20 The overflowing of Adad, mighty destroyers, are they, At the right of Adad stalking, are they,

In the height of heaven, like lightning flashing, are they,

To wreak destruction forward go they,

In the broad heaven, the home of Anu, the king evilly do they arise, and none to oppose.

25 When Ellil heard these tidings, a plan in his heart he pondered,

With Ea, exalted Massû1 of the gods, he took counsel. Sin, Shamash and Ishtar, whom he had set to order the vault of heaven,

With Anu he divided the lordship of the whole heaven,

To these three gods, his offspring,

30 Day and night, without ceasing, he ordained to stand,

When the seven evil gods, stormed the vault of heaven,

Before the gleaming Sin, they set themselves angrily,2

1 The signification of Massû is unknown.

2 The evil gods darken the moon by an eclipse, Shamash helping them by withdrawing his light from the moon, and Adad by sending cloudy weather.

20 ri-hi-is-ti (ilu) Adadi te-šu-u kar-du-te šu-nu

ina i-mit-ti (ilu) Adadi il-la-[ku šu-nu]

ina i-šid šame(e) ki-ma bir-ki it-ta-[nab-ri-ku šu-nu]

ni-ir-tu ana na-a-ri ina mah-ri il-la-ku [šu nu]

ina šame(e) rap-šu-ti šu-bat (ilu) A-nim šar-ri lim-niš iz-zazzu-ma ma-hi-ra ul i-šu-u

25 i-nu-šu (ilu) Ellil te-e-ma šu-a-tum iš-me-ma a-ma-ta ana lib-bi

šu iš-du-ud

it-ti (ilu) E-a mas-si-e ši-ri șa ilâni im-ta-lik-ma

(ilu) Sin (ilu) Šamaš u (ilu) Iš-ṭar šu-puk šame(e) ana šu-te

šu-ri uk-tin-nu

it-ti (ilu) A-nim be-lu-ut kiš-šat šame(e) i-zu-us-su-nu-ti

ana še-lal-ti-šu-nu ilâni mârâni-šu

30 mu-ša u ur-ra u-zu-uz-zu la na-par-ka šu-nu-ti u-ma-'-ir-šunu-ti

i-nu-šu si-bit-ti-šu-nu ilâni lim-nu-ti ina šu-puk šame(e) i-šur-ru

ina ma-har (ilu) Nannari(ri) (ilu) Sin iz-zi-iš il-ta-nam-mv-u

The mighty Shamash, Adad the warrior they
brought on their side,

Ishtar, with Anu the king moved into a shining
dwelling, exercising dominion over the heavens,
[Here follow some broken lines, which yield no con-
tinuous sense]

Day and night he was dark [i. e., Sin] in the dwelling
of his dominion he sat not down,

The evil gods, the messengers of Anu, the king, are they, Raising their evil heads, in the night shaking themselves, are they,

45 Evil searching out, are they,

From the heaven, like a wind, over the land rush they.
Ellil saw the darkening of the hero Sin in heaven,
The lord spoke to his minister Nusku,1

"O my minister Nusku, my message unto the ocean
bring,

50 The tidings of my son Sin, who in heaven has been

sadly darkened,

Unto Ea, in the ocean, announce it."
Nusku exalted the word of his lord,

To Ea, in the ocean, he went quickly,

To the prince, the exalted Massu, the lord Nudimmud.

1 A god of fire and light.

id-la (ilu) Šamaš (ilu) Adad kar-du ana i-di-šu-nu u-tir-ru (ilu) Iš-tar it-ti (ilu) A-nim šar-ri šub-tu ellitim (tim) ir-mema ana šarru-ut šamê(e) i-kap-pu-ud

[Here follow badly broken lines]

[muša (?) u] ur-ra a-dir ina šu-bat be-lu-ti-šu ul a-šib ilâni lim-nu-tum mâr-šipri ša (ilu) A-nim šar-ri šu-nu

mu-kil kakkad limuttim (tim) ina mu-ši il-ta-na-ar-ra-ru šu-nu

45 li-mut-tu iš-te-ni-'-u šu-nu

iš-tu ki-rib šame(e) ki-ma ša-a-ri ana ma-a-ti it-te-bu-ni šu-nu (ilu) Ellil ša id-li (ilu) Sin na-an-dur-ša ina šame(e) i-mur-ma be-lum ana suk-kal-li-šu (ilu) Nusku i-šis-si

suk-kal-li (ilu) Nusku a-ma-ti ana ap-si-i bi-i-li

50 te-im ma-ri-ia (ilu) Sin ša ina šame(e) mar-și-iš ["]-ad-[ru] a-na (ilu) E-a ina ap-si-i šu-un-ni-šum-ma

(ilu) Nusku a-mat be-ili-šu it-ta-'-id-ma

a-na (ilu) E-a ina ap-si-i pu-ri-du il-lak

a-na ru-bi-e mas-su-u și-i-ri belu (ilu) Nudimmud

55 Nusku, the word of his lord there announced, Ea in the ocean heard that word,

He bit his lip and filled his mouth with wailing,
Ea called his son Marduk, and gave him the message:
"Go, my son Marduk,

60 Son of a prince, the gleaming Sin has been sadly darkened in heaven,

His darkening is seen in the heavens,

The seven evil gods, death dealing, fearless, are they, The seven evil gods, like a flood, rush on, the land they fall upon, do they,

Against the land, like a storm, they rise, do they, 65 Before the gleaming Sin, they set themselves angrily, The mighty Shamash, Adad the warrior they brought on their side."

1 After this there is a break in the tablet, in which probably Marduk spoke the magic word and released Sin from his predicament. The tablet concludes with a ritual for exorcising these demons.

55 (ilu) Nusku a-mat be-ili-šu a-hi-en-na-a uš-[ta]-an-na [-a] (ilu) E-a ina ap-si-i a-ma-tu šu-a-tu iš-me-ma

ša-pat-su iš-šuk-ma 'u-a pi-i-šu um-tal-li

(ilu) E-a mâri-šu (ilu) Marduk is-si-ma a-ma-ta u-šah-haz
a-lik ma-ri (ilu) Marduk

60 mar ru-bi-e na-an-na-ri (ilu) Sin ša ina šame(e) mar-ṣi-iš '-ad-ru na-an-dur-šu ina šame(e) šu-pu-u

si-bit-ti šu-nu ilâni lim-nu-tum muš-mi-tu-ti la a-di-ru-ti šu-nu si-bit-ti šu-nu ilâni lim-nu-tum ša kima a-bu-bi ti-bu-ma mâti i-ba-'-u šu-nu

ana ma-a-ti ki-ma me-hi-e ti-bu-ni šu-nu

65 ina ma-har na-an-na-ri (ilu) Sin iz-zi-is il-ta-nam-mu-u id-la (ilu) Šamaš (ilu) Adad ķar-du a-na i-di-šu-nu ut-tir-ru

III. THE MYTH OF ADAPA.1

This myth is preserved upon four fragments, three of which once belonged to the library of the Assyrian

1 The texts of the four tablets are published as follows: 1. V. Scheil, Recueil de Travaux relatifs à la Philologie et à l'Archéologie Égyptiennes et Assyriennes, xx (1898), pp. 127ff. 2. H. Winckler and L. Abel, Der Thontafel fund von El-Amarna, No. 240; J. A. Knudtzon, Die El-Amarna Tafeln, No. 356. 3. Jensen, Keilinschriftliche Bibliothek, vi, 1, p. xviif., in transcription only. 4. A. Strong, Proceedings of the Society of Biblical Archaeology, xvi (1894), pp. 274ff. The four tablets are translated by Jensen in Keilinschriftliche_Bibliothek, vi, 1, pp. 92ff.; Dhorme, Choix de Textes Religieux Assyro-Babyloniens, pp. 148ff. Besides these No. 1 and No. 4 by Scheil, op. cit.; No. 2 by Harper, Beiträge zur Assyriologie, ii, pp. 420ff.; J. A. Knudtzon, op. cit.; Zimmern, in Gunkel's Schöpfung und Chaos, pp. 420ff.; No. 4 by Strong, op. cit.

king, Ashurbanipal (668-626 B. C.) in Nineveh, while the fourth was discovered among the archives of the Egyptian heretic king Amenophis IV (1377-1361 B. C.), in Tell-el-Amarna, Egypt. The latter had the divisions of words marked by small dots in red ink, and was therefore used as a means of teaching the Babylonian language in Egypt.

The contents of the four tablets may be here summarized as a clue to their contents, which in the translation alone might not always be clear upon the first examination.

No. 1. Adapa, or perhaps Adamu, son of Ea, had received from his father wisdom, but not eternal life. He was a semidivine being and was the wise man and priest of the temple of Ea at Eridu, which he provided with the ritual bread and water. In the exercise of this duty he carried on fishing upon the Persian Gulf.

No. 2. When Adapa was fishing one day on a smooth the south wind rose suddenly and overturned his boat, so that he was thrown into the sea. Angered by the mishap, he broke the wings of the south wind so that for seven days it could not blow the sea coolness over the hot land. Anu calls Adapa to account for this misdeed, and his father Ea warns him as to what should befall him. He tells him how to secure the pity of Tammuz and Gishzida, whom he would meet at heaven's portal, and cautions him not to eat the food or partake of the drink which would be set before him, as Ea feared that food and drink of death would be offered him. The counsel was ill advised, for it was, rather, the food of life and the water of life that were set before him, and overcaution deprived him of immortal life, and he had to return to earth.

No. 3 is a duplicate of lines 12 to 21 of No. 2.

No. 4 is so badly broken that its general sense is very difficult to obtain.

The correspondences with Genesis 2 and 3, and the differences also, are most interesting, and it may well. be hoped that later discoveries may provide material for still more striking comparisons. It may here be pointed out simply that the "food of life" belongs to the same category as the "tree of life" in Genesis. Adam lost immortality because he desired to become like God; Adapa, on the other hand, was already endowed with knowledge and wisdom, and failed of immortality, not because he was disobedient, like Adam, but through his literal obedience to Ea, his creator. That the Paradise narrative (Gen. 2, 3) may have been influenced at least in part (Zimmern) by the Adapa myth seems most probable. We know, certainly, that this myth had reached Egypt as early as the fourteenth century B. C., and presumably also had passed through Palestine.

His command like the command of Anu [. . .]
He [i. e. Ea] granted him a wide ear to reveal the
destiny of the land,

He granted him wisdom, but he did not grant him
eternal life.

5 In those days, in those years the wise man of Eridu, Ea had created him as chief (?) among men,

A wise man whose command none should oppose,

ta-šim-tum ir-[š]a-a u [.

ki-bit-su ki-ma ki-bit (ilu) [A-nu] lu-u-ma(?)-ti(?)

uz-na rapaš-tum u-šak-lil-šu u-su-rat mâti kul-lu-mu

ana šu-a-tu ni-me-ka iddin-šu napiš-tam da-er-tam ul iddim-šu 5 ina u-me-šu-ma ina ša-na-a-ti ši-na-a-ti ab-kal-lum mâr (alu) Eridu

(ilu) E-a ki-ma rid(?)-di ina a-me-lu-ti ib-ni-šu

ab-kal-lum ki-bit-su ma-am-man ul u-šam-sak