22 THEOPHILUS G. PINCHES, ESQ., LL.D._, M.R.A.S., ON 



that late date carried on there, and this being the case, it would 

 seem to be by no means improbable that people were in the 

 time of Damascius yet living who were well aware of the 

 teachings of the ancient Babylonians concerning the beginnings 

 of things, and there may have been even professors of their 

 schools of philosophy. With these Damascius probably became 

 acquainted when on his way to or from Persia, or when staying 

 there, he having fled to that country on the closing of the 

 heathen schools of philosophy at Athens by Justinian — 

 Damascius was, in fact, one of the last of their professors. 



After describing the creation or production of the gods, com- 

 paring their intelligence apparently with that of Tiamthu and 

 her companions, the narrator goes on to describe the origin of 

 the conflict which took place between the powers of good and 

 evil, as typified by the divine and eternal beings introduced to 

 the reader in the preceding lines. It was at first thought that 

 Tiamthu herself was the originator of the conflict, but from the 

 fragments recently identified by Mr. King, this would seem to 

 be doubtful, as Apsii (and Mummu) seem to have stirred her 

 up. The first view, however, had some justification, for in more 

 than one place it is stated that it was she who had conceived 

 hatred for the gods her children, and there is no suggestion that 

 her first spouse* and her son were the first instigators. It has 

 also been supposed that the cause of the quarrel was the creation 

 of light, which prevented Apsu from having rest, either by day 

 or by night. For this, however, there is no justification — it was 

 evidently the doings of the gods, whose ways were not the ways 

 of Tiamthu, Apsu, and Mummu, which caused the desire to bring 

 about their destruction. It would seem that the mother of all 

 things, as Tiamthu is called, conceived hatred of the gods her 

 children on account of what had been reported to her concerning 

 them, and gathered together all the deities who sided with her. 

 Among these last, strange to say, were some who had been 

 created by the very gods whom she desired to destroy (appa- 

 rently there were prototypes of the pro-Boers even at the 

 Creation). Storming, planning, chafing, and raging, not resting 

 night nor day, they took up the conflict, and meeting together, 

 "prepared hostility" to those gods whom the Babylonians 

 regarded as the sources of all that is good and noble. 



" Mother Hubur," as she is in this place poetically named, in the 

 meanwhile busied herself in making preparations to annihilate 

 her descendants, producing irresistible weapons, giant serpents, 



* Her second consort, as will be seen further on, was named Kin^u. 



