babylonian legend of the creation.
mutilated condition of tablets.—list of subjects.—description of chaos.—tiamat.—generation of gods.—damascius.—comparison with genesis.—three great gods.—doubtful fragments.—fifth tablet.—stars.—moon.—sun.—abyss or chaos.—creation of moon.—creation of animals.—monotheism.—hymn to merodach.—the black-headed race or adamites.—garden of eden.—the flaming sword.—the fall.—the sabbath.—sacred tree.—hymn to the creator.
t is extremely unfortunate that the legend of the creation in days has reached us in so fragmentary a condition. it is evident, however, that in its present form it is of assyrian, not of babylonian, origin, and was probably composed in the time of assur-bani-pal. it breathes throughout the spirit of a later age, its language and style show no traces of an accadian original, and the colophon at the end implies by its silence that it was not a copy of an older document. no doubt the story itself was an ancient one; the number seven was a sacred number among the accadians, who invented the week of seven days, and kept a seventh57day sabbath, and excavations in babylonia may yet bring to light the early chaldean form of the legend. but this we do not at present possess.
so far as the fragments can be arranged, they seem to observe the following order:—
1. part of the first tablet, giving an account of the chaos and the generation of the gods.
2. fragment of subsequent tablet, perhaps the second on the foundation of the deep.
3. fragment of tablet placed here with great doubt, possibly referring to the creation of land.
4. part of the fifth tablet, recording the creation of the heavenly bodies.
5. fragment of the seventh? tablet, recording the creation of land animals.
these fragments indicate that the series included at least seven tablets, the writing on each tablet being in one column on the front and back, and probably including over one hundred lines of text.
the first fragment in the story is the upper part of the first tablet, giving the description of the void or chaos, and part of the generation of the gods. the translation is as follows:
1. at that time above, the heaven was unnamed:
2. below the earth by name was unrecorded;
3. the boundless deep also (was) their generator.
4. the chaos of the sea was she who bore the whole of them.
5. their waters were collected together in one place, and 58
6. the flowering reed was not gathered, the marsh-plant was not grown.
7. at that time the gods had not been produced, any one of them;
8. by name they had not been called, destiny was not fixed.
9. were made also the (great) gods,
10. the gods lakhmu and lakhamu were produced (the first), and
11. to growth they ........
12. the gods sar and kisar were made next.
13. the days were long; a long (time passed), (and)
14. the gods anu (bel and hea were born of)
15. the gods sar and (kisar).......
on the reverse of this tablet there are only fragments of the eight lines of colophon, but the restoration of the passage is easy; it reads:—
1. first tablet of “at that time above” (name of creation series).
2. palace of assur-bani-pal king of nations, king of assyria,
3. to whom nebo and tasmit gave broad ears
4. (his) seeing eyes regarded the engraved characters of the tablets;
5. this writing which among the kings who went before me
6. none of them regarded,
7. the secrets of nebo, the literature of the library as much as is suitable, 59
8. on tablets i wrote, i engraved, i explained, and
9. for the inspection of my people within my palace i placed.
this colophon will serve to show the value attached to the documents, and the date of the present copies.
the fragment of the obverse, broken as it is, is precious as giving the description of the chaos or desolate void before the creation of the world, and the first movement of creation. this corresponds with the first two verses of the first chapter of genesis.
1. “in the beginning god created the heaven and the earth.
2. and the earth was without form and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. and the spirit of god moved upon the face of the waters.”
on comparing the fragment of the first tablet of the creation with the extract from damascius, we do not find any statement as to there being two principles at first called tauthe and apason, and these producing moymis, but in the creation tablet the first existence is called mummu tiamatu, a name meaning “the chaos of the deep.” the compound mummu tiamatu, in fact, combines the two names moymis and tauthe of damascius. tiamatu must also be the same as the thalatth of berosus, which we are expressly told was the sea. it should, therefore, be corrected to thavatth, as m. lenormant proposed some years ago. it is evident that, according60 to the notion of the babylonians, the sea was the origin of all things, and this also agrees with the statement of genesis i.?2. where the chaotic waters are called t?h?m, “the deep,” the same word as the tiamat of the creation text and the tauthe of damascius.
the assyrian word mummu is probably connected with the hebrew m?h?mah, confusion, its accadian equivalent being umun. besides the name of the chaotic deep called t?h?m in genesis, which is, as has been said, evidently the tiamat of the creation text, we have in genesis the word toh?, waste, desolate, or formless, applied to this chaos. the correspondence between the inscription and genesis is complete, since both state that a watery chaos preceded the creation, and formed, in fact, the origin and groundwork of the universe. we have here not only an agreement in sense, but, what is rarer, the same word used in both narratives as the name of this chaos, and given also in the account of damascius.
next we have in the inscription the creation of the gods lakhmu and lakhamu; these are male and female personifications of motion and production, and correspond to the dache and dachus of damascius, and the moving r?akh, the wind, or spirit of genesis. the next stage in the creation was the production of sar and kisar, representing the upper expanse and the lower expanse, and corresponding with the assorus and kissare of damascius. the resemblance in these names is probably even closer than is here represented, since61 sar is generally read assur as a deity in later times, being an ordinary symbol for the supreme god of the assyrians.
so far as can be made out from the mutilated text, the next step in the creation of the universe was (as in damascius) the generation of the three great gods, anu, elum, and hea, the anus, illinus, and aus of that writer. anu here symbolizes the heaven, elum the earth, and hea the sea.
it is probable that the inscription went on to relate the generation of the other gods, and then passed to the successive acts of creation by which the world was fashioned.
the successive forms lakhmu and lakhamu, sar and kisar, are represented in some of the lists of the gods as names or manifestations of anu and anatu. these lists were compiled at a time when a school of monotheists had risen in chaldea, and an attempt was made on the part of its adherents to resolve the various deities of the popular creed into forms of “the one god” anu. in each case there appears to be a male and female principle, which principles combine in the formation of the universe.
as has been already remarked, the conception of a male and female principle was due to the semites. hence it is clear that the system of cosmology embodied in these creation tablets was of semitic and not accadian origin.
the resemblance between the extract from damascius and the account in the creation tablet as to62 the successive stages or forms of the creation, is striking, and leaves no doubt about the source of the quotation from the greek writer.
the three next tablets in the creation series are absent, there being only two doubtful fragments of this part of the story. judging from the analogy of the book of genesis, we may conjecture that this part of the narrative contained the description of the creation of light, of the atmosphere or firmament, of the dry land, and of plants. one fragment which probably belonged to this space is a small portion of the top of a tablet referring to the fixing of the dry land; but it may belong to a later part of the story, since it is part of a speech to one of the gods. this fragment is—
1. at that time the foundations of the caverns of rock [thou didst make];
2. the foundations of the caverns thou didst call [them] (?)
3. the heaven was named ......
4. to the face of the heaven ......
5. thou didst give ......
6. a man ......
there is a second more doubtful fragment which also may come in here, and, like the last, relate to the creation of the dry land. it is, however, given under reserve—
1. the god khir ... si ....
2. at that time to the god ....
3. so be it, i concealed thee .... 63
fight between merodach (bel) and the dragon.
4. from the day that thou ....
5. angry thou didst speak ....
6. the god assur his mouth opened and spake, to the god ....
7. above the deep, the seat of ....
8. in front of bit-sarra which i have made ...
9. below the place i strengthen ....
10. let there be made also bit-lusu, the seat ..
11. within it his stronghold may he build and ..
12. at that time from the deep he raised ....
13. the place .... lifted up i made ....
14. above .... heaven ....
15. the place .... lifted up thou didst make.
16. .... the city of assur the temples of the great gods ....
17. .... his father anu ....
18. the god .... thee and over all which thy hand has made
19. .... thee, having, over the earth which thy hand has made
20. .... having, assur which thou hast called its name.
this fragment is both mutilated and obscure, and it is more than doubtful whether it has anything to do with the creation tablets. it seems rather to be a local legend relating to assur, the old capital of assyria, and possibly recording the legend of its foundation. bit-sarra or e-sarra, “the temple of the legions,” was dedicated to ninip, and forms part of the name of tiglath-pileser (tuculti-pal-esara64 “servant of the son of bit-sarra,” i.e. ninip). it seems to have denoted the firmament, the “legions” or “hosts” referring to the multitudinous spirits of heaven. the biblical expression “the lord of hosts” may be compared.
the next recognizable portion of the creation legends is the upper part of the fifth tablet, which gives the creation of the heavenly bodies, and runs parallel to the account of the fourth day of creation in genesis.
this tablet opens as follows:—
fifth tablet of creation legend.
obverse.
1. (anu) made suitable the mansions of the (seven) great gods.
2. the stars he placed in them, the lumasi8 he fixed.
3. he arranged the year according to the bounds (or signs of the zodiac, heb. mazzaroth) that he defined.
4. for each of the twelve months three stars he fixed.
5. from the day when the year issues forth unto the close,
6. he established the mansion of the god nibiru, that they might know their laws (or bonds). 65
7. that they might not err or deflect at all,
8. the mansion of bel and hea he established along with himself.
9. he opened also the great gates in the sides of the world;
10. the bolts he strengthened on the left hand and on the right.
11. in its centre also he made a staircase.
12. the moon-god he caused to beautify the thick night.
13. he appointed him also to hinder (or balance) the night, that the day may be known,
14. (saying): every month, without break, observe thy circle:
15. at the beginning of the month also, when the night is at its height.
16. (with) the horns thou announcest that the heaven may be known.
17. on the seventh day (thy) circle (begins to) fill,
18. but open in darkness will remain the half on the right (?).9
19. at that time the sun (will be) on the horizon of heaven at thy (rising).
20. (thy form) determine and make a (circle?).
21. (from hence) return (and) approach the path of the sun.
22. (then) will the darkness return; the sun will change. 66
23. ....... seek its road.
24. (rise and) set, and judge judgment.
all that is left of the reverse is the latter half of the last line of the narrative, and the colophon, which runs thus:—
..... the gods on his hearing.
fifth tablet of (the series beginning) at that time above.
property of assur-bani-pal king of nations king of assyria.
this fine fragment is a typical specimen of the style of the whole series, and shows a marked stage in the creation, the appointment of the heavenly orbs. it parallels the fourth day of creation in the first chapter of genesis, where we read: “and god said, let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:
“15. and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so.
“16. and god made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night; he made the stars also.
“17. and god set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth,
“18. and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and god saw that it was good.
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“19. and the evening and morning were the fourth day.”
the fragment of the first tablet of the creation series was introductory, and dealt with the generation of the gods rather than the creation of the universe, and when we remember that the fifth tablet contains the creation given in genesis under the fourth day, while a subsequent tablet, probably the seventh, gives the creation of the animals which, according to genesis, took place on the sixth day, it would seem that the events of each of the days of genesis were recorded on a separate tablet, and that the numbers of the tablets generally followed in the same order as the days of creation in genesis, thus:
genesis, chap. i.
v. 1 & 2 agree with tablet 1.
v. 3 to 5 1st day probably with tablet 2.
v. 6 to 8 2nd day probably with tablet 3.
v. 9 to 13 3rd day probably with tablet 4.
v. 14 to 19 4th day agree with tablet 5.
v. 20 to 23 5th day probably with tablet 6.
v. 24 & 25 6th day probably with tablet 7.
v. 26 and following, 6th and 7th day, probably with tablet 8.
the assertion with which the fifth tablet begins may be compared with the oft-repeated statement of genesis, after each act of creative power, that “god saw that it was good.” in fact, the difference between the expressions used by the hebrew and assyrian writers seems greater than it really is, since68 the word rendered “to make suitable” comes from a root which signifies “pleasant” or “agreeable.” it may be noted that the word yuaddi “he arranged” or “appointed” in the third line has the same root as the hebrew m??dhim, which is used in the same connection gen. i. 14 in the sense of “seasons.”
we next come to the creation of the heavenly orbs, and just as the book of genesis says they were set for signs and seasons, for days and years, so the inscription describes that the stars were set in courses to define the year. the twelve constellations or signs of the zodiac, and two other bands of constellations are referred to, corresponding with the two sets of twelve stars, one to the north and the other to the south of the zodiac, which according to diodorus siculus played a prominent part in babylonian astronomy.
the god nibiru appears in the astronomical tablets as one of the stars. here, however, in the account of the creation, he seems to be the deity who specially presided over the signs of the zodiac and the course of the year, and in a hymn to the creator, which will be translated further on, he takes the place of the classical fate, and determines the laws of the universe generally, and of the stars in particular. it is evident, from the opening of the inscription on the first tablet of the great chaldean work on astrology and astronomy, that the functions of the stars were according to the babylonians to act not only as regulators of the seasons and the year,69 but to be also used as signs, as in genesis i. 14, for in those ages it was generally believed that the heavenly bodies gave, by their appearance and positions, signs of events which were coming on the earth.
the passage given in the eighth line of the inscription, to the effect that the god who created the stars fixed places or habitations for bel and hea with himself in the heavens, points to the fact that anu, god of the heavens, was considered to be the creator of the heavenly hosts; for it is he who shares with bel and hea the divisions of the face of the sky, which was divided into three zones. summer was the season of bel, autumn of anu, and winter of hea, the season of spring not being recognized by the babylonians. the new moon also was called anu for the first five days, hea for the next five, and bel for the third.
the ninth line of the tablet gives us an insight into the philosophical beliefs of the early babylonians. they evidently considered that the world was drawn together out of the waters, and rested or reposed upon a vast abyss of chaotic ocean which filled the space below the world. this dark infernal lake was shut in by gigantic gates and strong fastenings, which prevented the floods from overwhelming the world. in the centre was a staircase which led from the abyss below to the region of light above.
the account then goes on to describe the creation of the moon for the purpose of beautifying the night70 and regulating the calendar. the phases of the moon are recorded: its commencing as a thin crescent at evening on the first day of the month, and its gradually increasing and travelling further into the night. it will be noticed that it is regarded as appointed, in the language of the bible, “to divide the day from the night,” and to be for a sign and a season. the expression “judge judgment” may be compared with the expression of genesis (i. 18.) that the sun and moon were set “to rule over the day and over the night.” an account of the creation of the sun probably followed upon that of the creation of the moon.
the creation of the moon, however, is placed first in accordance with the general views of the babylonians, who, as was natural in a people of astronomers, honoured the moon above the sun, even making the sun-god the son of the moon-god.
the details of the creation of the planets and stars, which would have been very important to us, are unfortunately lost, no further fragment of this tablet having been recovered.
the colophon at the close of the tablet gives us, however, part of the first line of the sixth tablet, but not enough to determine its subject. it is probable that this dealt with the creation of creatures of the water and fowls of the air, and that these were the creation of bel, the companion deity to anu.
the next tablet, the seventh in the series, is probably represented by a curious fragment, which was71 found by mr. smith in one of the trenches at kouyunjik.
this fragment is like some of the others, the upper portion of a tablet much broken, and only valuable from its generally clear meaning. the translation is as follows:
1. at that time the gods in their assembly created .....
2. they made suitable the strong monsters .....
3. they caused to come living creatures .....
4. cattle of the field, beasts of the field, and creeping things of the field .....
5. they fixed for the living creatures .....
6. ..... cattle and creeping things of the city they fixed .....
7. ..... the assembly of the creeping things, the whole which were created .....
8. ..... which in the assembly of my family ...
9. ..... and the god nin-si-ku (the lord of noble face) joined the two together .....
10. ..... to the assembly of the creeping things i gave life .....
11. ..... the seed of lakhamu i destroyed .....
this tablet corresponds with the sixth day of creation in genesis (i. 24-25): “and god said, let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so.
72
“and god made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and everything that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and god saw that it was good.”
the assyrian tablet commences with a statement of the satisfaction a former creation, apparently that of the monsters or whales, had given; here referring to genesis i. 23. it then goes on to relate the creation of living animals on land, three kinds being distinguished, exactly agreeing with the genesis account, and then we have in the ninth line a curious reference to the god nin-si-ku (one of the names of hea). one of hea’s titles was “the lord of mankind,” and sir henry rawlinson has endeavoured to show that eridu, the city of hea, was identical with the biblical garden of eden. we may here notice a tablet which refers to the creation of man. in this tablet, k 63, the creation of the human race is given to hea, and all the references in other inscriptions make this his work. as in genesis, so in these cuneiform tablets the creator is made to speak and to address the objects which he calls into existence.
the next fragment was supposed by mr. smith to relate to the fall of man and to contain the speech of the deity to the newly-created pair. this, however, is extremely doubtful, as will appear from the revised translation below. the fragment is in so broken a condition that almost anything may be made out of it. it is possible that nothing more is intended by it than instructions as to the construction of an image of a household god or spirit and the correct mode of worshipping it.
73
k 3364 obverse.
(many lines lost.)
1. the whole day thy god thou shalt approach (or invoke),
2. sacrifice, the prayer of the mouth, the image ......
3. to thy god a heart engraved ..... thou hast.
4. how long to the image of the divinity,
5. supplication, humility, and bowing of the face,
6. fire (?) dost thou give to him, and bringest tribute,
7. and in reverence also with me thou goest straight?
8. in thy knowledge (?) also behold; in the tablets (writing)
9. worship and blessing thou exaltest.
10. sacrifice and the preservation ...
11. and prayer for sin ....
12. the fear of the gods deserts thee (?) not ....
13. the fear of the anunnaci thou completest ....
14. with friend and comrade speech thou makest ....
15. in the under-world speech thou makest to the propitious genii.
16. when thou speakest also he will give ....
17. when thou trustest also thou ....
18. ... a comrade also ....
19. .... thou trustest a friend ....
20. (in) thy knowledge (?) also
74
reverse.
(many lines lost.)
1. in the presence of beauty .... thou didst speak
2. thy beauty ....
3. beauty also .... the female spirit (?)
4. an age thou revolvest .. his enemies?
5. his rising (?) he seeks .... the man ....
6. with the lord of thy beauty thou makest fat (?)
7. to do evil thou shalt not approach him,
8. at thy illness .... to him
9. at thy distress ....
the next fragment is a small one; it is the lower corner of a tablet with the ends of a few lines. mr. smith connected it with the legend of the fall of man, but the mention of the god sar-tuli-elli, “the king of the illustrious mound,” would rather indicate that it has to do with the story of the tower of babel. as, however, the fragment is too small and mutilated to decide the question, it has been allowed to remain in the place assigned to it by mr. smith, and not transferred to a later chapter.
according to sir h. rawlinson, “the holy mound” is now represented by the ruins of amrán. at any rate, it stood on the site of the tower of babel and was dedicated to the god anu. along with the adjoining buildings, among which are to be numbered the royal palace and the famous hanging gardens, it formed a particular quarter of babylon, enclosed within its own wall and known under the name of75 su-anna, the “valley of anu,” which sir h. rawlinson proposes to read khalannê, and identify with the calneh of the old testament. in support of his reading he refers to the statement of the septuagint in isaiah x.?9.: “have not i taken the region above babylon and khalannê, where the tower was built?”
obverse.
1. .... seat her (?)
2. .... all the lords
3. .... his might
4. .... the gods, lord of the mighty hour (?)
5. .... lord of the kingdom magnified.
6. .... mightily supreme.
reverse.
1. .... hea called10 to his men
2. .... the path of his greatness
3. .... any god
4. .... sar-tuli-elli (the king of the illustrious mound) his knowledge (?)
5. .... his illustrious ......
6. .... his fear (?) sar-tuli-elli
7. .... his might
8. .... to them, in the midst of the sea
9. .... thy father battle
we may conclude this chapter with a fragment of some length, which mr. smith erroneously supposed to refer to the fall. his mistake arose from the im76perfect state in which the text of it has been preserved, and the consequent obscurity of its reference and meaning. dr. oppert has shown that it really contains a hymn to the creator hea. before the commencement of lines 1, 5, 11, 19, 27, and 29 on the obverse, there are glosses stating that the divine titles commencing these lines all apply to the same deity. these explanatory glosses show that even in the assyrian time the allusions in the original text were not all intelligible without the help of a commentary.
obverse.
1. the god of (propitious) life ..... (secondly)
2. who established light .....
3. their precepts .....
4. never may they forsake (their) boundaries ...
5. the god of illustrious life, thirdly, he was called, the director of the bright (firmament),
6. the god of good winds, the lord of hearing and obedience,
7. the creator of lean (?) and fat, the establisher of fertility,
8. who has brought to increase them that were small at the outset.
9. in the mighty thickets we have smelt his good wind.
10. may he command, may he glorify, may he hearken to his worshippers.
11. the god of the illustrious crown, fourthly, may he quicken the dust! 77
12. lord of the illustrious charm, who gives life to the dead,
13. who to the hostile gods has granted return,
14. the homage they rendered he has caused the gods his foes to submit to.
15. that they might obey (?) he has created mankind,
16. the merciful one with whom is life.
17. may he establish, and never may his word be forgotten
18. in the mouth of the black-headed race whom his hands created.
19. the god of the illustrious incantation, fifthly, may his foes (?) be overthrown (or answered) with hostile curse (?)
20. he who with his illustrious incantation has removed the curse of the enemy.
21. the god the heart-knower, who knows the hearts of the gods, who fly from the fear of him:
22. the doing of evil they caused not to come forth against him.
23. he who establishes the assembly of the gods, (who knows) their hearts,
24. who subdues the disobedient .....
25. who directs justice .....
26. who (defends?) sovereignty .....
27. the god of prosperous life, (sixthly) .....
28. he who cuts off darkness (?) .....
29. the god sukhkhab (?), thirdly, the flock (?) ...
30. he who adds unto them .....
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reverse.
1. ..... the star .....
2. may he seize that which has the head in the tail (? a comet)
3. since that in the midst of the sea he passed over .....
4. his name accordingly (is) nibiru (the passer over), the possessor .....
5. may he (confirm) the precepts (or laws) of the stars of heaven.
6. like sheep may he feed the gods all of them;
7. may he exorcise the sea, its treasures may he hedge in and summon
8. among men hereafter through length of days.
9. may he also remove mischief; may he overcome it for the future.
10. because (all) places he made, he pierced, he strengthened.
11. lord of the world is his name called, (even) father bel.
12. the names of the angels he gave to them.
13. hea also heard, and his liver (i. e. anger) was lulled,
14. (saying)79 “since that his men he has quickened by his name,
15. he like myself has the name of hea.
16. the bond of my command may he bring to them all, and
17. all my tereti (lots?) may he answer [or throw down]
18. by the fifty names of the great gods.”
19. his fifty names they pronounced; they restored his precepts.
20. may they be observed and, as formerly, may he speak.
21. unsearchable, wise, triumphantly may he rule.
22. may father to son repeat and exalt (them).
23. may he open the ears of shepherd and flocks.
24. may (the shepherd) obey merodach, bel among the gods.
25. may his land be green, may he himself be at peace.
26. established (is) his word, unyielding his command;
27. the utterance of his mouth no god has ever despised.
28. he was called by name and withdraws not his neck.
29. in the abundance of his strength there is no god, that receives for him his crown.
30. far-reaching (is) his heart, an abyss (is) his stomach:
31. sin and cursing before him disappear.
in a second copy which presents several variations lines 14 to 19 are omitted.
it is evident that this hymn to the creator emanated from what sir henry rawlinson has termed80 the monotheistic party among the ancient babylonians, and that the speech of hea in lines 14 to 19 has been inserted by a poet who did not belong to it. the various deities of the popular faith are all resolved into the one supreme god, the maker of the world and man, who was worshipped at babylon under the names of bel, “the lord,” and merodach the sun-god, at eridu under that of hea and at nipur under that of anu. the gods of the multitude are said to be only the fifty names of the creator. to him is ascribed the regulation of the stars, the naming of the angels, and the subjection of the subordinate demi-gods, and marginal notes expressly state that the several titles under which the creator is addressed on the obverse of the tablets, all belong to one and the same divinity.
in the popular mythology the part of the creator was usually assigned to merodach. thus we find the latter deity addressed as follows in a mutilated bilingual hymn (k 2962 obv.):—
1. [king] of the land, lord of the world,
2. ... protector of heaven and earth,
3. firstborn of the god hea,
4. the restorer of heaven and earth,
5. ... mighty lord of mankind, king of the world.
6. ... the god of gods,
7. (lord) of heaven and earth, who hast no equal,
8. companion of anu and bel,
9. the merciful one among the gods, 81
10. the merciful who raisest the dead to life,
11. merodach, the king of heaven and earth,
12. the king of babylon, the lord of bit-saggil,
13. the king of bit-zida, the lord of the mighty temple of life,
14. heaven and earth are thine,
15. the circuit of heaven and earth is thine,
16. the charm (to produce) life is thine,
17. the philtre of life is thine,
18. the illustrious king, the mouth of the abyss, is thine;
19. mankind, (even) the men with the black heads,
20. living creatures, as many as are called by a name, as exist in the land,
21. the four quarters of the world, as many as there are,
22. the angels of the hosts of heaven and earth, as many as there are, (are thine).
in these references to the names of the living creatures made by the creator at the beginning of the world, we are irresistibly reminded of the passage in genesis ii. 19., where we read that “out of the ground god formed every beast of the field and every fowl of the air; and brought them to adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof.”
one of the most curious statements made in these hymns is that the race of men created by the deity was black-headed. the same race of men is men82tioned elsewhere in the ancient literature of the accadians. thus in a hymn to the goddess gula, the goddess is described as “the mother who bore the men of the black heads,” and in another hymn the sun-god is declared to “direct the men of the black heads.” sargon of agané is further described as ruling over “all the men of the black heads,” and in imitation of this mode of expression sennacherib in later days speaks of having overcome “all the black-headed race.” the black-headed race of sennacherib, however, was the turanian population of elam and the adjoining districts on the east of babylonia, whereas it is plain that the accadian hymns mean by the black-headed race the accadian people itself. it was over them that sargon of agané, the semite, boasts of having extended his sway, though according to an old geographical list it was sumer or shinar rather than accad, which was inhabited by the people of “the black-face.” but after all there is no contradiction between the statements of sennacherib and of the hymns. the accadians belonged to the same race as the turanian inhabitants of elam, and spoke a similar language to theirs.
now we shall find in the account of the exploits of dibbara, which will be translated in a subsequent chapter, that the black race, which is identified with the accadians, is contrasted with the people of syria, while in the bilingual tablets, the black race is similarly contrasted with the white race. hence it is clear that the white race was the same as the syrians,83 and since the syrians were semites, the white race must have been synonymous in the language of the accadians with semitic. as a matter of fact, the semites belong to the white-skinned division of mankind, and were accordingly painted yellow by the egyptians. the accadian population, on the other hand, belonged to the dark-skinned division, though it is not necessary to suppose them to have been as black as the negro or the “blameless ethiopian.” in the bilingual tablets, the black race is rendered in assyrian by the word adamatu or “red-skins.”
a popular etymology connected this word adamatu with the word adamu or admu, “man,” partly on account of the similarity of sound, partly because in the age of accadian supremacy and literature, the men par excellence, the special human beings made by the creator, were the dark-skinned race of accad. the accadian adam or “man” was dark; it was only when the culture of the accadians had been handed on to their semitic successors that he became fair.
the discovery that the biblical adam is identical with the assyrian adamu or “man,” and that the assyrian adamu goes back to the first-created man of accadian tradition who belonged to the black, that is, to the accadian race, is due to sir henry rawlinson. he has also suggested that the contrast between the black and the white races, between the accadian and the semite, is indicated in the sixth chapter of genesis, where a contrast is drawn between the daughters of men, or adamu, and the sons of god. it was84 owing to the intermarriage of the sons of god with the adamites that the evils were spread which brought down upon the world the punishment of the deluge.
it was sir henry rawlinson who further pointed out that the biblical gan eden, or “garden of eden,” is gan-duniyas (also called gun-duni), a name under which babylonia is frequently known in the assyrian inscriptions. gan-duniyas signifies “the enclosure” or “fortress of the god duniyas,” a deity whose nature and attributes are still obscure, and who may have been merely a deified monarch of the country. two of the four rivers of paradise are the two great rivers that enclose the fruitful plain of babylonia, the tigris, and the euphrates. the euphrates was called purrat, or “the curving water” in accadian from its shape; the tigris was known under the name of masgugar, “the current,” tiggar, and idikna or idikla, from the latter of which comes the hiddekhel of genesis, with prefixed accadian hid, “river.” gihon is identified with the arakhtu or araxes, “the river of babylon,” which flowed westward into the desert of arabia or cush, though sir h. rawlinson suggests its identity with the modern jukhá, which runs past the site of eridu, while sargon calls elam the country of “the four rivers.”11
the tree of life was well known to the accadians85 and the assyrians after them, and the bas-reliefs of nineveh frequently present us with a representation of it, guarded on either side by a winged cherub who has the head sometimes of a man, sometimes of an eagle. the tree always assumes a conventional form, and since it generally bears fir-cones we may infer that the accadians brought the tradition of it with them from their original seat in the colder mountainous land of media, where the fir was plentiful, and identified it with the palm-tree only after their settlement in chaldea. an old name of babylon, or of a part of babylon, was din-tir, “the life of the forest,” which may possibly have some connection with the tree of life. the special spot, however, in which the site of the tree of life was localized was close to the city of eridu, now represented by dhib according to sir h. rawlinson, where the solar hero tammuz was supposed to have received the death-blow which obliged him to spend one half the year in the lower world.
sacred tree, or grove, with attendant cherubim, from assyrian cylinder.
a fragmentary bilingual hymn speaks thus of the sacred spot, and of the tree of life that grew therein:—
1. in eridu a dark pine grew, in an illustrious place it was planted. 86
2. its (root) was of white crystal which spread towards the deep.
3. the (shrine?) of hea (was) its pasturage in eridu, a canal full of (water).
4. its seat (was) the (central) place of this earth.
5. its shrine (was) the couch of mother zicum, (the mother of gods and men).
6. the (roof) of its illustrious temple like a forest spread its shade; there (was) none who within entered.
7. (it was the seat) of the mighty mother (zicum), the begetter of anu.
eridu was the special seat of the worship of hea, and was often known as “the good city.”
the flaming sword, which according to genesis guarded the approach to the tree of life is paralleled by the flaming sword of merodach, which is explained to be the lightning. it was with this sword which is represented on the monuments as having the form of a sickle like the sword of the greek hero perseus, that merodach overthrew the dragon and the powers of darkness. a hymn put into the mouth of merodach, thus speaks of it:—
the sun of fifty faces, the lofty weapon of my divinity, i bear.
the hero that striketh the mountains, the propitious sun of the morning, that is mine, i bear.
my mighty weapon, which like an orb smites in a circle the corpses of the fighters, i bear.
the striker of mountains, my murderous weapon of anu, i bear. 87
the striker of mountains, the fish with seven tails, that is mine, i bear.
the terror of battle, the destroyer of rebel lands, that is mine, i bear.
the defender of conquests, the great sword, the falchion of my divinity, i bear.
that from whose hand the mountain escapes not, the hand of the hero of battle, which is mine, i bear.
the delight (?) of heroes, my spear of battle, (i bear).
my crown which strikes against men, the bow of the lightning, (i bear).
the crusher of the temples of rebel lands, my club and buckler of battle, (i bear).
the lightning of battle, my weapon of fifty heads, (i bear).
the feathered monster of seven heads, like the huge serpent of seven heads, (i bear).
like the serpent that beats the sea, (which attacks) the foe in the face,
the devastator of forceful battle, lord over heaven and earth, the weapon of (seven) heads, (i bear).
that which maketh the light come forth like day, god of the east, my burning power, (i bear).
the establisher of heaven and earth, the fire-god, who has not his rival, (i bear).
sacred tree, seated figure on each side, and serpent in background, from an early babylonian cylinder.
allusion is made in this hymn, it will be noticed, to a fabulous serpent with seven heads, which beats the sea into waves. this serpent was originally identical with the dragon of the deep, combated by merodach, as we shall learn from a fragment to be88 translated hereafter, that is to say with the principle of chaos and darkness, called mummu tiamtu, “the chaos of the deep,” in the account of the creation. it is also described as “the serpent of night,” “the serpent of darkness,” “the wicked serpent,” and “the mightily strong serpent,” epithets which show that it was on the one hand the embodiment of moral evil, and on the other was primitively nothing more than the darkness destroyed by the sun, the bright power of day. it is difficult not to compare the serpent of genesis with this serpent of babylonian mythology. no chaldean legend of the fall has as yet been found, but when we remember how few chaldean legends have been discovered, and that even for these we are dependent on the selection and copies of assyrian scribes, we need not be surprised that such should be the case. the babylonian colouring of the history in genesis, the fact that the rivers of paradise are babylonian rivers, and that the tree of life was familiar to babylonian art and tradition, make it probable that we shall yet discover the chaldean version of the fall of man as soon as the libraries of babylonia89 have been explored. indeed, this is made almost certain by the existence of an early babylonian seal, now in the british museum, on which a tree is represented with a human figure seated on either side of it, with the hands stretched out towards the fruit, and a serpent standing erect behind one of them. we know that the devices on these early seals were taken from the popular legends and myths. it must be admitted, however, that the two figures seem both to be males.
but if references to the fall are few and obscure, there can be no doubt that the sabbath was an accadian institution, intimately connected with the worship of the seven planets. the astronomical tablets have shown that the seven-day week was of accadian origin, each day of it being dedicated to the sun, moon, and five planets, and the word sabbath itself, under the form of sabattu, was known to the assyrians, and explained by them as “a day of rest for the heart.” a calendar of saint’s days for the month of the intercalary elul makes the 7th, 14th, 19th, 21st, and 28th days of the lunar month sabbaths on which no work was allowed to be done. the accadian words by which the idea of sabbath is denoted, literally mean, “a day on which work is unlawful,” and are interpreted in the bilingual tablets as signifying “a day of peace” or “completion of labours.” the calendar lays down the following injunctions to the king for each of these sabbaths:—
a sabbath: the prince of many nations the flesh of animals and cooked food may not eat.
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the garments of his body he may not change. white robes he may not put on.
sacrifice he may not offer. the king may not ride in his chariot.
in royal fashion he may not legislate. a review of the army the general may not hold.
medicine for his sickness of body he may not apply.
merodach attacking the serpent, on an assyrian cylinder, in the possession of dr. s. wells williams, newhaven.
the antiquity of this text is evident not only from the fact that it has been translated from an accadian original, but also from the word rendered “prince,” which literally means “a shepherd,” and takes us back to the early times when the accadian monarchs still remembered that their predecessors had been only shepherd-chieftains.
before concluding this chapter, it must be noted that the word translated “the sea,” in lines three and seven of the reverse of the hymn to the creator, is tiamtu, which, as we have seen, was the name applied to the deep, upon which the babylonians believed that the earth rested, and out of which it had been brought into existence.
