Legends of Babylon and Egypt in Relation to Hebrew Tradition

by L. W. King

(1) Cf. also Jastrow, Hebr. and Bab. Trad., p. 336.
(2) Gilg. Epic, XI, l. 123.

Another feature in which the two versions differ is that in the Sumerian text the lamentation of the goddess precedes the sending of the Deluge, while in the Gilgamesh Epic it is occasioned by the actual advent of the storm. Since our text is not completely preserved, it is just possible that the couplet was repeated at the end of the Fourth Column after mankind's destruction had taken place. But a further apparent difference has been noted. While in the Sumerian Version the goddess at once deplores the divine decision, it is clear from Ishtar's words in the Gilgamesh Epic that in the assembly of the gods she had at any rate concurred in it.(1) On the other hand, in Bêlit-ili's later speech in the Epic, after Ut-napishtim's sacrifice upon the mountain, she appears to subscribe the decision to Enlil alone.(2) The passages in the Gilgamesh Epic are not really contradictory, for they can be interpreted as implying that, while Enlil forced his will upon the other gods against Bêlit-ili's protest, the goddess at first reproached herself with her concurrence, and later stigmatized Enlil as the real author of the catastrophe. The Semitic narrative thus does not appear, as has been suggested, to betray traces of two variant traditions which have been skilfully combined, though it may perhaps exhibit an expansion of the Sumerian story. On the other hand, most of the apparent discrepancies between the Sumerian and Babylonian Versions disappear, on the recognition that our text gives in many passages only an epitome of the original Sumerian Version.

(1) Cf. l. 121 f., "Since I commanded evil in the assembly
of the gods, (and) commanded battle for the destruction of
my people".
(2) Cf. ll. 165 ff., "Ye gods that are here! So long as I
forget not the (jewels of) lapis lazuli upon my neck, I will
keep these days in my memory, never will I forget them! Let
the gods come to the offering, but let not Enlil come to the
offering, since he took not counsel but sent the deluge and
surrendered my people to destruction."

The lament of the goddess is followed by a brief account of the action taken by the other chief figures in the drama. Enki holds counsel with his own heart, evidently devising the project, which he afterwards carried into effect, of preserving the seed of mankind from destruction. Since the verb in the following line is wanting, we do not know what action is there recorded of the four creating deities; but the fact that the gods of heaven and earth invoked the name of Anu and Enlil suggests that it was their will which had been forced upon the other gods. We shall see that throughout the text Anu and Enlil are the ultimate rulers of both gods and men.

The narrative then introduces the human hero of the Deluge story:

At that time Ziusudu, the king, . . . priest of the god (. . .),
Made a very great . . ., (. . .).
In humility he prostrates himself, in reverence (. . .),
Daily he stands in attendance (. . .).
A dream,(1) such as had not been before, comes forth(2) . . .
(. . .),
By the Name of Heaven and Earth he conjures (. . .).
(1) The word may also be rendered "dreams".
(2) For this rendering of the verb e-de, for which Dr.
Poebel does not hazard a translation, see Rawlinson,
W.A.I., IV, pl. 26, l. 24 f.(a), nu-e-de = Sem. la us-
su-u (Pres.); and cf. Brünnow, Classified List, p. 327.
An alternative rendering "is created" is also possible, and
would give equally good sense; cf. nu-e-de = Sem. la su-
pu-u, W.A.I., IV, pl. 2, l. 5 (a), and Brünnow, op. cit.,
p. 328.

The name of the hero, Ziusudu, is the fuller Sumerian equivalent of Ut-napishtim (or Uta-napishtim), the abbreviated Semitic form which we find in the Gilgamesh Epic. For not only are the first two elements of the Sumerian name identical with those of the Semitic Ut-napishtim, but the names themselves are equated in a later Babylonian syllabary or explanatory list of words.(1) We there find "Ut-napishte" given as the equivalent of the Sumerian "Zisuda", evidently an abbreviated form of the name Ziusudu;(2) and it is significant that the names occur in the syllabary between those of Gilgamesh and Enkidu, evidently in consequence of the association of the Deluge story by the Babylonians with their national epic of Gilgamesh. The name Ziusudu may be rendered "He who lengthened the day of life" or "He who made life long of days",(3) which in the Semitic form is abbreviated by the omission of the verb. The reference is probably to the immortality bestowed upon Ziusudu at the close of the story, and not to the prolongation of mankind's existence in which he was instrumental. It is scarcely necessary to add that the name has no linguistic connexion with the Hebrew name Noah, to which it also presents no parallel in meaning.

(1) Cf. Cun. Texts in the Brit. Mus., Pt. XVIII, pl. 30,
l. 9 (a).
(2) The name in the Sumerian Version is read by Dr. Poebel
as Ziugiddu, but there is much in favour of Prof. Zimmern's
suggestion, based on the form Zisuda, that the third
syllable of the name should be read as su. On a fragment
of another Nippur text, No. 4611, Dr. Langdon reads the name
as Zi-u-sud-du (cf. Univ. of Penns. Mus. Publ., Bab. Sec.,
Vol. X, No. 1, p. 90, pl. iv a); the presence of the
phonetic complement du may be cited in favour of this
reading, but it does not appear to be supported by the
photographic reproductions of the name in the Sumerian
Deluge Version given by Dr. Poebel (Hist. and Gramm.
Texts, pl. lxxxviii f.). It may be added that, on either
alternative, the meaning of the name is the same.
(3) The meaning of the Sumerian element u in the name,
rendered as utu in the Semitic form, is rather obscure,
and Dr. Poebel left it unexplained. It is very probable, as
suggested by Dr. Langdon (cf. Proc. Soc. Bibl. Arch.,
XXXVI, 1914, p. 190), that we should connect it with the
Semitic uddu; in that case, in place of "breath", the
rending he suggests, I should be inclined to render it here
as "day", for uddu as the meaning "dawn" and the sign UD
is employed both for urru, "day-light", and ûmu, "day".

It is an interesting fact that Ziusudu should be described simply as "the king", without any indication of the city or area he ruled; and in three of the five other passages in the text in which his name is mentioned it is followed by the same title without qualification. In most cases Berossus tells us the cities from which his Antediluvian rulers came; and if the end of the line had been preserved it might have been possible to determine definitely Ziusudu's city, and incidentally the scene of the Deluge in the Sumerian Version, by the name of the deity in whose service he acted as priest. We have already noted some grounds for believing that his city may have been Shuruppak, as in the Babylonian Version; and if that were so, the divine name reads as "the God of Shurrupak" should probably be restored at the end of the line.(1)

(1) The remains that are preserved of the determinative,
which is not combined with the sign EN, proves that Enki's
name is not to be restored. Hence Ziusudu was not priest of
Enki, and his city was probably not Eridu, the seat of his
divine friend and counsellor, and the first of the
Antediluvian cities. Sufficient reason for Enki's
intervention on Ziusudu's behalf is furnished by the fact
that, as God of the Deep, he was concerned in the proposed
method of man's destruction. His rivalry of Enlil, the God
of the Earth, is implied in the Babylonian Version (cf.
Gilg. Epic. XI, ll. 39-42), and in the Sumerian Version this
would naturally extend to Anu, the God of Heaven.