78 BABYLONIAN LITERATURE. 



Besides which, one fact is sure to spoil 

 every hypothesis which might he formed 

 from them ; and that is, that the Hebrew 

 patriarchs Anuha and Ibrahim are called 

 Canaanites, which would seem to make that 

 word synonymous with Israelites. We must 

 wait for the solution of this enquiry till the 

 entire publication of the " Agriculture." 

 Two things, however, appear certain. The 

 first, that the name of Canaanites with the 

 Babylonians did not always refer to the 

 ancient inhabitants of Phoenicia; and the 

 second, that this theory of a Canaanite dy- 

 nasty of which Mrarod was the founder, is 

 of Biblical origin. " After the deluge," 

 says Masoudi, "mankind established them- 

 selves in different countries ; such were the 

 Nabathseans, who founded the city of Ba- 

 bylon, and those of the descendants of Ham, 

 who settled in the same province, under the 

 guidance of Nimrod, son of Xanaan, son of 

 Sinkharib, son of Ham, and grandson of 

 Noah." "The Nabathoeans," says Di- 

 meshki, "descended from Nabit, son of 



