NEWLY-DISCOVERED VERSION OF THE STORY OF THE FLOOD. 145 



any real information, though Atra-hasis, the Bal)ylonian Noah, 

 is again referred to, and the speech which he was about to 

 make will be found on the next tablet, when it is discovered. 

 From the colophon we see that this version was written in the 

 reign of Ammi-zaduga, the date being that corresponding with 

 his eleventh year, 1800 or 1900 B.C., that in which he built Dur- 

 Ammi-zaduga at the mouth of the Eiver Euphrates. 



It is therefore refreshing, after such a mutilated and therefore 

 unsatisfactory tablet as this, to come to the little fragment 

 found and translated by Hilprecht, imperfect as it is, for one 

 can at least find a certain amount of information in it — trust- 

 worthy and untrustworthy, according as the lines are well 

 preserved or otherwise, and the words certain as to their 

 meanings or the reverse. 



The fragment in question was found in a low stratum in what 

 is known as " Tablet-Hill," at Mffer, identified with the Biblical 

 Calneh — one of Nimrod's cities, where the excavations made 

 by the Americans have had a considerable amount of success. 

 It measures only 9-6 cm. by 6 cm. (3f inches by 2| inches). 

 Its greatest thickness is ^ of an inch. The colour of the 

 tablet is described as being dark brown, and the clay unbaked 

 — as is frequently the case with tablets from Babylonia.. 

 Originally it was inscribed on both sides, but one of them 

 is so damaged, that the writing has completely disappeared, 

 the ends only of three or four lines being visible on the edge. 

 As the obverse and reverse are generally easily recognized 

 on account of the former being flat and the latter rounded, 

 Professor Hilprecht has come to the conclusion that the well- 

 preserved side is the reverse. The characters are archaic, and, 

 in his opinion (in which he is supported by several well-known 

 Assyriologists), it belongs to the period between 2137 and 

 2005 B.C. As already stated, however, it is a mere scrap, 

 having only the latter parts of fourteen lines of writing. I 

 give herewith a transcription of the fragment according to 

 Professor Hilprecht's reading of the text, compared with an 

 excellent photograph which he has sent me : — 



1 — sa a-si-ri-ia .... -ka 



2 — a-pa-as - sar 



3 — ka-la ni-si is-te-nis i-za-bat 



4 — - ti la-am a-bu-bi wa-si - e 



5 — -a-ni ma-la i-ba-as-su-u lu-kin ub-bu-ku lu-pu- 



ut-tu hu-ru-su 



6 — . . . ^^^^ elippam ra-be-tam bi-ni-ma 



7 — . . ga-bi-e gab- hi lu-bi-nu-uz-za 



