Here the first column ends. The passage opens in the midst of the speech of some deity-perhaps Ninkharsag (a Sumerian name of Ishtar) or possibly Enlil, the god of Nippur. First the deity tells how mankind, which has been overthrown, shall be raised up again. Then we are told how he perfected plans for the accomplishment of this purpose, and lastly how four deities called into being men and animals. The. Column II (about three-fifths of the text is missing) .I will. .I will turn my eye upon him. creator of the land. .of royalty... .of royalty by him was determined; The exalted palace of the royal throne was by him set apart, The exalted precepts.. In clean places. . . . . .he made perfect, .cities.. he founded, Their names were named, they were allotted to guardian-spirits (?) Thirdly, Larak to Pabilkharsag he gave, Fourthly, Sippar as the dwelling of Shamash he gave, Fifthly, Shurippak unto Lamkurru he gave. Their names were assigned; to guardian-spirits (?) they were allotted; Its rampart (?), a wall (?) he raised up, he established; Small rivers, canals (?), and water-courses (?) he established. The last part of this column relates how five cities were established by some deity. Of what the first part treated we cannot make out from the few fragments of lines that are still legible. Their land (?) it entered. Then Nintu (cried out] like [a woman in travail].. The brilliant Ishtar [uttered] a groan on account of her people. Enki with himself held communion in his wisdom; Anu, Enlil, Enki, and Ninkharsag, The gods of heaven and earth, invoked the names of Anu and Enlil, The chief deity he made of wood. In humility prostrating himself, in reverence. In this column the narrative has passed to the story of the deluge. The gods have determined to send a deluge; Ziugiddu in consequence constructed an idol from wood (compare Isa. 40: 20), and earnestly worshiped it, seeking oracles for his guidance. Is the momentous decision of the assembly (of the gods); Their kingdom, their rule. To them.... It is clear from these fragmentary lines that Ziugiddu is being informed of the approaching deluge. It is also clear that some of the elements of the narrative are identical with some of the elements of the one discussed in Chapter VI. Ziugiddu is commanded to stand by a wall, where some deity will speak to him. This appears in the other version in the form: "O reed-hut, reed-hut, O wall, wall,1 O reed-hut, hearken; O wall, give heed! In that account, too, the assembly of the gods is also referred to in line 120, ff. These are examples of the way the same theme, differently treated, turns up in different forms. Column V The evil winds, the wind that is hostile, came; all of them descended, came on with them Seven days and seven nights The deluge swept over the land, The evil wind made the huge boat tremble. Shamash came forth, on heaven and earth he shone; Ziugiddu the ship at the top uncovered, The peace of Shamash, his light, entered into the boat. Ziugiddu, the king Before Shamash bowed his face to the earth. The king-an ox he sacrificed, a sheep offered as oblation. 1 See Part II, Chapter VI, line 21, ff. 21. e., the sun. In this column we have a fragment which relates some details similar to those told in lines 128, 129, and 136-138 of the account given in Chapter VI. Column VI By the life of heaven and the life of earth ye shall conjure him, That he may raise up from you; Anu and Enlil by the soul of heaven and the soul of earth ye shall conjure, That they may raise up from you The curse that has come upon the land, that they may remove it. Ziugiddu the king Before Anu and Enlil bowed his face to the earth. Life like a god's he gave to him, An immortal Spirit like a god's he brought to him. Then Ziugiddu the king, Of the seed that was cursed, lord of mankind he made; . they made him dwell At this point the last column is hopelessly broken. It is clear, however, from the part which remains that Ziugiddu is in this narrative translated to the Isle of the Blest as was Utnapishtim in the account translated in Chapter VI, lines 202-205.1 Indeed there is reason to believe that the two accounts of the flood are divergent versions of the same story. In addition to the likenesses already mentioned, the names of the two heroes, though they appear so different, are the same in meaning. Utnapishtim (or Unapishtim) means "day of life," or "day-life," while Ziugiddu means "Life-day prolonged." 2. Comparison with the Other Version. Although this tablet is much broken, so that we have not the whole of the story, it is clear from the parts that we have that in this version preserved at Nippur the story was much shorter than in the form translated in Chapter VI, which was preserved in the library of Ashurbanipal. It was also combined with a briefer account of the creation than that translated in Chapter I from Ashurbanipal's library. Of this Nippurian version of the creation story we have in this tablet only the small fragments preserved in Columns I and II. It is, however, probable that the Nippurian version of the creation was in its main features similar to that preserved in the library at Nineveh, only more brief. If this be so, the conquest of the dragon Tiâmat is here attributed to Enlil of Nippur, as in the other version it is attributed to Marduk of Babylon, and as in Psa. 74: 13, 14, it is attributed to Jehovah. 1 See p. 277. This older account from Nippur agrees in one respect more nearly with the Biblical account than the one from the library at Nineveh does, for it represents Ziugiddu as a very pious man, who was apparently saved from destruction on account of his piety, and in blessing him God removed the curse as Jehovah did in Gen. 8:21. CHAPTER VIII AN ACCOUNT OF THE ORIGIN OF A CITY AND THE BEGINNING OF AGRICULTURE, FROM A TABLET WRITTEN AT NIPPUR BEFORE 2000 B. C. TRANSLATION. COMPARISON WITH BIBLICAL MATERIAL. THIS tablet begins with a description of a place the name of which is not with certainty identified. Possibly it was Eridu, but probably Dilmun. 5. The mountain Dilmun is holy, the mountain Dilmun is pure, 6. The mountain Dilmun is pure, the mountain Dilmun is brilliant. 7. Alone in Dilmun they lay down; 8. Where Enki and his consort lay, 9. That place is pure; that place is brilliant. 10. Alone in Dilmun they [lay]; 11. Where Enki and Ninella lay, 12. That place is pure, that place is brilliant. 13. In Dilmun the raven cried not, 14. The dar-bird its dar-cry uttered not. 15. The deadly lion destroyed not, 16. The wolf a lamb seized not, 17. The dog the weak kid tore not, 18. The dun2-animal the food-grain destroyed not, 19. She planned not for young offspring... 20. The birds of heaven their offspring hatched not, 21. Doves laid not eggs (?) 22. Of eye-disease, "it is eye-disease," one said not; 23. Of headache, "it is headache," one said not. 24. To a mother, "mother," one said not, 25. To a father, "father," one said not. 26. In the holy place a libation was poured not; in the city one drank not; 27. The river-man "cross it?" said not; 28. The overseer filled no right hand; 1 Translated from Langdon, The Sumerian Epic of Paradise, the Flood, and the Fall of Man Philadelphia, 1915, Plates I and II. Langdon, as his title shows, regards the text as a description of Paradise, the flood, and the fall of man,-a view that the present writer cannot share. *The sign for dun was the picture of a pig. The animal in question was, therefore, probably a SOW. |