THE BABYLONIAN STORY OF THE CREATION. 19 



The Babylonian Legend of the Creation, as far as it is at 

 present known, is supposed to have been inscribed on seven 

 tablets, each containing as it were a chapter of the work. None 

 of these documents are preserved in a perfect state, but as, 

 in most cases, one or several fragments of duplicates exist, 

 wanting parts can frequently be restored, and the sequence 

 of the narrative is, in consequence, fairly well preserved. 

 The number of the fragments, including the duplicates, 

 amounts to about fifty, and though -many of them (there 

 are forty-nine exhibited in the British Museum) come from 

 Assyria — from the royal library of Assur-bani-apli at 

 Nineveh — the largest and most solid pieces were found in 

 Babylonia. When in a complete state, these tablets measured 

 probably from 7 to 9 inches long by 3^ or 2^ inches wide, their 

 thickness in the middle being about an inch — more or less. As a 

 rule the obverse or page 1 is flat, whilst the reverse or page 2 is 

 somewhat curved. It will thus be seen that to describe them 

 as " bricks," as is often done, is incorrect. They rather resemble 

 tiles, and were they of the same thickness throughout, this 

 would be a very good name for them. The smaller tablets are 

 very much like cakes of soap, but as those of the Creation 

 series are all large, this description can naturally not apply to 

 them. 



As may easily be imagined, the large number of fragments of 

 duplicates implies that this legend was exceedingly popular not 

 only among the Babylonians, but also among the Assyrians, 

 who, speaking the same language as the Babylonians, naturally 

 regarded the literature of " the land of Merodach " as their own. 

 Judging from some of the mythological tablets originating in 

 Assyria, Merodach was generally identified with their national 

 god Assur, so that the story of the conflict with and the defeat 

 of the Dragon, with the account of the creation of the world, 

 interested both nations equally. As a literary composition, 

 moreover, it is not without its merits, and as it was probably 

 well suited for recitation, the popularity which it enjoyed is 

 not to be wondered at. 



The first tablet of the Babylonian story of the Creation, as 

 far as it is preserved, begins as follows : — 



I. 



" When on high the heavens were unnamed, 

 Beneath the earth recorded not a name : 

 The primteval ocean was their producer ; 

 Mummu Tiamthu was she who begot the whole of them. 



