The Babylonian Story of the Deluge and the Epic of
Gilgamish
by E.A. Wallis Budge
[1929]
THIS brochure, The Babylonian Story of the Deluge
and the Epic of Gilgamish, was originally written by the late
Keeper of the Department, SIR ERNEST WALLIS BUDGE, LITT.D., F.S.A.
It is now re-issued in a revised form, rendered necessary by
the march of discovery in Babylonian matters during the last
few years. The work of revision has been carried out by Mr. C.
J. GADD, M.A., F.S.A., Assistant-Keeper in the Department.
H. R. HALL.
DEPARTMENT OF EGYPTIAN AND ASSYRIAN ANTIQUITIES, BRITISH
MUSEUM,
15th October, 1929.
THE BABYLONIAN STORY OF THE DELUGE AS TOLD BY ASSYRIAN
TABLETS FROM NINEVEH.
THE DISCOVERY OF THE TABLETS AT NINEVEH BY LAYARD,
RASSAM AND SMITH.
IN 1845-47, and again in 1849-51, Mr. (later Sir) A. H. Layard
carried out a series of excavations among the ruins of the ancient
city of Nineveh, "that great city, wherein are more than
sixteen thousand persons that cannot discern between their right
hand and their left; and also much cattle" (Jonah
iv, ii). Its ruins lie on the left or east bank of the Tigris,
exactly opposite the town of At-Mawsil, or Môsul, which
was founded by the Sassanians and marks the site of Western Nineveh.
At first Layard thought that these ruins were not those of Nineveh,
which he placed at Nimrûd, about 20 miles downstream, but
of one of the other cities that were builded by Asshur (see
Gen. X, 11, 12). Thanks, however, to Christian, Roman and Muhammadan
tradition, there is no room for doubt about it, and the site
of Nineveh has always been known. The fortress which the Arabs
built there in the seventh century was known as "Kal'at
Ninawï," i.e., "Nineveh Castle," for
many centuries, and all the Arab geographers agree in saying
that the mounds opposite Môsul contain the ruins of the
palaces and walls of Nineveh. And few of them fail to mention
that close by them is "Tall Nabi Yûnis," i.e.,
the Hill from which the Prophet Jonah preached repentance to
the inhabitants of Nineveh, that "exceeding great city of
three days' journey" (Jonah iii, 3). Local tradition also
declares that the prophet was buried in the Hill, and his supposed
tomb is shown there to this day.
THE WALLS AND PALACES OF NINEVEH.
The situation of the ruins of the palaces of Nineveh is well
shown by the accompanying reproduction of the plan of
{p. 2}
the city made by Commander Felix Jones, I.N. The remains of
the older palaces built by Sargon II (B.C. 722-705), Sennacherib
(B.C. 705-681), and Esarhaddon (B.C. 681-669) lie under the hill
called Nabi Yûnis, and those of the palaces and other buildings
of Asshur-bani-pal (B.C. 681-626) under the mound which is known
locally as "Tall al-'Armûshîyah," i.e.,
"The "Hill of 'Armûsh," and "Kuyûnjik."
The latter name is said to be derived from two Turkish words
meaning "many sheep," in allusion to the large flocks
of sheep that find their pasture on and about the mound in the
early spring. These two great mounds lie close to the remains
of the great west wall of Nineveh, which in the time of the last
Assyrian Empire may have been washed by the waters of the river
Tigris.[1] The river Khausur, or Khoser, divides the area of
Nineveh into two parts, and passing close to the southern end
of Kuyûnjik empties itself into the Tigris. The ruins of
the walls of Nineveh show that the east wall was 16,000 feet
long, the north wall 7,000 feet long, the west wall 13,600 feet,
and the south wall 3,000 feet; its circuit was about 13,200 yards
or 71 miles.
FIRST DISCOVERY OF THE ROYAL LIBRARY AT NINEVEH.
In the spring of 1850 Layard, assisted by Mr. H. Rassam, continued
the excavation of the "South West Palace" at Kuyûnjik.
In one part of the building he found two small chambers, opening
into each other, which be called the "chamber of records,"
or "the house of the rolls." He gave them this name
because "to the height of a foot or more from the floor
they were entirely filled with inscribed baked clay tablets and
fragments of tablets. Some tablets were complete, but by far
the larger number of them had been broken up into many fragments,
probably by the falling in of the roof and upper parts of the
walls of the buildings when the city was pillaged and set on
fire by the Medes and Babylonians. The tablets that were kept
in these chambers numbered many thousands. Besides those that
were found in them by Layard, large numbers have been dug out
all along
[1. It has recently been suggested, as a result of careful
examination of the site, that the Tigris never actually flowed
under the city wall. (R. C. Thompson, A Century of Exploration
at Nineveh, p. 122 ff.)]
{p. 4}
the corridor which passed the chambers and led to the river,
and a considerable number were kicked on to the river front by
the feet of the terrified fugitives from the palace when it was
set on fire. The tablets found by Layard were of different sizes;
the largest were rectangular, flat on one side and convex on
the other, and measured about 9 ins. by 6½ ins., and the
smallest were about an inch square. The importance of this "find"
was not sufficiently recognized at the time, for the tablets,
which were thought to be decorated pottery, were thrown into
baskets and sent down the river loose on rafts to Basrah, whence
they were despatched to England on a British
{p. 6}
man-of-war. During their transport from Nineveh to England
they suffered more damage from want of packing than they had
suffered from the wrath of the Medes. Among the complete tablets
that were found in the two chambers several had colophons inscribed
or scratched upon them, and when these were deciphered by Rawlinson,
Hincks and Oppert a few years later, it became evident that they
had formed part of the Library of the TEMPLE OF NEBO AT NINEVEH.
NEBO AND HIS LIBRARY AT NINEVEH.
Nothing is known of the early history of the Library[1] of
the Temple of Nebo at Nineveh, but there is little doubt that
it was in existence in the reign of Sargon II. Authorities differ
in their estimate of the attributes that were assigned to Nebo
(Nabu) in Pre-Babylonian times, and "cannot decide
whether he was a water-god, or a fire-god, or a corn-god, but
he was undoubtedly associated with Marduk, either as his son
or as a fellow-god. It is certain that as early as B.C. 2000
he was regarded as one of the "Great Gods" of Babylonia,
and in the fourteenth century B.C. his cult was already established
in Assyria. He had a temple at Nimrûd in the ninth century
B.C., and King Adad-nirari (B.C. 811-783) set up six statues
in it to the honour of the god; two of these statues are now
in the British Museum. The same Adad-nirari also repaired the
Nebo temple at Nineveh. Under the last Assyrian Empire Nebo was
believed to possess the wisdom of all the gods, and to be the
"All-wise " and "All-knowing." He was the
inventor of all the arts and sciences, and the source of inspiration
in wise and learned men, and he was the divine scribe and past
master of all the mysteries connected with literature and the
art of writing (dup-sharrute). Ashur-bani-pal addresses
him as "Nebo, the mighty son, the director of the whole
of heaven and of earth, holder of the tablet, bearer of the writing-reed
of the tablet of destiny, lengthener of days, vivifier of the
dead, stablisher of light for the men who are troubled"
(see Tablet, RM. 132).
[1. A group of Sumerian signs for "library"
is ### (girginakku), and these seem to mean "collection
of tablets."]
{p. 7}
In the reign of Sargon II the Temple of Nebo at Kuyûnjik[1]
was repaired, and probably at that time a library was housed
in it. Layard found some of the remains of Nebo's Library in
the South West Palace, but it must have been transferred thither,
for the temple of Nebo lay farther north, near the south comer
of Ashur-bani-pal's palace. Nebo's temple at Nineveh bore the
same name as his very ancient temple at Borsippa (the modem Birs-i-Nimrûd),
viz., "E-ZIDA."
DISCOVERY OF THE PALACE LIBRARY OF ASHUR-BANI-PAL.
In the spring of 1851 Layard was obliged to close his excavations
for want of funds, and he returned to England with Rassam, leaving
all the northern half of the great mound of Kuyûnjik unexcavated.
He resigned his position as Director of Excavations to the Trustees
of the British Museum, and Colonel (later Sir) H. C. Rawlinson,
Consul-General at Baghdâd, undertook to direct any further
excavations that it might be possible to carry out later on.
During the summer the Trustees received a further grant from
Parliament for excavations in Assyria, and they dispatched Rassam
to finish the exploration of Kuyûnjik, knowing that the
lease of the mound of Kuyûnjik for excavation purposes
which he had obtained from its owner had several years to run.
When Rassam arrived at Môsul in 1852, and was collecting
his men for work, he discovered that Rawlinson, who knew nothing
about the lease of the mound which Rassam held, had given the
French Consul, M. Place, permission to excavate the northern
half of the mound, i.e., that part of it which he was
most anxious to excavate for the British Museum. He protested,
but in vain, and, finding that M. Place intended to hold Rawlinson
to his word, devoted himself to clearing out part of the South
West Palace which Layard had attacked in 1850. Meanwhile M. Place
was busily occupied with the French excavations at Khorsabad,
a mound which contained the ruins of the great palace of Sargon
II, and had no time to open up excavations at Kuyûnjik.
In this way a year passed, and as M. Place made no sign that
he was going to excavate at Kuyûnjik, and Rassam's time
for
[1. For a description of the ruins of this temple, see R.
C. Thompson, A Century of Exploration at Nineveh, pp.
67-79.]
{p. 13}
returning to England was drawing near, the owner of the mound,
who was anxious to get the excavations finished so that he might
again graze his flocks on the mound, urged Rassam to get to work
in spite of Rawlinson's agreement with M. Place. He and Rassam
made arrangements to excavate the northern part of the mound
clandestinely and by night, and on 20th December, 1853, the work
began. On the first night nothing of importance was found; on
the second night the men uncovered a portion of a large bas-relief;
and on the third night a huge mass of earth collapsed revealing
a very fine bas-relief, sculptured with a scene representing
Ashur-bani-pal standing in his chariot. The news of the discovery
was quickly carried to all parts of the neighbourhood, and as
it was impossible to keep the diggings secret any longer, the
work was continued openly and by day. The last-mentioned bas-relief
was one of the series that lined the chamber, which was 50 feet
long and 15 feet wide, and illustrated a royal lion hunt. This
series, that is to say, all of it that the fire which destroyed
the palace had spared, is now in the British Museum (see the
Gallery of the Assyrian Saloon).
Whilst the workmen were clearing out the Chamber of the Lion
Hunt they came across several heaps of inscribed baked clay tablets
of "all shapes and sizes," which resembled in general
appearance the tablets that Layard had found in the South West
Palace the year before. There were no remains with them, or near
them, that suggested they had been arranged systematically and
stored in the Chamber of the Lion Hunt, and it seems as if they
had been brought there from another place and thrown down hastily,
for nearly all of them were broken into small pieces. As some
of them bore traces of having been exposed to great heat they
must have been in that chamber during the burning of the palace.
When the tablets were brought to England and were examined by
Rawlinson, it was found from the information supplied by the
colophons that they formed a part of the great PRIVATE LIBRARY
OF
[1. These bas-reliefs show that lions were
kept in cages in Nineveh and let out to be killed by the King
with his own hand. There seems to be an allusion to the caged
lions by Nahum (ii, 11), who says, "Where is the dwelling
of the lions, and the feeding place of the young lions, where
the lion, even the old lion, walked, and the lion's whelp,
and none made them afraid?"]
{p. 14}
ASHUR-BANI-PAL, which that king kept in his palace. The tablets
found by Layard in 1850 and by Rassam in 1853 form the unique
and magnificent collection of cuneiform tablets in the British
Museum, which is now commonly known as the "Kuyûnjik
Collection." The approximate number of the inscribed baked
clay tablets and fragments that have come from Kuyûnjik
and are now in the British Museum is 25,073. It is impossible
to over-estimate their importance and value from religious, historical
and literary points of view; besides this, they have supplied
the material for the decipherment of cuneiform inscriptions in
the Assyrian, Babylonian and Sumerian languages, and form the
foundation of the science of Assyriology which has been built
up with such conspicuous success during the last 70 years.
ASHUR-BANI-PAL, BOOK-COLLECTOR AND PATRON OF LEARNING.
Ashur-bani-pal (the Asnapper of Ezra iv, 10) succeeded his
father Esarhaddon B.C. 669, and at a comparatively early period
of his reign he seems to have devoted himself to the study of
the history of his country, and to the making of a great Private
Library. The tablets that have come down to us prove not only
that he was as great a benefactor of the Library of the Temple
of Nebo as any of his predecessors, but that he was himself an
educated man, a lover of learning, and a patron of the literary
folk of his day. In the introduction to his Annals, as found
inscribed on his great ten-sided prism in the British Museum,
he tells us how he took up his abode in the Crown Prince's dwelling
from which Sermacherib and Esarhaddon had ruled the Assyrian
Empire, and in describing his own education he says:
"I, Ashur-bani-pal, within it (i.e., the palace)
understood the wisdom of Nebo, all the art of writing of every
craftsman, of every kind, I made myself master of them all (i.e.,
of the various kinds of writing)."
{p. 16}
These words suggest that Ashur-bani-pal could not only read
cuneiform texts, but could write like a skilled scribe, and that
he also understood all the details connected with the
{p. 17}
craft of making and baking tablets. Having determined to form
a Library in his palace he set to work in a systematic manner
to collect literary works. He sent scribes to ancient seats of
learning, e.g., Ashur, Babylon, Cuthah, Nippur, Akkad,
Erech, to make copies of the ancient works that were preserved
there, and when the copies came to Nineveh he either made transcripts
of them himself, or caused his scribes to do so for the Palace
Library. In any case he collated the texts himself and revised
them before placing them in his Library. The appearance of the
tablets from his Library suggests that he established a factory
in which the clay was cleaned and kneaded and made into homogeneous,
well-shaped tablets, and a kiln in which they were baked, after
they had been inscribed. The uniformity of the script upon them
is very remarkable, and texts with mistakes in them are rarely
found. How the tablets were arranged in the Library is not known,
but certainly groups were catalogued, and some tablets were labelled.[1]
Groups of tablets were arranged in numbered series, with "catch
lines," the first tablet of the series giving the first
line of the second tablet, the second tablet giving the first
line of the third tablet, and so on.
Ashur-bani-pal was greatly interested in the literature of
the Sumerians, i.e., the non-Semitic people who occupied
Lower Babylonia about B.C. 3500 and later. He and his scribes
made bilingual lists of signs and words and objects of all classes
and kinds, all of which are of priceless value to the modem student
of the Sumerian and Assyrian languages. Annexed is an extract
from a List of
[1. K. 1352 is a, good specimen of a catalogue
(see p. 10); K. 1400 and K. 1539 are labels (see p. 12).]
{p. 18}
Signs with Sumerian and Assyrian values. The signs of which
the meanings are given are in the middle column; the Sumerian
values are given in the column to the left, and their meanings
in Assyrian in the column to the right. To many of his copies
of Sumerian hymns, incantations, magical formulas, etc., Ashur-bani-pal
caused interlinear translations to be added in Assyrian, and
of such bilingual documents the following extract from a text
relating to the Seven Evil Spirits will serve as a specimen.
The 1st, 3rd, 5th, etc., lines are written in Sumerian, and the
2nd, 4th, 6th, etc., lines in Assyrian.
Most of the tablets from Kuyûnjik end with colophons,
which can be divided broadly into two classes. One of these is
the short note, frequently impressed by a stamp, which reads
simply "Palace of Ashur-bani-pal, king of all, king of Assyria"
(see the tablet illustrated on p. 22). The longer forms of colophon
were added by the scribes who had written the whole tablet. Of
these longer colophons there are several versions, each of which
seems to have been appropriated to a particular class of texts.
Two of the most interesting are here appended; they reveal a
distinction between tablets belonging to the Palace Library and
those preserved in the Temple of Nebo.
{p. 20}
1. Palace of Ashur-bani-pal, king of all, king of the country
of Assyria,
2. who trusteth in the god Ashur and the goddess Ninlil,
3. on whom the god Nebo (Nabû) and the goddess Tashmetu
4. have bestowed all-hearing ears
5. and who has eyes that are clearsighted.
6. The finest results of the art of writing
7. which, among the kings who have gone before,
8. no one ever acquired that craft,
9. the wisdom of Nebo [expressed in] rows (?) of writing, of
every form,
10. on tablets I wrote, collated and revised,
11. [and] for examination and reading
12. in my palace I placed--[I]
13. the prince who knoweth the light of the king of the gods,
Ashur.'
14. Whosoever shall carry [them] off, or his name side by side
with mine
15. shall write, may Ashur and Ninlil, wrathfully, furiously
16. sweep away, and his name and his seed destroy in the land.
2. COLOPHON OF THE TABLETS OF THE LIBRARY OF NEBO.
(Rm. 132.)
1. To Nebo, the mighty son, director of the whole of heaven
and of earth,
2. holder of the tablet, bearer of the writing reed of the tablet
of destinies,
3. lengthener of days, vivifier of the dead, stablisher of light
for the men who are troubled,
4. the great lord, his lord; Ashur-bani-pal, the prince, the
favourite of the gods Ashur, Bê1 and Nebo,
5. the shepherd, the maintainer of the holy places of the great
gods, stablisher of their revenues,
6. son of Esarhaddon, king of all, king of Assyria,
7. grandson of Sennacherib, king of all, king of Assyria,
[1. Or, probably better. "Thy lordship
is beyond compare, O king the gods, Ashur."]
{p. 21}
8. for the life of his soul, length of his days, [and] well-being
of his posterity,
9. to make permanent the foundation of his royal throne, to hear
his supplications,
10. to receive his petitions, to deliver into his hands the rebellious.
11. The wisdom of Ea, the chanter's art, the secrets of the sages,
12. what is composed for the contentment of the heart of the
great gods,
13. I wrote upon tablets, I collated, I revised
14. according to originals of the lands of Ashur and Akkad,
15. and I placed in the Library of E-zida, the temple of Nebo
my lord, which is in Nineveh.
16. O Nebo, lord of the whole of heaven and of earth, look upon
that Library joyfully for years (i.e., for ever).
17. On Ashur-bani-pal, the chief, the worshipper of thy divinity,
daily bestow grace,
18. his life decree, so that he may exalt thy great godhead.
The tablets from both Libraries when unbroken vary in size
from 15 inches by 85/8 inches to 1 inch
by 7/8 inch, and they are usually about
1 inch thick. In shape they are rectangular, the obverse being
flat and the reverse slightly convex. Contract tablets, letter
tablets and "case" tablets are very much smaller, and
resemble small pillows in shape. The principal subjects dealt
with in the tablets are history, annalistic or summaries, letters,
despatches, reports, oracles, prayers, contracts, deeds of sale
of land, produce, cattle, slaves, agreements, dowries, bonds
for interest (with impressions of seals, and fingernails, or
nail marks), chronography, chronology, canons of eponyms, divination
(by astrology, the entrails of victims, oil, casual events, dreams,
and symptoms), charms, spells, incantations, mythology, legends,
grammar, law, geography, etc.[1]
[1. For a full description of the general
contents of the two great Libraries of Nineveh. see Bezold, Catalogue
of the Cuneiform Tablets of the Kouyûnjik Collection, Vol.
V, London, 1899, p. xviii ff.; and King, Supplement,
London, 1914, p. xviii ff.]
{p. 24}
GEORGE SMITH'S DISCOVERY OF THE EPIC OF GILGAMISH
AND THE STORY OF THE DELUGE.
The mass of tablets which had been discovered by Layard and
Rassam at Nineveh came to the British Museum in 1854-5, and their
examination by Rawlinson and Norris began very soon after. Mr.
Bowler, a skilful draughtsman and copyist of tablets, whom Rawlinson
employed in making transfers of copies of cuneiform texts for
publication by lithography, rejoined a considerable number of
fragments of bilingual lists, syllabaries, etc., which were published
in the second volume of the Cuneiform Inscriptions of Western
Asia, in 1866. In that year the Trustees of the British Museum
employed George Smith to assist Rawlinson in sorting, classifying
and rejoining fragments, and a comprehensive examination of the
collection by him began. His personal interest in Assyriology
was centred upon historical texts, especially those which threw
any light on the Bible Narrative. But in the course of his search
for stories of the campaigns of Sargon II, Sennacherib, Esarhaddon
and Ashur-bani-pal, he discovered among other important documents
(1) a series of portions of tablets which give the adventures
of Gilgamish, an ancient king of Erech; (2) an account of the
Deluge, which is supplied by the Eleventh Tablet of the Legend
of Gilgamish (in more than one version); (3) a detailed description
of the Creation; (4) the Legend of the Descent of Ishtar into
Hades in quest of Tammuz. The general meaning of the texts was
quite clear, but there were many gaps in them, and it was not
until December, 1872, that George Smith published his description
of the Legend of Gilgamish, and a translation of the "Chaldean
Account of the Deluge." The interest which his paper evoked
was universal, and the proprietors of The Daily Telegraph
advocated that Smith should be at once dispatched to Nineveh
to search for the missing fragments of tablets which would fill
up the gaps in his texts, and generously offered to contribute
1,000 guineas towards the cost of the excavations. The Trustees
accepted the offer and gave six months' leave of absence to Smith,
who left London in January, and arrived in Môsul in March,
1873. In the following May he recovered from Kuyûnjik a
fragment that contained "the greater portion of seventeen
{p. 25}
lines of inscription belonging to the first column of the
Chaldean account of the Deluge, and fitting into the only place
where there was a serious blank in the story."[1] During
the excavations which Smith carried out at Kuyûnjik in
1873 and 1874 he recovered many fragments of tablets, the texts
of which enabled him to complete his description of the contents
of the Twelve Tablets of the Legend of Gilgamish which included
his translation of the story of the Deluge. Unfortunately Smith
died of hunger and sickness near Aleppo in 1876, and he was unable
to revise his early work, and to supplement it with the information
which he had acquired during his latest travels in Assyria and
Babylonia. Thanks to the excavations which were carried on at
Kuyûnjik by the Trustees of the British Museum after his
untimely death, several hundreds of tablets and fragments have
been recovered, and many of these have been rejoined to the tablets
of the older collection. By the careful study and investigation
of the old and new material Assyriologists have, during the last
forty years, been enabled to restore and complete many passages
in the Legends of Gilgamish and the Flood. It now seems that
the Legend of the Flood had not originally any connection with
the Legend of Gilgamish, and that it was introduced into it by
a late editor or redactor of the Legend, probably in order to
complete the number of the Twelve Tablets on which it was written
in the time of Ashur-bani-pal.
THE LEGEND OF THE DELUGE IN BABYLONIA.
In the introduction to his paper on the "Chaldean Account
of the Deluge," which Smith read in December, 1872, and
published in 1873, he stated that the Assyrian text which he
had found on Ashur-bani-pal's tablets was copied from an archetype
at Erech in Lower Babylonia. This archetype was, he thought,
"either written in, or translated into Semitic Babylonian,
to at a very early period," and although he could not assign
a date to it, he adduced a number of convincing proofs in support
of his opinion. The language in which he assumed the Legend to
have been originally composed was known to
[1. Smith, Assyrian Discoveries, London,
1875, p. 97.]
{p. 26}
him under the name of "Accadian," or "Akkadian,"
but is now called "Sumerian." Recent research has shown
that his view on this point was correct on the whole. But there
is satisfactory proof available to show that versions or recensions
of the Legend of the Deluge and of the Epic of Gilgamish existed
both in Sumerian and Babylonian, as early as B.C. 2000. The discovery
has been made of a fragment of a tablet with a small portion
of the Babylonian version of the Legend of the Deluge inscribed
upon it, and dated in a year which is the equivalent of the 11th
year of Ammisaduga, i.e., about B.C. 1800.[1] And in the
Museum at Philadelphia[2] is preserved half of a tablet which
when whole contained a complete copy of a Sumerian version of
the Legend, and must have been written about the same date. The
fragment of the tablet written in the reign of Ammisaduga is
of special importance because the colophon shows that the tablet
to which it belonged was the second of a series, and that this
series was not that of the Epic of Gilgamish, and from this we
learn that in B.C. 2000 the Legend of the Deluge did not form
the XIth Tablet of the Epic of Gilgamish, as it did in the reign
of Ashur-bani-pal, or earlier. The Sumerian version is equally
important, though from another point of view, for the contents
and position of the portion of it that remains on the half of
the tablet mentioned above make it certain that already at this
early period there were several versions of the Legend of the
Deluge current in the Sumerian language. The fact is that the
Legend of the Deluge was then already so old in Mesopotamia that
the scribes added to or abbreviated the text at will, and treated
the incidents recorded in it according to local or popular taste,
tradition and prejudice. There seems to be no evidence that proves
conclusively that the Sumerian version is older than the Semitic,
or that the latter was translated direct from the former version.
It is probable that both the Sumerians and the Semites, each
in their own way, attempted to commemorate an appalling disaster
of unparalleled magnitude, the knowledge of which, through tradition,
was common to
[1. Published by Scheil in Maspero's Recueil,
Vol. XX, p. 5.5 ff., and again by Clay, A Hebrew Deluge
Story in Cuneiform, Plates I, II.
2. The text is published by A. Poebel with transcription,
commentary, etc., in Historical Texts, Philadelphia, 1914,
and Historical and Grammatical Texts, Philadelphia, 1914.]
{p. 27}
both peoples. It is, at all events, well known that the Sumerians
regarded the Deluge as an historic event, which they were, practically,
able to date, for some of their records contain lists of kings
who reigned before the Deluge, though it must be confessed that
the lengths assigned to their reigns are incredible. After their
rule it is expressly noted that the Flood occurred, and that,
when it passed away, kingship came down again from on high.
It is not too much to assume that the original event commemorated
in the Legend of the Deluge was a serious and prolonged inundation
or flood in Lower Babylonia, which was accompanied by great loss
of life and destruction of property. The Babylonian versions
state that this inundation or flood was caused by rain, but passages
in some of them suggest that the effects of the rainstorm were
intensified bv other physical happenings connected with the earth,
of a most destructive character. The Hebrews also, as we may
see from the Bible, had alternative views as to the cause of
the Deluge. According to one, rain fell upon the earth for forty
days and forty nights (Gen. vii, 12), and according to the other
the Deluge came because "all the fountains of the great
deep" were broken up, and "the flood-gates of heaven
were opened" (Gen. vii, ii). The latter view suggests that
the rain flood was joined by the waters of the sea. Later tradition,
derived partly from Babylonian and partly from Hebrew sources,
asserts, e.g., in the Cave of Treasures, a Syriac
treatise composed probably at Edessa about the fifth or sixth
century A.D., that when Noah had entered the Ark and the door
was shut "the floodgates of the heavens were opened it and
the foundations of the earth were rent asunder," and that
"the ocean, that great sea which surroundeth the whole world,
poured forth its floods. And whilst the floodgates of heaven
were open, and the foundations of the earth were rent asunder,
the storehouses of the winds burst their bolts, and storms and
whirlwinds swept forth, and ocean roared and hurled its floods
upon the earth." The ark was steered over the waters by
an angel who acted as pilot, and when that had come to rest on
the mountains of Kardô (Ararat), "God commanded the
waters and they became separated from each other. The celestial
waters were taken up and ascended to their own place above the
heavens whence they came.
{p. 28}
The waters which had risen up from the earth returned to the
lowermost abyss, and those which belonged to the ocean returned
to the innermost part thereof."[1] Many authorities seeking
to find a foundation of fact for the Legend of the Deluge in
Mesopotamia have assumed that the rain-flood was accompanied
either by an earthquake or a tidal-wave, or by both. There is
no doubt that the cities of Lower Babylonia were nearer the sea
in the Sumerian Period than they are at present, and it is a
generally accepted view that the head of the Persian Gulf lay
farther to the north at that time. A cyclone coupled with a tidal
wave is a sufficient base for any of the forms of the Legend
now known.
A comparison of the contents of the various Sumerian and Babylonian
versions of the Deluge that have come down to us shows us that
they are incomplete. And as none of them tells so connected and
full a narrative of the prehistoric shipbuilder as Berosus, a
priest of Bêl, the great god of Babylon, it seems that
the Mesopotamian scribes were content to copy the Legend in an
abbreviated form. Berosus, it is true, is not a very ancient
authority, for he was not born until the reign of Alexander the
Great, but he was a learned man and was well acquainted with
the Babylonian language, and with the ancient literature of his
country, and he wrote a history of Babylonia, some fragments
of which have been preserved to us in the works of Alexander
Polyhistor, Eusebius, and others. The following is a version
of the fragment which describes the flood that took place in
the days of Xisuthras,[2] the tenth King of the Chaldeans, and
is of importance for comparison with the rendering of the Legend
of the Deluge, as found on the Ninevite tablets, which follows
immediately after.
THE LEGEND OF THE DELUGE ACCORDING TO BEROSUS.
"After the death of Ardates, his son Xisuthrus reigned
eighteen sari. In his time happened a great Deluge; the history
of which is thus described. The Deity, Cronus, appeared to him
in a vision, and warned him that upon the
[1. Budge, The Book of the Cave of Treasures,
pp. i 12 ff.
2. This is a Greek form of Zisudra, the name
of the last king before the Flood, according to the Sumerian
tradition.]
{p. 29}
15th day of the month Daesius there would
be a flood, by which mankind would be destroyed. He therefore
enjoined him to write a history of the beginning, procedure and
conclusion of all things; and to bury it in the city of the Sun
at Sippara; and to build a vessel, and take with him into it
his friends and relations; and to convey on board everything
necessary to sustain life, together with all the different animals,
both birds and quadrupeds, and trust himself fearlessly to the
deep. Having asked the Deity, whither he was to sail? he was
answered, 'To the Gods ': upon which he offered up a prayer for
the good of mankind. He then obeyed the divine admonition; and
built a vessel 5 stadia in length, and 2 in breadth. Into this
he put everything which he had prepared; and last of all conveyed
into it his wife, his children, and his friends. After the flood
had been upon the earth, and was in time abated, Xisuthrus sent
out birds from the vessel; which, not finding any food nor any
place whereupon they might rest their feet, returned to him again.
After an interval of some days, he sent them forth a second time;
and they now returned with their feet tinged with mud. He made
a trial a third time with these birds; but they returned to him
no more: from whence he judged that the surface of the earth
had appeared above the waters. He therefore made an opening in
the vessel, and upon looking out found that it was stranded upon
the side of some mountain; upon which he immediately quitted
it with his wife, his daughter, and the pilot. Xisuthrus then
paid his adoration to the earth, and, having constructed an altar,
offered sacrifices to the gods, and, with those who had come
out of the vessel with him, disappeared. They, who remained within,
finding that their companions did not return, quitted the vessel
with many lamentations, and called continually on the name of
Xisuthrus. Him they saw no more; but they could distinguish his
voice in the air, and could hear him admonish them to pay due
regard to religion; and likewise informed them that it was upon
account of his piety that be was translated to live with the
gods; that his wife and daughter, and the pilot, had obtained
the same honour. To this he added that they should return to
Babylonia; and, it was ordained, search for the writings at Sippara,
which they
{p. 30}
were to make known to mankind: moreover that
the place, wherein they then were, was the land of Armenia. The
rest having beard these words, offered sacrifices to the gods;
and taking a circuit journeyed towards Babylonia." (Cory,
Ancient Fragments, London, 1832, p. 26 ff.)
THE BABYLONIAN LEGEND OF THE DELUGE AS TOLD TO THE
HERO GILGAMISH BY HIS ANCESTOR UTA-NAPISHTIM, WHO HAD BEEN MADE
IMMORTAL BY THE GODS.
The form of the Legend of the Deluge given
below is that which is found on the Eleventh of the Series of
Twelve Tablets in the Royal Library at Nineveh, which described
the life and exploits of Gilgamish, an early king of the city
of Erech. As we have seen above, the Legend of the Deluge has
probably no original connection with the Epic of Gilgamish, but
was introduced into it by the editors of the Epic at a comparatively
late period, perhaps even during the reign of Ashur-bani-pal
(B.C. 669-626). A summary of the contents of the other Tablets
of the Gilgamish Series is given in the following section of
this short monograph. It is therefore only necessary to state
here that Gilgamish, who was horrified and almost beside himself
when his bosom friend and companion Enkidu died, meditated deeply
how he could escape death himself. He knew that his ancestor
Uta-Napishtim a had become immortal, therefore he determined
to set out for the place where Uta-Napishtim lived so that he
might obtain from him the secret of immortality. Guided by a
dream, Gilgamish set out for the Mountain of the Sunset, and,
after great toil and many difficulties, came to the shore of
a vast sea. Here he met Ur-Shanabi, the boatman of Uta-Napishtim,
who was persuaded to carry him in his boat over the "waters
of death", and at length he landed on the shore of the country
of Uta-Napishtim. The immortal came down to the shore and asked
the newcomer the object of his visit, and Gilgamish told him
of the death of his great friend Enkidu, and of his desire to
escape from death and to find immortality. Uta-Napishtim having
made to
{p. 31}
Gilgamish some remarks which seem to indicate
that in his opinion death was inevitable,
1. Gilgamish[1] said unto him, to Uta-Napishtim
the remote:
2. "I am looking at thee, Uta-Napishtim.
3. Thy person is not altered; even as am I so art thou.
4. Verily, nothing about thee is changed; even as am I so art
thou.
5. A heart to do battle doth make thee complete,
6. Yet at rest (?) thou dost lie upon thy back.
7. How then hast thou stood the company of the gods and sought
life?"
Thereupon Uta-Napishtim related to Gilgamish
the Story of the Deluge, and the Eleventh Tablet continues thus
8. Uta-Napishtim said unto him, to Gilgamish:
9. "I will reveal unto thee, O Gilgamish, a hidden mystery,
10. And a secret matter of the gods I will declare unto thee.
11. Shurippak,[2] a city which thou thyself knowest,
12. On [the bank] of the river Puratti (Euphrates) is situated,
13. That city is old; and the gods [dwelling] within it
14. Their hearts induced the great gods to make a windstorm (a-bu-bi),[3]
15. There was their father Anu,
16. Their counsellor, the warrior Enlil,
17. Their messenger En-urta [and]
18. Their prince Ennugi.
19. Nin-igi-ku, Ea, was with them [in council] and
20. reported their word to a house of reeds."
[1. A transcript of the cuneiform text by
George Smith, who was the first to translate it, will be found
in Rawlinson, Cuneiform inscriptions of Western Asia,
Vol. IV, Plates 50 and 51: and a transcript, with transliteration
and translation by the late Prof. L. W. King, is given in his
First Steps in Assyrian, London, 1898, p. x61 ff.
The latest translation of the whole poem is by R. C. Thompson,
The Epic of Gilgamish, whose arrangement of the text is
adopted in the following pages.
2. The site of this very ancient city is marked
by the mounds of Fârah, near the Shatt al-Kâr, which
is probably the old bed of the river Euphrates; many antiquities
belonging to the earliest period of the rule of the Sumerians
have been found there.
3. Like the habûb of modern times, a
sort of cyclone.]
{p. 33}
[FIRST SPEECH OF EA TO UTA-NAPISHTIM
WHO IS SLEEPING IN A REED HUT.]
21. O House of reeds, O House of reeds! O
Wall. O Wall!
22. O House of reeds, hear! O Wall, understand!
23. O man of Shurippak, son of Ubar-Tutu,
24. Throw down the house, build a ship,
25. Forsake wealth, seek after life,
26. Hate possessions, save thy life,
27. Bring all seed of life into the ship.
28. The ship which thou shalt build,
29. The dimensions thereof shall be measured,
30. The breadth and the length thereof shall be the same.
31. Then launch it upon the ocean.
[UTA-NAPISHTIM'S ANSWER TO EA.]
32. I understood and I said unto Ea, my lord:
33. See, my lord, that which thou hast ordered,
34. I regard with reverence, and will perform it,
35. But what shall I say to the town, to the multitude, and to
the elders?
[SECOND SPEECH OF EA.]
36. Ea opened his mouth and spake
37. And said unto his servant, myself,
38. Thus, man, shalt thou say unto them:
39. Ill-will hath the god Enlil formed against me,
40. Therefore I can no longer dwell. in your city,
41. And never more will I turn my countenance upon-the soil of
Enlil.
42. I will descend into the ocean to dwell with my lord Ea.
43. But upon you he will rain riches
44. A catch of birds, a catch of fish
45. . . . an [abundant] harvest,
46. . . . the sender of . . .
47. . . . shall make hail [to fall upon you].
{p. 34}
[THE BUILDING OF THE SHIP.]
48. As soon as [something of dawn] broke .
. .
[Lines 49-54 broken away.]
55. The child . . . brought bitumen,
56. The strong [man] . . . brought what was needed.
57. On the fifth day I laid down its shape.
58. According to the plan its walls were 10 gar, (i.e.
120 cubits) high,
59. And the width of its deck (?) was equally 10 gar.
60. I laid down the shape of its forepart and marked it out (?).
61. I covered (?) it six times.
62. . . . I divided into seven,
63. Its interior I divided into nine,
64. Caulking I drove into the middle of it.
65. I provided a steering pole, and cast in all that was needful.
66. Six sar of bitumen I poured over the hull (?),
67. Three sar of pitch I poured into the inside.
68. The men who bear loads brought three sar of oil,
69. Besides a sar of oil which the tackling (?) consumed,
70. And two sar of oil which the boatman hid.
71. I slaughtered oxen for the [work]people,
72. I slew sheep every day.
73. Beer, sesame wine, oil and wine
74. I made the people drink as if they were water from the river.
75. I celebrated a feast as if it had been New Year's Day.
76. I opened [a box of ointment], I laid my hands in unguent.
77. Before the sunset (?) the ship was finished.
78. [Since] . . . was difficult.
79. The shipbuilders brought the . . . of the ship, above and
below,
80. . . . two-thirds of it.
[THE LOADING OF THE SHIP.]
81. With everything that I possessed I loaded
it (i.e., the ship).
82. With everything that I possessed of silver I loaded it.
{p. 35}
83. With everything that I possessed of gold
I loaded it.
84. With all that I possessed of all the seed of life I loaded
it.
85. I made to go up into the ship all my family and kinsfolk,
86. The cattle of the field, the beasts of the field, all handicraftsmen
I made them go up into it.
87. The god Shamash had appointed me a time (saying)
88. The sender of . . . . . will at eventide make a hail to fall;
89. Then enter into the ship and shut thy door.
90. The appointed time drew nigh;
91. The sender of . . . . . made a hail to fall at eventide.
92. I watched the aspect of the [approaching] storm,
93. Terror possessed me to look upon it,
94. I went into the ship and shut my door.
95. To the pilot of the ship, Puzur-Enlil the sailor
96. I committed the great house (i.e., ship), together
with the contents thereof.
[THE ABUBU (CYCLONE) AND ITS EFFECTS
DESCRIBED.]
97. As soon as something of dawn shone in
the sky
98. A black cloud from the foundation of heaven came up.
99. Inside it the god Adad thundered,
100. The gods Nabû and Sharru (i.e., Marduk) went
before,
101. Marching as messengers over high land and plain,
102. Irragal (Nergal) tore out the post of the ship,
103. En-urta went on, he made the storm to descend.
104. The Anunnaki[1] brandished their torches,
105. With their glare they lighted up the land.
106. The whirlwind (or, cyclone) of Adad swept up to heaven.
107. Every gleam of light was turned into darkness.
108. . . . . . the land . . . . . as if had laid it waste.
109. A whole day long [the flood descended] . . .
[1. The star-gods of the southern sky.]
{p. 36}
110. Swiftly it mounted up . . . . . [the
water] reached to the mountains
111. [The water] attacked the people like a battle.
112. Brother saw not brother.
113. Men could not be known (or, recognized) in heaven.
114. The gods were terrified at the cyclone.
115. They shrank back and went up into the heaven of Anu.
116. The gods crouched like a dog and cowered by the wall.
117. The goddess Ishtar cried out like a woman in travail.
118. The Lady of the Gods lamented with a sweet voice [saying]:
[ISHTAR'S LAMENT.]
119. May that former day be turned into mud,
120. Because I commanded evil among the company of the gods.
121. How could I command evil among the company of the gods,
122. Command battle for the destruction of my people?
123. Did I of myself bring forth my people
124. That they might fill the sea like little fishes?
[UTA-NAPISHTIM'S STORY CONTINUED.]
125. The gods, the Anunnaki wailed with her.
126. The gods bowed themselves, and sat down weeping.
127. Their lips were shut tight (in distress) . . .
128. For six days and nights
129. The wind, the storm raged, and the cyclone overwhelmed the
land.
[THE ABATING OF THE STORM.]
130. When the seventh day came the cyclone
ceased, the storm and battle
131. which had fought like an army.
132. The sea became quiet, the grievous wind went down, the cyclone
ceased.
133. I looked on the day and voices were stilled,
{p. 37}
134. And all mankind were turned into mud,
135. The land had been laid flat like a terrace.
136. I opened the air-hole and the light fell upon my cheek,
137. I bowed myself, I sat down, I cried,
138. My tears poured down over my cheeks.
139. I looked over the quarters of the world, (to] the limits
of ocean.
140. At twelve points islands appeared.
141. The ship grounded on the mountain of Nisir.
142. The mountain of Nisir held the ship, it let it not move.
143. The first day, the second day, the mountain of Nisir held
the ship and let it not move.
144. The third day, the fourth day, the mountain of Nisir held
the ship and let it not move.
145. The fifth day, the sixth day, the mountain of Nisir held
the ship and let it not move.
146. When the seventh day had come
147. I brought out a dove and let her go free.
148. The dove flew away and [then] came back;
149. Because she had no place to alight on she came back.
150. I brought out a swallow and let her go free.
151. The swallow flew away and [then] came back;
152. Because she had no place to alight on she came back.
153. 1 brought out a raven and let her go free.
154. The raven flew away, she saw the sinking waters.
155. She ate, she waded (?), she rose (?), she came not back.
[UTA-NAPISHTIM LEAVES THE SHIP.]
156. Then I brought out [everything] to the
four winds and made a sacrifice;
157. I set out an offering on the peak of the mountain.
158. Seven by seven I set out the vessels,
159. Under them I piled reeds, cedarwood and myrtle (?).
160. The gods smelt the savour,
161. The gods smelt the sweet savour.
162. The gods gathered together like flies over him that sacrificed.
{p. 39}
[SPEECH OF ISHTAR, LADY OF THE GODS.]
163 Now when the Lady of the Gods came nigh,
164. She lifted up the priceless jewels which Anu had made according
to her desire, [saying]
165. O ye gods here present, as I shall never forget the sapphire
jewels of my neck
166. So shall I ever think about these days, and shall forget
them nevermore!
167. Let the gods come to the offering,
168. But let not Enlil come to the offering,
16q. Because he took not thought and made the cyclone,
170. And delivered my people over to destruction."
[THE ANGER OF ENLIL.]
171. Now when Enlil came nigh
172. He saw the ship; then was Enlil wroth
173. And he was filled with anger against the gods, the Igigi
[saying]:[1]
174. Hath any being escaped with his life?
175. He shall not remain alive, a man among the destruction
[SPEECH OF EN-URTA.]
176. Then En-urta opened his mouth and spake
177. And said unto the warrior Enlil:
178. Who besides the god Ea can make a plan?
179. The god Ea knoweth everything that is done.
18o. The god Ea opened his mouth and spake
181. And said unto the warrior Enlil,
182. O Prince among the gods, thou warrior,
183. How, how couldst thou, not taking thought, make a cyclone?
184. He who is sinful, on him lay his sin,
185. He who transgresseth, on him lay his transgression.
186. But be merciful that [everything] be not destroyed be long-suffering
that [man be not blotted out].
[1. The star-gods of the northern heaven.]
{p. 40}
187. Instead of thy making a cyclone,
188. Would that the lion had come and diminished mankind.
189. Instead of thy making a cyclone
190. Would that the wolf had come and diminished mankind.
191. Instead of thy making a cyclone
192. Would that a famine had arisen and [laid waste] the land.
193. Instead of thy making a cyclone
194. Would that Irra (the Plague god) had risen up and [laid
waste] the land.
195. As for me I have not revealed the secret of the great gods.
196. I made Atra-hasis to see a vision, and thus he heard the
secret of the gods.
197. Now therefore take counsel concerning him.
[ENLIL DEIFIES UTA-NAPISHTIM AND HIS
WIFE.]
198. Then the god Enlil went up into the ship,
199. He seized me by the hand and brought me forth.
200. He brought forth my wife and made her to kneel by my side.
201. He touched our brows, he stood between us, he blessed us
[saving],
202. Formerly Uta-Napishtim was a man merely,
203. But now let Uta-Napishtim and his wife be like unto us gods.
204. Uta-Napishtim shall dwell afar off, at the mouth of the
rivers.
[UTA-NAPISHTIM ENDS HIS STORY OF THE
DELUGE.]
205. And they took me away to a place afar
off, and made me to dwell at the mouth of the rivers.
The contents of the remainder of the text
on the Eleventh Tablet of the Gilgamish Series are described
on p. 54.
{p. 41}
THE EPIC OF GILGAMISH.[1]
The narrative of the life, exploits and travels
of Gilgamish, king of Erech, filled Twelve Tablets which formed
the Series called from the first three words of the First Tablet,
SHA NAGBU IMURU, i.e., "He who hath seen all things."
The exact period of the reign of this king is unknown, but in
the list of the Sumerian kingdoms he is fifth ruler in the Dynasty
of Erech, which was considered the second dynasty to reign after
the Deluge. He was said to have ruled for 126 years. The principal
authorities for the Epic are the numerous fragments of the tablets
that were found in the ruins of the Library of Nebo and the Royal
Library of Ashur-bani-pal at Nineveh, and are now in the British
Museum,[2] but very valuable portions of other and older versions
(including some fragments of a Hittite translation) have now
been recovered from various sources, and these contribute greatly
to the reconstruction of the story. The contents of the Twelve
Tablets may be briefly described thus--
THE FIRST TABLET.
The opening lines describe the great knowledge
and wisdom of Gilgamish, who saw everything, learned everything,
under stood everything, who probed to the bottom the hidden mysteries
of wisdom, and who knew the history of everything that happened
before the Deluge. He travelled far over sea and land, and performed
mighty deeds, and then he cut upon a tablet of stone an account
of all that he had done and suffered. He built the wall of Erech,
founded the holy temple of E-Anna, and carried out other great
architectural works. He was a semi-divine being, for his body
was formed of the "flesh of the gods," and "two-thirds
of him were god, and one-third was man," The description
of his person is lost. As Shepherd (i.e., King) of Erech
he forced
[1. The name of Gilgamish was formerly read
"Izdubar," "Gizdubar," or "Gishdubar."
He is probably referred to as {Greek Gílgamos}
in Aelian, De Natura Animalium, XII, 23: (ed. Didot, Paris,
1858, p. 210).
2. The greater number of these have been collected,
grouped and published by Haupt, Das Babylonische Nimrodepos,
Leipzig, 1884 and 1891; and see his work on the Twelfth Tablet
in Beiträge zur Assyriologie, Vol. I, p. 49 ff.]
{p. 42}
the people to toil overmuch, and his demands
reduced them to such a state of misery that they cried out to
the gods and begged them to create some king who should control
Gilgamish and give them deliverance from him. The gods hearkened
to the prayer of the men of Erech, and they commanded the goddess
Aruru to create a rival to Gilgamish. The goddess agreed to do
their bidding, and having planned in her mind what manner of
being she intended to make, she washed her hands, took a piece
of clay, cast it on the ground, and made a male creature like
the god En-urta. His body was covered all over with hair. The
hair of his head was long like that of a woman, and he wore clothing
like that of Sumuqan, the god of cattle. He was different in
every way from the people of the country, and his name was Enkidu.
He lived in the forests on the hills, ate herbs like the gazelle,
drank with the wild cattle, and herded with the beasts of the
field. He was mighty in stature, invincible in strength, and
obtained complete mastery over all the creatures of the forests
in which he lived.
One day a certain hunter went out to snare
game, and he dug pit-traps and laid nets, and made his usual
preparations for roping in his prey. But after doing this for
three days he found that his pits were filled up and his nets
smashed, and he saw Enkidu releasing the beasts that had been
snared. The hunter was terrified at the sight of Enkidu, and
went home hastily and told his father what he had seen and how
badly he had fared. By his father's advice he went to Erech,
and reported to Gilgamish what had happened. When Gilgamish heard
his story he advised him to act upon a suggestion which the hunter's
father had already made, namely that he should hire a harlot
and take her out to the forest, so that Enkidu might be ensnared
by the sight of her beauty, and take up his abode with her. The
hunter accepted this advice, and having found a harlot to help
him in removing Enkidu from the forests, he set out from Erech
with her and in due course arrived at the forest where Enkidu
lived, and sat down by the place where the beasts came to drink.
On the second day when the beasts came to
drink and Enkidu was with them, the woman carried out the instructions
which the hunter had given her, and when Enkidu saw her cast
aside her veil, he left his beasts and came to her, and
{p. 43}
remained with her for six days and seven nights.
At the end of this period he returned to the beasts with which
he had lived on friendly terms, but as soon as the gazelle winded
him they took to flight, and the wild cattle disappeared into
the woods. When Enkidu saw the beasts forsake him his knees gave
way, and he could not run as of old; but when he came to himself
he returned to the harlot. She spoke to him flattering words,
and asked him why he wandered with the wild beasts in the desert,
and then told him she wished to take him back with her to Erech,
where Anu and Ishtar lived, and where the mighty Gilgamish reigned.
Enkidu hearkened and the harlot then told him of the glories
of Erech and of Gilgamish, who, she said, had been forewarned
of Enkidu's coming by two dreams, which he had related to his
divine mother, Nin-sun. These she had interpreted as foreshowing
the approach of a strong and faithful friend.
THE SECOND TABLET.
Having related these dreams of Gilgamish,
the harlot again urged Enkidu to go with her to Erech, and they
set out together. On the way she brought him to a shepherds'
village, where she instructed him how to eat the bread and beer
which was set before him; for until then he had only sucked the
milk of cattle. By virtue of eating and drinking this human fare
Enkidu became a man instead of a beast, and, taking weapons,
he hunted the lions and wolves which preyed upon the shepherds'
flocks. A messenger from Gilgamish now appeared with a summons
to the city. He announced that the king offered entertainment,
but that he would expect the customary present from a stranger,
and would exercise his privilege over the woman who accompanied
him. The entrance of Enkidu into the city caused a general excitement,
all being amazed at his surpassing strength and his conversion
from savagery. The first meeting of Gilgamish and Enkidu took
place when the king came in the night to claim his right to the
strange woman. Enkidu violently resisted him, and the two heroes
in the doorway "grappled and snorted (?) like bulls; they
shattered the threshold, the wall quivered" in their strife.
Gilgamish was finally worsted, but the result of this combat
was that the two became fast friends and allies.
{p. 44}
THE THIRD TABLET.
Owing to mutilation of the text this section
begins obscurely, but it seems that the harlot had deserted Enkidu,
for he laments his association with her. Gilgamish then opened
to him his design to go on an expedition to the Cedar Forest
and fight with a fearful ogre named Khumbaba, who had been appointed
by the gods as warden of the forest. Enkidu sought to dissuade
his friend from this rash project, saying that he himself, when
he lived with the beasts, used to penetrate into the skirts of
the forest, where he had learned to dread the roaring breath
and flames emitted by Khumbaba. To this Gilgamish seems to have
replied that he must go to the Cedar Forest to fetch the wood
he needed, and when Enkidu still objected, he concluded with
the reflection that death was inevitable to mortals, and that
he would therefore meet it in a glorious enterprise which should
win fame for him among his children for ever. The craftsmen were
then ordered to cast weapons for the pair, and this they did,
making gigantic axes and gold-ornamented swords, so that each
of the warriors was equipped with an armament weighing in all
ten talents. Attracted by these preparations, the people of Erech
gathered at the gate, and Gilgamish announced his project to
the elders of the city, who in turn sought to dissuade him, but
in vain. Gilgamish commended his life to the Sun-god, and the
two put on their armour. The last words of the elders were a
warning to the king against rash presumption in his own strength.
Setting out on their journey, the two warriors first visited
the temple of Nin-sun, the divine mother of Gilgamish, who, at
the earnest prayer of her son, besought the Sun-god to prosper
him on his journey and in the fight against the ogre, and to
bring him safely back to Erech. The latter part of this Tablet
is missing.
THE FOURTH TABLET.
So much of this Tablet is missing that only
a very general notion can be obtained of its contents. The two
heroes had by now reached the Gate of the Forest wherein Khumbaba
dwelt. Enkidu was amazed at the gigantic size and beauty of this
gate, fashioned out of the timbers of the forest. When the text
begins again, the two are found encouraging each other to
{p. 45}
their enterprise, and Gilgamish burst through
the gate. Soon afterwards Enkidu was overcome either by sickness
or by dread of the combat, and lay inert for twelve days, apparently
as the result of evil dreams which had visited him. In his weakness
he strove again to turn back from their desperate adventure,
but again Gilgamish overcame his fear with encouragements.
THE FIFTH TABLET.
The two warriors were now in the forest, and
this Tablet begins with a description of its wonders. They saw
a straight road running between its tall cedars, along which
Khumbaba trod; they saw also the mountain of the cedars, the
dwelling of the gods, and the pleasant shade and perfume which
the trees spread around. After this they seem to have fallen
asleep, for Gilgamish is next found relating to Enkidu a dream
which he had had: the two were standing together on the top of
a mountain, when the peak fell away, leaving them unharmed. Enkidu
interprets this as a forecast that they were to over-throw the
gigantic Khumbaba. At the sixtieth league they stayed to rest,
and Gilgamish besought the mountain to send him another dream.
Falling asleep at once, he woke in terror at midnight and began
to tell how he dreamed that the earth was darkened, amid loud
roarings and flames of fire, which gradually died away. (This
seems to be a description of a volcanic eruption, and some have
thought that Khumbaba was the personification of a volcano known
to the ancient Sumerians.) This dream too was interpreted by
Enkidu, no doubt favourably, but nothing more remains of this
Tablet before the end, when Khumbaba has been fought and defeated,
and his head cut off. A fragment of another version shews that
he was defeated by the help of the Sun-god, who sent eight evil
winds against him on every side so that he could not move. Thus
entrapped, he surrendered to Gilgamish and offered submission
in return for his life. This Gilgamish was disposed to grant,
but Enkidu warned him of the danger of letting the giant live.
THE SIXTH TABLET.
The scene now returns to Erech, whither the
heroes returned after their glorious exploit. As Gilgamish was
washing himself
{p. 46}
and dressing himself in splendid attire the
goddess Ishtar saw his comeliness and desired him to be her lover,
saying,
Go to, Gilgamish, do thou be (my) bridegroom,
Give me freely the fruit (of thy body).
Be thou my husband, I will be thy wife,
(So) will I make them yoke for thee a chariot of lapis-lazuli
and gold,
Its wheels of gold, and its horns of electrum.
Every day shalt thou harness great mules thereto.
Enter (then) our house with the perfume of cedar.
When thou enterest our house
Threshold and dais shall kiss thy feet,
Beneath thee shall kings, lords and princes do homage,
Bringing thee as tribute the yield of the mountains and plains,
Thy she-goats shall bring forth abundantly, thy ewes bear twins,
Thine asses shall be (each) as great as a mule,
Thy horses in the chariot shall be famous for their swiftness,
Thy mules in the yoke shall not have a peer.
In answer to this invitation, Gilgamish made
a long speech, in which he reviewed the calamities of those who
had been unfortunate enough to attract the love of the goddess.
To be her husband would be a burdensome privilege, and her love
was deceptive, a ruin that gave no shelter, a door that let in
the storm, a crazy building, a pitfall, defiling pitch, a leaky
vessel, a crumbling stone, a worthless charm, an ill-fitting
shoe. "Who was ever thy lord that had advantage thereby?
Come, I will unfold the tale of thy lovers." He refers to
Tammuz, the lover of her youth, for whom year by year she causes
wailing. Every creature that fell under her sway suffered mutilation
or death; the bird's wings were broken, the lion destroyed, the
horse driven to death with whip and spur. Her human lovers fared
no better, for a shepherd, once her favourite, was turned by
her into a jackal and torn by his own dogs, and Ishullanu, her
father's gardener, was turned into a spider (?) because he refused
her advances. "So, too," said Gilgamish, "would'st
thou love me, and (then) make me like unto them."
{p. 47}
When Ishtar heard these words she was filled
with rage, and went up to heaven, and complained to Anu her father
and Antu her mother that Gilgamish had blasphemed her, and revealed
all her iniquitous deeds. Anu replied, in effect, that it was
her own fault, but she insisted in the request that he should
create a heavenly bull to destroy Gilgamish. This he finally
agreed to do, and the bull appeared before the citizens of Erech,
and destroyed one, two and three hundred men who were sent out
against him. At length Enkidu and Gilgamish attacked the bull
themselves, and after a hard fight: the details of which are
lost, they slew him, and offered his heart together with a libation
to
{p. 48}
the Sun-god. As soon as Ishtar heard of the
bull's death she rushed out on the battlements of the wall of
Erech and cursed Gilgamish for destroying her bull. When Enkidu
heard what Ishtar said, he tore out the member of the bull and
threw it before the goddess, saying, "Could I but get it
at thee, I would serve thee like him; I would hang his it entrails
about thee." Then Ishtar gathered together all her temple-women
and harlots, and with them made lamentation over the member of
the bull.
And Gilgamish called together the artisans
of Erech, who came and marvelled at the size of the bull's horns,
for each of them was in bulk equal to 30 minas of lapis-lazuli,
their thickness two finger-breadths, and together they contained
six kur measures of oil. These Gilgamish dedicated in
the temple of his god Lugalbanda, to hold the god's unguent,
and, having made his offering, he and Enkidu washed their hands
in the Euphrates, took their way back to the city, and rode through
the streets of Erech, the people thronging round to admire them.
Gilgamish put forth a question to the people, saying
And the answer was:
Gilgamish made a great feast in his palace,
and after it all lay down to sleep. Enkidu also slept and had
a vision, so he rose up and related it to Gilgamish.
THE SEVENTH TABLET.
From fragments of a version of the Gilgamish
Epic translated into the Hittite language, which have more recently
been discovered, it is possible to gain some notion of the contents
of this Tablet, the earlier part of which is almost entirely
missing from the Assyrian version. It appears that Enkidu beheld
in his dream the gods Enlil, Ea, and the Sun-god taking counsel
together. Enlil was greatly incensed at the exploits of Gilgamish
and Enkidu, and had resolved that Enkidu must die, though Gilgamish
might be spared. This was finally decreed,
{p. 49}
in spite of the attempted opposition of the
Sun-god. In consequence Enkidu soon afterwards fell sick, though
nothing is preserved concerning the circumstances of this. But
he seems to have attributed his misfortune for some reason to
the harlot who had first brought him to Erech, for he is found
heaping curses upon her. While he thus spoke the Sun-god heard
him, and, calling from heaven, rebuked him for ingratitude to
the woman, who had taught him all the ways of civilized life
and had been the means of introducing him to Gilgamish, by whom
he had been raised to great place and would be given signal honours
at his death. Admonished thus, Enkidu repented of his anger and
now bestowed as many blessings on the harlot as he had before
uttered curses. He then lay down again, with sickness heavy upon
him, and dreamed a dream which he told to Gilgamish. He saw a
monster with lion's claws which attacked and overcame him, and
led him away to the Underworld, where he saw the miserable plight
of the dead inhabitants, and ancient kings now acting as servants,
and priests and sages who served before Ereshkigal, the queen
of Hades. How the dream ended, and how Enkidu died, is unknown,
for the text breaks off here.
THE EIGHTH TABLET.
This Tablet was entirely occupied by a description
of the mourning of Gilgamish over his dead companion. He lamented
to himself, and lamented to the elders of the city, recalling
how they had together overthrown Khumbaba, and slain the heavenly
bull, and shared in many another exploit. Repeating the words
of the Sun-god in the preceding Tablet, he promised that he would
cause all his subjects to join with himself in the lament for
Enkidu. The funeral honours seem to have been described in the
latter part of the Tablet, which is missing.
THE NINTH TABLET.
In bitter grief Gilgamish wandered about the
country uttering lamentations for his beloved companion, Enkidu.
As he went about he thought to himself,
{p. 50}
His fervent desire was to escape from death,
and remembering that his ancestor Uta-Napishtim, the son of Ubara-Tutu,
had become deified and immortal, Gilgamish determined to set
out for the place where he lived in order to obtain from him
the secret of immortality. Where Uta-Napishtim lived was unknown
to Gilgamish, but he seems to have made up his mind that he would
have to face danger in reaching the place, for he says, "I
will set out and travel quickly. I shall reach the defiles in
the mountains by night, and if I see lions, and am terrified
at them, I shall lift up my head and appeal to the Moon-god,
and to (Ishtar, the Lady of the Gods), who is wont to hearken
to my prayers." After Gilgamish set out to go to the west
he was attacked either by men or animals, but he overcame them
and went on until he arrived at Mount Mashu, where it would seem
the sun was thought both to rise and to set. The approach to
this mountain was guarded by Scorpion-men, whose aspect was so
terrible that the mere sight of it was sufficient to kill the
mortal who beheld them; even the mountains collapsed under the
glance of their eyes. When Gilgamish saw the Scorpion-men he
was smitten with fear, and under the influence of his terror
the colour of his face changed, and he fell prostrate before
them. Then a Scorpion-man cried out to his wife, saying, "The
body of him that cometh to us is the flesh of the gods,"
and she replied, "Two-thirds of him is god, and the other
third is man." The Scorpion-man then received Gilgamish
kindly, and warned him that the way which he was about to travel
was full of danger and difficulty. Gilgamish told him that he
was in search of his ancestor, Uta-Napishtim, who had been deified
and made immortal by the gods, and that it was his intention
to go to him to learn the secret of immortality. The Scorpion-man
in answer told him that it was impossible for him to continue
his journey through that country, for no man had ever succeeded
in passing through the dark region of that mountain, which required
twelve double-hours to traverse. Nothing dismayed, Gilgamish
set out on the road through the mountains, and the darkness increased
in density every hour, but he struggled on, and at the end of
the twelfth hour he arrived at a region where there was bright
daylight, and he entered a lovely garden, filled with trees loaded
with luscious fruits, and
{p. 51}
he saw the "tree of the gods." Here
the Sun-god called to him that his quest must be in vain, but
Gilgamish replied that he would do anything to escape death.
THE TENTH TABLET.
In the region to which Gilgamish had come
stood the palace or fortress of the goddess Siduri, who was called
the "hostess," or "ale-wife," and to this
he directed his steps with the view of obtaining help to continue
his journey. The goddess wore a veil and sat upon a throne by
the side of the sea, and when she saw him coming towards her
palace, travel-stained and clad in the ragged skin of some animal,
she thought that he might prove an undesirable visitor, and so
ordered the door of her palace to be closed against him. But
Gilgamish managed to obtain speech with her, and having asked
her what ailed her, and why she had closed her door, he threatened
to smash the bolt and break down the door. In answer Siduri said
to him:--
"Why is thy vigour wasted? Thy face is
bowed down,
Thine heart is sad, thy form is dejected,
And there is lamentation in thy heart."
And she went on to tell him that he had the
appearance of one who had travelled far, that he was a painful
sight to look upon, that his face was burnt, and finally seems
to have suggested that he was a runaway trying to escape from
the country. To this Gilgamish replied:--
Nay, my vigour is not wasted, my face not
bowed down,
My heart not sad, my form not dejected."
And then he told the goddess that his ill-looks
and miserable appearance were due to the fact that death had
carried off his dear friend Enkidu, the "panther of the
desert," who had traversed the mountains with him and had
helped him to overcome Khumbaba in the cedar forest, and to slay
the bull of heaven, Enkidu his dear friend who had fought with
lions and killed them, and who had been with him in all his difficulties;
and, he added, "I wept over him for six days
{p. 52}
and nights . . . . before I would let him
be buried." Continuing his narrative, Gilgamish said to
Siduri:
"I was horribly afraid . . .
I was afraid of death, and therefore I wander over the country.
The fate of my friend lieth heavily upon me,
Therefore am I travelling on a long journey through the country.
The fate of my friend lieth heavily upon me,
Therefore am I travelling on a long journey through the country.
How is it possible for me to keep silence? How is it possible
for me to cry out?
My friend whom I loved hath become like the dust.
Enkidu, my friend whom I loved hath become like the dust.
Shall not I myself also be obliged to lay me down
And never again rise up to all eternity?"
To this complaint the ale-wife replied that
the quest of eternal life was vain, since death was decreed to
mankind by the gods at the time of creation. She advised him,
therefore, to enjoy all mortal pleasures while life lasted and
to abandon his hopeless journey. But Gilgamish still persisted,
and asked how he might reach Uta-Napishtim, for thither he was
determined to go, whether across the ocean or by land.
Then the ale-wife answered and said to Gilgamish:
"There never was a passage, O Gilgamish,
And no one, who from the earliest times came hither, hath crossed
the sea.
The hero Shamash (the Sun-god) hath indeed crossed the sea, but
who besides him could do so?
The passage is hard, and the way is difficult,
And the Waters of Death which bar its front are deep.
If, then, Gilgamish, thou art able to cross the sea,
When thou arrivest at the Waters of Death what wilt thou do?"
{p. 53}
Siduri then told Gilgamish that Ur-Shanabi,
the boatman of Uta-Napishtim, was in the place, and that he should
see him, and added:
Gilgamish left the goddess and succeeded in
finding Ur-Shanabi, the boatman, who addressed to him words similar
to those of Siduri quoted above. Gilgamish answered him as he
had answered Siduri, and then asked him for news about the road
to Uta-Napishtim. In reply Ur-Shanabi told him to take his axe
and to go down into the forest and cut a number of poles 60 cubits
long; Gilgamish did so, and when he returned with them he went
up into the boat with Ur-Shanabi, and they made a voyage of one
month and fifteen days; on the third day they reached the [limit
of the] Waters of Death, which Ur-Shanabi told Gilgamish not
to touch with his hand. Meanwhile, Uta-Napishtim had seen the
boat coming and, as something in its appearance seemed strange
to him, he went down to the shore to see who the newcomers were.
When he saw Gilgamish he asked him the same questions that Siduri
and Ur-Shanabi had asked him, and Gilgamish answered as he had
answered them, and then went on to tell him the reason for his
coming. He said that he had determined to go to visit Uta-Napishtim,
the remote, and had -therefore journeyed far, and that in the
course of his travels he had passed over difficult mountains
and crossed the sea. He had not succeeded in entering the house
of Siduri, for she had caused him to be driven from her door
on account of his dirty, ragged, and travel-stained apparel.
He had eaten birds and beasts of many kinds, the lion, the panther,
the jackal, the antelope, mountain goat, etc., and, apparently,
had dressed himself in their skins.
A break in the text makes it impossible to
give the opening lines of Uta-Napishtim's reply, but he mentions
the father and mother of Gilgamish, and in the last twenty lines
of the Tenth Tablet he warns Gilgamish that on earth there is
nothing permanent, that Mammitum, the arranger of destinies,
has settled the question of the death and life of man with the
Anunnaki, and that none may find out the day of his death or
escape from death.
{p. 54}
THE ELEVENTH TABLET.
The story of the Deluge as told by Uta-Napishtim
to Gilgamish has already been given on pp. 31-40, and we therefore
pass on to the remaining contents of this Tablet. When Uta-Napishtim
had finished the story of the Deluge, he said to Gilgamish, "Now,
as touching thyself; who will gather the gods together for thee,
so that thou mayest find the life which thou seekest? Come now,
do not lay thyself down to sleep for six days and seven nights."
But in spite of this admonition, as soon as Gilgamish had sat
down, drowsiness overpowered him and he fell fast asleep. Uta-Napishtim,
seeing that even the mighty hero Gilgamish could not resist falling
asleep, with some amusement drew the attention of his wife to
the fact, but she felt sorry for the tired man, and suggested
that he should take steps to help him to return to his home.
In reply Uta-Napishtim told her to bake bread for him, and she
did so, but she noted by a mark on the house-wall each day that
he slept. On the seventh day, when she took the loaf Uta-Napishtim
touched Gilgamish, and the hero woke up with a start, and admitted
that he had been overcome with sleep, and made incapable of movement
thereby.
Still vexed with the thought of death and
filled with anxiety to escape from it, Gilgamish asked his host
what he should do and where he should go to effect his object.
By Uta-Napishtim's advice, he made an agreement with Ur-Shanabi
the boatman, and prepared to re-cross the sea on his way home.
But before he set out on his way Uta-Napishtim told him of the
existence of a plant which grew at the bottom of the sea, and
apparently led Gilgamish to believe that the possession of it
would confer upon him immortality. Thereupon Gilgamish tied heavy
stones [to his feet], and let himself down into the sea through
an opening in the floor of the boat. When he reached the bottom
of the sea, he saw the plant and plucked it, and ascended into
the boat with it. Showing it to Ur-Shanabi, he told him that
it was a most marvellous plant, and that it would enable a man
to obtain his heart's desire. Its name was "Shîbu
issahir amelu," i.e., "The old man becometh
young [again]," and Gilgamish declared that he would "eat
of it in order to recover his lost youth," and that he would
take it home to his fortified city
{p. 55}
of Erech. Misfortune, however, dogged his
steps, and the plant never reached Erech, for whilst Gilgamish
and Ur-Shanabi were on their way back to Erech they passed a
pool the water of which was very cold, and Gilgamish dived into
it and took a bath. Whilst there a serpent discovered the whereabouts
of the plant through its smell and swallowed it. When Gilgamish
saw what had happened he cursed aloud, and sat down and wept,
and the tears coursed down his cheeks as he lamented over the
waste of his toil, and the vain expenditure of his heart's blood,
and his failure to do any good for himself. Disheartened and
weary he struggled on his way with his friend, and at length
they arrived at the fortified city of Erech.[1]
[1. The city of Erech was the second of the
four cities which, according to Genesis x, 10, were founded by
Nimrod, the son of Cush, the "mighty hunter before the Lord.
And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech and Accad,
and Calneh, in the land of Shinar." The Sumerians and Babylonian
called the city "UNU KI,"; the first sign means "dwelling"
or "habitation," and the second "land, country,"
etc.. and we may understand this as meaning the "dwelling"
par excellence of some god, probably Anu. The site of
Erech is well known, and is marked by the vast ruins which the
Arabs call "Warkah," or Al-Warkah. These lie in 31º
19' N. Lat. and 45º 40' E. Long., and are about four miles
from the Euphrates, on the left or east bank of the river. Sir
W. K. Loftus carried out excavations on the site in 1849-52,
and says that the external walls of sun-dried brick enclosing
the main portion of the ruins form an irregular circle five and
a-half miles in circumference; in places they are from 40 to
50 feet in height, and they seem to have been about 20 feet thick.
The turrets on the wall were semi-oval in shape and about 50
feet apart. The principal ruin is that of the Ziggurat, or temple
tower, which in 1850 was 100 feet high and 206 feet square. Loftus
calls it "Buwáriya," i.e., "reed
mats," because reed mats were used in its construction,
but bûriyah, "rush mat," is a Persian
not Arabic word, and the name is more probably connected with
the Arabic "Bawâr," i.e., "ruin,"
"place of death," etc. This tower stood in a courtyard
which was 350 feet long and 270 feet wide. The next large ruin
is that which is called "Waswas" (plur. Wasâwis"),
i.e., "large stone." The "Waswas"
referred to was probably the block of columnar basalt which Loftus
and Mr. T. K. Lynch found projecting through the soil; on it
was sculptured the figure of a warrior, and the stone itself
was regarded as a talisman by the natives. This ruin is 246 feet
long, 174 feet wide and 80 feet high. On three sides of it are
terraces of different elevations, but the south-west side presents
a perpendicular façade, at one place 23 feet in height.
For further details see Loftus, Chaldea and Susiana,
London, 1857, p. 159 ff. Portions of the ruins of Warkah
were excavated by German archaeologists in 1912. and this work
was resumed in 1928.]
{p. 56}
Then Gilgamish told Ur-Shanabi to jump up
on the wall and examine the bricks from the foundations to the
battlements, and see if the plans which he had made concerning
them had been carried out during his absence.
THE TWELFTH TABLET.
The text of the Twelfth Tablet is very defective,
but it seems certain that Gilgamish, having failed in his quest
for eternal life, could now think of nothing better than to know
the worst by calling up the ghost of Enkidu and enquiring of
him as to the condition of the dead in the Under-world. He therefore
asked the priests what precautions should be taken in order to
prevent a ghost from haunting one, and, being informed of these,
he purposely did everything against which he had been warned,
so that the ghosts might come about him. This, however, failed
to bring Enkidu, so Gilgamish prayed to the god Enlil that he
should raise him up, but Enlil made no reply. Next Gilgamish
prayed to the Moon-god, but again his prayer was ignored. He
then appealed to the god Ea, who, taking pity on him, ordered
the warrior-god Nergal to open a hole in the earth. Out of this
the ghost of Enkidu rose "like a wind," and the two
friends embraced again. Gilgamish at once began eagerly to question
the ghost about the condition of the dead, but Enkidu was loath
to answer, for he knew that what he must reveal would only cause
his friend dejection. But the last lines of the Tablet tell the
lot of those who have died in various circumstances; though some
who have been duly buried are in better case, the fate of others
who have none to pay them honour is miserable, for they are reduced
to feeding upon dregs and scraps of food thrown into the street.
{p. 57}
NOTE.
The Trustees of the British Museum have published
large selections of cuneiform texts from the cylinders, tablets,
etc., that were found in the ruins of Nineveh by Layard, Rassam,
Smith and others, in the following works:--
CUNEIFORM INSCRIPTIONS OF WESTERN ASIA. Vol.
1. 1861. Fol. Il. (Out of print.)
------------ Vol. II. 1866. Fol. Il. (Out of print.)
------------ Vol. 111. 1870. Fol. Il.
------------ Vol. IV. Second edition. 1891. Fol. Il. (Out
of print.)
------------ Vol. V. Plates I-XXXV. 1880. Fol. 10s. 6d. (Out
of print.)
------------ Vol. V. Plates XXXVI-LXX. 1884. Fol. 10s. 6d. (Out
of print.)
------------ Vol. V. Plates I-LXX. Lithographed reprint 1909.
Fol. Il. 7s.
INSCRIPTIONS FROM ASSYRIAN MONUMENTS. 1851.
Fol. Il.. 1s.
CUNEIFORM TEXTS FROM BABYLONIAN TABLETS, &C., IN THE BRITISH
MUSEUM. Parts I-V, VII-XXIII, XXV, XXVII-XXXIV. 50 plates each.
1896-1914. 7s. 6d. each.
------------ Part VI. 49 plates. 1898. 7s. 6d.
------------ Part XXIV. 50 plates. 1908. Fol. 10s.
------------ Part XXVI. 54 plates. 1909. Fol. 12s.
------------ Part XXXV. 50 plates. 1920. 12s.
------------ Part XXXVI. 50 plates. 1921. 18s.
------------ Parts XXXVII, XXXIX. 50 plates each. 1924, 1926.
15s. each.
------------ Parts XXXVIII, XL. 50 plates each. 19-25, 1928.
16s. each.
ANNALS OF THE KINGS OF ASSYRIA. Cuneiform
texts with transliterations and translations. Vol. I. 1903. 4to.
Il.
CATALOGUE OF THE CUNEIFORM TABLETS IN THE KOUYUNJIK COLLECTION.
Vol. I. 8vo. 1889. 15s.
------------ Vol. II. 1891. 15s.
------------ Vol. III. 1894. 13s.
------------ Vol. IV. 1896. Il.
------------ Vol. V. 1899. Il. 3s.
------------ Supplement 8vo. 1914. Il. |