INTERPRETATIONS OF THE TRADITION 3 



Deluge is of far older date than the version given 

 in the Hebrew narrative. This seems to have been 

 adapted from the Babylonian records with such altera- 

 tions as would fit it to a different religious belief. 

 Accordingly the Jewish writers have substituted for 

 the polytheism of the Chaldeans the monotheism of 

 their own countrymen. Another important difference 

 is that, whereas in the account in Genesis only Noah 

 and his family of seven persons were saved, the 

 Babylonian records state that Sisothros (or Khasis- 

 adra Noah of the Bible), with all his slaves and 

 concubines and the sons of the people, escaped. In 

 the one case, again, the duration of the flood is made 

 longer than in the other, and the waters are said to 

 have covered the highest mountain tops ; whereas 

 in the other, the high mountains are said to have 

 remained above the waters. The other points of 

 difference are slight, and such as might arise from 

 the different handling of the same story. 1 



Granting that the tradition had a foundation in 

 fact, long ages must have passed before even the 

 older account of the catastrophe was put on imperish- 

 able record by the style engravers of Babylonia, 

 during which time the story could easily have re- 

 ceived the figurative construction in which it has 

 come down to us. Nor is it difficult to distinguish 

 what may be fact from what is fable. That an inun- 

 dation, from whatever cause, of great extent and depth, 

 yet leaving the higher ground and hills uncovered, 



1 See Appendix A for further particulars of the Babylonian 

 narrative. 



B 2 



