the exploits of dibbara.

dibbara.—god of pestilence.—itak.—the plague.—seven warrior gods.—destruction of people.—anu.—goddess of karrak.—speech of bel.—sin and destruction of babylonians.—samas.—sin and destruction of erech.—istar.—the great god and duran.—cutha.—internal wars.—itak goes to syria.—power and glory of dibbara.—song of dibbara.—blessings on his worship.—god ner.—prayer to arrest the plague.—antiquity of the legend.—itak.

he tablets recording this story are five in number, but a few fragments only of them have as yet been found. from the indications presented by these fragments the first four tablets seem each to have had four columns of writing, while the fifth tablet was a smaller one of two columns containing the remainder of the story.

the god whose exploits are principally recorded was the leader of the plague-demons, and bears the name of dibbara. he has the title of “the darkening one,” which recalls the passage in psalm xci. 6, “the pestilence that walketh in darkness.”

he has a companion deity named itak who marches126 before him, and seven gods who follow him in his destructive course. the latter are the seven evil spirits in a new form.

the point of the story in these tablets appears to be, that the people of the world had offended anu the god of heaven, and accordingly that deity ordered dibbara to go forth and strike the people with the pest. it is evident here that exactly the same views prevailed in babylonia as among the jews, visitations from pestilence or famine being always supposed to be sent by the deity in punishment for some sin. in fact, the account of the pestilence inflicted upon the israelites on account of david’s sin in numbering the people is a striking parallel to the accadian legend which follows. the angel of the pestilence seen by david, with his sword drawn, may be compared with dibbara, the accadian personification of the pest.

the whole of this series of tablets may be described as a poetical picture of the destruction caused by a plague, sweeping over district after district, and destroying everything before it.

the fragment which appears to come first in the series is a very mutilated portion of a tablet, containing parts of three columns of writing. only a fragment of the first column is perfect enough to translate, and the characters on this are so worn that the translation cannot be other than doubtful. it seems to read

1. against the paling he struck and ....

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2. the fifth time he smote (?) above and below seeking .....

3. seven ......

4. the words of the account of the seven gods all of them anu had heard.

5. he .... them also to dibbara the warrior of the gods: may thy hands go

5(sic.). whenever the people of the nations their shame [or alliance] have destroyed.

7. i have set thy heart also to make darkness.

8. the people of the black heads to ruin thou shalt strike with the desolation of the god ner;

9. may thy weapons (overthrow) them, and may thy hands go.

10. as for them ..... their weapons.

11. he said to dibbara: ......

the speech of anu which follows is written in characters so broken and indistinct as to make any attempt at translation impossible.

the next fragment is of a different character, but appears from its style to belong to the same series.

1. .... he ....

2. .. spake to him and he explained (?) ....

3. .. spake to him and he learned (?) ....

4. anu at the doing of hea shouted for joy and ....

5. the gods of heaven and earth as many as exist whosoever thus answered;

6. his command which was like the command of anu whosoever appointed

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7. .... extending from the horizon of heaven to the top of heaven

8. .... he looked and his fear he saw

9. .... anu who .... over him .... made

10. .... of hea his calamity (?) made

11. .... a fierce lord to later days to ....

12. .... seed of mankind

13. .... triumphantly the net (?) .. he broke

14. .... to heaven he had ascended, she thus

15. .... 4,021 people he had placed

16. .... the illness which was on the body of the people he had placed

17. .... the illness the goddess of karrak made to cease.

the next portion of the legend is a considerable part of one of the tablets, probably the fourth, all four columns of writing being represented. there are many curious points in this tablet, beside the special purpose of the legend, such as the peoples enumerated in the fourth column, the action of the gods of the various cities, &c.

column i.

1. bel .... his yokes and

2. (in his) heart he says:

3. dibbara is crouching at his gate, among the corpses of chiefs and slaves;

4. dibbara is crouching at his gate; thou knowest his seat.

5. babylon their foes besieged, and

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6. their curse art thou.

7. to the floor thou didst trample them and thou didst make a passage,

8. o warrior dibbara.

9. thou didst leave the land, thou didst go forth against others;

10. the destruction of the nobles wast thou made, and thou didst descend into the palace.

11. the people also saw thee; their weapons were shattered.

12. the high priest the avenger of babylon sets his heart,

13. when the ranks of the enemies to spoil he urges on his soldiers.

14. before the face of the people they did evil.

15. to that city whither i shall send thee, thou a man

16. shalt not fear, shalt not respect a man.

17. small and great as one man cast down and

18. of that evil race thou shalt not save any one.

19. the collection of the goods of babylon thou spoilest;

20. the people of the king (which) is gathered together, and entered into the city,

21. shaking the bow, planting the sword (?)

22. of the soldiers the help, the transgression (transgressors) against anu and dagon,

23. their weapons thou plantest,

24. their corpses like the pouring down of rain thou dost cast down in the streets of the city,

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25. and their treasures (?) thou openest, and dost sweep into the river.

26. the spell merodach saw and angrily (?) spoke,

27. his heart was taken,

28. an unsparing curse in his mouth was formed,

29. .... the river he did not ....

column ii.

many lines lost.

1. .... that city which the lord of the earth ...

2. a whirlwind he did not (make) ....

3. without samas his tower thou crossest, the land thou givest (?)

4. of erech the seat of anu and istar,

5. the city of (the handmaids) samkhati and kharimati, the choirs of

6. istar. death they fear (and) they are delivered into thy hands (?).

7. the suti (arab nomads) with the suti are placed in ....

8. they are slain; the temple of anu the priests, the festival makers,

9. who, to make the people of istar worship, their manhood devoted,

10. carrying swords, carrying razors, dupe, and knives,

11. who to rejoice the glory of istar trusted,

12. o fierce high priest, the bowing-down of the face over them thou hast made.

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13. their foundations also, their shrines ....

14. istar cried out and was troubled over the city of erech,

15. the enemy she strikes and like corn on the face of the waters she scatters.

16. dwelling in his .... bit-parra ....

17. ... she rests not from the war.

18. the enemy whom thou hast stricken obeys not ....

19. the great god answered the speech:

20. the city of duran to streams of blood ....

21. the people who dwell in the midst of it like reeds (are trembling);

22. .... before the waters their alliance ....

23. and ... thou dost not ....

24. to the suti ........

25. i in my city duran judge uprightly

26. i do not ........

27. evil (?) i do not give and ....

28. the upright people i leave ....

five other broken lines.

column iii.

many lines lost.

1. .... the house he had built ....

2. this he did, and i ....

3. the day he brought me my fate i ....

4. him, his camp (?) also he caused to destroy ..

5. afterwards may they destroy, and to another

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6. o warrior dibbara, the established also in gutium,

7. the unestablished also in gutium,

8. who sin against thee also in gutium,

9. who do not sin against thee also in gutium,

10. .... the destroyer (?) of the clothes of the god of gutium,

11. .... the mover of the head of the king.

two other mutilated lines.

column iv.

1. may the planet mercury cause his splendour to wane;

2. to his resolutions (?) is he bound:

3. he rejoices not the mouth of his (worshippers)

4. who the structure .......

5. to the seat of the king of the gods may he urge and ....

6. the warrior dibbara heard it also,

7. the word (which) the god itak spake to him ..

8. and thus spake the warrior dibbara:

9. sea against sea, subartu (syria) against subartu, assyria against assyria,

10. elam against elam,

11. koss?an against koss?an,

12. sutu against sutu,

13. gutium against gutium,

14. lullubu against lullubu,

15. country against country, house against house, man against man,

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16. brother against brother also, may they destroy each other,

17. and afterwards may accad come and

18. the whole of them destroy, and fight against them.

19. the warrior dibbara to itak who goes before him a word speaks:

20. go also itak, in the word thou hast spoken do according to all thy heart.

21. itak against the land of khikhi (ph?nicia) set his face,

22. and the seven warrior gods unequalled

23. marched after him.

24. to the country of khikhi to the mountains the warrior went,

25. his hand he also lifted and destroyed the land,

26. the land of khikhi he counted as his own country.

the next fragments of the story are on a mutilated copy of the last tablet, k. 1282. this tablet, as has been before stated, is only a smaller supplemental one to include the end of the story, which could not be written on the fourth tablet.

k. 1282.

obverse.

1. from dibbara ....

2. the gods all of them ....

3. the angels and spirits all ....

4. dibbara his mouth opened and ....

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5. a voice also the whole of you ....

6. i also in the first sin ....

7. in heart i cried out and ....

8. like a flock of sheep may ....

9. without the planting of boundaries against ...

10. like the spoiling of the country steadfast and ..

11. in the mouth of the high noble ....

12. and the place ....

fifteen lines much broken here.

28. .... the land of accad its strength ....

29. may one slay seven like ....

30. his cities to ruins and mounds thou dost reduce ....

31. his great spoil thou dost spoil, to the midst of ....

32. the gods of the country .... thou removest afar off ....

33. the god ner and the god serakh thou directedst ....

34. the countries their productions, the sea thou ..

35. its interior they destroyed ....

four mutilated lines here.

reverse.

1. for years untold the glory of the great lord the god ....

2. when dibbara had cried out and to sweep the countries ....

3. had set his face

4. itak his adviser had quieted him and stayed ...

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5. gathering together his forces to the glorious one of the gods, merodach the son of (hea).

6. in the hour of night he sent him, and when in the year ....

7. not any one ....

8. .... and sent not down against ....

9. his .... also dibbara received before ....

10. .... itak who goes before him, the illustrious god ....

11. are all of them laid with him.

12. any one who speaks of the warrior dibbara

13. and that song shall glorify, in his place thou wilt keep (his) canals,

14. .... never may he fall (?) ....

15. the heavens have caused the borders of (his) regions to increase.

16. whoever the glory of my heroism shall recount,

17. an adversary never may he have.

18. the musician who shall sing, shall not die by the chastisement;

19. higher than king and prince may that man ascend.

20. the tablet writer who studies it (and) flees from the hostile, shall be great in the land.

21. if in the places of the people, the established place, my name they proclaim,

22. their ears i open.

23. in the house, the place where their goods are placed, if i dibbara am angry

24. may the seven gods turn him aside,

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25. may the chastising sword not touch him whose face thou establishest.

26. that song for ever may they establish and may they fix the part ....

27. may all the world hear, and glorify my heroism;

28. may the men of all nations see, and exalt my name.

fifth tablet of the exploits of the god (dibbara).

here we see a picture of oriental feeling with reference to natural phenomenon or disaster to mankind. it is supposed that some deity or angel stands with a sword over the devoted people and sweeps them into eternity.

the first fragment shows the anger of anu at the sin of some doomed race, and his command to dibbara to take his weapon, slay the people, and desolate the land like the god ner. this god ner was one of the mythical kings of babylon who reigned after the flood, and is mentioned as having a terrible name and being with etana a dweller in hades. the allusion to him in this passage seems to imply that he was believed to have once rescued babylon from a hostile attack.

the next fragment exhibits the goddess of karrak as healing the illness of some of the people, 4,102 being mentioned as struck with disease.

in the next and largest fragment the story becomes a little more connected; it commences with a description of preparation for battle, and goes on through137 speeches and actions to describe the course of dibbara and his plague that he inflicts upon babylon, and its besiegers where he spares neither chief nor slave, and enters even the palace. it would seem that the sin of the babylonians arose from the chief priest or governor of the city arming the troops and sending them out to plunder the enemy. for this the plague is sent, and its progress is graphically described. merodach the special protector of babylon at last interferes, and the god of pestilence is checked in his course. the next city visited belongs to samas, being either larsa, or sippara, and then the plague reaches erech. the character of this city is described, the worship of venus, with her handmaids samkhati and kharimati, or “joy” and “seduction,” the priests and ceremonies, and the progress of the plague over the place. then the great god the deity of duran comes forward and pleads for his city, calling to mind its uprightness and justice, and praying for its exemption from the plague.

in the third column mention is made of gutium, under which name the accadians designated the whole tract of country which extended from the tigris to the eastern borders of media, including the district afterwards known as assyria. the land of nizir, in which rose the mountain of elwend, on the top of which the accadians supposed the ark to have rested, also formed part of this vast tract. sir henry rawlinson long ago pointed out that gutium must be the goyim of the 14th chapter of genesis, ruled by138 tidal, or rather, according to the reading of the septuagint, tur-gal “the great son.”

the fourth column next describes a prophecy of dibbara that there should be internal war among the peoples of the persian gulf, of syria, assyria, elam, gutium, lullubu and the koss?ans, from all which troubles benefit should come to the accadians or northern babylonians. the koss?ans or cassi inhabited the northern part of elam, and under khammuragas conquered babylonia and founded there a dynasty which lasted a long time. lullubu lay northward of mesopotamia and nizir.

then according to his wish dibbara sends the god itak his servant, with the seven warrior gods, to devastate, and itak sweeps over the country and destroys it.17

the last tablet deals in generalities pointing out the action of dibbara when his praise was neglected, and telling all the glories and good that should come to those who should celebrate this deity in song. on the spread of a plague it is evident that the babylonians had no better means of arresting it than to pray and praise the supposed terrible deity of the scourge, that he might sheathe his sword of anger.

the antiquity of the legend is evident from the139 geographical names which occur in it. a geographical list which seems based on an accadian original is the only other document which speaks of ph?nicia, or rather a part of ph?nicia, under the name of khikhi; and the fact that no reference is made to the hittites shows that the poem is earlier than the sixteenth century b.c., when the hittites first rose into power in western asia. subartu is derived from the accadian subar “high,” applied by the accadians to the highlands of aram or syria.