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



of the woman Tiawthu) states that the deity (Behis) cut off his 

 own head ; upon which the other gods mixed the blood, as it 

 gushed out, with the earth ; and from that men were formed ; 

 and it is on account of this that men are rational, and 

 partake of divine knowledge. After this Belus divided the 

 light from the darkness, separated the heavens from the earth, 

 and reduced the universe to order. But the animals so recently 

 created, not being able to bear the prevalence of light, died. 



All the inhabitants of the world being thus destroyed, other 

 men and animals were again formed from the blood of Belus 

 mixed with earth, in much the same way as the first creation. 

 These were able to bear the light. There is hardly any doubt 

 that some allegorical signification lies in this, light not only 

 standing for the physical rays from the sun by which things 

 are made visible to us, but also for enlightenment and its 

 kindred ideas, including religious fervour, which causes men to 

 turn to their creator in worship. There is probably in these 

 two creations some analogy to the " sons of god " and the 

 ^' daughters of men " in the sixth chapter of Genesis, the 

 former standing for the good and pious, and the latter for the 

 indifferent or evil. The completion of the legend will be 

 looked forward to by all, in the hope that further confirmations 

 may result. The reference to "bone," which occurs in the 

 Semitic Babylonian legend at this point, and its possible 

 analogy with the description of the creation of Eve, I leave for 

 future consideration. The text is at present too imperfect. 



According to the copy published, this sixth tablet of the 

 series contained 146 lines, of which, however, only those at the 

 beginning and portions of the last eight are preserved. The 

 latter refer to the further honours conferred upon Merodach 

 by the gods. 



YIL 



There was some doubt as to whether the tablet, now known 

 to have been entitled ''The Tablet of the 51 names," formed 

 part of the Creation-series or not, but the catch-line at the end 

 of the sixth tablet seems to prove that the opinion of G-. Smith 

 and all who have written upon the subject of the Babylonian 

 legend after him was correct upon this point. This interesting 

 text is a list of the names conferred by the gods upon 

 Merodach as the creator. As we know from other inscriptions, 

 the name of this deity expressing best his character of 

 originator of all things is Tutu, a word in which a mystic 

 charm was to all appearance regarded as residing. In con- 



