336 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. IV. No. 89. 



Twenty years ago George Smith excava- 

 ted and translated tlie inscribed tiles of the 

 library of Asurbanipal, King of Assyria, 

 670 B. C, who, at the time of the founding 

 of Greece, was gathering copies of the sacred 

 writings of the ancient cities of Asia. The 

 historical books of this library carry the 

 annals of the Babylonians back 3800 B. C, 

 but contain no certain account of any flood. 

 How remote must then have been the great 

 catastrophe which had filtered down in tra- 

 dition and become embalmed in sacred 

 myth and stately poem before the dawn of 

 history ! I present here, after the latest 

 translations of Haupt and Jensen,* the last 

 but one of the cantos of the Gilgamos Epic, 

 corresponding to the eleventh sign of the zo- 

 diac, Aquarius (or month of the curse of 

 rain) , containing the story of the Flood. 



Gilgamos (= Mmrod) , the hero of Urruh, 

 leaves his native town sick and troubled by 

 the death of his friend Eabani, and visits 

 his ancestor Samasnapisthim ( = Xisuthros) 

 called Hasisadra ( = the devout wise man) . 

 Hasisadra spoke to him, to Gilgamos, " I 

 will make known unto thee, O Gilgamos, 

 the hidden story, and the oracle of the gods 

 I will reveal to thee. The city of Shuripak, 

 —the city which, as thou knoweth, lies on 

 the bank of the river Euphrates — this city 

 was already of high antiquity when the gods 

 within set their hearts to bring on a flood 

 storm (or deluge). Even the great gods 

 who were there : their Father Anu ; their 

 councillor, the warlike Bel ; their throne- 

 bearer, Adar ; their prince, Ennugi. But 

 the Lord of unfathomable wisdom, the god 

 Ea (the god of the sea), sat alone with them 

 in council, and announced their intention 

 unto the field, saying. Field ! Field ! town ! 

 town ! field ! hear ! town ; give attention, 

 man of Shurippak, son of Ubara-Tutu (The 



* Haupt : in Die Ansicht der Erde. The first part 

 from a later translation ; Johns Hopkins' Circulars 

 (VII., No. 69, p. 17), P. Jensen in Dr. Carl Schmidt, 

 Das Naturereignis der Sintflut. 



splendor of the Sunset, Lenarmont, Sayce). 

 Destroy thy house, build a ship, save all 

 living beings which thou canst find. With- 

 draw from what is doomed to destruction. 

 Save thy life and bid the seed of life of every 

 kind mount into the ship. 



" The vessel which thou shalt build, 600 

 half cubits in length, shall be her shape, and 

 120 half cubits the dimensions for both her 

 width and depth. Into the sea launch her. 

 When I understood this, I spake unto the 

 god Ea — My lord thy command which thou 

 hast thus commanded, I will regard it, I 

 will perform it, but what shall I answer the 

 city, the people, the elders ? (The young 

 men and the elders would ridicule me.) 



"The god Ea opened his mouth and 

 spake unto me, his servant: 'And thou 

 shalt thus say unto them, " I know the god 

 Bel (the god of Shurippak) is hostile to me, 

 so I cannot remain in (the city); on Bel's 

 ground I will not rest my head. I will 

 sail into the deep sea ; with the god Ea, my 

 lord, I will dwell." But upon you there 

 will pour down a mass of water. Men, 

 fowl, and beast will perish, the fish only 

 will escape. * * =^ And when the sun will 

 bring on the appointed time Kukki will 

 say, " In the evening the heavens will pour 

 down upon you destruction." 



" ' Then, however, close not thy door 

 until the time comes that I send thee ti- 

 dings. Then enter through the door of the 

 ship, and bring into its interior thy food, 

 thy wealth, thy family, thy slaves, thy 

 maidservants and thy kindred. The cattle 

 of the field, the wild beasts of the plains 

 * * * will I send you, that thy gates may 

 preserve them all.' 



"■ Hasisadra opened his mouth and spake. 

 He said to Ea, his lord : ' No one has ever 

 built a ship in this wise on the land. How- 

 ever, I will see to it, and build the ship 

 upon the land, as thou hast commanded.' 

 (The description of the building of the ves- 

 sel very partial.) I built the ship in six 



