notices of genesis.—correspondence of names.—abram.—ur of chaldees.—ishmael.—sargon of agané.—his birth.—concealed in ark.—creation.—garden of eden.—oannes.—berosus.—izdubar legends.—babylonian seals.—egyptian names.—assyrian sculptures.

cattered through various cuneiform inscriptions are other notices, names, or passages, connected with the book of genesis. although the names of the genesis patriarchs are not in the inscriptions which give the history of the mythical period, nevertheless some of the patriarchal names of genesis are found here and there in the inscriptions.

the name adam is in the creation legends, but only in a general sense as man, as in gen. i. 26, 27, 28.; v. 1, not as a proper name. several of the other names of antediluvian patriarchs correspond with babylonian words and roots, such as methusael (gen. iv. 18), which is the assyrian mutu-sa-ili, “man of god,” and has been changed into methuselah (gen. v. 21) in order to assimilate it to the genius316 of the hebrew language, or noah, the assyrian nukhu, “rest;” but, besides these, certain names appear as proper names also in babylonia, among them cainan, lamech, and laban.

cainan is found as the name of a babylonian town kan-nan; the inhabitants of which were sometimes called kanunai, which must not be confounded with the name of the canaanites or “lowlanders,” originally the inhabitants of the coastland of ph?nicia and then, by extension, of all palestine.

lamech has already been pointed out by palmer (“egyptian chronicles,” vol. i.?p. 56), in the name of the deified ph?nician patriarch diamich; this name is found in the cuneiform texts as dumugu and lamga, two forms of the accadian name of the moon.

the two wives of lamech, adah and zillah, seem to be the assyrian edhutu or edhatu “darkness,” and tsillatu “the shades of night;” and the names of his two sons jabal and jubal are but varying forms of the assyrian abil “son.” dr. oppert long ago pointed out that this assyrian word was the origin of the name abel which has been assimilated in spelling to a hebrew word signifying “mere breath.”

some of the names of the patriarchs after the flood are found as names of towns in syria, but not in babylonia; among these are reu or ragu, serug, and harran.

laban, on the other hand, as was first noticed by dr. delitzsch, is mentioned in a list of gods given in317 a cuneiform tablet (published in the “cuneiform inscriptions of western asia,” iii. 66, 6.)

mugheir, the site of ur of the chaldees.

the name of abramu or abram is found in the assyrian inscriptions in the time of esarhaddon. after the captivity of the ten tribes, some of the israelites prospered in assyria, and rose to positions of trust in the empire. abram was one of these, he was sukulu rabu or “great attendant” of esarhaddon, and was eponym in assyria, b.c. 677. various other hebrew names are found in assyria about this time, including pekah, hoshea, and several compounded with the two divine names elohim and jehovah, showing that both these names were in use among the israelites. the presence of proper names founded on the genesis stories, like abram, and the use at this time of these forms of the divine name,318 should be taken into consideration in discussing the evidence of the antiquity of genesis.

ur, now represented by the mounds of mugheir, on the western bank of the euphrates to the south of babylon, was the capital of the earliest accadian dynasty with which we are acquainted. it was specially devoted to the worship of the moon-god, the ruins of whose temple have been discovered there. ur was the birthplace of abraham, in whom we must see one of those semitic intruders who settled among the accadians, and after adopting their culture and civilization finally succeeded in overcoming and supplanting them. it is probable that it is called ur casdim, “ur of the casdim,” in genesis only proleptically, since casdim appears to be the representative of an assyrian word meaning “conquerors”—a suitable epithet for the semitic tribes after their conquest of babylonia. the greek names chaldean and chaldea are of much later date, being derived from the kaldai, a small tribe settled on the persian gulf and first mentioned in the ninth century b.c., who under merodach-baladan (b.c. 721-709) possessed themselves of babylonia and became so integral a portion of its inhabitants as to give their name to the whole of them in classical times.

some of the genesis names are found at a comparatively early date, the first which appears on a contemporary monument being ishmael. in the reign of khammuragas among the witnesses to some319 documents at larsa in babylonia, appears a man named “abuha son of ishmael.”

after the time of abraham the book of genesis is concerned with the affairs of palestine, and of the countries in its immediate vicinity, and it has no connection with babylonian history and traditions; however, the cuneiform records contain one story which has a striking likeness to that of moses in the ark, and which, although not within the period covered by genesis, is of great interest in connection with the early history of the jews.

sargina or sargon i. was a babylonian monarch who reigned in the city of agané about b.c. 1800. the name of sargon signifies the right, true, or legitimate king, and may have been assumed on his ascending the throne. sargon was probably of obscure origin, and hence the myth that attached itself to him in later popular belief. this curious story is found on fragments of tablets from kouyunjik, and reads as follows:

1. sargina the powerful king the king of agané am i.

2. my mother was a princess, my father i did not know, a brother of my father chose the mountains.

3. in the city of azupiranu which by the side of the river euphrates is situated

4. (my) mother the princess conceived me; in an inaccessible place she brought me forth.

5. she placed me in a basket of rushes, with bitumen my exit she sealed up.

320

6. she launched me on the river which did not drown me.

7. the river carried me, to akki the irrigator it brought me.

8. akki the irrigator in tenderness of bowels lifted me up;

9. akki the irrigator as his child brought me up,

10. akki the irrigator as his woodman set me,

11. and in my woodmanship istar loved me.

12. 45? years the kingdom i ruled,

13. the people of the black heads i governed, i ..

14. over rugged countries in many chariots of bronze i rode,

15. i governed the upper countries,

16. i ruled? over the chiefs of the lower countries.

17. to the sea coast three times i advanced, dilvun (in the persian gulf) submitted,

18. durankigal bowed, &c. &c.

after this follows an address to any king who should at a later time notice the inscription.

this myth is but a repetition of the oft-told story, how the hero of noble birth is born in secret, is exposed to death, but is rescued and brought up in a humble sphere of life until the time comes when his true origin and character are revealed, and he becomes a mighty prince and conqueror. the legend was told of perseus in greece, of romulus in italy, of cyrus in persia. but just as cyrus was a real personage upon whom the legend was fastened, so too sargon was a real personage, who founded the great321 library of agané, and extended his conquests as far as the island of cyprus, which he conquered in the third year of his reign.

the most hazardous of the theories put forward in the preceding chapters is the one which identifies izdubar with nimrod, and makes him reign in the legendary period of babylonian history. this theory is founded on several plausible, but probably merely superficial grounds; and if any one accepts mr. smith’s view on the point, it will be only for similar reasons to those which caused him to propose it; namely, because, failing this, we have no clue whatever to the age and position of the most famous hero in oriental tradition.

we must never lose sight of the fact that, apart from the more perfect and main parts of these texts, both in the decipherment of the broken fragments and in the various theories projected respecting them, the assyrian scholar must change his opinions many times, and no doubt any accession of new material would change again our views respecting the parts affected by it. these theories and conclusions, however, although not always correct, have, on their way, assisted the inquiry, and have led to the more accurate knowledge of the texts; for certainly in cuneiform matters we have often had to advance through error to truth.

in adopting mr. smith’s theory for the position of nimrod, one thing is certainly clear: he is placed as low in the chronology as it is possible to make him.

322

the stories and myths given in the foregoing pages have, probably, very different values; some are genuine traditions—some compiled to account for natural phenomena, and some pure romances. at the head of their history and traditions the babylonians placed an account of the creation of the world; and, although different forms of this story were current, in certain features they all agreed. beside the account of the present animals, they related the creation of legions of monster forms which disappeared before the human epoch, and they accounted for the great problem of humanity—the presence of evil in the world—by making out that it proceeded from the original chaos, the spirit of confusion and darkness, which was the origin of all things, and which was even older than the gods.

the principal story of the creation, given in chapter v., substantially agrees, as far as it is preserved, with the biblical account. according to it, there was a chaos of watery matter before the creation, and from this all things were generated.

we have then a considerable blank, the contents of which we can only conjecture, and after this we come to the creation of the heavenly orbs.

the fifth tablet in the series relates how god created the constellations of the stars, the signs of the zodiac, the planets and other stars, the moon and the sun. after another blank we have a fragment which relates to the creation of wild and domestic animals; it is curious here that the original taming of323 domestic animals was even then so far back in the history of the race that all knowledge of it was lost, and the “animals of the city,” or domestic animals, were considered different creations from the “animals of the desert,” or “field,” or wild animals.

we next come to the war between the dragon and powers of evil, or chaos, on one side and the gods on the other. the gods have weapons forged for them, and merodach undertakes to lead the heavenly host against the dragon. the war, which is described with spirit, ends of course in the triumph of the principle of good, and the overthrow of primeval anarchy.

in chapter v. another account of the creation is given which differs materially from the first. the principal feature in the second account is the description of the eagle-headed men with their family of leaders—this legend clearly showing the origin of the eagle-headed figures represented on the assyrian sculptures.

it is probable that some of these babylonian legends contained detailed descriptions of the garden of eden, which seems to have been the district of eridu in the south of babylonia, as sir henry rawlinson believes.

there are coincidences in respect to the geography of the region and its name which render the identification very probable; of the four rivers in each case, two, the euphrates and tigris, are identical; then, again, the known fertility of the region, its name324 sometimes gan-duni, so similar to gan-eden (the garden of eden), and other considerations, all tend towards the view that it is the paradise of genesis.

there are evidences of the belief in the tree of life, which is one of the most common emblems on the seals and larger sculptures, and is even used as an ornament on dresses; a sacred tree is also several times mentioned in the legends and hymns, but at present there is no direct connection known between the tree and the fall, although the gem engravings render it very probable that there was a legend of this kind like the one in genesis.

in the history of berosus mention is made of a composite being, half man, half fish, named oannes, who was supposed to have appeared out of the sea and to have taught the babylonians all their learning. the babylonian and assyrian sculptures have made us familiar with the figure of oannes, and have so far given evidence that berosus has truly described this mythological figure; but it is a curious fact that the legend of oannes, which must have been one of the babylonian stories of the creation, has not yet been recovered. in fact, as previously noticed (p. 12), there is only one fragment which can be at all referred to it, and this has been accidentally preserved among a series of extracts from various accadian works in a bilingual reading-book compiled for the use of assyrian students of accadian. the fragment is as follows:—

oannes. from nimroud sculpture.

325

1. to the waters their god

2. has returned:

3. to the house of bright things

4. he descended (as) an icicle:

5. on a seat of snow

6. he grew not old in wisdom.

the legend of oannes, whose name may possibly be the accadian hea-khan, “hea the fish,” concerned the babylonians only, and so did not interest the assyrians, who did not care to have it in their libraries.

besides the legend of oannes, however, there are evidently many stories of early times still unknown, or only known by mere fragments or allusions.

the fables given in chapter ix. form a series quite different in character from the legends, and the only excuse for inserting them here is the need of exhibiting as clearly and fully as possible the literature of the great epoch which produced the genesis tablets.

most of the other stories apparently relate to the great period before the flood, when celestial visitors came to and from the earth, and the inhabitants of the world were very distinctly divided into the good and bad, but the stories are only fables with a moral attached, and have little connection with babylonian history.

two of these stories are very curious, and may hereafter turn out to be of great importance; one is326 the story of the sin committed by the god zu, and the other the story of atarpi.

berosus in his history has given an account of ten chaldean kings who reigned before the flood, and the close of this period is well known from the descriptions of the deluge in the bible, the deluge tablet, and the work of the greek writer. according to berosus several of the babylonian cities were built before the flood, and various arts were known, including writing. the enormous reigns given by berosus to his ten kings, making a total of 432,000 years, force us to discard the idea that the details are historical, although there may be some foundation for his statement of a civilization before the deluge. the details given in the inscriptions describing the flood leave no doubt that both the bible and the babylonian story describe the same event, and the flood becomes the starting-point for the modern world in both histories. according to berosus 86 kings reigned for 34,080 years after the flood down to the median conquest. if these kings are historical, it is doubtful if they formed a continuous line, and they could scarcely cover a longer period than 2,000 years. the median or elamite conquest took place about b.c. 2700, and, if we allow the round number 2,000 years for the previous period, it will make the flood fall about b.c. 4700. in a fragmentary inscription with a list of babylonian kings, some names are given which appear to belong to the 86 kings of berosus, but our information about this period is so scanty that nothing can be said327 about this dynasty, and a suggestion as to the date of the deluge must be received with more than the usual grain of salt.

we can see, however, that there was a civilized race in babylonia before the median conquest, the progress of which must have received a rude shock when the country was overrun by the uncivilized eastern borderers.

among the fragmentary notices of this semi-mythical period is the portion of the inscription describing the building of the tower of babel and the dispersion.

it is probable from the fragments of berosus that the incursions and dominion of the median elamites lasted about two hundred years, during which the country suffered greatly from them.

the legends of izdubar or nimrod commence with a description of the evils brought upon babylonia by foreign invasion, the conquest and sacking of the city of erech being one of the incidents in the story. izdubar, a famous hunter, who claimed descent from a long line of kings, reaching up to the time of the flood, now comes forward; he has a dream, and after much trouble a half-human creature named hea-bani is persuaded by zaidu, the hunter, and two females, to come to erech and interpret the dream of izdubar. hea-bani, having heard the fame of izdubar, brings to erech a midannu or tiger to test his strength, and izdubar slays it. after these things, izdubar and hea-bani become friends, and, having invoked the328 gods, they start to attack the tyrant khumbaba. khumbaba dwelt in a thick forest, surrounded by a wall, and here he was visited by the two friends, who slew him and carried off his spoils.

izdubar was now proclaimed king, and extended his authority over the babylonian world, his court and palace being at erech. the goddess istar, daughter of anu according to one myth, of bel according to another, of sin, the moon god, according to a third, who had loved the shepherd tammuz, the sun-god, fell in love with izdubar. he refused her offers, and the goddess, angry at his answer, ascended to heaven and petitioned her father anu to create a bull for her, to be an instrument of her vengeance. anu complied, and created the bull, on which izdubar and hea-bani collected a band of warriors and went against it. hea-bani took hold of the animal by its head and tail, while izdubar slew it.

istar on this cursed izdubar, and descended to hades to attempt once more to summon unearthly powers against the hero. she descends to the infernal regions, which are vividly described, and, passing through their seven gates, is ushered into the presence of the queen of the dead. the world of love goes wrong in the absence of istar, and on the petition of the gods she is once more brought to the earth, ultimately anatu, her mother, satisfying her vengeance by striking izdubar with a loathsome disease.

hea-bani, the friend of izdubar, is now killed, and329 izdubar, mourning his double affliction, abandons his kingdom and wanders into the desert to seek the advice of xisuthrus his ancestor, who had been translated for his piety and now dwelt with the gods.

izdubar now had a dream, and after this wandered to the region where gigantic composite monsters held and controlled the rising and setting sun: from these he learned the road to the region of the blessed, and, passing across a great waste of sand, arrived at a region where splendid trees were laden with jewels instead of fruit.

izdubar then met two females, named siduri and sabitu, after an adventure with whom he found a boatman named nes-hea, who undertook to navigate him to the region where xisuthrus dwelt.

coming near the dwelling of the blessed, he found it surrounded by the waters of death, which he had to cross in order to reach the land of which he was in search.

on arriving at the other side, izdubar was met by mu-seri-ina-namari, “the waters of dawn at daybreak,” who engaged him in conversation about hea-bani, and then xisuthrus, taking up the conversation, described to him the deluge. izdubar was afterwards cured of his illness and returned with nes-hea to erech, where he mourned anew for his friend hea-bani, and on intercession with the gods the ghost of hea-bani arose from the ground where the body had lain.

330

the details of this story, and especially the accounts of the regions inhabited by the dead, are very striking, and illustrate, in a wonderful manner, the religious views of the people.

it is worth while here to pause, and consider the evidence of the existence of the legends recounted in the preceding pages from the close of the mythical period down to the seventh century b.c.

we have first the seals: of these there are some hundreds in european museums, and among the earliest are many specimens carved with scenes from the genesis legends; some of these are a good deal older than b.c. 2000, others may be ranged at various dates down to b.c. 1500.

with three exceptions, which are of assyrian origin, all the seals engraved in the present volume are babylonian. one very fine and early example is photographed as the frontispiece of the book. the character and style of the cuneiform legend which accompanies this shows it to be one of the most ancient specimens; it is engraved on a hard jasper cylinder in bold style, and is a remarkable example of early babylonian art. many other similar cylinders of the same period are known; the relief on them is bolder than on the later seals, on which from about b.c. 1600 or 1700, a change in the inscriptions becomes general.

the numerous illustrations to the present work, which have been collected from these early babylonian seals, will serve to show that the legends331 were well known, and formed part of the literature of the country before the second millennium b.c.

after b.c. 1500, the literature of babylonia is unknown, and we lose sight of all evidence of its legends for some centuries. in the meantime egypt supplies a few notices bearing on the subject, which serve to show that knowledge of them was still kept up. nearly thirteen hundred years before the christian era one of the egyptian poems likens a hero to the assyrian chief, kazartu, a great hunter. kazartu probably means a “strong” or “powerful” one, and it has already been suggested that the reference is to the hero nimrod. a little later, in the period extending from b.c. 1000 to 800, we have in egypt several persons named namurot, which seems to be an echo of the name of the mighty hunter.

on the revival of the assyrian empire, about b.c. 990, we come again to numerous references to the genesis legends, and these continue through almost every reign down to the close of the empire. the assyrians carved the sacred tree and cherubim on their walls, they depicted in the temples the struggle between merodach and the dragon, they decorated their portals with the figure of izdubar strangling a lion, and carved the struggles of izdubar and hea-bani with the lion and the bull even on their stone vases.

just as the sculptures of the greek temples, the paintings on the vases and the carving on their gems332 were taken from their myths and legends, so the series of myths and legends belonging to the valley of the euphrates furnished materials for the sculptor, the engraver, and the painter, among the ancient babylonians and assyrians.

in this way we have continued evidence of the existence of these legends down to the time of assur-bani-pal, b.c. 673 to 626, who caused the present known copies to be made for his library at nineveh.

search in babylonia would, no doubt, yield much earlier copies of all these works, but that search has not yet been instituted, and for the present we have to be contented with our assyrian copies. looking, however, at the world-wide interest of the subjects, and at the important evidence which perfect copies of these works would undoubtedly give, there can be no doubt that further progress will be made in research and discovery, and that all that is here written will one day be superseded by newer texts and fuller and more perfect light.

the end