Column V.
- 1. like a good prince who ....
- 2. like ....
Here there are about thirty lines missing, the story recommencing with Column VI., which is perfect.
Column VI.
- 1. On a couch he reclines and
- 2. pure water drinks.
- 3. He who in battle is slain, thou seest and I see.
- 4. His father (and) his mother (support) his head,
- 5. (and) his wife addresses the corpse.
- 6. His friends in the field (are standing),
- 7. thou seest and I see.
- 8. His spoil on the ground is uncovered,
- 9. of his spoil he has no oversight.
- 10. Thou seest and I see.
- 11. His tender orphans long for bread; the food
- 12. which in the tents is placed is eaten.
—–———–———–———– - 13. The twelfth tablet of the legends of Izdubar.
- 14. Like the ancient copy written and made clear.
Xisuthrus or Noah and Izdubar; from an Early Babylonian Cylinder.
This passage closes the great Epic of the ancient Chaldeans, which even in its present mutilated form is of the greatest importance in relation to the civilization, manners, and customs of that early people. The main feature in this part of the Izdubar legends is the description of the Flood in the eleventh tablet, which evidently refers to the same event as the Flood of Noah in Genesis.
The episode of the Flood has been introduced into the Izdubar Epic in accordance with the principle upon which it has been formed. The eleventh tablet or book answers to the sign of Aquarius and the month called “the rainy” by the Accadians, and it was therefore rightly occupied by the story of the Flood. The compiler of the Epic seems to have used for this purpose two independent poems relating to the event; at least it is otherwise difficult to account for the repetitions observable in certain lines which sometimes differ slightly from one another, as well as for certain inconsistencies which the skill of the compiler has not been able entirely to remove. Thus according to I. 13, the Deluge was caused by all “the great gods;” according to II. 30, by Samas only; according to IV. 4, 5, by Bel. There is little doubt that many independent versions of the history of the Deluge were current in a poetical form; indeed, a fragment of one of these, containing the original Accadian text along with the Assyrian translation has been preserved, and the version found in Berosus differs in several notable points from the version embodied in the great Chaldean Epic.
The fragment of the variant version of which the Accadian text has been preserved is as follows:—