Dead Men Tell Tales

by Harry Rimmer

We also note that the earliest records of Sumeria have this same incidental bearing upon certain portions of the Old Testament text.

All of the records of antiquity begin the history of man in a garden. This is of considerable significance in view of the account of Eden that is so prominently given in the record of Genesis.

Among the seals to which we shall occasionally refer and which are shown in [Plate 8], there is one from an early period in Sumeria from which we have derived considerable understanding of Sumerian beliefs. This seal shows Adam and Eve on opposite sides of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and can be nothing less than a direct reference to the event that is recorded in the Book of Genesis.

One of the most constantly cited documents of antiquity, is the so-called Gilgamesh epic. The high antiquity of the original form in which this occurs may be seen from the fact that many of the seals that go as far back as the year 3,000 B. C. are made of illustrations of the various episodes that are contained in this valuable document. The original home of Gilgamesh seems to have been at Erech. The city was evidently besieged by an army led by Gilgamesh, who, after a three-year war, became the king of the city. So harsh was the despotic rule of the conquering monarch that the people petitioned the goddess Aruru to create a being strong enough to overthrow Gilgamesh and release them from his sway.

Some of the gods joined in with this prayer and as a result a mythical being, partly divine, partly human, and partly animal, was created and dispatched to Erech for the destruction of Gilgamesh. This composite hero bears a great many different names, but the earliest accepted form in the Babylonian account was Enkedu. Gilgamesh, learning that an enemy had been created for his destruction, exercised craft and lured Enkedu to the city of Erech. The two became fast friends and set out finally to do battle with a mighty giant named Khumbaba. When they arrived at his castle, they besieged and captured the stronghold of the giant, whom they slew. They carried off his head as a trophy and returned to Erech to celebrate their victory.

The plan of the gods being thus frustrated, the goddess Ishtar besought her father Anu to create a mighty bull to destroy Gilgamesh. The bull being formed and dispatched upon its duty, also failed of its purpose when Enkedu and Gilgamesh vanquished the animal after a tremendous battle. And so on, the story goes with episode after episode, culminating with a crisis in the account of the deluge.

In this climax, in a notable and fascinating manner, we see again the coincidence of tradition with a record of the Scripture. In the Babylonian account of the deluge, every major premise of the Mosaic record is sustained in its entirety. The Gilgamesh account tells of the heavenly warning, it depicts the gathering of material and the building of an ark. In the ark was safely carried the hero, his wife and his family with certain beasts of the earth for seed. The ark of the Gilgamesh episode was made water tight with bitumen exactly as was the ark of Noah in the record in the Book of Genesis. Entering this ark, the Babylonian account tells how the boat came under the direct supervision of the gods. On the same night a mighty torrent fell out of the skies. The cloudburst continued for six days and nights, until the tops of the mountains were covered. The sea arose out of its banks and helped to overflow the land. After the seventh day, the storm abated and the sea decreased. By that time, however, the whole human race had been destroyed with the exception of the little company who had been within the Babylonian ark.

The ark of Babylon grounded in that portion of the ancient world known as Armenia, the Hebrew name of which is Ararat. Seven days after the landing of the ark, the imprisoned remnant sent forth a dove. When she found no place to light and rest, the dove returned to the ship. They waited a short while and then sent forth a swallow. The swallow also returned, wearied from a long flight, and several more days were allowed to elapse. The next attempt to discover the condition of the earth by the imprisoned remnant resulted in the sending forth of a raven. The bird returned and approached the ark, but refused to re-enter the ship. The remnant knew then that the flood was ended. They accordingly went forth with all the redeemed life, and celebrated their preservation by offering up sacrifices to the gods upon the mountains.

The goddess Ishtar was so pleased with the sacrifice of the godly remnant that she hung in the heavens a great bow, which Anu, the father of the gods, had made for the occasion. She swore by the sacred ornaments that hung about her neck that mankind should not again be destroyed by a flood, and this heavenly bow was the sign of that covenant.

The incidental details which are found in this hoary manuscript coincide too closely with the record of Genesis to admit of coincidence. Archeology has brought no stronger testimony to the historicity of the Mosaic record of the deluge than this great account in the Gilgamesh epic, although interspersed with mythological characters and deviating from the simplicity of the Genesis account.