NEWLY-DISCOVERED VERSION OF THE STORY OF THE FLOOD. 139 



There was once an old city on the banks of the Euphrates 

 called Surippak, and the gods dwelling within it decided 

 ill their hearts to make a flood. One of the principal gods, 

 Nin-igi-azaga, better known as Ea, the god of the sea and of 

 fathomless wisdom, communed with the others, and repeated 

 their decision to the earth, calling upon both field and farm to 

 hear and to understand the words which v/ere announced to 

 them. To the Surippakite (Ut-napistim), son of Umbara-Tutu, 

 however, he made a special recommendation, namely, to destroy 

 his house, and build a ship ; forsake riches, and seek (eternal) 

 life ; hate gain, and save life (the lives of the living creatures 

 of the earth; ; and take the seed of lite, of every kind, into the 

 ship. Instructions as to the building of the vessel follow, and 

 Ut-napistim was told to launch the ship, when built, into the 

 deep. Promising obedience, he asked what he was to eay to 

 those who questioned him as to the work upon which he was 

 engaged, "Thus shalt thou say unto them," was the answer: 

 " Know, then, that the god Ellila hates me — I will not dwell in 

 . . . and I will not set my face in Ellila's domain. I will 

 descend to the deep, with (Ea) my lord will I (constantly) 

 dwell. As for you, he will cause abundance to rain down upon 

 you." In the succeeding lines something is said about a storm, 

 and the raining down of a heavy downpour. 



A description of the building of the ship, and its provision- 

 ment, follows, but this portion is mutilated, and therefore 

 difficult to translate. Its bulwarks seem to have risen ten 

 measures, and a deck is apparently mentioned. Its interior was 

 caulked with six sar of bitumen, and its outside with three sar 

 of pitch, or bitumen of a different kind. Oil for the crew and 

 the pilot is referred to, and oxen were slaughtered, possibly as a 

 sacrifice to the gods on the completion of the vessel. Various 

 kinds of drink are described as having been brought on board, 

 plentiful (such is apparently the word to be supplied here) 

 " like the waters of a river." In this, to all appearance, we have 

 an indication of the Babylonian character, for they were great 

 lovers of intoxicating drinks. This description ends with a 

 reference to certain details of the construction — holes for the 

 cables (seemingly) above and below, etc. 



Ut-napistim then collected all his goods and chattels, and 

 entered the ark or " ship " as it is called in the Assyrian text. 

 His silver, gold, the seed of life, his family and relatives, the 

 beasts of the field, the animals of the field,* and the sons of 



* Cf. also Professor Hilprecht's fragraerit, p. 146, line 21. 



