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.
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
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 of 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?”