab, I.e., the city was in confusion, and no business wa3 transacted, and no records kept. *
DEFEAT OF THE KING'S FORCES.
94 "
Their second brother was
The
named Medudii." names
tablet then gives the
brethren, all of
which
names a gap occurs the second column
are,
of the other five
After the
however, broken.
in the legend, for the beginning of of the principal tablet
is
missing.
again connected we find the king had enquired of the gods if he should give the enemy battle. He addressed them through his priests, and
Where
the story
offered
up
to
is
which he placed The answer of the gods was evidently
them
in rows of seven.
offerings of lambs,
favourable, for he decided to engage the for a space of three years every
the foe was destroyed. "
As
"
man
enemy
;
but
he sent against
The text continues
;
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
year drew near, 120,000 warriors I sent out, but not one of them the
first
returned alive. "
As
the second year drew near,
"90,000 warriors I sent out, but not one of them returned alive. "
As
"
60,700 warriors I sent out, but not one returned
the third year drew near,
alive.
"
Despairing, powerless, perishing, I
and
was
full of
woe,
I groaned aloud,
"
And said I to my heart By my life " What have I brought upon my realm I am a king, who hath brought no '
:
*'
his country,
!
!
prosperity to
HIS FINAL VICTORY.
95
*'And a shepherd, who hath brought no prosperity to his people. ''
But
will I go forth
"The
In mine own person
this thing will I do. !
pride of the people of the night I will curse
with death and destruction, "
With
"...
fear, terror,
.
.
.
and with misery
The king then
and famine, of every kind
'
"
!
foretold the destruction of his enemies
by means, apparently, of a deluge, and before out to meet them he again offered up offerings
setting to the
How
he conquered the enemy we do not know, gods. but the fact that he went forth in his own person to do battle against
them evidently secured
for
him
the favour
of the gods, and victory over the monstrous creatures who had so long oppressed his land. In the latter
portion
of the
legend the king addresses
words of
any future prince who shall rule over
encouragement
to
his kingdom.
The king exhorts
his successor
when
not to despair, but to take courage from his example, in the following words
peril,
:
"Thou,
king,
or
ruler,
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
or
prince,
or
in
own
any one
whatsoever, " "
Whom the god shall call to rule over the kingdom, A tablet concerning these matters have I made for thee,
" "
and a record have I written
for thee.
In the city of Cuthah, in the temple E-shidlam, ISTergal have I deposited it for thee.
In the shrine of
THE LEGEND OF CUTHAII
96 " " "
" " ''
*'
" "
Behold this record, and To the words thereof hearken, That thou mayest not That thou mayest not
despair, nor be feeble, fear,
nor be affrighted.
Stablish thyself firmly,
Sleep in peace beside thy wife,
Strengthen thy walls, Fill
thy trenches with water,
Bring in thy treasure-chests, and thy corn, and thy
and thy goods, and thy possessions, [And thy weapons], and thy household stuff," The ruler himself is bidden to take heed unto his silver,
"
own
safety,
not to go forth nor to draw near his foe. of the exhortation seems to be that as in
The meaning
days of old the gods helped the king of the land and turned his mourning into victory, so in the future when the land
king
is
is
in sore trouble
and the
foe is at the gate the
not to despair but to expect that the gods will
help him
also.
This legend has for some years been
Cuthasan legend of translation
it
will
Creation,"
be seen
known
as
"
the
but from the =^bove
that
the
description
is
was thought that the poem was spoken who was supposed to be waging war by against the brood of Tiamat, and it was assumed that
inaccurate.
It
the god Nergal,
Nergal took the place of Marduk in accordance with local tradition at Cuthah.
It is clear, however, that
although the tablet on which the legend was inscribed
NOT A CREATION LEGEND. was meant
to be preserved at
9/
Guthah in the
slirine of
Nergal (as stated towards the end of the poem) the speaker is not the god Nergal but an old Babylonian king and we have already seen that this king recounts ;
how
the gods delivered
hosts of the monsters. tion of the monsters,
him and
from the
his land
It is true that in the descrip-
some
which had the bodies
of
of birds and others the heads of ravens, Tiamat
mentioned
ment
as
having suckled them
but this state-
hardly affords sufficient evidence to justify their
identification with her
been
;
is
described in
monster brood which has already
the
probable that Tiamat
is
Creation
It
story.
is
more
called their foster-mother in
order to indicate their terrible nature.
Moreover, the
speaker in the poem does not perform any acts of creation, but does battle with the monsters merely to deliver his land from their assault.
In conclusion
it
may
be mentioned that last year a
Babylonian tablet
fragment
of a
Imperial
Ottoman
Museum
in
preserved
the
Constantinople was
at
published,^ which contains part of a copy of this legend the inscription upon it is a parallel and not a duplicate
;
text.
If,
the old
as has
been
stated, this
Babylonian period,
it
fragment belongs to will
afford
valuable
evidence of the early existence of these legends in
Babylonia.
The great Babylonian legend ^
See
BAB. EEL.
Sclieil,
of creation has been
Recueil de Travaux, Vol. XX.,
p.
65
f.
U
DATE OF THE CREATION LEGENDS.
98
examined and
its
variant forms have been traced, so far
as they can be restored from late Assyrian and Babylonian tablets, and from the extract from the history
of Berosus
which has come down
Not one
to us.
of
the tablets on which the legends are written belongs to a period earlier than the seventh century
B.C.,
and
the question naturally arises, Do the legends they contain also date from the seventh century, or must
they be referred to some earlier period words,
Were they composed by
had them written upon the actual possess, or did these scribes
?
In other
who which we
the priestly scribes tablets
simply copy the documents
belonging to an older period
?
And,
if
the scribes of
the seventh century were mere copyists and not composers,
we must
assign the origin
To what period must we of the old texts which they copied ?
also ask,
These questions can, fortunately, be decided by a careful examination of the available evidence.
The
question is best answered by considering forms which the Creation legends assume the various
on
first
different tablets.
Were
the legends brand-new com-
positions of the seventh century find all the copies
we should
which were written
at the
expect to
same time
and preserved in the same library agreeing closely with each other.
It is true that
we do
find several copies of the Creation tablets which correspond with each other
and these were, no doubt, made from some common archetype. But we also possess another
v/ord for word,
INDICATIONS OF TPIEIR EARLY ORIGIN. tablet
from Ashur-bani-pars
99
library, \Yhich gives quite
The
a different account of the struggle with Tiamat. tablet has been already referred to,^
that on
it
the fight
described as taking place after
is
and that Tiamat's body is not form the vault of heaven moreover, the dragon
and not before used to
and we have seen
creation,
;
is
a male and not a female monster, and the description
of
it is
and
quite different from that in the Creation Series
finally another god than
Anu
is first
Other events and slay her. on the been narrated have may
to go forth
described
only a fragment of
has been preserved
it
we have enumerated
;
;
of all asked differently tablet, for
but those that
are sufiicient to prove our point.
Such variant forms of the same story cannot have arisen
in
one
generation.
They presuppose many two accounts
centuries of tradition, during which the
were handed down independently. Though the two stories were derived from a common original, they were related in
different cities in different ways.
At
they were probably identical in form, but in course of time variations crept in, and two or more
first
forms of the story were developed along different lines. The process must have been gradual, and the resultant
forms of the story afford sufiicient evidence as
to the
That they were great age of their common ancestor. found together in Ashur-bani-pal's library is to be explained as
the
result '
of
that
See pp. 84
ff.
monarch's
energy
EVIDENCE FROM SEPARATE VERSIONS.
100
scouring the
in
country for
and
literary
religious
works.
A
similar conclusion follows if
separate and
we compare
distinct versions of the creation
is
twa
which
In both of them
have also been described above.^
Marduk
the
the creator of the world, but, while the
is chiefly taken up with the revolt and conquest of Tiamat as a necessary preliminary to the creation of the world, in the shorter Sumerian version
great Creation Series
there
is
no trace of such a
Tiamat even mentioned.
conflict,
In
nor
this tablet
is
the dragon
we have an
instance of quite a different version of the creation which
we may perhaps assume
goes back to a period
when
the dragon-myth had not become associated with the
of Creation
the legend,
"
The
"
Cuthsean legend cannot be cited as a true variant form of
creation of the world.
for, as
so-called
we have
seen,
legend at all, but a story of It contains a reference to the
it is
not a creation
an old Babylonian king. dragon Tiamat, however,
and evidently presupposes on the part of the reader a knowledge of the story concerning the monsters to which she is said to have given birth. If the frag-
mentary duplicate of the inscription which has recently been found ^ was written in the old Babylonian period,. this reference to Tiamat in the legend is important evidence for the early date of the dragon-myth. * I.e., the great Creation Series on pp. 61 version of the Creation on pp. 88 ff.
2
See
p. 97.
ff.,
But,
and the Sumerian
EVIDENCE FROM SCULrTURE. even
if
we
altocifetlier,
ICI
leave the Cuthcean tablet out of account
the existence of the two versions of the
Creation story and the variants
we have
traced in the
accounts of the fight with Tiamat prove conclusively their early origin.
So
far
we have
considered the internal evidence of
legends themselves. Additional evidence, pointing in the same direction, is afforded by a study of certain aspects of Babylonian and Assyrian date offered by
art.
tlie
In a temple built by Ashur-natsir-pal at
JSTimrtid,
the site of the ancient Assyrian city of Calah, there
was found a slab sculptured in relief with a represenbetween Marduk and Tiamat.^ The
tation of the fight
monster, half bird, half lion, turns roaring in anger towards the god who, in human form and borne upon four wings, swoops natsir-pal reigned
we
down from
to give battle. B.C.
884
Now
Ashur-
to B.C. 860, so that
here have evidence of the existence of the legend
more than two hundred years before the formation of the library of Ashur-bani-pal, who reigned from B.C. 669 to about B.C. 625. Moreover the battle between
Marduk and Tiamat was
a
very favourite
subject
upon cylinder-seals. Numbers of these have been found, and many give quite different repre-
for engraving
sentations of Tiamat.
represented
in
The god Marduk
human form with
is
wings,
generally
but
^ In the British Museum, Nimroud Gallery, Xos. 28 and 29. the illustration on p. 75.
the See
EVIDENCE FROM CYLINDER-SEALS.
102
monster
assumes
pictured as a
many
guises.
Sometimes she
winged and human-headed
is
lion, at other
times she has the body of a horse or bull, and the wings and crested head of a bird. On certain cylinder-
simply as a beast, while on others though she has an animal's body she has a woman's head/ On a very interesting cylinder, here published seals she figures
The god Manluk armed with
the thunderbolt and other weapons standinpc on the (From a cylinder-seal. in tlie British Museum,
back of Tiarnat and slaying her. No. 89,589 )
for the first time, she is represented as a
huge dragon on whose back the god Marduk, fully armed, has leapt, and he and his ministers are in the act of slaying her. It is true that
many
of these cylinder-seals belong to
the late Assyrian and Persian periods,
700
B.C.
to
B.C.
300
;
a few,
i.e.,
from about
however, are archaic
may be assigned to a somewhat earlier But without laying too much stress on the
in style and date.
possibly early date of '
some
of them, the great variety
For reproductions of several cylinder-seals of
Collection de Clercq, Plates xxix.
if.
this class, see the
EVIDENCE FROM HISTORICAL INSCRIPTIONS. IO3 same subject which they present
of treatment of the
certainly points to the existence of
many
variant forms
of the legend, and so indirectly bears witness to
ita
early origin.
A
third class of evidence for the early date of
tlie
legends of creation may be found in certain passages in the historical inscriptions which record the erection of statues and the
making
of temple furniture,
etc.,
In the
in the earlier periods of Babylonian history.
copy of an inscription of Agum, an early Babylonian king, who flourished not later than the seventeenth century before Christ, to the
we
have, fortunately, an allusion
dragon-myth of Babylonia.
do not possess an
actual
ISTow although
inscription of
of one in the British reign, the copy
we know, was made
for
this
we
king's
Museum, which,
Ashur-bani-pal,^
is
to
all
and purposes just as good. From this we Agum brought back to Babylon a statue of the god Marduk and one of the goddess Tsarpanitum, which at some previous time had been carried off to intents
learn that
the land of Khani Babylonia.
which lay to the north-west of The statues were carried to the temple
E-sagil in Babylon, and with much pomp and were re-installed in their shrines. Agum
the
at
ceremony recounts
sumptuous temple furniture which he
length caused to be made for this occasion, and also *
the
Published in Cuneiform Ingcriptions of Western Asia, Vol. V.,
plate 33.
agum's temple-furniture.
104
apparel and head-dresses for the statues of these gods,
which he caused
to be
made
made
at a later
he
itself,
tells
must have resembled
us, he also set a dragon, which
those
and inlaid
of fine gold
In the shrine
with precious stones.
time by Nebuchadnezzar and
dragon was connected with Tiamat of the Creation legend is clear from the fact Neriglissar,^
and that
this
that along with her he also set
up
figures of monsters,
including vipers, and monsters called lakhmu, and a
ram, and a hurricane, and a raging hound, and a fishman, and a goat-fish. The list of the eleven classes of monsters in the Creation Series gives us monsterserpents,
and
monster-vipers,
and
a
viper,
and
a
and a hurricane, lind a raging hound, and a scorpion-man, and temWe are not here pests, and a fish-man, and rams. dragon, and monsters
called lakliamu,
concerned with
astrological
the
character
of
these
monsters, nor with their connection with the origin of the signs of the Zodiac but what is evident from ;
the two
lists
is
that already in the
time of
Agum
the legend of Tiamat and her monster brood had been accepted and had become absorbed into the ancient religious traditions of the land.
A ^
further reference to the legend
When
Nebuchadnezzar
II. set
up
may
be seen in
colossal serpents in the gate-
in the sixth century before Christ, and when Nerisuch serpents which he had made glissar, his successor, set up eight of bronze and coated with silver, it is tolerably clear that these figures were intended to represent the dragon of the Creation story.
ways
of
Babylon
THE "deeps" of bur-sin AND UR-NINA.
IO5
the mention of another object used for ceremonial
purposes which was given by Agum to Marduk's In Marduk's shrine, beside the great serpent temple.
he set what he terms a
no doubt, a sea
brazen
large
tcimtu,
or
basin,
or
"
sea
''laver,"
"
this was,
;
similar to the
Solomon's temple which stood upon
of
Such a
twelve oxen.^
vessel,
as its
name
indicates,
symbolical of the abyss of water personified in the
was
legend by Apsii and Tiamat, and its mention in the inscription in such close connection with the dragon and the brood of monsters is jDeculiarly significant. Similar vessels, called apse,
we know from
as
" i.e.,
abysses," or
"
deeps,"
other inscriptions, were placed in the
temples of Babylonia from the earliest periods. BarSin, a king of Ur who lived about B.C. 2500, erected for the ''
that
god Enki, or Ea, a
was dear
to
him
"
^ ;
zit-ah ki-ag-ga-ni,
and
"
in the reign of
an abyss
Ur-Mna,
an ancient Sumerian king of Shirpurla, and one of the earliest rulers of that city whose names have come
down
to us, such vessels
ceremonies.
The
latter
were already used in religious monarch caused a limestone
tablet to be inscribed with the list of the temples erected
during his reign, and in the inscription upon it we read " " ^ that he constructed a zu-ah gal, or great abyss." 1
1
-
The
Kings
vii.
23
ff.
tablet containing this record is published in Gun. Inscr. of West. Asia, Vol. L, plate 3, No. XII. (1). ^ See De Sarzec, D^couvertes en Chaldee, plate II., No. 1, Col. III.,
1
5f.
SUMERIAN INFLUENCE.
I06
The
fact that at these early periods
Ur-Mna and Bur-
Sin provided their temples with "seas" and "deeps/* i.e., lavers, does not, of course, prove that the Creation legends
vt^ere
current
we
in which
find
among the Sumerians in the forms them on Assyrian tablets of the But the
seventh century before Christ. least indicate the source
may
be traced.
and period
to
references at
which the legends
The Semitic Babylonians learnt from
the Sumerians the art of writing;
in their business
transactions they adopted the legal forms and phrases
that were current in the land before they came there,
while as for the gods of the conquered race they either adopted them or identified them with their own deities. It
is
that
therefore,
probable,
from the Sumerians
also they took their ideas of the creation of the world.
We know scribes texts,
that at the time of
copied
and
out
from
and the
Khammurabi
studied
the Semitic
Sumerian
ancient libraries
of
religious
Southern
Babylonia we have recovered religious compositions bearing a striking resemblance to those which were
employed in the Assyrian temples of the later period but in this early Sumerian literature we have not yet found any fragment of the story of the creation, or
;
indeed of any mythological legend. sion of the creation inscribed tablet
is,
The shorter
ver-
upon a ISTeo-Babylonian
however, written in Sumerian and furnished
with a Semitic translation
;
and, although the scribes of
that late period, in all probability, frequently attempted
PROBABLE SOURCE OF THE LEGENDS. to
IC/
compose in the Sumerian language, that version of may well have been copied from
the Creation story
an early original Sumerian document. As the study of the Sumerian language progresses and the mass of tablets that have been brought to light within the last
few years are examined and published, we may
in time find definite proofs of the existence of such leo^ends.
to
Meanwhile the evidence
xissyria
available
is sufficient
of the creation current in
show that the legends
and Babylonia during the seventh and succeed-
ing centuries before Christ were based the existence of which
The actual
may
upon archetypes
date from Sumerian times.
text of the legends, no doubt,
underwent
many processes of editing the division of the great poem into sections, each written on a separate tablet, may well have been the work of later scribes; but ;
the legends themselves
were ancient and had their
origin in the earliest period of Babylonian history.
We
have now described the contents of the great Babylonian poem of the creation, we have referred to the variant traditions that have come
down
to us con-
cerning the several episodes of the story, and we have also examined a second version of the creation which bears but small resemblance to the great poem.
We
have suggested that the existence of so many variants is a proof of the great age of the leg-ends, and it has been seen that this evidence traces
which the legends have
is
corroborated
left in
by the
Babylonian and
BABYLONIAN AND HEBREW NARRATIVES.
I08
Assyrian
them
in
art, and by certain some early historical
indirect
references
to
The ex-
inscriptions.
from the tablets will have conveyed better than any summary would have done the exact nature of their contents, and, as the translations have been tracts given
made
as literal as possible, the reader has
been able
form his own opinion as to the nature of the resemblance which may be detected between these
to
ancient Babylonian stories and the account of
the
now remains to concreation in the Book of Genesis. sider what connection there is between the Hebrew and It
the Babylonian accounts of the creation of the world. That there must have been a connection between the
two accounts
is generally admitted, for it is only the tablets to be struck by their read necessary to resemblance to the Biblical narrative in many par-
ticulars
;
the question
now
does this connection consist
to be decided ?
is,
In what
Three possible solutions
of the problem suggest themselves (1) The Babytheir derived lonians may have legends from the :
Hebrews
;
(2)
both
Babylonians
and
Hebrews, as
different branches of the same Semitic race,
inherited the legends from a
common
may have
ancestral stock
;
Hebrews may have derived their legends from Babylonia. Of these possible solutions the first and
(3) the
During whatever period of their history the inhabitants of Mesopotamia came in
may
be dismissed at once.
contact with the peoples of the Mediterranean coast,
THE REASON OF THEIR RESEMBLANCE.
IC9
they always came in the character of conquerors, and
we know from
their inscriptions that the Babylonians
and Assyrians regarded the other nations of Western Asia only in the light of payers of tribute. It is inconceivable, therefore, that they should have borrowed their
sacred
from a race they considered
traditions
inferior to themselves
moreover, the existence of the
;
has been traced to a very early legends in Babylonia between the Babylonians and contact before any
period,
Hebrews can have taken place. The second theory has far more to recommend it, and has met with warm
the
It has been urged that, coming of the both stock, Babylonians and Hebrews possessed
supporters.
same
the legends of the creation as a common inheritance, and that each of these nations modified and developed
them independently.
Against this explanation
is
to
be set the distinctly Babylonian character and colour-
ing of the stories, and
it
is
generally regarded as
other than a Babylonian impossible for them to have Flood given in Genesis, of the account the In origin.
which will be referred
to in the following chapter, the
We are, more apparent. Babylonian origin therefore, reduced to the third solution as being the is
most probable
still
of the three.
The
legends,
we may
conclude, are Babylonian in origin and character, and the resemblances which the account in Genesis bears to
them must, we
influence.
think, be put
We may
down
to
Babylonian then ask, At what time, and by
no
THE HEXATEUCH.
what means, was traces
its
The
this influence exerted
which has
on the Hebrew story in Genesis
left
?
study of the text of Genesis has shown that this book, like the rest of the Pentateuch, is not critical
from the pen of a single writer, and that it is made up of a number of separate works. In the earlier periods of
woven
Hebrew
history these works had not been
into a continuous narrative,
in the form in
and they were not
which they are now known
work had a separate
existence.
to us
;
each
The evidence on which
this conclusion rests consists in part of the
numerous
repetitions which occur throughout the books, and in the existence of two separate and sometimes quite different, narratives
of the
culties in chronology,
the
Hebrew ^
century
text
by
same event, and
and the
like.
A
in diffi-
careful study of
scholars throughout
the present
has further shown that there are three prin-
cipal works on which the Pentateuch and the Book of Joshua are based. These works dealt with the early
history
of the
Hebrew
race,
and, as
each of them
frequently goes over the same ground as the others,
it
easy to explain the repetitions which the combined
is
narrative contains.
Each
of these books, or histories,
can be recognized with tolerable certainty by their differences in style and treatment, the use of phrases peculiar to themselves, the ^
Cf.
names
for
God which they
Cheyue, Founders of Old Testament Criticism: Biographical^
Vefnir-tice, aiid Critical Studies (Lou<lon, 1893).
COMPOSITE CHARACTER.
ITS
One
etc.
employ,
of these "
the groundwork of the
form
it
and explained
people,
to
Hexateuch/' or first six books
as it presented It
nology.
works was used
was well adapted for the purpose, an orderly system of chrodealt with the laws and customs of the
of the Bible, and
inasmuch
Ill
their
origin
;
and from the
general nature of its contents it is usually termed " " Priests' code." The the Priestly writing," or the
books which were incorporated with this Priestly writing," dealt with the legends and early
other two *'
history of the
Hebrew race
;
they are far more primitive
and picturesque in style than the more formal and annalistic narrative with which they are combined.
The
writers of these
two narratives are generally dis" " and " Elohist," Jehovist
tinguished by the names
from the
one of them the Divine
name
or Jehovah, translated as
"the
fact that in is
Jahweh
employed " Lord in the Authorized Version it is
Elohim, which
It is needless
relations
;
translated as
for our
"
God."
purpose to discuss here the
which these three works bear
or to enumerate
use was
is
while in the other
made
any
to
one another,
additional documents of
in the Hexateuch.
It will
state that in the early chapters of Genesis,
of the
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; the ^
for
suffice
to
two only,
three writings referred to, have been used " ^ " and the " Jehovistic Priestly writing
The "Priestly writing" "
which
God."
also
mdkes use of the word Elohim
THE BIBLICAL VERSIONS OF CREATION.
112
Thus the account of the
narrative."^
Genesis
i.
1
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
4
ii.
(first
creation
half of the verse)
is
in
from the
former writing, and contains a complete account of the history of creation in a series of successive acts.
The
which follows in chapters ii. 4 (second half of the verse) iii. 24, is taken from "Jehovistic the narrative," and it gives another acstory of the garden of Eden,
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
is not marked by the literary of the first chapter. structure balanced and precision That account had given a complete description of the
count of creation which
making
of the world
;
the second narrative begins at
the beginning again, going back to a time when there were no plants, nor beasts, nor men, and then narrates
their
creation.
If
we compare
these
accounts
with the two principal traditions of the creation preserved in Babylonian literature, and which we have already described,^
we
see
that
the
account in the
chapter agrees more closely with the longer with the shorter; on the Babylonian narrative than
first
other
hand the
earlier
part
in its garden of Eden, both of its phrases,
is
of
the
story
of
the
structure and in several
not unlike the shorter Babylonian
version.
To the greater part of the story of the garden of Eden, no parallel has been found in Babylonian ^
An
analysis of the first eleven chapters of the
on these lines is given in Prof. Driver's Introduction of the Old Testament, (6th ed.), pp. 14 ff. 2 See above, pp. Gl ff., and 88 ff.
Book to the
of Genesis
Literature
THE GARDEN OF EDEN. mythology
;
it
has, however, been
113
pointed out that
in the description of Paradise Babylonian sources have
been largely drawn upon. The illustration here given has been by some supposed to be a Babylonian representation of the story of the temptation of Eve but ;
no cuneiform text in support of
as
forthcoming,
the
identification
this
view has been
the
female figure
of
y-^* "y^^ '?
--*ÂŤ:
-Tl
%
â&#x20AC;˘'
r-$'
-^^
Impression of a cylinder-seal representing a male and a female figure ?eated near a sacred tree behind the woman is a serpent. (British Museum, !S'o. 89,326.) ;
with Eve must be regarded as somewhat fanciful. Writers on Babylonian mythology have sought to find in the Babylonian legends the counterparts of
Adam
and Eve, but without success. Eecently Ea-bani, a mythical and savage hero of the Gilgamesh legend,-^ has been identified with Adam, and the maiden Ukhat, by whom he was tempted, with Eve,^ but the grounds
on which the
identifications are
made
are
not con-
vincing.
In consequence of
the
many
points
of
identity
between the Hebrew and the Babylonian versions of *
*
See below, pp. 150 fF. See Jastrow, Amtr. Jour. Semit. Lang.,\o\. XY., No. 4 (July, 1899). V,kV.
EEL.
1
JEWS AND BABYLONIANS.
114
the creation, some advanced critics hold that the Jews
heard the Babylonian stories for the their exile in Babylon,
captivity
they brought them
them
incorporated this
and that on
likely the captive
legends from their place of honour
from
back with them and
in their sacred writings.
has been urged that
it
assumption
time during
first
their return
it
Against is
hardly
Jews would have adopted strange conquerors, and raised them to a
among
their national traditions.
But,
apart from this consideration, such an assumption not necessary in order to explain the resemblances
indeed
hardly admissible, for
it is
it
is
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
takes no account of
the striking differences and variations which the narralives present.
Moreover, in
the Old Testament,
we
many
passages throughout
find traces of the
Babylonian dragon-myth, and it is scarcely possible that all such references should date from the post-exilic period. In several passages we find allusions to a dragon or serpent
who
the prophet
God's hands
is
thought to inhabit the deep.
Amos, describing when He comes
how none
Thus
shall escape
in judgment, exclaims,
*'And though they hide themselves in the top of '' Carmel, I will search and take them out thence ;
"
and though they be hid from
"
of the sea, thence will I
"he
shall
sometimes
bite
them."
referred
to ^
^
my
command This
as
sight in the
the serpent, and
serpent
"Leviathan"
Amos
ix. 3.
bottom
or or
dragon
is
"Eahab,"
TRACES OF THE DRAGON-MYTH. and in several passages allusion
is
made
II5 a battle
to
with the dragon of the deep, in which the dragon was pierced or slain. " Awake, awake, put on strength, ''
arm
of the Lord
awake, as in the days of old, "the ixenerations of ancient times. Art thou not it
''
that cut
Eahab
in pieces, that pierced the dragon
Here the allusion "
;
to a battle
in days of old,"
place " " " divide (Heb. break " "
"
"
^
with a dragon, that took "
unmistakable.
is
" ?
Tliou didst
"
up ") the sea by thy strength thou brakest the heads of the dragons in the waters. Thou brakest the heads of leviathan in pieces, :
thou gavest him to be meat to the people inhabiting the wilderness."
^
In
this
and
following
the
in
passage from the Book of Job the connection of the ^ " He stirreth dragon with the deep is brought out :
*'
his power, and by his understanding he smiteth through Eahab. By his spirit the lieavens " are garnished his hand has pierced the swift serpent."^ In the last sentence quoted the parallelism between
up the sea with
"
;
the garnishiug of the heavens and the piercing of the
Marduk
serpent recalls the Babylonian myth, in which
formed the heavens from half of the dragon's body. phrase in an earlier chapter of Job appears to reflect
A
another episode of the
Babylonian legend
course of a description of the power of parison with man's impotence 1
Tsaiali
'
See also Psalm Isxxix. 9
li.
it is
2
9.
*
f.
God
stated
pgj^i,^^
;
" :
f.
the
in
com-
God
will
i^xiv. 13
Job xxvi. 12
in
f.
RAHAB AND LEVIATHAN.
Il6 "
not withdraw his anger the helpers of Eahab do ^ The '' helpers of Eahab/' stooping stoop under him." ;
''
beneath their conqueror, "
who went
helpers,"
call to
mind
''
the gods, her
at the side of Tiamat,
and shared
her defeat. It is doubtful if the Babylonian
Eahab has been found
in a
form of the name
synonym employed
for
but at on one of the creation fragjments,^ the dracion CD O '
least
the conception and description of the monster
be regarded as based on the Babylonian myth. Egypt is sometimes referred to as Eahab,^ but this
may
of the
term
Babylonian
origin.
The
"
"
application
Behemoth
him
many
in Job xl. 15
liippopotamus
;
ff,
not conflict with
its
origin of the kindred monster
may, on the
traced to Egypt, for to
does
other
hand, be
rightly
of the characteristics assigned are evidently taken from the
while the picture of Leviathan, which
immediately follows that of Behemoth, offers a distinct contrast to
it,
and would not be inappropriate as a In the passages
description of the monster Tiamat.
and unmistakably referred to. The passages are poetical, and the language is to a great extent figurative and symbolical; the cited above a
dragon-myth
is
clearly
figures and symbols employed, however, are drawn from mythology, and presuppose a knowledge of the
legend. *
Job
Traces of the
ix. 13. ^
myth may perhaps
also be seen
2 gee Gunkel's Schopfung und Chaos, pp. 29 and 418> See Psalm Ixxxvii. 4, and Isaiah xxx. 7.
TERIOD OF BABYLONIAN INFLUENCE.
11/
in certain phrases or expressions, as in Gen. xlix. 25, "
\Yhere the expression
seems
But
the deep that coucheth beneath
it is
very easy to press imagery too
see mythological references in
own
the poet by his ever,
".
to suggest the picture of a beast about to spring.
we
pictures
select only those passages in the
to
suggested to
observations of nature.
which the dragon-myth we have sufficient evidence
and
far,
If,
how-
Old Testament,
in
is
must have been
show that the myth the Hebrews longf before
familiar to
definitely referred
to,
to
the exile.
now remains
It
to enquire at
what period before the
from Babylon could have reached The question is one that does not admit
exile these legends
the Hebrews.
of any certain or definite answer, but least to search for
theory
may
it is
permissible at
any evidence on which a conjectural Such evidence is furnished by
be based.
one of the most surprising discoveries of Babylonian In tablets that has been made during recent years. 1887 at Tell el-Amarna, a village in Upper Egypt on the east
bank
of the
ISTile,
the natives unearthed about
three-hundred-and-twenty clay tablets inscribed in the Babylonian character. The ruins near the village mark the
site of a
town that was
who was king
built
by Khu-en-aten,
or
Egypt about B.C. 1500. Amenophis IV., The finding of these Babylonian tablets on Egyptian soil
was
of
of the greatest historical interest,
and has con-
siderably modified the notions generally held
up
to the
THE TELL EL-AM ARNA TABLETS.
Il8
time of their discovery with regard to the early influence of Babylonia upon the other nations of the nearer East.
An
examination of the tablets showed that some were
letters
and drafts of
letters
that passed
between the
kings of Egypt, Amenophis III. and IV., and contem-
porary kings of countries and districts of Western Asia others proved to be letters and re^^orts addressed by
;
princes and governors of cities in Palestine, Phoenicia,
and Syria
to the
King
of Egypt.
It is not necessary
for our present purpose to give a detailed description of
the contents of these documents, and
it
will suffice to
point to the evidence which they furnish of the far-
reaching influence of Babylonian
XVth
century
B.C.
culture during the
That correspondence between kings Egypt should be conducted
of Assyria, or Babylon, and
in the Babylonian language
not so very surprising,
is
but that governors of Egyptian the Mediterranean coast should
cities
make
and provinces on
their reports in the
same tongue shows that a knowledge of Babylonian was common throughout Western Asia, and that the Babylonian language, like Erench at the present day, was at this period the
language of diplomacy. It is obvious that the Babylonian literature must have found its way
among
the nations that used
was the case there Tell
is
its
language, and that this
conclusive evidence
el-Amarna tablets themselves.
ments, in
Two
among
the
of these docu-
fact, are not letters or reports, but relate to
Babylonian legends, one containing a legend concerning
BABYLON AND WESTERN
ASIA.
II9
the goddess Ereshkigal, the other inscribed with the It is clear, therefore, that the legends
legend of Adapa.^
Babylon were known to the Egyptians of this time and the inference is justified that the tribes of Syria and the Mediterranean coast must have also been acquainted of
with them.
We
conclude, therefore, that the Baby-
may
lonian legends of creation had penetrated to Canaan
long before the immigration of the Israelites, and, as the Israelites after the conquest of the country had close intercourse with
its
prcA^ous inhabitants,
probable that they received from them legends and myths, which they in from Babylon.
earlier time,
many
their turn
not imof the
had derived
Hebrews
of a
during the patriarchal period,
may
It has even been su^^jo-ested that still
it is
the
have acquired the legends by direct contact with BabyTradition held that Terah, the ancestor of the
lonia.
had dwelt in Ur of the Chaldees,^ which generally identified with the city of Ur in South-
Israelites, is
now
ern Babylonia, and
urged that Abraham, Terah's son,
it is
when migrating from Mesopotamia to Canaan may have carried with him the leo-ends of the land of his nativitv. If this
were
so,
we should expect to them among the earlier
however,
frequent references to of the Hebrews, and
it
seems
to be
find
more
literature
more probable that
the acquisition of the legends should be assigned to a time subsequent to the conquest of Canaan. At some Âť
See below, pp. 188
ff.
2
Gen.
xi. 28.
THE JEWS OF THE CAPTIVITY.
120
unknown
period, then, wlietlier
by inheritance from the
Canaanites or by contact with Babylonia itself, we may assume that the Hebrews acquired the Babylonian legends which w^e find incorporated in their national In the absence of any positive information traditions.
one point,
at least, is clear, that is to say, the
Jews of
come across Babylonian mythology as new and unfamiliar subject, much of which
the exile did not
an
entirely
they adopted and modified on their return to Jerusalem. It is possible that their sojourn in
Babylon during the
given an impetus to their study of the Babylonian elements in their own traditions, but the wide differences which these present to the forms of
captivity
may have
the corresponding legends that have been recovered in tlie cuneiform inscriptions forbid the supposition that
they w^ere directly borrowed at this period.
In the apoc-
ryphal story of the destruction of the great dragon in Babylon by Daniel we doubtless have a late reproduction of the Babylonian myth, and the contrast this narrative presents to the Biblical stories of creation instructive.
From
the
is
singularly
absence in the latter of
all
grotesque and mythological detail, from the monotheism which is strictly in accord with the teaching of the
prophets before the
exile,
we may
infer that the stories
had long been familiar in Israel, and that Ezra and the Jews of the restoration did not compose these narratives but were compilers of earlier traditions of their race.
(
121
)
CHAPTER
IV.
THE STOEY OF THE DELUGE. In the traditions of
many
races scattered in various
parts of the world
to be
found a story, under
is
different forms and with
many
many
variations, of a great
Hood or deluge which in former times inundated and laid waste the land in which they dwelt. The explanation that such traditions refer to a universal deluge
which took place in the early ages of the world, now generally regarded as inadmissible, inasmuch
is
as
no trace of such a catastrophe in the earth's Moreover science has shown <2eoloQ;ical formation.
there
is
that in the present physical condition of the world
such a universal deluge would be impossible. It is not necessary on the other hand to refer all these scattered legends to the direct influence of the Biblical
story of the flood.
Primitive races, dwelling in low-
lying and well-watered districts, in their conflict with nature meet with no more destructive foe than inundation,
and amongst such races
it
would be surprising
if
THE BABYLONIAN DELUGE STORY
122
we
did not find stories of past floods from which but
few dwellers in the land escaped.
It is probable,
ever, that the story of the flood in Genesis for
some of the
is
deluiie legjends, thouQ,ii it is
that the Biblical story itself
is
how-
responsible
now
certain
not original, but was
derived from a similar legend of the Babylonians.
From
the extracts that have been preserved of the
history of Berosus
^
we
obtain a brief
Babylonian version of the deluge. ten
summary
of the to this
According
kings reigned before the deluge, which occurred in the reign of a king named account,
Babylonian
To
Xisuthros.
this
king the god Chronos appeared in
a vision and warned
him
that a flood
would take place
which would destroy mankind. The god therefore bade him write a history of the world from the beginning,
and place
it
in Sippar, the city of the sun
;
he was
then to build a ship into which he might bring his and every kind of bird and beast.
friends and relations,
Xisuthros did as the god told him, and the flood came upon the earth. After the flood had begun to abate, Xisuthros sent out birds from the vessel to see
if
the
waters had fallen, but as they found no resting-place they returned. After some days he again sent them this time they came back with mud upon their The third time he sent them out they did not He therefore came forth from the vessel, with return.
out,
and
feet.
his wife, his daughter, *
and
See Eusebias, Chron.
tlie pilot, I.,
ed.
and upon the side
Schoene,
col.
20
ff.
ACCORDING TO BEROSUS. of the
123
mountain upon which the ship was stranded he and immediately he and his three
offered a sacrifice,
companions were taken up into heaven. Those who had remained in the ship then came forth, and as they could not find Xisuthros they lamented and called on
He did not appear to them, however, his voice telling them that he and heard though they his companions were now living with the gods. him by name.
Xisuthros further informed them that the land they vv^ere in was called Armenia, and he told them to return
Babylonia and to search for and recover the writings hidden at Sippar. Those that were left carried out to
his
and found the writings and and thus Babylon was again inhabited.
instructions,
cities
;
built
This legend preserved from the history of Berosus
was long supposed
to
have taken
account in Genesis, but
it is
its
colouring from the
now admitted
that Berosus
derived the storv from Babvlonian sources.
On
the
from Ashur-bani-pal's library a very complete These tablets the legend has been recovered. of form
tablets
date from the seventh century
on them appears ancient hero
named Gilgamesh.
into twelve sections, each of
separate tablet
;
no
many
The poem was divided
which was written upon a
these are described in detail in the
following chapter. that
and the story told poem concerning an
B.C.,
as part of a great
It
must here
suffice to point out
of the stories comprised in the
or^ianic connection
with the
oriirinal
poem have
legend of the
TSIT-NAPISHTIM'S STORY.
124
Gilgamesh was the most prominent heroic figure
hero.
in Babylonian mythology, and, as with
name has formed
the past, his
and
stories
legends
of
quite
gathered in the course of time.
many
heroes of
a centre around distinct
which have
origin
One such legend
is
the
story deluge which occurs on the Eleventh Tablet of the series. The story, of which we give a of the
loses
translation,
It
context.
there
nothing by being taken from its forms a complete tale related to
Gilgamesh by Tsit-napishtim, who together with his family was saved from the deluge. That the legend
had originally no connection with the story of Gilgamesh is sufficiently clear from the artificial manner of its
introduction, but,
if
further proof were needed,
it
has recently been supplied by the discovery of a broken Babylonian tablet, which contains a version of the story as
it
was
told at an early period of Babylonian
history.
The
tablet
is
dated in the reign of Ammizaduga, one
of the last kings of the First
may It
Dynasty
of Babylon,
and
therefore be roughly ascribed to about B.C. 2100.
was found during the excavations that were recently by the Turkish Government at Abu-
undertaken
Habbah, the doubt
it
site
of the ancient city of Sippar,
and no
represents the local form of the legend that
was current in that
city during this early period.
The
tablet is unfortunately very badly preserved, but from
what remains of
it, it is
quite certain that
it
has been
AN OLD BABYLONIAN VERSION.
1
25
inscribed with a variant account of the story of the deluge.
Even
at this time the story
was not a short
one, for the text is written in eight columns, four
each side of the tablet.
on
In the second column of the
tablet a god appears to be giving directions for sending
upon men, while
destruction
in the seventh column,
towards the end of the tablet, the god Ea remonstrates with this deity for sending the deluge and destroying
mankind
;
over, the
name Atrakhasis
in the last line but one of the text, moreoccurs.^
So
little
has been
preserved of the tablet, however, that its chief interest derived from the note, or colophon, with which it
is
concludes. facts
:
Erom this we learn two very important name of the composition of which the
(1) the
tablet forms a part,
was written.
we
and
(2) the date at
With regard
find that the story
is
which the tablet
to the first of these points
not described as the Eleventh
Tablet of the poem of Gilgamesh, but as the Second We have thus Tablet of quite a different composition. direct evidence that it
poem
at a
was inserted into the former
comparatively late period of
Of
development. the writing of the
still
greater interest
is
its
literary
the date of
tablet, for it proves conclusively that
an early date must be assigned to the legends which are known to us from tablets written in the seventh century for the library of Ashur-bani-pal.
In
this
fragmentary version of the deluge story, found upon a Âť
See Scheil, Eecueil de Traiaux, Vol.
XX.
(1S98), pp. 55
ff.
126
THE NARRATIVE OF BEROSUS COMPARED. was written more than 1300 years before
tablet vrhicli
Asliur-bani-pal's time, the internal evidence furnished
by the
Assyrian tablets is amply corroborated. Eetnrning to the account of the deluge preserved in late
the Gilgamesh poem,
we
there find a form of the legend
which in general resembles the story reproduced from Berosus.
We
there read that the gods in the city of
Shurippak decided to send a deluge upon the earth. In a dream the god Ea revealed their intention to a man of the city
named Tsit-napishtim who,
in accordance
with Ea's instructions, saved himself, and his family, and every kind of beast, by building a ship in which they escaped from the flood. The thread of the narrative is identical with that of Berosus, though it differs
from
it
in details.
The hero of the
story, for instance,
dwells in Shurippak, not in Sippar, and the god does not bid him write a history of the world to instruct posterity after the deluge has destroyed all other The warning of Xisuthros by Chronos, howrecords. ever, corresponds to that of Tsit-napishtim
by Ea, and
name Xisuthros finds its equivalent in Atrakhasis, Ivhasisatra, a name by which Tsit-napishtim is referred to in the speech of Ea at the end of the story. the or
Both heroes, moreover, are from the ship. With regard
deified after to the
coming forth
name Tsit-napishtim,
must be mentioned that the reading
of the first part a matter of conjecture, and that some scholars render it Par-n apish tim whichever be
it
of the
name
is
still
;
TSiT-NAnSHTIM AND ATRAKHASIS. correct the "
of the
meaning
refers to Tslt-napishtim "
in
abounding
to be
"
the
been stated that Ea
It has already
offspring of life."
means
name appears
12/
by the name Atrakhasis, which " wisdom and a theory has ;
recently been put forward to account for the occurrence of these two
ing to it
^
names
for the hero of the legend.
Accord-
the story of the deluge in the Gilgamesh epic
made up of two legends which have been interwoven. One was a nature myth describing a universal deluge,
is
and the other a
local legend referring to the destruction
of a sinole city.
Atrakhasis
myth, and Tsit-napishtim,
"
the hero of the local legend
;
is
the hero of the nature
man of Shurippak," is while both names are given
the
to the hero in the story, as told in the
The theory
mesh.
is
ingenious, but
it
of Gilga-
poem
lacks evidence.
Before proceeding to compare the Babylonian story of the flood with that preserved in Genesis,
we
give a translation of the former version, so far as the present state of preservation of the text will allow.'^
mouth
put into the
The whole
of Tsit-napishtim,
who
story
is
it to
Gilgamesh, without interruption, from beginning
to
end.
He
begins by describing
how
tells
the gods in
council, in the city of Shurippak, decided to send a
deluge upon the earth, and '
288 ^
(fer
how Ea
revealed the secret
See Jastrow, Zeitschrift fur Assyriologle, Bd, XIII. (1899), pp, ff.
Cf
Jerraeias, Izdubar-Nimrod, pp. 32
ff.
and Ziramern
in
Babylonier, pp. 367
Chaos, pp. 423
ti.
ff.
;
Jensen, Die Eosmologie Gunkel's Schopfung und
;
THE GODS AND THE DELUGE.
128
Tsit-napislitim, one of the dwellers in the town.
to
The opening
lines of Ea's address to Tsit-napishtim, " wall, wall I reed-hut, reed-hut " O understand has proved hear wall, reed-hut,
which begins, "
!
!
!
a rather puzzling passage to commentators, for quite obvious
why Ea should
manner when he
it is
not
address a dwelling in this
gives his warning to Tsit-napishtim. of the passage seems to be that
The best explanation
Ea, before speaking to Tsit-napishtim,
the hut in which he
is sleeping.
Ea
end of the story that
We
first
addresses
know from
the
levealed the secret to Tsit-
in napishtim in a vision, and in view of the passage Ea's speech, it is not unnatural to suppose that Tsit-
of napishtim was sleeping at the time in a hut built reeds, a common form of dwelling among the poorer
inhabitants of Babylonia.
Tsit-napishtim begins his story thus
"I
will
to thee,
reveal
:
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
Gilgamesh, the hidden
word, "
And
"
Shurippak, a city which thou knowest,
"
Which
"
the decision of the gods will I declare to thee.
on the bank of the Euphrates, That city was old and the gods within it, lieth
;
'â&#x20AC;˘'Their hearts
prompted the great gods
deluge.^ "
There was their father Anu,
"
And
their counsellor the warrior Bel, *
I.e.,
upon
tlie city
and iijankind.
to
send a
EAS WARNING TO TSIT-NAPISHTIM. "
And And
"
"
The
their
messenger Ninib,
their governor Ennugi.
lord of wisdom, Ea, sat also with them,
And
''
he repeated their purpose to the hut of reeds,
(saying) "
'
"
:
reed-hut, reed-hut
reed-hut, hear
wall, wall
!
!
wall, understand
!
"
Thou man of Shurippak,^ son
"
Pull
!
of Ubara-Tutu,
down thy house, build a sliip, Eorsake thy possessions, take heed for thy Abandon thy goods, save thy life,
'^
"
129
"And
life
!
bring up living seed of every kind into the
ship. " " "
As
for the ship,
"Well
which thou shalt
planned must be
Its breadth
and
its
its
build,
dimensions,
length shall bear proportion
each to each, "
And
"
thou shalt launch
it
in the ocean
' !
and spake unto Ea, my lord, (saying) my lord, which thou hast given, [The command], " I will honour, and w411 fulfil. "
"
"
I took heed,
:
'
But how
shall I
make answer unto
people and the elders thereof ? Ea opened his mouth and spake,
the city, the
'
''And he said unto me, his servant, Thus shalt thou answer and say unto them
"
"
'
Bel hath cast
me
forth, for
he hateth me,
*
I.e.,
BAB. REL.
Tisit-napislitim.
K
:
EAS INSTRUCTIONS.
130 "
And
"
ISTor
"
I can no longer live in
your city on Bel's earth can I any longer lay
I will therefore go
my
lord Ea.'
The next few
down
;
to the
my
head.
deep and dwell with
"
which contain the end of the
lines,
answer which Tsit-napishtim is to give to the people, are broken, and their meaning is not quite plain.
The general his is
drift
departure leaving,
for
will
perity,
passage
bring
blessings
will
know when set
the lord of darkness, the god
upon them an abundant that
assuring are
his
to expect their pros-
Eamman,
rain.
fellow
of
will pour
down
to
this
According
is
ordered to allay any
citizens
them beforehand that the
marks
may
coming prosperity, and not of
make no its
secret of the
birds
by
destruction.
that
Tsit-
coming deluge,
advent and the destruction of
including
living things
feel
signs of the deluge
Some explain the passage by assuming napishtim is to but to foretell
he
multi-
it
an appointed time, when
interpretation Tsit-napishtim
misgivings
on the land
and will grant a plenteous
fish,
They for Shamash has
be that
to
Bel will shower down upon
tudes of birds and harvest.
seems
of the
and
fish.
all
The former
rendering seems to agree better with the earlier part of his answer otherwise Ea would have told him to say ;
tliat
Bel hated, not himself only, but mankind at
large.
Quite a different version of Ea's instructions to Tsit-
napishtim
and of
his
answer
to
the god
is
given
THE BUILDING OF THE on another
to
watch
131
which
only a fragment has Accordincj to this version Ea told
tablet,
been recovered.
him
of
SHIP.
for
the
appointed time and then to
enter the ship, wherein he was to bring his corn, and his property,
and
his possessions,
and
his family,
and
and handicraftsmen, toGfether with certain and beasts of the field. In his answer to the
his household cattle
god Tsifc-napishtim does not ask how he is to explain his action to his fellow citizens, and only seems to be troubled by the practical difficulties of his task. He complains that he has never yet built a ship, and
A
Eabylouian ship.
(From a cyliader-seal
Museum, No.
asks the god to trace out a
therefore vessel
upon the ground.
breaks
off.
After receiving Ea's lected the
At
fifth
plan of the
commands Tsit-napishtim
ship
day he laid
89,349.)
this point the version
wood and the materials necessary
construction of the
on the
in the British
it
for
four whole
down.
days,
He made
col-
for the
and
the hull
in the form of a fiat-bottomed barge, 120 cubits in
width.
Upon
the hull he constructed a sort of house
or cabin, 120 cubits in height.
This great deck-house
THE EMBARKATION.
132
he divided into six
stories,
and
eacli story
contained
The outside of the ship he rendered watertight by pouring six measures of bitumen over smeared with pitch. He then it, and the inside he nine rooms.
be brought and he slaughtered oxen ; and, after filling jars with sesame-wine, and oil, and caused
oil to
'' like that of New Year's grape-wine, he held a feast " Day." On the seventh day the ship was ready, and
Tsifc-napishtim then hastened to carry out Ea's instructions,
and
to
fill
narrative continues "
With
with
it
all that I
:
all
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
had I
The
that he possessed.
filled
it.
''With
all
the silver I had, I filled
With " With
all
the gold I had, I filled
all
living seed of every kind that I possessed,
*^
I filled
" I brought
it,
it,
it.
up into the ship
all
my
family and
household, "
The
cattle of the field,
and the beasts of the
the handicraftsmen â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
" "
all of
them
I brought
A fixed '
field, in.
time Shamash had appointed, (saying) The lord of darkness will at eventide send a heavy
ram
:
;
''
Then go into the ship, and shut thy " The appointed season arrived, and
door.'
'^The ruler of the darkness sent at eventide a heavy rain.
"
Of
the storm I saw the beginning;
\
THE COxMING OF THE FLOOD. "
1
33
To look upon the storm I was afraid I entered into the ship and shut the door. ;
" *'
To the
pilot of the ship, to
Puzur-Bel the
sailor,
"I committed the great building/ and the contents thereof.
"
When
"
There came up from the horizon a black cloud. Eamman in the midst thereof thundered,
*'
And
*'
the early
!N"abu
dawn
appeared,
and Marduk went before,
"They passed
like messengers
over mountain and
country. '*
Uragal parted the anchor-cable. "There went Mnib, and he made the storm to burst. "
The Anunnaki
"
And
carried flaming torches,
with the brightness thereof they
lit
up the
earth.
"The whirlwind
of
Eamman mounted up
into the
heavens, and
"All light was turned into darkness." The tempest raged for a whole day.
The waters
was confusion; men by reason of the darkness could see nothing, and they perished miserably. rose,
and
all
The text continues ''
"
:
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
Xo man beheld his fellow, No longer could men know heaven ^
J.e.,
the
sliip.
each
other.
In
ishtar's lamentation.
134 "
The gods were
"
They retreated, they went up into the heaven The gods crouched down like hounds,
" " " ''
of Anu.
In the enclosure (of heaven) they sat cowering. Then Ishtar cried aloud like a woman in travail,
The Lady
of the gods lamented with a loud voice,
(saying) "
afraid of the deluge,
'
:
The old race
of
man
hath been turned back into
clay, "
Because I assented to an evil thing in the council
"
Alas
of the gods !
I
!
have assented
to
an
evil
thing in the
council of the gods, "
And
agreed to a storm which hath destroyed
people "
That which
"
Like the spawn of
" *'
"
"
my
1
I brought forth
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;where
is it ?
fish it filleth the sea
' !
The gods of the Anunnaki wept with her, The gods were bowed down, they sat down weeping, Their lips were pressed together
.
.
.
For six days and six nights blew, and the deluge and the tempest
"The wind
overwhelmed the land. the seventh day drew nigh, then ceased the tempest and the deluge, and the storm,
**
When
"
Which had
"
Then the
fought like a host.
became quiet and the hurricane and the deluge sea
it
went down
ceased.
;
and
THE STRANDING OF THE
SHIP.
1.35
" I looked
upon the sea and cried aloud, mankind was turned back into
"
Tor
"
In place of the
"
I
all
fields a
swamp
clay.
lay before me.
opened the window and the light cheek
fell
upon
my
;
"
bowed myself down, I sat down, I wept " Over my cheek flowed my tears. " I looked upon the world, and behold all was I
;
sea.
"
After twelve (days
"
To the land Nitsir the ship took its course. The mountain of the land of Nitsir held the ship fast and did not let it slip.
"
"
The
first
day, the second day, the mountain Nitsir
held the ship "
The
fast.
third day, the fourth day, the
held the ship
"The
?)
the land appeared,
fifth day,
mountain Nitsir
fast.
the sixth day, the mountain Nitsir
held the ship fast. "When the seventh day drew nigh, I
sent out a
dove, and let her go forth. "
The dove flew hither and
"
But there was no resting-place
thither, (for her)
and she
returned. "
Then
"
The swallow flew hither and
"But
I sent out a swallow,
there
and
let
her go forth.
thither,
was no resting-place
(for her)
and she
returned. "
Then
I sent out a raven and let her go forth.
J
THE
36 "
SACRIFICE.
The raven flew away and beheld the abatement of the waters,
''
And
she came near,
wadmg and
croaking, but did
not return.
"Then
I brought (all) out unto the four winds, I
an
offered " " "
I
made
By
offering,
a libation on the peak of the mountain.
sevens I set out the vessels,
Under them
I heaped
up
reed,
and cedar-wood, and
incense. "
The gods smelt the savour, " The gods smelt the sweet savour,
"
like flies about
The gods gathered
"
up the sacrifica. Then the Lady of the gods drew
"
And
him
that offered
nigh,
she lifted up the great jewels, which
made according to her wish, (and said) "*What gods these are! By the jewels which are upon
lazuli
forget ^*
them
''Let the gods "
But Bel
:
of la2ns
neck, I will
not
!
These days I have set in forget
my
Anu had
my memory,
never will I
!
come
shall not
to the offering,
come
to the offering,
"
Since he refused to ask counsel and sent the deluge,
"
And handed
"Now when ''
He
over
my
people unto destruction.'
Bel drew nigh, saw the ship, and he was very wroih ;
ea's protest. "
He was
filled
(saying) ''
"
'
Who
with anger against the gods, the
then hath escaped with his
No man
Then Ninib opened
And '
life
?
shall live after the destruction
"
"
Igigi,
:
"
''
137
his
mouth and
' !
spake,
said to the warrior Bel,
Who
but
Ea
could have done this thing
For Ea knoweth every matter
?
' I
mouth and
^'
Then Ea opened
''
And
*'
'
*'
But thou wouldst not take counsel and thou hast
*'
On On
his
Thou
art the governor of the gods,
sent the deluge
^'
spake,
said to the warrior Bel, warrior,
!
the sinner visit his sin, and
the transgressor visit his transgression
"
But hold thy hand,
"
And
;
that all be not destroyed
(?), that all be not [confounded] " Instead of sending a deluge,
forbear
Let a lion come and minish mankind " Instead of sending a deluge,
!
!
'*'
!
"Let a leopard come and minish mankind " ^'
" ''
" *'
Instead of sending a deluge, Let a famine come and [waste] the land
!
!
Instead of sending a deluge,
Let the Plague-god come and [slay] mankind
!
I did not reveal the purpose of the great gods. I caused Atrakhasis to see a dream,
heard the purpose of the gods.'
and (thus) he
DEIFICATION OF TSIT-NAPISHTIM.
138 "
" " *'
Thereupon Bel arrived at a decision, And he went up into the ship.
He He
my hand and brought me forth, brought my wife forth, he made her at my side, took
"He
turned towards us, he stood between blessed us, (saying)
"
*
to kneel
us,
he
:
Hitherto hath Tsit-napishtim been of mankind, let Tsit-napishtim be like unto the gods,
"But now even "
And
us,
Tsit-napishtim dwell afar off at the mouth
let
'
of the river "
!
Then they took me, and
afar off, at the mouth of made me to dwell." now have gained a notion of the
the rivers, they
The reader
will
form of the deluge story current in Assyria during the seventh century B.C., but, before comparing it with the Biblical account, following
Gen.
vi.
9â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
ix.
given in the
it
The
facts.
will be necessary to consider the
Biblical
story is
contained in
17, and, like the stories of the creation
and second chapters of that book,
first
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
taken from two separate writings the "Priestly "writing" and the "Jehovist narrative," brief de-
is
scriptions of
which have already been
case of the accounts of the creation
given.^
we have
In the
seen that
the two stories were not interwoven one with the other.
and that one was
first *
given and then the other.
See aboye, pp. 110
f.
In
THE BIBLICAL STORY OF THE FLOOD.
1
39
on the other hand, the two
the case of the deluge
accounts are not given separately, but have been united so as to form a single narrative. The compiler,
however, has made very
little
in his two
alteration
sources of information, and has scrupulously preserved
Even where the
the texts upon which he has drawn.
two versions
from each other in points of detail he has not attempted to harmonize them, but without differ
change has given each as he found
it
;
thanks to this
two accounts with
fact it is possible to disentangle the
absolute certainty.
As
the text reads at present
differences
in
we
find considerable
passages with
certain
regard
to
two
important details of the story,
viz., the length of the duration of the deluge, and the number of the animals
which were preserved. flood took
According
place seven days after
build the ark; in Gen.
vii.
12 and
to Gen. vii. 10, the
Noah was
are said to have prevailed for forty days
;
told to
the w^aters
viii. 6,
and accord-
ing to Gen. viii. 6-12, the waters subsided after three These passages give the periods of seven days each. total duration of the
of
preparation,
as
deluge, including the seven days
sixty-eight
days.
On
hand, in Gen. vii. 11, the flood is said to
other
have bec^un
hundredth year of Noah's life, in the " second month, on the seventeenth day of the month
"in the "
the
six
;
in Gen. "
vii.
24,
it
is
stated that
"
the waters prevailed
upon the earth an hundred and
"
fifty
days
;
and
TWO VERSIONS
140
according to Gen. *'
hundred and
13 and 14, the waters finally
viii.
disappeared, and the first
earth became dry in the " six " of Noah, " in the second year
"month, on the seven "month."
and
statement that
is
twentieth these
to
Thus, according
total duration of the
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;a
IN GENESIS.
day of the passages,
the
deluge was more than a year
not compatible with the pre-
which give the length of its duration as sixty-eight days. The second most striking instance of divergence occurs in the numbers of the viously cited passages
animals to be
Gen.
vi.
ark
preserved in the
19, lN"oah is told to preserve
while in Gen.
Noah
according to
;
two of every
sort,
preserve seven of every clean beast, and two of every beast that is not clean. These are perhaps the two most striking instances of vii. 2,
is to
divergence in the narrative, for they cannot be reconciled except on the supposition that they are the
accounts of two different
writers
which have been
interwoven with each other.
Other evidence, such as the occurrence of double accounts of the same episode, each written in a style its own, points in the same direction; and it is
of
possible
on the basis of such evidence
the two threads of the narrative. are so distinct that any one self in the
may
to
separate
These two threads trace
them
for
him-
Authorized Version of the English Bible. if we mark with a line at the
This will be apparent side
of
the
column the following passages
of
the
SEPARATION OF THE NARRATIVES. narrative: Gen. "
as
and "
2 (down
and
to
after the
vii.
9-22; "
end
were ")
;
6,
vii.
11, 13-16 (down to 18-21 and 24; viii. 1
3 (from viii. stopped ") " viii. 13 to from (down ;
-5
;
14-19; and ix. 1-17. When has been done and these passages read consecu-
off the
this
vi.
God commanded him")
I4I
earth");
tively, it will
viii.
be seen that
we have
a perfectly complete
and consistent account of the deluge. If the passages which have been left unmarked are next read, it will be seen that, although one fragment of a verse has been transposed (chapter vii., the second half of verse 16),
we have
here another complete and consistent account
of the deluge.^ * we will This will be apparent from the following summaries summarize the marked passages first, which together contain the " " Because account of the deluge according to the Priestly writing the earth was corrupt God decided to send a deluge. He therefore warned Noah to build an ark, giving him precise directions with regard to its size and to the mode of its construction when it was finitrhed he was told to bring his own family into the ark, and two of every kind of living creature, male and female, as well as food for himself and for them; Noah did as he was commanded (vi. 9-22). Noah -was six hundred years old when the flood began (vii. 6) in the six hundredth year of his life the flood was caused by the breaking up of the fountains of the great deep and by the opening of the windows of heaven (vii. 11). On the self-same day Noah and his family entered the ark, and he brought in the animals in pairs (vii. 13-16). And the waters increased and covered the high mountains, and the depth of the flood was fifteen cubits, and every living creature perished (vii. 18-21). And the waters prevailed for an hundred and fifty days, when God sent a wind to assuage the waters; and the fountains of the deep and the windows of heaven were slopped (vii. 2I-viii. 2). After the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters decreased and ;
:
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
;
;
month the ark rested upon the mountains of Ararat. the waters decreased continually until the tenth month, when
in the seventh
And
SUiMMARY OF THE ACCOUNTS.
142
The reader
will see that each account repeats plirases
characteristic to itself,
and each, when separated from
the other, contains a consistent and uncontradictory the tops of the mountains were seen (viii. 3-5). And on the first day of the six hundred and first year the ^Yaters were dried up from the earth (viii. 13), and by the seven and twentieth day of the second
month the earth was quite dry
(viii. 14).
And Noah came
forth from
15-19), and God blessed Noah and his sons, and He made a covenant that He would not again send a flood to destroy the earth, and as a token of tlie covenant He set His rainbow in the clouds (ix.
the ark
(viii.
Such is the story, complete and consistent with itself, which given by the marked passages. The unmarked passages represent the " Jehovistic narrative," In the marked jDassages the reader will have noticed that the Divine 1-17).
is
" " is God," which corresponds to the Hebrew word Elo"hiiu"; in the unmarked passages he will notice that the word " the Lord," representing tlie Hebrew word generally used is
name used
"Jahveh"
or
Jehovah.
The "Jehovistic narrative"
is
not quite
a complete account, for its beginning, whicli contained the command " to build the ark, is omitted, doubtless because the Priestly writing" of From of the " Jehovistic full an account it. what remains so gives "narrative" we gain the following picture of the flood: Since Noah
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
had been righteous in his generation, the Lord bade him and all his house go up into the ark. Noah was also told to bring into the ark with him seven of every kind of clean beast and two of every unclean beast, the greater number of clean beasts no doubt being taken to serve as food during the time Noah and his household should be shut up in the ark. Noah was warned that iu seven days' time the Lord would cause it to rain upon the earth for forty days and forty nights, and every living thing the Lord had made would be destroyed (vii. Noah therefore did as he was commanded he took the clean 1-5). and unclean beasts into the ark wiih him (vii 7-9) and the Lord shut him in (vii. 16). As had been foretold, after seven days the flood came upon the earth (vii. 10), and the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights (vii. 12). And the flood was forty days upon the earth, and the waters increased and bore up the ark (vii. 17) and every living thing was destroyed, except Noah and they that were with him in the ark (vii. 22 and 23). Then the rain from heaven was restrained and the waters returned from off the earth continually (viii. 2 and 3), and at the end of foity days Noah opened the window ;
;
POINTS OF CONTRAST. narrative
of the
accordance with
The
event. its
I43
''Priestly writing,"
annalistic
character, gives
in
exact
detailb concerning the size and structure of the ark,
records the depth of the flood in cubits, gives precise
when the flood began, when the ark rested upon Ararat, when the tops of the mountains were seen, when the waters were dried up, and also when the earth was quite dry. by day and month and
dates,
Episodes peculiar to fountains
it
of the
year, as to
breaking up of the cause of the flood, the
are the as
a
deep on the mountains of Ararat, and the covenant with the rainbow as its of the making
resting of the ark "
token.
The
resque
the Lord shuts
;
Jehovistic narrative
the sweet savour of
He
Noah
"
is far
more pictu-
He smells and He says in
into the ark,
JSToah's sacrifice,
not again send a deluge. The episodes peculiar to this account are the distinction made between clean and unclean animals, the bringing
His heart
will
and sent forth a raven, which flew to and fro and did not then a dove, which, finding no rest for the sole of her foot, returned to him. He waited another seven days and again he sent forth the dove, which this time brought in lier mouth an olive leaf plucked off; so Noah knew the waters were abated. He waited yet another seven days and then again sent forth the dove, which this of the ark
return
;
time did not return (viii. 6-12). So Noah removed the covering of the ark and beheld that the face of the ground was dried (viii. 13). And Noah built an altar unto the Lord, and took of every clean beast and of every clean fowl and offered burnt offerings on the altar. And the Lord smelled the sweet savour, and said in His heart He would not again curse the ground nor smite every living thing while the earth ;
remained, the natural order of the universe should not be changed (viii.
20-22).
COMPARISON WITH THE BABYLONIAN POEM.
144
on of the deluge by a heavy rain only and not by the breaking up of the fountains of the sending forth
of
building of the altar
The
chief
points
narratives, that of
length
the
is
tlie
the great deep,
raven and the dove, the
and the
sacrifice
to
Jehovah.
the two divergence as to the statements the to say,
between
of
flood's
duration,
have
been referred
to already.
When we
compare the Babylonian account of the two versions in the book of Genesis, these with deluge
we
see that
both.
The
it
contains
details
many
of the peculiarities of
with regard to the form and struc-
ture of the ship are very similar to those of the ark
in the "Priestly writing," both accounts stating that
the vessel was built in stories, and that pitch was
used for making it watertight in both narratives the ark is said to have rested upon a mountain and Ea's ;
;
protest against the sending of a deluge in the future
perhaps the equivalent of God's covenant with Noah On that mankind should not again be so destroyed.
is
the other hand,
many
of the features peculiar to the'
*'Jehovistic narrative" also appear in the Babylonian
Such are the seven days which elapsed between the warning and the coming of the deluge, version.
the cause of the deluge ascribed to heavy rain, the sending forth of birds to test the condition of the waters, the burning of a sacrifice from which a sweet
savour rose,
etc.
ORIGIN OF THE HEBREW VERSIONS.
We
have therefore
m
Genesis
145
beyond doubt two
independent versions of the deluge story, both originally derived from Babylonian sources, but neither directly copied from the Babylonian version as we know it on the tablets from Ashur-bani-pal's library.
already noted they were derived from Babylon at
indications that
some period
In the case
we have
of the legends of the creation
prior to the exile,
and the arguments there
brought forward apply with equal force to the story It is a striking fact, however, that the
of the deluge. latter narrative
the
earlier
has not
Hebrew
left
so strong a
as did
wTitings
In the second
dragon-myth.
half
the of
mark upon Babylonian the book of
Isaiah the ^vrath of Jehovah in sending the captivity
is
in Ezekiel^ ISToah,
compared
to
also there is
"
Jews
the w^aters of Noah,"
^
into
and
an interesting reference to
which presupposes a knowledge of the Biblical
story of the flood
;
but traces of the story in the other
books of the Old Testament are not very numerous. Moreover the resemblance between the Hebrew and is very much the that between than closer corresponding accounts These facts indicate a later date for of the creation.
the Babylonian versions of the deluge
the adoption of the deluge story a
by the Hebrews, but
which may have been centuries before the
date
taking of Jerusalem. Âť
BAB.
Isaiab
liEL.
liv. 9.
2
Ezckicl xiv. 12-20.
T.
146
(
)
CHAPTEE
V.
TALES OF GODS AND HEROES.
In the two preceding chapters we have described the legends of the Babylonians which have left their mark
upon Hebrew
literature.
Of such legends those which
dealt with the creation of the world formed in themselves a complete body of traditions, and these we have treated as such in Chapter III. The story of the
deluge, on the other hand, which formed the subject of
Chapter IV., has not come down to us as a separate legend, but occurs in the course of a long poem which describes the adventures of a great Babylonian hero
named Gilgamesh.
As
the account of the deluge there
narrated forms a complete story, context, in
order to
legends of creation.
maining
treat it
We
will
portions of this great
we took
it
from
in connection with
now
poem
describe
its
the
the re-
of the Babylonians,
wdiich deals with the exploits of Gilgamesh, the greatest
mythical hero of their race. The name of the hero was, for *'
Izdubar," or
"
many
years, read
Gishdubar," but we now know
that the
THE POEM OF GILGAMESH.
I47
Babylonians pronounced the ideogram which formed " ^ It has been suggested that Gilgamesh."
the name,
to
is
Gilgamesh
be identified with the hero Nimrod,
who was "a mi^htv hunter
Lord," and
the
before
whose kingdom was "Babel, and the beginning " Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of of
"
beyond the fact that both Mmrod and Gilgamesh were great Babylonian heroes of antiquity, there are no other grounds for assuming *'
Shinar
their
^
but,
;
told
is
ferred to,
Mmrod we know
Of
identity.
what
us
the
in
in
passage
little
besides
Genesis
re-
but the deeds of Gilgamesh are recounted poem that has come down
in the longest Babylonian It is written
to us.
which, like those of the
made
Creation
The
guished by numbers. linson
a series of twelve tablets,
upon
series,
late Sir
the suggestion that the
are
distin-
C.
Henry poem was
Eaw-
a solar
myth, the twelve tablets corresponding to the twelve
months
of the year, but the contents of the majority
of the tablets do not origin.
poem
In into
fact, it is
twelve
arrangement, the
fit
in with this view of their
probable that the division of the
sections
work
was a comparatively
of the
and edited the ancient legends. We and legends of the hero Gilgamesh ^
^lian mentions an ancient king Gilgamos,
took from the hero of this poem. 2
Gen.
X. 8-10.'
late
who collected know that stories
scribes
a
go back name he
into
evidently
INTRODUCTION TO THE POEM.
148
remote antiquity, for cylinder-seals, made during the Sumerian period/ have been found, on which are
The
engraved the deeds of valour performed by him. actual poem, however, in
which we read these
stories,
most of the other legends of the Babylonians, known to us from Assyrian tablets which were
like is
written in the seventh century before Christ. of the
copies library,
work were made
for
and, from the numerous
that are in the British
Museum,
Several
Ashur-bani-pal's
fragments of them
it is
possible to piece
together the story, and to give several of the episodes
The
of the narrative in detail.^
story clings to the
ancient city of Erech, the chief seat of the worship of the
of
his
lands,
The
goddess Ishtar, and, although in the travelled
into
adventures, Gilgamesh he always returned to the city of Erech. First Tablet of the series is
much
course distant
broken.
A
fragment has been found which not improbably contained the opening words of the poem, for it seems to describe the
benefits that will
accrue to a
man who
will study the poem and make himself acquainted with the hero's history. After these prefatory remarks,
the text introduces the the misfortunes
name
that have
of Erech,
fallen
upon
and describes this
ancient
city in consequence of a siege that has taken place.
All living things that are in the *
I.e., *
and men,
B.C. 4000 to B.C. 2300. Iziubar-Nimrod, Leipzig, 1891.
from about
Cf. Jeremias,
city, gods,
THE SIEGE OF ERECH. and
beasts, are confused
as follows ''
She asses [tread down]
"
Cows
"
Men And
" " *'
''
"
:
and
terrified
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
[turn upon]
tlieir
;
149 the text reads
young,
their calves.
cry aloud like beasts,
maidens mourn like doves.
The gods of strong-w^alled Erech Are changed to flies, and buzz about the The
spirits of strong-walled
Are changed
to serpents,
streets.
Erech
and glide into holes
(?).
"
For three years the enemy besieged Erech, "And the doors were barred, and the bolts were shot,
"
And
Ishtar did not raise her
head against the
foe."
We have no mention of Gilgamesh upon these fragments of the First Tablet, but, as on the Second Tablet we find the inhabitants of Erech groaning under his not improbable that the foe mentioned as Erech was led by Gilgamesh, and that they besieging Another view is that succeeded in capturing the city.
rule, it is
Gilgamesh came forward and delivered Erech from her enemies, and in return for his services was elected ruler of the city.
By
whichever of these means he
obtained his throne in Erech, there his rule soon
young men off
became unpopular,
saying
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
no doubt that
he forced
all
the
of the city into his service and carried
the maidens to his court. :
is
for
The
elders complained,
THE TYRANNY OF
I50 "
Gilgamesh hath not
"Nor
maid
the
left
to the
GILGAIMESII.
the son to his father, the wife to her
hero, nor
husband." therefore cried to the goddess
They
Arum
against the
tyranny of Gilgamesh, complaining that he acted in this despotic manner because he had no rival to keep him in check. Day and night the people raised their complaint,
and the gods of heaven heard them and had
And
compassion upon them.
the gods also cried aloud
to Aruru, bidding her create a being, equal to Gilga-
mesh
in strength,
his power.
who might
fight
with him and limit
They urged that as she had created Gilgamust now create his rival. Aruru listened
mesh,^ so she to their
being
words and proceeded
who should be
to
plan and to create a
capable of opposing Gilgamesh.
The passage referring to the creation was named Ea-bani, reads as follows "
" *'
"
of this being, :
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
who
Upon hearing these words {i.e., the words of the gods) Aruru conceived a man of Anu ^ in her mind. Aruru washed her hands, She broke
off a piece of clay,
she cast
it
on the
ground. "
Thus she created Ea-bani, the hero." Ea-bani, however, was not wholly human *
It will
in form.
be remembered that according to one version of the CreaAruru, in company with Mardulc, is credited
tion story, the goddess
with the creation of mankind 2
;
see above, p. 90.
a divine man, a demi-god. " a general name for god." I.e.,
In this phrase "
Anu "
is
used as
THE CREATION OF From
EA-BANI.
I51
upon cylinder-seals we know that he had the head, and body, and arms of a man, but his The following description legs were those of a beast. his picture
of Ea-bani "
is
given in the
poem
:
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
The whole
of his body was [covered] with hair, clothed with lonc^ hair like a woman.
"
He was
"
The quality
*'
of his hair
was luxuriant,
like that of
the Corn-god. He knew [not] the land and the inhabitants thereof,
"He was
clothed with garments as the god of the
field.
"
With the gazelles he ate herbs, " With the beasts he slaked his thirst, "With the creatures of the water his heart A new personage now comes on the scene the abruptness
with which he
is
rejoiced."
and, from
introduced,
it
is
evident that he has already been described in some previous portion of the
new personage
poem
that
is
wanting.
This
Tsaidu, "the hunter," who appears to have been sent into the mountains by Gilgamesh is
in order to capture Ea-bani.
The gods no doubt
in
due time would have brought Ea-bani to Erech to do battle with Gilgamesh, and the object of Gilgamesh in sending Tsaidu to capture Ea-bani was clearly to forestall
their
intention.
"
The hunter
"
accordingly
went out into the mountains and lay in wait for For three days Tsaidu watched Ea-bani as Ea-bani. he went down to the stream to drink, but he thouMit
TSAIDU,
J52
THE HUNTER.
he was too strong to overcome in single combat. therefore returned to Erech
monster's
strength;
He
and told Gilgamesh of the
he described his own terror at
beholding him, and added that he destroyed traps which had been set for him, saying :
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
all
the
"He "
rangeth over [all] the mountains, Eegularly with the beasts [he feedeth],
*'
Eegularly his feet [are set] towards the drinking-
^'
But
place.
I
was
afraid, I could
not approach him.
"
hath
"
hath destroyed the nets which I [spread], hath caused the cattle and the beasts of the
He He "He
filled
field to
"
And
up the
pit
escape from
he doth not
let
which I digged,
my
hands,
me make war (upon
them)."
Gilgamesh was not discouraged by Tsaidu's want of success, and he revealed to him a device by which he
might capture Ea-bani, who had proved too cunning the ordinary snares of the hunter, saying "
Go,
my
Tsaidu, and take
"And when
:
for
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
Ukhat with thee. down to the drinkinof-
the beasts come
place, *'
Then
let her tear off
her clothing and disclose her
nakedness. '*
(Ea-bani) shall see her, and he shall draw nigh
"
And
unto her, the cattle, which grew
forsake him."
up on
his field, shall
Ukliat,
THE PLOT TO CAPTURE EA-BANI.
1
whom
was
Tsaidu was told to take
one of the sacred Ishtar
women who were
and were attached in
that goddess
continues
:
the
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
city
^Yitll liim,
in the service of
to
the ancient
of
Erech.
The
temple of narrative
"Tsaidu departed, and took with him the Ukhat. "
They took the
53
woman
straight road,
*'
And on
"
Then Tsaidu and the woman placed themselves
''
For one day,
the third day they reached the appointed
place.
in
hiding.
two days, they lurked by the
for
drinking-place. " "With the beasts (Ea-bani) slaked his thirst, '* With the creatures of the w^aters his heart rejoiced. *'
Then Ea-bani (approached) With the gazelles he ate herbs, " With the beasts he slaked his thirst, "With the creatures of the water his heart rejoiced." As Ea-bani came near, Ukhat caught sight of him, .
.
.
,
"
and Tsaidu exclaimed "
:
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
Ukhat, loosen thy girdle, "Uncover thy nakedness that he may receive thy That
is he,
favours,
"
Be not
"
He
"
Open thy garment, and he
faint-hearted, lay hold
shall see thee,
and
shall
upon his soul. draw nigh unto
thee.
shall lie in thine arms.
EA-BANI TEMPTED BY UKHAT.
154 "
Give him pleasure after the manner of women.
"
His
which grew up in
cattle,
his field, shall forsake
him, "
While he holdeth thee in the embraces of
Ukhat did
as Tsaidu bade her,
attended with success, as lines
:
—
and the
we may see from
love."
plot
was
the following
"Ukhat loosened her garment, she uncovered her nakedness, "
She was not faint-hearted, and she laid hold upon his soul.
" "
She opened her garment, and he lay in her arms. She gave him pleasure after the manner of women,
"
And
"
For six days and six nights Ea-bani drew nigh and tarried with Ukhat.
"
After he had satisfied himself with her abundance,
"
He
" *•
he held her in the embraces of love.
turned his attention to his
His gazelles
The beasts
lay,
and looked
of the field turned
"
Ea-bani was
"
His knees stood
terrified, his still,
cattle.
at Ea-bani,
away from him.
body grew
stiff,
as his cattle departed."
Ea-bani, however, did not attempt to pursue to
induce them
to return to him.
dismay he turned once more and
side "
—
He
them or
Eecovering from his
to the
companion
at his
returned to love, he sat at the feet of the
woman.
HIS LOVE FOR " " *'
THE WOMAN.
I55
And he gazed up into her face, And as the woman spake he listened. And the woman said nnto Ea-bani :
"
"
"
'
Thou
unto a god. Why then dost thou
Come,
"To
Ea-bani, and art like
art of great stature,
let
the
me
lie
with the beasts of the
field
?
bring thee to strong- walled Erech,
bright house, the
dwelling of
Anu
who
perfect
and
Islitar,
"To
of
the palace
Gilgamesh,
is
in
strength,
"And
who, like a mountain-bull, wieldeth power
over men.' "
" " " "
"
She spake unto him and he hearkened unto her word, In the wisdom of his heart he wished
'
Come
for a friend.
woman Ukhat, lead me away,
Ea-bani spake unto the then,
:
To the bright and holy dwelling of Anu and Ishtar, To the palace of Gilgamesh, who is perfect in strength,
"And who
like [a "
mountain-bull wieldeth power]
over men.'
The
text of the
poem which
follows
is
broken, and
it
only with difficulty that the thread of the narrative can be made out. Ea-bani had heard so much of the
is
micrht of Gilgamesh from his friendship
;
but,
it
Ukhat
that he desired to
appears, he
first
wished to
win test
GILGAMESH AND EA-BANI.
156
the hero's strength, and to
was with
this object that
city of Erech,
jom with him
in
which
lie
It
he set out with Ukhat for the
and they happened
the celebration of a festival.
dream
in battle.
to arrive there
during
Ea-bani, however, had a
was warned
to
from
refrain
do battle with Gilgamesh. He was told that Gilgamesh was more powerful than he, and that,
attempting to
by day and by night he did not rest, he could not hope to take him unawares. He was also told in his
as
dream that Gilgamesh was beloved
of
Shamash, the
Sun-god, and that the three great gods, Anu, Bel, and Ea, had given wisdom unto him.
Meanwhile Gilgamesh
also
had a dream, and he was
troubled because he could not interpret fore
went
to his
it.
He
there-
mother Aruru and enquired of her
the meaning of his vision.
He
seemed
told her that in his
upon him, and his mother seems to have interpreted the dream as foretelling the coming of Ea-bani, and also to have advised vision the stars of heaven
him
to
make
to fall
friends with Ea-bani.
Gilgamesh and Ea-bani did not enter into combat, and the Third Tablet of the series tells how they
became remain,
friends. it
Erom
the frai:^ments of the text which
appears that Ea-bani did not at
first
give
heed to the warning vouchsafed him in his dream,
and
it
was only
after the personal intervention of the
Sun-god that he gave
up the
desire to do battle with
Gilgamesh, and consented to treat him henceforth as
EXPEDITION AGAINST KHUMBABA.
5/
In order to induce Ea-bani to remain
his comrade.
Sbamash conferred on him
at Erech,
1
royal rank, and
he promised him that he should recline on a great conch while the princes of the earth kissed his feet, and that the people of Erech should proclaim their submission unto him.
and consented
god,
to
Ea-bani listened to the Sun-
remain in Erech as the friend
of Gili?amesh.
The next
section of the
poem
is
also incomplete,
but enough of the text remains to enable us to make out the story, which concerns an expedition under-
taken by both heroes
named Khumbaba. tion
against
an Elamite despot
The preparations
^
for the expedi-
and the battle with Khumbaba are described upon
the Fourth and Fifth Tablets of the series.
Before
setting out for the castle of Khumbaba, Ea-bani prayed
and Gilgamesh recounted to his friend dream which had been sent to him, in
to the Sun-god,
a favourable
which he beheld the dead body of Khumbaba. In due time the two heroes came to a wood of cedar trees, in built.
the middle of which Khumbaba's castle was
Khumbaba was
feared
by
all
who dwelt near
him, for his roaring was like the storm, and any man, who was rash enough to enter into his cedar wood, perished.
The two
heroes, however,
undismayed by
the reports of their enemy's power, pressed forward '
The people
tauiia, were,
cf Elam, which was situated to the east of Mcsopofrom an early period, in coustant conflict with Babylonia.
THE SLAYING OF KHUMBABA.
158
on their journey.
amazed
They entered the wood, but were
at the great size of the trees that
grew therein, and in the words of the poem " They stood still, and marvelled at the wood, "
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
They gazed
at the height of the cedars,
"
They gazed at the entrance of the wood, "The place where Khumbaba was wont and
"
to
walk
set his foot.
The road had been
laid out,
and the path was well
made." After describing the beauty of the greatest of the cedars, which possessed a pleasant and delightful shade
and a sweet
smell, the tablet breaks
off.
How
the
heroes penetrated to the castle, and in what manner
they succeeded in slaying Khumbaba, we do not know but that they were successful in the fight is clear from ;
the last line of the tablet.
and reads
may
"
Half
this line is preserved
Khumbaba," from which we that Gilgamesh and Ea-bani, after
the head of
perhaps infer
slaying the tyrant, cut off his head from his body.
Hitherto the heroes
had only met with
success.
Enjoying the favour of the Sun-god, they had succeeded in slaying a powerful enemy of their city, and they now returned to Erech elated with their victory.
From so
this
time forward, however, their
lot
was not
happy, and the Sixth Tablet gives the reason of
their misfortunes, for it narrates
how Gilgamesh
curred the wrath of the powerful goddess Ishtar.
in-
The
ishtar's passion for gilgamesii.
159
with an account of how, on his return
tablet opens
from Erech, Gilgamesh removed the stains of battle, and clothed himself in his royal robes, in the following
words " ''
''
:
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
he polished his weapons, from armour upon him, [He removed] he clothed himhis soiled took garments, [He off]
[He cleansed]
his weapons,
his
self in clean raiment.
"He
donned
[his robes
honour, he bound
of]
on
his diadem, "
Gilgamesh wore
his
he
crown,
bound
on
his
diadem."
The
sight of the hero thus arrayed on his return
from battle kindled with love
for
him the heart
of
The poem tells how she beheld the goddess Ishtar. the comeliness of Gilgamesh, and addressed him in these words " "
:
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
Come, Gilgamesh, be thou Bestow thy strength upon
"And
thou shalt be
thy
my
my
spouse.
me
as a gift,
husband, and I will be
wife.
"
I will set thee in a chariot of lapis lazuli
"
With wheels made
"
And mighty
of gold
and
gold,
and horns made of
diamonds,
"Thou
.
.
.
steeds shalt thou yoke to
of cedars. "
When
it.
shalt enter our house with the sweet scent
thou enterest our house,
GILGAMESH REPULSES
l60
ISIITAR.
"
[The great and] the mighty shall kiss thy feet. "Kings, and rulers, and princes shall bow down before thee,
"And
from mountain and plain shall they bring >> gifts unto thee as tribute.
The goddess promised in addition that
his
flocks
should bear twins, that the horses of his chariot should
be swift, and that his cattle should be unrivalled.
But Gilgamesh refused her proffered love, remembering the fate of those who had already enjoyed it, and thus upbraided her with her treachery j"
" "
On Tammuz, Thou didst lay
:
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
the spouse of thy youth,
Thou
affliction
every year.
didst love the brilliant AUalu-bird,
"
But thou
"
He
"
Thou
"
Seven by seven didst thou dig snares
"
Thou
" "
didst smite
him and break
stands in the woods, and
wing
my
;
wing.*
didst also love a lion, perfect in strength, for
him.
didst also love a horse, pre-eminent in battle
Bridle, spur,
Thou
his
'
cries,
didst
;
and whip didst thou lay upon him,
make him
to gallop for
SQYen
Jcashu,
"
Trouble and sweating didst thou force him to bear, " And on his mother Silili thou didst lay aftiiction.
"
Thou
"
Who continually poured out
"
And
didst also love a shepherd of the flock, for thee the libation
daily slaughtered kids for thee
"But thou
didst smite him,
into a leopard,
(?),
;
and didst change him
"
THE BULL FROM HEAVEN. own sheep- boy hunted him, own hounds tore him to pieces.'*
''
So that his
"
And
his
Giigamesh
l6l
also recounted the sad fate of a gardener
in the service
of
Anu,
Ishtar's father,
whom
she had
Every day he brought her costly gifts and made the dish from which she ate but when she grew bright
loved.
;
tired of
him she changed him
into a cripple, so that
henceforth he could not rise from his bed.
ended his taunts with the words, "As " wouldst love me, and like unto " [afflict
for
Giigamesh me, thou
them thou wouldst
me]."
When Ishtar heard this
she was enraged and she went
into heaven, where she sought out her father Anu, and her mother Anatu, and complained that Gilgamesli had scorned her. Anu attempted to soothe her, but she
up
demanded vengeance upon Giigamesh, and asked Anu to create a monstrous bull,
destroy
the
hero.
Anu
named Alu, which should
yielded
to
his
imperious
daughter and created the bull in accordance ^\'ith her The account of the battle between the bull and wish.
two heroes Ea-bani and Giigamesh, is very incomplete, but the struggle seems to have been long and the
fierce,
and towards the end of the account we read that
Ea-bani seized the bull by the tail so that Giigamesh was no doubt enabled to slay the monster with his
In the accompanying illustration, we see GiiEa-bani each engaged in conflict with a and gamesh The picture may possibly be based upon some bull. sword.
BAB. EEL.
M
THE FIGHT WITH THE BULL.
l62
variant form of
tlie
legend, according to which
Ann
two divine bulls against Gilgamesh and his Perhaps of the
it is
simpler, however, to regard
it
sent
friend.
as a picture
two heroes on a hunting expedition,
for
on
other cylinder-seals they are frequently represented as strusjo-lincf with several bulls and lions at the same time. It will tree
fir
be noticed that in the centre of the picture is a growing upon what appears to be a pile of stones. if >'.-
^
-m '
-0
:
M*^'f
-.J
%f
-.
-....../ / 'SI
;/:
Ea-baui and Gilgamesh in conflict with two bulls. British
The small half are
circles,
conventional
Museum, No.
(From
a cylinder-seal in the
89,308.)
however, which look like stones,
representations
of
mountains
;
the
engraver intended to convey the impression that the hght with the bulls took place in a well- wooded and
mountainous country. The poem next describes the wrath of Ishtar death of the bull as follows
:
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
at the
''
Then Ishtar went up on
*'
She mounted to the top and she uttered a curse,
Erech
to the wall of strong- walled
;
(saying),
EA-BANI TAUNTS ISHTAR. *'
'
Cursed be Gilgamesh, who has provoked
1
me
63 to
anger,
"
And
"
"When Ea-bani heard these words of
has slain the bull from heaven.' Ishtar,
He tore out the entrails (?) of the bull, " And he cast them before her, (crying),
*'
"
As
'
for thee, I will
"And
I will
him/
conquer thee, do to thee even as I have done to
"
Thus Ea-bani drew down upon himself the wrath of Ishtar.
Then Ishtar assembled the
three grades of priestesses
made lamentation
attached to her service and they
over
the death of the bull.
The horns
of the bull were of great value, for they
were exceeding] y large and each of them held six measures of oil. Gilgamesh, therefore, in gratitude for his victory,
dedicated
them
the Sun-god,
to
described in this passage of the
name
of Lugal-Marada, that is
being a city in Babylonia.
with
and
much ceremony
his attendants
and then
washed
set out for Erech.
and he
King of Marad," Marad
After dedicating the horns
Gilgamesh hands in the Euphrates
their
On city,
their arrival they rode
and the people gathered
The upon them as they passed. the city also came out to meet Gilgamesh,
to gaze
princesses of
is
at the altar of the god,
through the streets of the together
"
who
poem under the local
cried out unto them, saying
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
EA-BANI'S DEATH.
64
1
"
" *'
Who is glorious among heroes Who is mighty among men
?
?
Gilgamesh
is
glorious
among
heroes,
"
Gilgamesh is mighty among men." In this manner he passed through Erech and entered There he prepared a banquet at which he entertained his friends in honour of his victory over
into his palace.
the great bull.
After the banquet the guests reclined
upon their couches and slept. During Ea-bani's sleep he saw a vision, and when he awoke in the morniug he drew nigh to Gilgamesh and began things which he had seen.
to tell
him
of the
The Seventh Tablet begins with Ea-bani's account of his dream, but so few fragments of the text of this
and the following tablet have been preserved that is
it
not possible to follow the course of the narrative at All we know for certain is that Ea-bani's
this point.
He death occurs at the end of the Eighth Tablet. seems to have received a wound in battle, but in what manner and say.
All that
at the
we can
hands of what
foe,
we cannot
gather from the mutilated text
is that he was laid low upon his bed with the sickness which resulted from his wound. For twelve days he
summoned Gilgamesh to his bedin which he side, and having told him the manner had received his wound, he died. We may reasonably lay sick, and having
conjecture Ishtar,
that
his
death was
whose anger he had aroused.
brought
about
by
Gilgamesh himself
THE GRIEF OF GILGAMESH. we
escaped from death, but
find lie
165
had been smitten
with a sore sickness, which no doubt was also due to the anger of the
goddess whose
great
love he
had
scorned.
The Ninth Tablet opens with the lament of Gilgafor the death of his friend, and with his resolve
mesh
to seek out his
ancestor, Tsit-napishtim,
perhaps help him begins as follows
:
to escape a similar fate.
who might The
tablet
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
'*ror his friend Ea-bani "
Gilgamesh wept bitterly and he lay stretched out
upon the ground. " "
"
'
(He
cried)
:
Let
me
not die like Ea-bani
Grief hath entered into I fear death,
and
my
I lie
!
body, and
stretched out
upon the
ground. " To (test) the power of Tsit-napishtim, son of UbaraTutu, "
I will set out,
and
I will not tarry
by the way.' Gilgamesh describes his journey thus :â&#x20AC;&#x201D; To a mountain gorge I came by night,
"
'*
" " "
Lions I beheld, and I was I raised
And
my
terrified.
head and I prayed to the Moon-god,
to the [chief] of the gods
came
my
cry,
"
[And he hearkened and] showed favour unto me." From what remains of the text it appears that Gilgamesh had a dream in which the Moon-god shewed him the way by which he might safely pass over the
1
THE MOUNTAIN OF THE SUNSET.
66
mountains.
Gilgamesli succeeded in crossing the
first
mountain range which barred his path, and he next came to a still greater mountain named Mashu, that is to say, the Mountain of the Sunset. The poem continues as follows
:
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
"
Then he came
to the
"
The
of
portals
Mountain of Mashu,
which
are
guarded
daily
[by
monsters] Their backs mount up to the rampart of heaven, " And their fore parts reach down beneath Arallu. ;
"
"
Scorpion- men guard the gate (of
"They
strike terror [into men],
Mashu) and
;
it is
death to
behold them.
"Their splendour mountains
is
great, for it
overwhelms the
;
"From " "
sunrise to sunset they guard the Sun.
Gilgamesh beheld them, his face grew dark with
And "And
fear
and
terror,
the wildness of their aspect robbed
him
of
his senses."
One
of the Scorpion-men then caught sight of Gil-
gamesh, and, turning to his wife, told her that the body of the man they saw approaching resembled that of a god.
divine told
His wife replied that Gilgamesh was partly The Scorpion-man then
and partly human.
her
how
Gilojamesh had
set
out on his long:
journey in accordance with the will of the gods,
and
he described the steep mountains which he had already
THE REGION OF THICK DARKNESS.
1
6/
Gilgamesh, seeing that the monster regarded him with friendly eyes, recovered from his fright, and crossed.
told to
him
of the purpose of his journey, namely, to go
Tsit-napishtim.
his
assembly of the gods,
ancestor,
who
stood
and had the power over
in
the
life
and
The Scorpion-man replied by describing the difficulties and dangers which he would encounter if
death.
he persisted in his purpose of traversing the Mountain of Mashu, adding that for twelve hashu, that is, for a space of twenty-four hours, he would have to pass through thick darkness. But Gilgamesh w^as not dis-
The Scorpion-man, therefore, yielded to and opened the gate of the mountain and
couraged.
his
request,
let
him throudi. "
For twenty-four hours Gilgamesh marched onwards, and the darkness was thick and there was no lidit."
and dreadful journey he came out once more into the light of the sun, and the
But
at the
end of
this long
thing he beheld was a beautiful and wonderful The poem describes the tree in the following tree.
first
words
:
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
" Precious stones
it
bore as
"Branches hung from
it
fruit,
which were beautiful
to
behold. *'
"
The top of the tree was it was laden with
And
of
him
lains lazuli, fruit
which dazzled the eye
that beheld."
This tree grew in a great park or orchard beside
THE PRINCESS
l68
SABITU.
other trees which were also laden with precious stones
;
but Gilgamesh did not tarry among the trees nor stop The shore of the sea was not to gather their fruit. far off
and he wished
to lose
no time in reaching
it,
he knew that he must cross the sea to reach
for
Tsit-napishtim his ancestor. the Tenth Tablet reveals to us Gilga-
The text of mesh involved
which he had now come,
named
went
Without her
into
she had shut
not open
it
shore.
he drew
shut the door.
Gilgamesh could not her door and demanded
went up to it, and threatened that
he would break
text prevents us from
When
threat.
and,
afar,
her palace and
as
assistance, however,
cross the sea, so he
why
by the
in a palace
She beheld Gilgamesh from
sea- coast, to
by a princess
w^as ruled over
who dwelt
Sabitu,
near, she
The
in further troubles.
the
it
knowing
text
is
down.
A
if
she did
gap in the
Sabitu's answer to this
again continuous
we
find
Gilgamesh telling Sabitu the reason of his journey, namely, that he may learn how to escape the fate of he ended by asking her the way to of abode the Tsit-napishtim, saying " Sabitu, which is the way to Tsit-name] [Tell his friend Ea-bani
pishtim
;
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
?
"
If it is possible, I will cross the sea.
"
But
if it is
not possible, I will
the ground in despair."
Sabitu replied, saying
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
lie
me down upon
ARAD-EA, THE SAILOR. *'
"
169
Gilgamesh, there hatli never been a ferry (here), j^either hath any one ever crossed the sea. sea, but, besides
''
The hero Shamash hath crossed the
''
The crossing is difficult, the way is very hard, The Waters of Death are shut in (?), they are closed
Shamash, who can cross ''
lip as
with a
it
?
bolt.
"
Gilgamesh, how canst thou " And if thou shouldst come to
what wouldst thou do Sabitu, however, told
cross the sea
?
the Waters of Death,
" ?
Gilgamesh that there was one
who might perhaps help him, namely, Arad-Ea, the To him she sent him sailor who served Tsit-napishtim. and told him to ask Arad-Ea to take him across. If he Gilgamesh would have
refused,
to turn back.
Gik^amesh sought out Arad-Ea and told him of his he then made of the reason of his journey .grief, and ;
the request that he would show him the way to Tsitnapishtim, and ended his demand wdth the words he
had already used *'
"
If
it is
But
to Sabitu, saying
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
possible, I will cross the sea,
if it is
not possible, I will
lie
me down upon
the ground in despair."
Arad-Ea consented
to
make
the journey,
and told
Gilgamesh to go into the wood and cut dowm a tree out of which he might make a large rudder for the ship, since they would need
The poem then
special tackle for the voyage.
describes
how
they
made
their pre-
as follows parations and set out on their journey,
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
THE WATERS OF DEATH.
I/O "
Gilgamesh on hearing
this
(i.e.j
Arad-Ea's instruc-
tions) "
Took
"
And he went
"
And
"
Gilgamesh and Arad-Ea then went up into [the
"
The ship was thrust out into the
his axe in his
hand ....
into the
wood and
[cut] a rudder, five
measures in lenoth, he smeared
it all
over with pitch.
ship].
weaves,
and they
began their voyage.
" Gilgamesh and Arad-Ea crossing the ocean and the AV^aters of Death." On the left of the picture is a representation of Gilgamesh and Ea-bani in conflict with a lion. (From a cylinder-seal in the British Museum, No. 89,588.)
"
A
"
And
course of one
month and
five
days within three
days [did they accomplish], thus Arad-Ea arrived at the Waters of Death."
To pass over the Waters of Death was a task attended with difficulty and danger, and Arad-Ea needed all the help that Gilgamesh could give him to steer the ship in After they had made the passage, Gilgamesh safety. loosened his girdle and rested from his exertions.
Then they drew nigh the shore
of the
land where
THE MEETING WITH TSIT-NAPISHTIM. Tsit-napislitim
and
his wife dwelt apart
171
from mankind.
Tsit-napishtim beheld Gilgamesh afar off and marvelled man cross the Waters of Death. Gilga-
to see a living
mesh then approached the shore and, while
still sitting
in
the ship, he explained to Tsit-napishtim the reason he had sought him out. He told him of his adventures with Ea-bani, and he described the sad death of his friend
own
and
his
had
set out to seek help
o-rief
He
at his loss.
how he and how
recounted
from Tsit-napishtim,
journey he had passed over steep mountains and He ended his long recital by crossed dangerous seas. how he his ancestor might escape the sad fate of asking
on
his
death that had overtaken Ea-bani his
friend.
Tsit-napishtim was grieved at the words of Gilgamesh, but told him he could do nothing to help him to escape
He
from death. that no "
man
As long
told
him
that death comes to
could escape from as houses are built,
all,
and
it, .
.
.
"
And as long as brethren quarrel, " And as long as there is hatred in the land, " And as long as the river beareth its waters
[to the
sea]."
He
added that the gods whose
death pass sentence could said " "
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
tell
when
his
lot it is
when they will, and that no man own time might come. And he
The Anunnaki, the great gods, decree fate, with them Mammetum, the maker of
And
to decree
destiny.
TSIT-NAPISHTIM'S STORY.
172 "
And
tliey
determine death and
life,
"
But the days of death are not known." With these words the Tenth Tablet of the poem ends.
On
Eleventh
Tablet
the reason
of his
the
napishtim
Gilgamesh asked Tsitescape from death.
own
He
gazed upon him, and, seeing that his appearance
was
like that of a living
"
I behold thee,
thou
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
Tsit-napishtim,
"But thy appearance art
man, said
is
not changed.
As
I
am, so
also.
"Yea, thou art not changed.
As
I am, so art thou
also."
He "
then asked him the reason, saying, [Tell me], How didst thou obtain the life which thou dost enjoy in the assembly of the gods
" ?
In reply to this question, Tsit-napishtim told Gilga-
mesh
the story of the deluge, which has been already
described in Chapter IV.
During the
telling of the story,
ing at a little distance
Gilgamesh sat listenfrom the shore in the ship, for,
sore-smitten as he was with sickness, he was not able to
go up from the ship.
When
Tsit-napishtim had
own adventures he turned to him to healthy for that at least he could do, though he could not show him a way to escape from death when his time should come. As a first step towards the recovery Tsit-napishtim bade him finished the tale of his
the hero and promised to restore
THE HEALING OF GILGAMESH. sleep.
173
For six days and six nights Gilgamesli consit in the ship, and at the end of that time
tinued to
sleep csuDQ
upon him suddenly
''like a storm."
While
Gilgamesli slept, Tsit-napishtim told his wife to prepare
some magic while he felt
food,
slept.
which she administered unto him
On awaking from
his sleep
that he was enchanted, and asked
Gilgamesh
what had been
done to him, and they told him of the magical food which had been prepared and which he had eaten. To complete his cure Tsit-napishtim caused Arad-Ea to carry Gilgamesh to a certain fountain where he washed his sores in the healing waters,
from
his
terrible
disease.
and he was cleansed
When
he was about to
depart on his homeward journey, the wife of Tsit-napishtim asked her husband what they could give him to
own land. Although had told that no man already Tsit-napishtim Gilgamesh could escape from death, yet now, as the latter was preensure his safe return to his
paring to take his leave, he disclosed to him the existence of a magic plant which had the power of prolonging
Gilgamesh then set sail in company with Arad-Ea to go and search for the plant. They succeeded in finding it, and Gilgamesh joyfully cried that he would carry life.
Erech with him, and that by eating it he would regain his youth. Gilgamesh and Arad-Ea then turned it to
back carrying the plant with them. And when they had journeyed thiny Tcashc, they came to a brook wherein flowed cool and refreshing water.
And when
GILGAMESH MOURNS FOR EA-BANI.
174
Gilgamesh went down to the brook to drink, a demon in the form of a serpent darted out and carried away the Gilgamesh bitterly lamented the
plant.
loss
of the
He therefore plant, but could do nothing to recover it. and in time due returned to continued his journey With
Erech.
this
incident
Eleventh
the
Tablet
closes.
The Twelfth Tablet mesh, to
after his return
lament
for Ea-bani.
He
which
poem
now
called to
mind
the
common
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
canst no longer stretch thy
earth
Gilga-
his friend
world, and addressing Ea-bani he said
"Thou
how
relates
could no longer life, that he was imprisoned in the under-
acts of daily
perform,
of the
from his long journey, continued
bow upon
the
;
"
And
"
Thou canst no longer bear a
"
And
" "
Thou canst no longer wear shoes upon thy feet; Thou canst no longer raise thy war-cry on the
"
No more
"
No more
those
who were
slain with the
bow
are round
about thee. sceptre in thy
hand
;
the spirits of the dead have taken thee captive.
earth.
dost thou kiss thy wife
whom
thou didst
love; dost thou smite thy wife
whom
thou didst
hate.
"Ko more
dost thou kiss thy daughter
didst love
;
whom
thou
RETURN FROM THE DEAD.
EA-BANl'S "
Xo more
"
The sorrow
dost thou smite thy daughter
whom
1
75
thou
didst hate. of the
Underworld hath taken hold
thee."
upon
Gilgamesh tlien appealed to the gods to help him in and to enable him to again behold his friend.
his sorrow
With
this object
he went alone into the temple of the
god Bel, and, addressing him as of his trouble
his
"
father," told
him
He
next
but Bel could not help him.
;
told his sorrow to Sin, the Moon-god, but he too could
do nothing for him and Ea, to whom he next appealed, Last of all he besought could do naught to help him. Nergal, the god of the dead, to use his power and to ;
restore Ea-bani
Gilgamesh,
forth
On
him.
granted caused the
ISTergal
the ground, and ''
to
'''
hearing the
his
opened Ea-bani to come
request.
spirit of
from the earth like a wind."
Gilgamesh thereupon asked Ea-bani
him " " "
me
the underworld, crying, ;â&#x20AC;˘
prayer of
He
tell
me
Tell me,
to describe to
my
friend, tell
the appearance of the land which thou
hast seen."
But Ea-bani
my
cannot
friend, I
"
" replied,
tell thee.".
of the abode of the dead
I
cannot
tell thee,
This refusal to speak
was not due
to
any command
upon Ea-bani not to reveal such matters to the living, but was prompted by his grief at the dreariness
laid
of the region from which he
had just been released. down and weep, he pro-
After bidding Gilgamesh sit ceeded to describe the underworld as
an
abode of
TPIE
176
CONDITION OF THE DEAD.
where was the worm which devoured, and where all was cloaked in dust. The text is here immisery,
but the closing lines of the tablet which contain
perfect,
the end of Ea-bani's description of the condition of the
In
dead are preserved.
the lot of the warrior,
with that of the
on the "
Ea-bani contrasts
this passage
who
has received due burial,
man whose
field, in the following
corpse
words
:
is left
—
uncared for
On a couch he lieth And drinketh pure water, The man who was slain in battle — thou and *'
'*
oft seen
I
"
His father and his mother [support] his head^
"
But the man whose corpse is cast upon the " Thou and I have oft seen such an one
"And
have
such an one.
his wife [kneeleth] at his side. field
—
—
" '•'
His
spirit resteth
The man whose
not in the earth.
spirit
has none to care for
—
"
*'
it
Thou and I have oft seen such an one The dregs of the vessel, the leavings of the "
And
that which
is
cast out
upon the
—
feast,
street, are
his food."
With
these words the
poem comes
to
an end.
We
have followed the exploits of the hero Gilgamesh as they are told on the tablets from Ashur-bani-pal's library,
and from their varied nature
they have been drawn from
What
historical foundation
it is
clear that
different sources.
many may underlie
the tales told
COMPOSITION OF THE POEM.
we cannot
of this early king of Erecli
but
say,
1
7/
it
is
legitimate to suppose that some early ruler did perform acts of valour in the past, and that his name has formed a centre around
which
stories
and legends gathered
in
To separate the different which have narratives been combined to form the poem course
the
as
of
we know
it
centuries.
would scarcely repay the trouble of enumeration of the principal
analysis, but a bare
sections of the story will suffice to
The rule
nature.
Ukhat and
of
Gilgamesh
show
its
composite
in Erech, the story of
Ea-bani, the expedition against
Khumbaba,
the love of the goddess Ishtar for Gilgamesh, the slay-
ing of the monstrous bull, the journey of Gilgamesh to the Mountain of the Sunset, the passage of the Waters of Death, Tsit-napishtim's
story of the
Deluge, the
search for the Plant of Life, and the recall of Ea-bani's spirit
into
from the underworld
which the poem
deluge
is
falls.
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; such are the chief sections Of these the account
of the
the section most loosely connected with the
story of Gilgamesh, but other sections of the poem,
which
have
doubtless
at
been
more
one time
skilfully
entirely
interwoven,
independent of
were the
narrative.
We may
assume that many of these tales go back hoary antiquity, and that in the course of time they became associated with the name of Gilgamesh, having to
previously been associated with heroes.
It is interesting to
B\B. KEL.
the
names
of other
note that as Gilgamesh
N
178
GILGAMESPI
was thus
credited
AND ALEXANDER.
with
adventures that were
not
by right, so at a later time soma of his exploits were borrowed to add lustre to the fame of another his
popular hero, Alexander the Great. As Gilgamesh set out to learn the secret of immortality, and in the course of his journey came to the Mountain of Mashu, and
passed through a region of thick darkness, and crossed the AVaters of Death, so Alexander is said to have
journeyed in search of the Waters of
Life,
come
or Masis,
to
a mountain called
Musas
and
have passed through the land of darkness, and crossed the foetid sea.^
to
have
and to
to
have
This journey of Gilgamesh,
moreover, in consequence of its being ascribed to Alexander in the text of Pseudo-Callisthenes, has found an
echo in the Koran. ^
Of the various
sections
of
the
great
Babylonian
Gilgamesh the most interesting portions are perhaps those towards the end in which Ea-bani talks with Gilgamesh after the release
poem
describing the deeds
of
of the former from the underworld
;
for
from these
we
gain some information with regard to the passages formed by the Babylonians of a future life. conceptions Another of the principal legends of the Babylonians recounts
how
the goddess Ishtar once left the eartli
and descended into the underworld, and the poem in See Budge, The Eutory of Alexander the Great, -pp. 148, and The Life and Exploits of Alexander the Great, Vol. I., pp. iMoissner, Alexander und Gilgamos, pp. 4 *
li",
^ (
Sura, xviii.
171 xi,
ff., i".
;
ishtar's descent into
the underworld.
179
legend has been preserved enables us to augment the fragments of Ea-bani's description of the
\N'hicli
this
dead that have come down to
The poem describing
us.^
the descent of the goddess begins as follows
:
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
"
To the land whence none return, the place of
"
Ishtar the dau2jhter of Sin inclined her ear.^
"
The daughter of Sin inclined her ear To the house of darkness, the seat
darkness,
"
of
the
god
Irkalla,
"To
the house from which none
who
enter
come
forth again, *'
To the road whose course returns
"
To the house wherein he who from the
not,
enters
is
excluded
light,
*'To the place where dust
is
their bread,
and
mud
their food. *'
They behold not the
"
And And
" "
" (I
ÂŤ
light,
they dwell in darkness,
are clothed like birds in a
garment of feathers
over door and bolt the dust
scattered.
is
AVhen Ishtar drew near the gate of the land whence none return, She spake to the porter '
Ho
!
Porter
1
at the gate
Open thy
Ox^en thy gate that I
gate
may
:
!
enter in.
' Cf. Jeremias, Die hahylonisch-assijrisclicn Yoi sttlhmgen vom Lthen nnrh dem Tode, pp. 10 ff. ^ I.e., tuintd her attention.
I
THE GATES OF THE UNDERWORLD.
So
" If thou openest not thy gate, so that I
may
not
enter,
" "
I will
smite the door, I will shatter the bolt,
and tear down the doors, up the dead, that they may devour the
I will smite the threshold
'^I
will raise living^,
"
And
"
The porter opened
"
And
"
the dead shall outnumber those that his
mouth,
addressed the mighty Ishtar
'
Stay,
O
live.'
Lady, do not throw
it
:
down.
"Let me go and declare thy name
to
the
queen
Allatu.'"
The porter then went to Allatu, the queen of the but underworld, and told her of Islitar's coming Allatu was angered at the news and wept for Islitar's ;
victims, "
"
and she bade the porter admit
her, saying
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
Go, porter, open thy gate for her, And take possession of her according to the ancient laws."
The poem then describes how Ishtar was admitted, and how she was gradually stripped in the following
"The
porter
words
:
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
went and opened
of her clothing,
his
gate
for
her,
(saying),
"
'
Enter,
Lady,
let
Cuthah
^
be glad at
[thee].
In Cuthah was E-shidlam, the great temple of Nergal the god the name of the city is here used as a synonym for the
of the dead
uiideiworld.
;
ALLATU'S CRUELTY. *'
Let
whence none return
palace of the laud
the
l8l
rejoice before thee.' "
The
First Gate he
made her
enter,
.
.
.
and he took
the great crown from off her head. *'
Why, O
'
from "
'
Enter,
porter, didst
off
my
head
thou take the great crown
'
?
Lady, for thus are the laws of Allatu.'
"
In this manner was Ishtar made to pass through At every grates of the underworld.
each of the seven
gate an article of her apparel w^as removed, and to her
remonstrances the porter always made the same reply, bidding her pass through the gate, for such were the
laws of Allatu.
Thus, naked and powerless, she was
brought into Allatu's presence. The queen of the underworld did not receive her with favour, and
commanded Xamtar,
the
strike her with disease in
But Ishtar was not The absence
Allatu.
demon
all
the
left for
creatures
News
ceased
the plague,
to
of her body.
ever in the clutches of
of the goddess of love from the
earth soon brought disaster upon
they no longer
of
members
men and
beasts, for
felt
the desires of the body, and all
to
perform their natural functions.
of this calamity
was carried
to
Shamash the
Sun-god by Pap-sukal, the minister of the gods, and
Shamash hastened to Sin and to Ea to consult with as to what measures should be taken to remedy
them
Ea thereupon created a being state of things. named LTddushu-namir, whom he sent down to the
this
1
ishtar's
82
underworld
return to earth.
to procure the release of Islitar.
Following
Ea's instructions Uddnsliu-nlimir obtained admittance to the
underworld and appeared before Allatu.
He
conjured her by the power of the great gods to grant
him
the Waters of Life,
by means
of
which he intended
Allatu was enraged at the request, and, although she could not resist the power he had invoked on behalf of Ishtar, she wreaked her
to restore
Ishtar to
life.
*>—<tn!ett«''»g"^' w*'
^'
*.'
"""«""i"'
'
'ii'iri^iiiiiiri'aS
"»•-
Eepresentation upon a Babylonian cylinder-seal of the goddess Ishtar and other deities. In the centre is Sliamash, the sun-god. rising on the horizon. On liis right, bj-- the On her side of a sacred tree, stands the goddess Ishtar, with outstretched wings. right is a god holding a bow and a lion, and on her left are a river-god and another is of the the left of the written to owner name of the seal, The picture, deity. " Adda, the scribe." (British Museum, No. 89, 115.;
vengeance upon him and cursed him with a terrible She then turned to Namtar and told him to curse.
Waters of bring Ishtar forth and sprinkle over her the Life. When this had been done Ishtar was led out at through the seven gates of the underworld, and each of the gates the article of her apparel that had Thus previously been taken from her was restored.
was she brought back again
to earth.
TAMMUZ AND
ISHTAR.
1
8$
In the actual text of the legend we are not told Ishtar's motive in descending into the underworld, but
we may perhaps
see a reference to
few lines of the poem.
in the last
it
Considerable doubt exists with
regard to the interpretation of these lines, but it
seems
clear that they are not a continuation of the narrative
and that they were intended
to be addressed to the
persons who -may be supposed
to
have heard the poem for the dead. In
recited â&#x20AC;&#x201D; perhaps to certain mourners this
exhortation
the
reciter
refers
to
Tammuz, the
spouse of Ishtar's youth, and he bids his hearers pour out pure water in his honour and offer him goodly oil.
A "
little
further on a reference
Tammuz
"
is
made
to
"
the day of
when male and female mourners made lamentation and when incense was burnt. It may as a time
be conjectured therefore that the motive of the goddess in descending to the underworld
was
to bring
back her
youthful husband from the dead, and the poem in the form in which we have it would in that case contain
only a part of the original legend. goddess
Ishtar
festival held in
was possibly commemoration
when women mourned
This story of the at the annual
recited
of the death of
Tammuz,
dead god in Babylonia, as they mourned for him at Jerusalem in the time of for the
the prophet Ezekiel.^ have seen that a portion of the
We
mesh, and the legend of the goddess *
Ezek.
viii.
H.
poem
of Gilga-
Ishtar, contained
ETANA AND THE EAGLE.
184 "descriptions
and
underworld
was
stories
a
of the
mysterious
underworld abode
;
for the
about which
Heaven was also a legends would naturally gather. place of mystery, and it is not surprising that stories of heroes
who had journeyed
thither should also find a
place in Babylonian mythology. â&#x20AC;˘of
One such
story
is
told
an old Babylonian hero named Etana, who, with the
help of his friend the Eagle, succeeded in penetrating into heaven. series of tablets existed in Ashur-bani-
A
pal's library, which recounted the deeds of Etana,^ and on most of the fragments that remain the Eagle appears
as Etana's friend
On
and comrade.
one occasion, when
the wife of Etana was about to bear him a son, but could not bring the child to
the
birth,
the Eagle "
"
helped Etana to procure the Plant of Birth which On another occasion would ensure a safe delivery. carried Etana to heaven. the Eagle The hero up clung to the Eagle's wings, and they mounted together they could see the gates of heaven. As they drew
till
near to the Gate of Anu, Bel, and
Ea and
to
the
Sin, Shamash, Eamman, and Ishtar, they beheld a throne of great splendour, and Etana was
Gate
of
afraid
and cast himself down at the
foot of the throne.
But the Eagle encouraged Etana to mount with him After every two still higher and they again set out. ' The legends of Etana Lave been edited by E. T. Harper, Beitrage zur As<yrwlogie, Bd. II., pp. 391 if., and Morris Jastrow, op. cit.^
Bd.
III., pp.
363
ff.
etana's journey to heaven.
185
pointed to the earth below them, which grew smaller and smaller as they ascended, and at length they reached the Gate of
hours of Lis
Ann,
Bel,
fliglit,
the Eagle
After resting for a while the
and Ea.
him Eagle proposed to Etana that he should carry higher to the dwelling of the goddess Ishtar. Again they set out, but when they had flown for six hours Etana cried to the Eagle to stop. What mis-
up
still
we do not know,
fortune then overtook the pair
the text of the legend
is
broken
what
;
still
for
remains,
however, recounts that they fell headlong through the air and were dashed upon the ground.^ ^
Anotlier portion of tbe story of Etana refers to the subsequent Eagle and it may here be described as it illustrates a
fate of the
;
olass of Bab)-lonian myths in which beasts and birds are represented s,s talking like men, and appealing to the gods for help and advice. The story tells how the Eagle incurred the hatred of the Serpent, and
how fitory
the latter, with the help of the Sun-god, took his revenge. begins with the following lines
" His heart
He
prompted the Eagle
.
:
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
.
.
,
him To " The Eagle opened his mouth and spake un'o The young of the Serpent will I eat
'â&#x20AC;˘
"
considered, and his heart [prompted eat the young of his companion .
'*
.
.
.
.
.
.
.]
his young, saying,
'
" I will ascend
"I
will
;
Serpent's) brood.' of the young birds
who was endowed with much wisdom,
addressed the Eagle, his father '
Do
.
and [mount up] into heaven swoop down upon the top of a tree and I will eat (the
"One *'
The
not eat,
:
O my
" The snare and
father, (for; the net of Shamash is laid. the ban of Shamash will fall upon thee and will
catch thee. "
Whoso
transgresseth the law of Shamash, will
Shamash
terribly
[requite].'
''But he did not hearken his
young one.
to
them, and gave no heed
to the
word of
1
THE EAGLE AND THE SERPENT.
86
From tlie portion of the legend quoted in the note we learn the Eagle's fate, but we are not told what became
of his friend,
the hero Etana.
Etana must
"
He swooped down and ate The Serpent then repaired
the youug of the Serpent." to Shiimash the Suu god, who as judge of heaven and earth could not allow such a wrong to go unpunished,
and he
told
him
scribed
how
his nest
and devoured " "
his story
was
and appealed to him for justice. He dea tree and how the Eagle espied it,
set in
—
his young, saying ute [my :
He swooped down and
young ones]
!
he hath done me. " Thy net is like unto the broad earth ; Help, O Shamash " Thy snare is like unto the distant heaven '• Who hath ever escaped from thy net ? '' Even Zfi, the worker of evil, who raised the head of evil, [did not
Shamash, the
[Behold],
evil
!
!
)
"
escape]
The
story of
!
Zu which
is
here referred to by the Serpent has been
partly recovered from other tablets from Ashur-bani-pal's library, and there read of Zii's treachery, iri described later on in this chapter.
We
and how he stole the Tablets of Destiny from Anu, and how he escaped with them to his mountain home. From the Serpent's reference to his fate we gather that the Sun-god succeeded in catching and punishing him. In the story of the Serpent and the Eagle, Shamash does not himself punish the Eagle, but explains to the Serpent a The narrative condevice by which he may obtain vengeance. tinues
:
—
[" When
he had listened to] the prayer of the Serpent, Shamash opened his mouth and to [the Serpent spake] "'Take the road and go [into the mountain],
"
" "
And
:
hide thyself in a wild [ox that is dead]. its bowels, [tear open its belly], take up thy dwelling [in its belly].
Open
"
And
"
[All] the birds of
heaven
[shall
swoop down],
"And "The Eagle [shall come] with them, " And not knowing [thy plot (?)], " He will seek a piece of the Hesh, moving " And making for the hidden parts.
swiftly,
" Wlien he hath entered into the midst, do thou seize
wing.
him by
his
THE eagle's fate.
187
have incuiTed the anger of the gods by attempting mount to their abode, and it is possible that he
to
was dashed to the
to
pieces
when he
with
fell
the Eagle
ground from the height of heaven.
" Tear off his wings, his pinions, and his claws, " Pull him in pieces and cast him into a pit, " That he may die a death from himger and thirst.' .
"At
.
.
the word of Shamash, the hero, the Serpent departed and went into the mountain.
"And " And "And
the Serpent came upon a wikl ox,
"
But the Eagle
"
And
(at first) suspected his evil purpose, with the flock of birds did not eat of the flesh.
"
Then the Eagle opened his mouth and spake unto his young Come let n.s swoop down, and let us also eat of the flesh of
he opened its bowels, he tore open its belly, he took up his dwelling in its belly. " All the birds of heaven swooped down ami ate of the
flesh.
'â&#x20AC;˘ '
!
:
this
'
wild ox " One of the young birds, who was endowed with much wisdom, "To turn aside [his] father spake [" O my Father], the Serpent lurks iu [the flesh of] this wild ox !
.
.
.
:
'
'
"But he
!
did not hearken to them, and gave no heed to the word of
young one. " He swooped down and stood upon the wild ox. examined the flesh, he looked about carefully "The Eagle before and behind him. "He again examined the flesh, he looked about carefully before and behind him. " Then, moving swiftly, he made for the hidden parts. " When he had entered into the midst, the serpent seized him by his
.
.
.
his wing."
,
So far everything had fallen out as the Sun-god had foretold. The Eagle, now that he sees he is in his enemy's power, begs for mercy^ and tries to bribe the Serpent, But the latter reminds him that an appeal to Shamash is irrevocable, and that if he did not carry out the Sun-god's bidding, he would himself share in the punishment which lie
now inflicts. The Eagle opened
"
[his
mouihj and spake
to the Serpent
:
ADAPA AND THE SOUTH WIND.
l88
A
is
legend
of another
told
named
ancient hero,
Adapa, who also journeyed to heaven, but in this case
by his own devices, was summoned but thither by Anu, the god of heaven. The legend is preserved on one of the tablets that was the hero did not seek to get there
found at Tell el-Amarna,^ and, in the form in which
we have
dates from the
it,
half of the fifteenth
first
*
century before Christ.
The story narrates that Adapa, the son of Ea, was one day out on the sea in a boat, engaged in catching fish for his father's house. Suddenly Shutu, the South wind, blew and upset his boat and threw him into the
Adapa was furious at this outrage, so he caught the South wind by her wings and broke them. water.
In
South wind
this passage the
female monster, and also she
it is
was thought
no representation of for the "
'
to
her,
was a creature
she
pictured as a winged possible that in other respects
of
is
resemble a
but
it
may
We
bird.
have
be inferred that
unprepossessing
appearance,
South wind was dreaded by the Babylonians
Have mercy upon me, and
I will
present thee with a gift
according to thy pleasure.' " "
The Serpent opened his mouth and spake to the Eagle If I release thee, Shamash will against us, .
"
:
'
.
.
And
thy punishment will be transferred to rne, as a punishment, I execute on thee.' " So he tore off his wicgs, his pinions, and his talons, 'â&#x20AC;˘
Which now,
"
He pulled him in pieces and cast him into a pit, And he died a death from hunger and thirst."
" ^
See above,
pp. 418
ft;
p.
118
f.
;
cf.
Harper, Beitiage
.
.
,
ziir Assyriologie,
Bd.
II.,
Head
oftlie
demon
ot the
South-west wind.
(British
Museum, No.
22,459.
>
ADAPA inasmiicli as
it
IS
SUMMONED TO HEAVEN.
I9I
caused destructive floods in the low-
lying regions of the Euphrates valley.
The accompanydemon of the
ing illustration of a kindred spirit, the
South-west wind,
is
taken from a marble head in
Museum, and it well represents the hideous conception formed by the Babylonians of the monster who caused destructive storms and tempests. the British
When Adapa
had broken Shutu's wings, the South able to blow over the earth. wind was no longer O After seven days had passed, Ann, the god of heaven,
asked his minister Ilabrat ceased to
why
the South wind had
blow, and he told him that Adapa had
broken her wings. Ann thereupon summoned Adapa Before he set out to heaven to answer the charge.
Adapa received instructions from his father Ea, who him how, by putting on garments of mourning,
told
he would
who
gods
propitiate
Tammuz and
Gishzida, the two
stood at the gate of heaven, and who, if
approached with due deference, would secure for him a
favourable reception before Anu.
him
Ea
also
warned
that after he entered Ann's presence they
offer
him
"
Meat
of
Death
"
and
"
Water
neither of these was he to touch.
bring avoid
him ;
a garment and
of
would
Death
" ;
They would then
and these he need not the garment he might put on and with the oil oil,
he might anoint himself.
On
arriving
at
the
secured the favour of
gate
of
heaven Adapa duly Gishzida and was
Tammuz and
adapa's pardon.
192
Ann's presence. Ann asked him why he had broken the wings of the South wind, and Adapa led
into
related
how
tlie
South wind had upset his boat while
he was fishing on the sea. Tammuz and Gishzida then interposed on Adapa's behalf, and at their words
Ann's anger against Adapa was turned away.
Then
Ann, having pardoned Adapa for his offence, decided that, as he had seen the interior of heaven, he must be added to the company of the gods. He therefore " commanded that they should bring Adapa Meat of "
Life
"
But Adapa would not eat neither would he drink the
that he might eat. "
"
Meat of Life "Water of Life" which was next placed before him. But when they brought him a garment he put it on, and when they offered him oil he anointed himself And Anu, when he saw that Adapa had therewith. " " Meat of Life and the " Water not partaken of the the
"
;
asked him, saying, *' Come, Adapa, why " For now thou dost thou neither eat nor drink ? "
of Life,"
canst not live."
And Adapa answered
refused to eat and drink, because
commanded him.
lay these injunctions upon that he feared the gods w^ould the
his lord
had so
The reason which prompted Ea his son
Anu, on
Ea
that he had
other
immortal, and did not
hand, offer
seems
to
to
have been
seek to slay Adapa.
make Adapa him deadly food as Ea had decided
predicted. Thus Adapa, through
to
his father's suspicions.
missed the privilege of enjoying immortality.
THE TABLETS OF DESTINY.
I95,
In the legends of Etana and Adapa we have
who by presumptuous
of mortals into
selves
however, ambition
in the legend of
aimed
deities
with the gods.
conflict
themselves,
at obtaining
company Marduk was older god
identified
Bel,
we
the creation
the control
in
time
off to his " "
of the lesser
of the whole
remembered that of time
course
with the
are told that he captured the Tablets of the host
captain
In the following^ leo-end we read
Tiamat.
the god&
and in the great legend of
of Destiny from Kingu, the
later
Among
It will be
or Enlil,^
them-
was not absent, and
Zu we read how one
of the gods.^
stories
acts brought
Zti stole
them from Bel and
mountain.
The legend runs
how
carried
as follows
:
of
at a
them
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
His eyes beheld the symbols of Bel's dominion, The crown of his sovereignty, and the robe of
his
godhead. "
Zu gazed
"
And
"
And
at his divine Tablets of Destiny,
he gazed at the father of the gods, the god of
Duranki, a longing for Bel's dominion
was held
fast in
his heart. "
"
"
'
I will take the Tablets of the gods,
And I
I will direct the oracles of all the gods.
will
estabKsh
my
throne
and
dispense
my
commands. " â&#x20AC;˘
I will rule all the Spirits of Heaven.'
See Harper, op.
BAB. EEL.
cit, pp.
408
fF.
2
ggg above, pp. 18
flf.
ZU'S THEFT.
194 "
And
"
At
his heart meditated battle
the entrance of the hall, where he beheld as he
dawn
waited the t(
Now when
It
And
his
of the day.
Bel was pouring out the clear water,
diadem was taken
and lay upon the
off
throne, " "
(Zu) seized the Tablets of Destiny, He took Bel's dominion, the power
of
giving
commands. *'
Then
Zu
fled
and
away
hid
himself
in
his
mountain."
The gods were dismayed through the hall
in
rage.
at the theft,
and Bel strode
Then Anu, the god of
heaven, addressed the gods, his sons, and called for a champion,
upon
the
who should
gods
called
recover the Tablets.
upon Eamman
to
be
Theretheir
champion, and Anu promised him honour and power But Ramman refused the offer, as should he succeed. did also two other deities
conquered Zu and certain, for
when
asked.
Who
recovered the Tablets
the end of the legend
is
is
eventually
not quite
missing.
From
a passage in the legend of Etana, however, it may be conjectured that the Sun-god undertook the task,
and vanquished Zu by catching him in his net. Such are the principal legends and stories, as far as we know them, that were told in Babylonia concerning the gods and the heroes of olden time. That they were not idle tales, but had a religious significance
RELIGIOUS CHARACTER OF THE LEGENDS. for tlie people
among whom we
find
them,
is
I95
what
might be inferred from a comparison of them with the mythologies of other nations.
We
have, moreover,
evidence to this effect in some of the poems that have been already described. In the poem which recounts the descent of Ishtar into the
reason to believe that
was
it
underworld, recited
in
we saw
connection
with the yearly festival held in commemoration of the death of
Tammuz.
The introduction
to the long
poem which records the history of Gilgamesh stated that a knowledge of the hero's achievements would the
bring prosperity to
man who made
himself ac-
quainted with them, and it is probable that this statement was not regarded as a mere conventional preface,
but was implicitly believed. It is true that in the legend we are not told that Gilgamesh was raised to the
company as
of the
a
god regarded prayer in the British
he was undoubtedly There is a popular belief.
gods, but
in
Museum^
in
which a sick man
beseeches Gilgamesh to cure him of his sickness, and he addresses him as the " perfect king, the judge of **the
Anunnaki, the great arbiter among men who
''orders
the four quarters
''of the world, *'
earth
" ;
the
governor
and the lord of the regions of the
the sick
"judge, and
of heaven,
man
also
exclaims,
"
Thou
unto a god thou givest
like
It is clear therefore that to 1
Sm. 1371
+
art
a
decisions.'''
Gilgamesh was ascribed
Sru. 1877.
LEGENDS AS AMULETS.
196
no small authority and power.
The estimation
which both he and the hero Etana were held attested
by the
fact that the determinative for
in
also
is
"
'*
god
always placed before their names. piece of evidence that these mythological compositions were put to very practical uses is afforded
is
A further
by certain tablets which have been found inscribed with legends concerning the chief Plague-god of the Babylonians/ describing the destruction which he and attendant deity Ishum spread upon the earth. Both gods are therein pictured as warriors who held bloody sway in the cities of Babylonia, and undertook his
These legends last one of
military expeditions into distant lands.
inscribed
are
on several
how
the series recounts
tablets,
and the
the anger of the Plague-god
and ends with a speech of the Plague-god, in which he promises protection and prosperity to all those who make known his wondrous
was
at length appeased,
deeds. "
He
continues,
"
Should I be angry, and should
the seven-fold god cause destruction
"tablet
is set,
last section
and
;
the dagger of
approach the house wherein this
"pestilence shall not it
shall
remain unharmed."
This
of the poem, including the passage just
quoted, has been
found on two interesting tablets in At the top of each tablet is a
the British Museum.^
small projection in which a hole has been bored, and 1
The name
and Girra are *
of this god
is
generally read as Dibbarra, though
also possible readings.
See Zeitschrift fur
Assjjriologie,
Bd.
xi,
pp. 50
if.
Ura
NATURE-MYTHS.
197
was passed a cord by which it might be suspended. There is no doubt that these tablets were hung up in the entrance of a house, and that they it
through
served as amulets for keeping off the plague. there are
many
Thus
myths and legends
indications that the
of the gods played an important part in the practical
and worship of the Babylonians. To decide in what manner these various legends of the gods arose, and to trace the changes which they religion
underwent in the long course of Babylonian history, V70uld result in an interesting, but certainly a very speculative, enquiry.
Conjecture, based mainly on the
by the myths themselves which they have come down to us,
internal evidence furnished in the forms in
naturally cannot
lead
one broad conclusion the
with
tablets
at
to
may
very definite results;
but
be drawn from a study of
least
some probability of
its
can hardly be disputed that changes in the aspect of nature suggested many of the legends It
being correct.
about the gods.
Perhaps the clearest instance of this
explanation of natural processes
by legend
in the legends of the Plague-god
;
is
presented
the campaigns he
he waged, were doubtless suggested by the ravages of disease which The descent of were regarded as his handiwork. undertook,
Ishtar
into
and the bloody
the underworld
battles
and the languishing of
nature in consequence, which was followed by her restoration to earth and the renewal of the powers all
HISTORY-
198
AND LEGEND.
men and beasts, was clearly intended to explain the decay of nature in the autumn, and the quickening of the earth in the spring. Zu's treacherous usurof
pation of Bel's sovereignty
perhaps be based on the sudden overwhelming of the sun by storm and
may
clouds.
There
is
another element in
which must not be
many
lost sight of,
of these legends
and that
is
the sub-
stratum of historical fact which underlies the story, and was the nucleus around which it gathered. Echoes
from the history of the remote past
may
perliaps be
traced in such episodes as the expedition of Gilganiesh
and Ea-bani against Khumbaba king of Elam, as well some of the conflicts described in the Plaque-ixod
as in
The growth of legends around the
legends.
of prominent heroes
is
common
figures
in every race that has
a history, and this was particularly the case in Baby-
A
lonia.
down
to
kings, of
number us
of legends, for instance, have
concerning
whose
certain
ancient
historical existence
come
Babylonian
we have abundant
Sargou I. was an actual proof from other sources. king, who ruled in the city of Agade about B.C. 3800,
and many of whose inscriptions have recently been found at Nippur. Yet we possess a legend concerning this
him
monarch, in which he tells how his mother set floating on the Euphrates in a basket made of
rushes,
how Akki the gardener rescued him and brought as his own son, and how while he was still-
him up
LEGENDS OF EARLY KINGS.
199
him and eventually him over the kinodom which he ruled. The text
a gardener the goddess Islitar loved set
of the lesfend of Sars^on
was a
loncj one,
but
little
more
than this story of his youth has been preserved.
It
show how myth and legend gathered around the figures of famous kings and heroes The legend of Sargon is not a solitary of old time. will at least
example "
of
suffice
this
to
process. "
legend of Creation
The
so-called
"
Cuthsean
describes a legend of an early king
Cuthah/ and fragments of similar myths have been found in Ashur-bani- pal's library which recount the of
legendary deeds of Maram-Sin, the son of Sargon, who lived about B.C. 3750, and of Dungi, king of Ur, about B.C. 2500, and of Khammurabi, king of Babylon, about B.C.
2200, and of Nebuchadnezzar
about
B.C.
The
1120.
tablets
I., king of Babylon which contain these
legends are very fragmentary, but they illustrate the
by which historical personages in course time became demi-gods and legendary heroes.
process
'
See above, pp. 92
fl".
of
(
200
CHAPTER
)
VI.
THE DUTY OF MAN TO HIS GOD AND TO HIS NEIGHBOUR.
In the three preceding chapters the principal legends and myths that have been found in Babylonian literature have been described, and the extracts which have been quoted from them will have enabled the reader to form a conception of what the more powerful Babylonian gods were believed to be like.
We
have seen
Anu
administering the powers of heaven, we have seen Bel upon the earth destroying mankind in his anger
and
directing the oracles of all the gods,
Deep
regulating the
revealing secrets
by
affairs of his
his hidden
and Ea in the
own household and
wisdom.
Shamash, the
Sun-god, has been seen in his cliaracter as the just judge of the whole earth, hearing the appeals of such as
had suffered wrong, and giving help and advice to those who needed it. The great goddess Ishtar has been revealed in cruel and
two
wanton
to her passion
characters.
She has appeared as a
lover, persecuting those
who
yielded
and seeking revenge upon those who
A man's spiritual foes. refused her love
;
201
she has also been seen in her gentler
character as a devoted wife, descending to the under-
Other deities have also
world to seek her husband.
been described in the exercise of their own peculiar functions, especially
who
Marduk, the city-god of Babylon, and the champion of the
appears as the leader
gods when they are in distress. In addition to these greater gods many other deities, of less power and importance, have been incidentally
mentioned in the course of the legends. These, however, scarcely give an adequate idea of the number of supernatural beings
who were
believed to exist in the
the earth, and beneath the earth.
heavens and upon that have been described are
The legends
cliiefly
con-
more powerful gods and and they naturally do not
cerned with the doings of the
the great heroes of antiquity, â&#x20AC;˘deal with the sprites, and goblins, and spectres, which
were believed to haunt and harass a life
and in the performance of
man
his
in his daily
ordinary duties.
For the ancient Babylonian moved in a world peopled by demons and spirits, whom he could not see, but whose influence at any moment might cause him misfortune, sickness, or death.
Many
of these spirits were
an incessant warfare actively hostile to man and waged Others, tliough less actively hostile, were against him. to be no less feared, for at any time a
wittingly incur their wrath by
upon
some
act
their jealously guarded rights.
man might unwhich trenched
An
ill-omened
BABYLONIAN DEMONS.
202
word, or the eating or drinking of an impure thing was sufficient to rouse the wrath of some one of these
and, although the victim might have
beings;
committed no intentional act of disobedience, he had to endure their persecution, sometimes without even a knowledge of
its
cause.
These beings were conceived
and repulsive appearance, often uniting in strange combinations the bodies and limbs of various birds and beasts. The accompanying illustration is a to be of hideous
specimen of an evil Babylonian demon, taken from a clay figure in the British Museum. The head of the monster
was no doubt partly suggested by that its
ferocious aspect betokens
have the misfortune
ill
to the
of a lion,
and
man who might
to ]A^qq himself within its power.
In order to realize the great number and variety of such beings it would be necessary to turn to the spells
and incantations and magical formulae which occupy so large a place in the religious literature of the
BabyTo ignore this lower aspect of the belief of the Babylonians would be to give a one-sided and
lonians.
incomplete picture of their religion, but Babylonian magic does not fall within the limits of the present
volume.
AYe are here concerned with the higher side
of the Babylonian religion, and, having already described
the general character of the greater gods, to enquire in deities,
what relation man stood
and also
affected his
duty
to
what extent
to his fellow
man.
it
now remains
to these great
his religious beliefs
A Babyloaiaa demon.
(British
Museum,
^'o. 22,4jii.)
THE CONCEPTION OF GOD. It
lias
205
already been stated that, so far as
we can
see from their relif>ious literature, the Babylonians
had
no conception of a single supreme and all-powerful God. In this matter they did not resemble the ancient Egyptians, who believed that such a being existed above the company of the gods and on a different plane from them. The Egyptian held that this all-
powerful God could manifest his might in the persons of the gods of various departments of nature, but at the same time they believed that he was the ultimate cause of the entire universe and was the creator and director
both
of
gods
knew no such supreme that
and men.^ deity, but
some few passages in
it
The Babylonians should be added
their inscriptions perhaps
indicate a glimmering belief in that direction.
The Babylonian word for ''god" is ilu, and the ideograph for the word is always placed as a determiOne of native particle before the names of deities. its
most common uses
Ham
rabuti,
denotes the
is
in the plural, in the phrase
"the great gods," an expression which of the great gods as distinguished
company
from the host of lesser
deities
occurs in the singular
it
the
description
of
phrases iho ralm, ''
of
my
passages *
is
and
spirits.
When
some particular deity, as in the great god," and iht ali-ia, "god
"a
In other applied to the god Marduk. takes a pronominal suffix, as in the phrases
city," it
ilu
usually in the course of
See Budge, Egyptian Ideas of
the
Future Life, chap.
I.
THE WORD
206 " ili-ia,
my
ILU." "
"
thy god
god/' ili-ha,
it
or "
;
"
with the substantive these cases
"
goddess
islitar,
it ;
is
clear that the reference is
is
coupled
and in both
made
to
some particular deity. There are, however, a few passages in which ihb stands entirely by itself, and where it
possible that
is
should be translated as "god"
it
without any qualifying phrase. Such a passage occurs towards the end of the poem of the ancient king of Cuthah, which has been described in Chapter III.^
Here the king, ceeds
to
offer
after narrating his
advice
own
any future
to
history, pro-
ruler,
and
he
addresses his words to any "king, or ruler, or prince, " or any one whatsoever, whom the god shall call to rule "
No
over the kingdom."
and
ilu occvirs entirely
particular god
by
itself;
it
is
ever, to refer the phrase to Nergal, the
in
whose temple the legend
this use of
ilic
is
is
mentioned,
possible,
how-
god of Cuthah,
In any case, of rare occurrence, and it would be is
preserved.
rash to rely on this evidence alone for proving that the Babylonians conceived an abstract and supreme deity apart from the separate and distinct gods of the
various divisions of the natural world.
Perhaps the Assyrians approached nearer to such a conception than the Babylonians, for their god Ashur was the symbol
own
national existence, and, although they retained the worship of the other gods from the Babyof their
lonians, they assigned to ^
Ashur
See above
a position of
p. 95.
supremacy
MARDUK THE INTERCESSOR. among them and
ascribed to liim
which belonged properly
Among
the
many
20/
of the attributes
to the older gods.
Babylonians the god Mardiik in the
course of time acquired a position of peculiar interest.
As
the god of Babylon he was naturally from the
of easy access to the inhabitants of his
own
first
city,
and
intimacy with his own people was gradually extended until we find him appearing before his father
this
Ea
in
and intercessor on
the character of mediator
We
have already seen how Marduk was regarded as the creator of the world and of mankind, and it is in accordance with this tradition that behalf of men.
he should have been thought behalf of the creatures
whom
character as intercessor
is
to use his influence
well illustrated by the follow-
ing extract from a religious text, the recital of
would
procure relief
for
a
the evil spell by which he
reads
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
"An
evil curse like a
The text
troubled.
demon has
beset the man,
Sorrow and trouble have fallen upon him,
"
Evil sorrow has fallen upon him,
"
which
man and remove
sick
was
"
"An
on
Marduk 's
he had made.
evil curse, a spell, a sickness.
The
evil curse has slain that
man
like a
lamb.
"
His god has departed from his body, " His guardian goddess has left his side. "
He
is
covered by sorrow and
garment, and he
is
trouble as with a
overwhelmed
;
MARDUK THE
208
P^RIEND OF MAN.
"
Then Marduk beheld him,
"
And he
entered into the house of his father
he said unto him "
'
my
father,
an
Ea and
:
demon has
evil curse like a
beset
the man.' "
"
Twice he spake unto him, (and he added) '
I
know not what he
'*
"
"
" "
"
that
man
:
has done, nor whereby
be cured.'
may
And Ea made answer *
to his son, Marduk, (saying) what dost thou not know ? what can I
my
son,
tell
thee more
:
?
Marduk, what dost thou not know tell thee more ?
What Go,
I
my
know, thou son,
Take him
?
what can
I
also knowest.
Marduk,
to the
house of purification,
" Dissolve the spell from upon him, remove the spell
from upon him.'
The prominent of the gods
"
position of
Marduk
attested in the
is
in the company numerous hymns
amply and prayers that have been found addressed to him. Prayers and hymns, however, of a very similar nature were addressed to the other great gods, and these were believed to detract in no to
Marduk
or to
that each god,
any other
way from deity.
when worshipped
It
in his
the deference due
seems to be clear
own
temple, was
regarded with profound reverence and could even be credited with sovereign power over the other gods
A MAN
S
OWN GOD AND
GODDESS.
2C9
without exciting their jealousy, and without laying his worshippers open to rebuke. In the description of the sick man's evil plight, quoted " his above, two lines occur in which it is stated that "
"
god has departed from his body, his guardian goddess has left his side." The explanation of these two lines
brings us to at the
what
perhaps the most interesting, and
is
same time the most
characteristic, feature of the
relationship which existed between the ancient Babylonian and his god. We have seen that Marduk
,
appears in general as the protector and the friend of mankind, but every Babylonian had in addition two divine protectors, with
j
intimately connected.
whom
his fortunes
Each man had
his
were most
own
patron
god and goddess, wlio made his welfare their peculiar charge, and to whose service he was specially devoted.
In any trouble or affliction he would first turn to these two deities and implore them to exert their influence
on
The mere
his behalf.
fact that
he had fallen into
adversity, however, was often proof that his god and goddess were temporarily estranged, and, should this
be the case, -
it
was necessary
wrath and then
for
him first
to secure their assistance.
to pacify their
"What prin-
ciples actuated the Babylonians in their choice of patron deities are not clearly indicated in their religious literature.
It is not unreasonable to
parents dedicated
it
suppose that a child's
at its birth to the care of
and goddess, and that the choice was BAB. EEL.
some god
left entirely to-
P
BELIEF IN GUARDIAN DEITIES.
210 them.
We may
be sure that whatever deities were
they were among those who had temples or in the city in which the parents lived, and who shrines
selected
would therefore be in a position to effectually protect The belief in guardian deities is their offspring. intimately connected with the magical side of Babylonian religion, and the pacification of a man's angry
god and goddess was one of the commonest objects to which spells and incantations were applied. It may be inferred therefore that the belief in these protecting
gods goes back to a remote period in Babylonian history. In his combat with the invisible demons and spirits in the midst of which a
man was
believed to live
it
would
have gone hard with him if he had been left to his own unaided efforts. His natural protectors were his own patron god and goddess, and he was sure of their constant care and protection, if he did nothing to offend them or estrange them from him.
When
misfortune or sickness
fell
upon a man and he
perceived that his patron deities were offended with him, his first act
was
to hasten to the
temple of his god and
goddess and secure the services of a priest
him
who might
The design most frequently engraved upon Babylonian and Assyrian cylinder-seals is a representation of the owner of the aid
in regaining their favour.
seal being led
by a
priest into the presence of his
god
;
and clear that the priest's mediation was necessary in order that the offended deity might be duly appeased. it is
PRIESTLY MEDIATION.
211
Frequently upon the seals an attendant is represented walking behind the owner and bearing offerings into the temple, and, when these had been handed over to the priest, the penitent was ready to be led into the The priest then took him by the hand god's presence. priest and penitent raised their otlier hands as In this order a symbol of worship and supplication. of his offended the the man was led into god. presence
and both
If he
was
sore afflicted with disease, or oppressed
sense of guilt, he
would
sit or lie
by
his
upon the ground, and
with bitter sighs and groans would declare his sin and pray for absolution.
Among
the religious works of the
Babylonians and Assyrians a number of tablets have been found which served as service-books for the use of
and penitent when they had entered the presence of the offended deity.^ In these service-books the priest
priest
sometimes addresses the god and describes the sad condition of the
man who
wishes to
make
The following tions
:
is
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
The
"
priest
:
confession
his
at other times the penitent himself takes
up
;
the prayer.
an extract from one of these composi-
In sorrow there he
sits
;
With
^
cries
"
of affliction, in trouble of heart.
With
"
in bitter sorrow, Like the doves he
moans grievously,
'*
night and day. *
Unto
bitter tears
his merciful god, like a wild cow,
Cf. Zimmeru, Bahylonische Busspsalmen, Leipzig, 1885. In this and the following extracts the capital letter marks the beginning of a new Hue in the text. 2
CONFESSION OF
212 ''
he
cries,
He
SIN.
malros a grievous sighing.
Before his god
"
he casts dovrn his face in supplication,
"
that he
may
approach, that nothing
He
weeps, hold him
may
^'back." "
The "
penitent
:
My
deed
deed which cannot be declared.
"
I
will
My
declare,
my
words will I
my words which cannot be repeated. my my deed will I declare, my deed which cannot be
repeat,
'*god, "
declared."
In another prayer a penitent addresses his god and goddess together, and prays to be purified from his sin in the following words "
my god, who who
*'
goddess, *'
Eeceive
''
my
" " "
receive
angry,
my prayer. my my supplication.
Let
my
me and
accejDt
sins be forgiven, let
my
rest.
my
trans-
Let the ban be torn away, Let the seven winds carry I will rend away my wickedness,
gressions be blotted out. let
the bonds be loosened.
away
my
sighs.
let the bird
off
my
bear
it
to the heavens.
misery, let the river sweep
'â&#x20AC;˘'beast of
"
art angry, accept
art
goddess, look with pity on
supplication.
"
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
supplication and let thy spirit be at
my
" "
:
the field take
it
waters of the river wash
from me.
me
Let the it
away.
fish carry
Let the
Let the flowinc:
clean."
Sometimes the god or goddess to whom the prayer is addressed is mentioned by name, as in the following extract, in which the penitent snbmits himself entirely to the will of the goddess Ishtar
and seeks
to arouse her
MISERY OF THE PENITENT.
213
pity by a reference to his condition of abject misery. He makes his appeal to the goddess as follows :
" ''
mother of the gods, who
fulfils their commands, mankind, who makes the green herb to
lady of
"
Who
spring up,
created all things,
''
"
who
guides
the
mother Ishtar, whose side no exalted lady, whose command
whole of creatioa, ^'god can approach, ''
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
A
prayer will I utter. That which appears mighty, unto her, may she do unto me my lady, good is
!
''
"
from the days of
*'my nourishment. " were my drink. *'
my
youth
Food have
to misfortune.
I
have been much yoked
I not eaten,
Water have
My
lieart
I
not
weeping was drunk, tears
never rejoices,
my
spirit
never glad." A man's appeal to his god and goddess was not always successful, for his sin may have been so great is
that his petitions for forgiveness were not sufficient in
In such a case, themselves to appease their wrath. when the penitent found that his appeals remained unanswered, he had recourse to some more powerful god or goddess by whose assistance he sought to bring about his reconciliation with his patron deities. The following is an extract from a service-book which was intended for the use of priest and penitent upon such
an occasion
:
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
The penitent " I, thy servant, full of sighs, cry unto ''thee. Whosoever has sinned, thou acceptest his The man on whom thou lookest in fervent prayer. :
*'
BAB. EEL.
p 3
THE ANGER OF PATRON
214
"pity, that " "
man
ruler of all things, lady of
merciful one, whose turning
mankind,
who
lives,
DEITIES.
is
propitious,
acceptest supplication." "
Since his pod and his goddess are with him, he cries unto thee. Turn to him "angry " thy countenance and take his hand."
The
priest
:
The penitent
" :
" " "
no deity who
is
In justice look on
"guides aright. "
Beside thee there
me
with pity
and accept my supplication. Declare my forgiveness and let thy spirit be appeased. When, O my lady, will thy
countenance be turned
?
I
moan
like the
doves, I satiate myself with sighs."
The
"
priest
"
oppressed. It
:
He
With pain and
grief his
is
spirit
sheds tears, he utters cries of woe."
happened sometimes that a
man
through
his
while he transgressions offended some powerful deity, still retained the help and sympathy of his own god
In such a case he made his appeal at the shrine of the deity he had offended, and he believed that his own god and goddess made intercession for
and goddess.
him
at his side.
The following
a prayer to be delivered by a
extract
is
taken from
man who had
offended
Ai, and who Shamash the Sun -god and his his own god and sought to appease their wrath, while The priest his to appeal. goddess added their voice first described the man's humility and grief; the ex-
wife
tract reads as follows
The
priest:
"By
:
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
his
face,
which through
tears
he
THEIR HELP IN TROUBLE. makes lamentation
'does not raise, he '
'
his feet,
to thee.
'
ness, '
'
on which
fetters are set,
his hand,
By
which
which utters
cries as of a flute,
By
spent through wearithee.
his breast,
By
he makes lamentation
to thee."
The Penitent
"
lady, through bitterness of heart
:
'
I cry to thee in sorrow
'
lady, say to thy servant,
'
be appeased.
'in
Declare
:
'
my
forgiveness.
O
Let thy heart
It is enough.'
Bestow mercy on thy servant who is Turn thy countenance towards him, Turn in mercy towards thy supplication.
affliction.
'
accept his
'
servant, with
'
hands
'
Intercede for
whom
thou wast angry.
my
lady,
are bound, I prostrate (?) myself before thee.
me
before the mighty hero, Shamash,
thy beloved spouse, That
may walk before
'
I
'
thee, that
'
to tliee.
5
he makes lamentation
is
he makes lamentation to
21
made
thy heart
for
thee.
may
a
My
life
of
many
days
god has prayed to
be at rest
;
My
goddess has
supplication to thee, that thy spirit
may
be
appeased."
A
penitent usually trusted to his condition of grief
and misery to move the pity of an angry god or goddess. Sometimes, however, the priest would make a reference
which the penitent would make, when he was pardoned and restored to health and prosperity. Such an inducement to pardon a penitent is urged to the offerings
by a priest extract â&#x20AC;&#x201D; :
upon an
angry god in the
following
CONCEPTION OF
2l6 "
Open
his bonds,
"his countenance, " "
"
^'
"
"
commend him
bright
to his god, his creator.
Eeceive his
purchasegift, accept his walk before thee in a land of he may money, That peace. That with overflowing abundance he may fill
thy shrine, That in thy temple his offerings may be set, That with oil as with water he may anoint thy
" bolts,
"
Make
his fetters.
Give thy servant life, that he may praise thy power. That he may bow down before thy greatness in all dwellings.
"
remove
SIN.
And
that with oil in abundance he
may make
thy threshold overflow." No doubt in the early periods of their religious
development, the offences which the Babylonian committed were of a formal and ceremonial character. Their sufferings might be due to the infringement of a reli2,"ious ordinance, or to the eatino- or drinking? of an impure thing, or to an ill-omened
There
is
word
or action.
no doubt, however, that in the course of
time moral considerations tinged their earlier beliefs. Misfortune was still believed to be the result of sin
and
transgression, but the character
and
Injustice gradually changed. believed to anger a man's god as
against
his
own
peculiar
rites,
of the
sin
evil-doing
much
and in
was were
as offences this
way
a
man's duty towards his god led to a conception of the duty he owed towards his fellow man. The belief oppression and injustice were followed by material misfortune is well attested in a document from
that
GROWTH OF MORALITY.
21/
Asliur-bani-pal's library, ^Thich contains a
warnings
to a
cally
states
recoil
upon himself or upon
of this tablet reads as follows "
" *'
*'
:
heed to
The beginning
justice, his people
overthrown and his land shall be brought to
If he gives
no heed
law of
to the
If
he gives no heed
his land, Ea, the
to his nobles, his days shall
If he gives no heed to the wise-men, his land shall
revolt against him.
"If he gives heed to wisdom "
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
(not) be long. "
"
his land.-^
king of destinies, shall change his destiny, and shall visit him with misfortune. "
*'
of
confusion. "
"
If the king does not give
shall be
number
king against injustice, and which unequivothat any act of that description would
(?),
the king shall behold
the strengthening of the land.
"If he gives heed *'
"
gods shall
to the commands of Ea, the great endow him with true knowledge and dis-
cernment. "
man of Sippar with injustice and a harsh decision, Shamash, the judge of heaven ''gives If he treats a
a harsh decision in his land,
'â&#x20AC;˘'and
earth, shall give
"and
shall appoint a just prince
"
and a just judge in
place of injustice. "
'
If the
men
The
is
Vol. IV.,
text
pi. 48.
of
Nippur come
to
him
for
judgment
published iu Cuneiform Inscrqitions of Western Asia,
A man's duties TO HIS NEIGHBOUR.
2l8
"and he *'
accepts gifts and treats
them with
injustice,
Bel, the lord of the world, shall bring a foreign foe
*'
him and
overthrow his army, and his "prince and his leader they shall hunt as outcasts (?) against
shall
*'throuorh the streets. " If the men of Babylon take
"give
bribes,
and
he favours
money with them and the
cause
of (these)
"Babylonians and turns to (their) entreaty, Marduk, "the lord of heaven and earth, shall bring his foe *'
"
against him, and shall give his goods
and
his posses-
enemy. And the men of Nippur, Sippar, Babylon who do these things shall be cast into
sions to his
*'or
" prison."
would
this tablet it is clearly stated that the gods
In
punish oppression and there
is
injustice with misfortune, and
evidence of this belief in other Babylonian
documents of a religious nature. masical incantations
man
by a
against
punishment no panied any
we
a
series of
learn that a wrom:? committed
neighbour carried with it a severe than that which accom-
his
less
offence
From
against a ceremonial
code.^
The
man might commit are enumeform of questions, and the following
various sins which a rated in
the
extract will serve to indicate their general character "
Has he estranged the
" he "
the
his
father
estranged estranged the mother from her daughter ^
Cf. Ziramern,
? ?
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
? Has Has he Has ho
father from his son
son from
:
Bie Bescliwdrungstafeln Schurpu, pp. 3
if.
LIST OF OFFENCES. "
"he "
"
the
estrangjecl
from
daiTQ:hter
Has
?
he
mother
her
the
estranf^ed
Has
?
from her daughter-
estrancred the mother-in-law
in-law
219
dauoiiter-in-law
Has he estranged the Has he estranged the " friend ? his Has he estranojed the comfriend from " panion from his companion ? Has he refused to set "
from
"a "
her mother-in-law
?
from his brother
brother
?
captive free, or has he refused
who
to loose one
? Has he shut out a prisoner from the said of a captive 'Hold him fast/ Has he "light? " or of one who was bound has he said, Strengthen " Has he committed a sin against a god, his bonds ?
was bound
'
'
"
" "
"
committed a sin against a goddess ? Has he offended a god, or has he held a goddess in light
or has he
esteem
"to one "
"
Is his
?
sin against his
older
sin
than
himself,
god, or
Has he done
?
has he
or
is
his
violence
conceived
Has he held
his
and mother in contempt, or has he insulted
his
hatred against an elder brother father
own
against his
own goddess
?
"
Has he been generous in small things, elder sister ? but avaricious in great matters ? Has he said yea " Has he said nay for yea ? Has he for nay ?
"
'
'
" "
'
'
'
'
'
spoken of unclean things, or [has he counselled] dis= Has he uttered wickedness ? obedience ? Has .
"
" " "
'
he used account,
or
.
.
Has he accepted a wrong has he refused a riglitful sum ? Has
false scales
?
.
.
.
he disinherited a legitimate son, or has he recognized an illegitimate son ? Has he set up a false landmark.
A HIGH MORAL CODE.
220 "
or has he refused to set
"
he removed bound, border, or landmark
" ''
" ''
? Has Has he Has he drawn
up a true landmark ?
broken into his neighbour's house ? near his neighbour's wife ? Has he shed his neighhour's blood ? Has he stolen his neighbour's gar-
ment
" ?
Here we have enumerated a comprehensive series of sins and offences, the commission of any one of which was considered in the seventh
down upon a man Taken together they prove that
sufficient to bring
the wrath of his god.
century before Christ,
if
not
earlier,
the Babylonians and Assyrians possessed a system of
morality which in many respects resembled that of the descendants of Abraham.
THE END.
VKINTED BY WILLIASI CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED, LONDON AND BECCLE3.
'
DATE DUE
OEc
MW
irw e
1
£0
V9
198 »
unEsJcn*'
DEC 2
2001
i
I*
liim.
CAVLORO
phimteo
in u. s.a.
BL1620 K5
CLAPP
3 5002 00225 6670 King, L.
W.
Babylonian religion and mythology
/
BL 1620 AUTHOR
K5_
King.
TITLE
Babylorxian religion and mythologyÂŤ._
BL 1620
K5